The first ride: Canadice and Hemlock lakes

After a few months of talking, I finally got my Finger Lakes ride underway on Sunday with Canadice and Hemlock lakes.
Canadice (the smaller, eastern one) and Hemlock are right side-by-side, south of Rochester and between Honeoye and Conesus lakes. They're best known as the water source for the city of Rochester. The water flows completely via gravity about 30 miles north to Cobb's Hill and Highland reservoirs, then again via gravity to taps throughout the city.
Because we drink from them, it's especially important that they be kept free of pollution. As such, they're the only two lakes with absolutely no development along the shorelines. New York state owns all the land in the area, including an extensive state forest. It's a really great place for a hike.

As I mentioned earlier, I called on my friend Buddy Nyhof for the ride. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we were enjoying catching up with each other so much that we hardly noticed the first climb going south on Bald Hill Road on our way around Hemlock. Because of the fact that the shorelines are undeveloped, we couldn't actually see the lake for our entire circuit around it, but the day was pleasant enough without it.
We had one very steep hill coming back around the south end of Hemlock, but otherwise finished the first, longer part of the ride in pretty good shape. We stopped back at Hemlock Lake Park for lunch and a rest, then got going on what was supposedly the easier half of the day, the much-shorter Canadice Lake.
We had to go back up Bald Hill Road again, and we noticed right away that the climb we'd tackled without a sweat a few hours earlier felt a lot steeper the second time around. We weren't chit-chatting quite as much on our way up. It was only a few miles, though, and we then were treated with a long coast down a mostly empty road on the hillside and then a beautiful path on the east side of Canadice, where there is an access road right near the water.
The last few miles were on Purcell Hill Road. Actually, almost every road we rode on had the word 'hill' in the name, and Purcell Hill came by it honestly. After about 40 miles of up-and-down riding, we had a monster of an up-hill a few miles from the end of the day.
I won't speak for Buddy, but I almost died.
After that it was an easy coast back to the park and our car. It took a little longer than we planned for the 45 miles, but we had a great time. Unfortunately, I deleted the GoPro video off my computer like an idiot, but we did take this selfie video.

I'm taking a hiatus for a few weeks before my next ride: Honeoye Lake on June 11. I hope to be joined by some friends from the Democrat and Chronicle newsroom.
While I'm gone, please have a look at my GoFundMe page and consider donating to the Nurse-Family Partnership, helping create strong families through early intervention.