Honeoye Lake

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After two nearly all-day affairs, 18-mile Honeoye Lake was a pleasant break. It was all the more enjoyable because I did it with my largest riding party yet - David Riley, Ben Jacobs and Ryan Miller, all colleagues from the Democrat and Chronicle.

The Friday night before the ride, Ryan and I were working late at the paper, Ben was at the Jazz Festival and David was up with his infant daughter. Nonetheless, the four of us gathered at Honeoye High School just before 8 a.m. to set out down the east side of the lake.

Like Owasco Lake, a significant portion of the length of the ride is actually due to a marsh at the south end of the lake. In fact, Honeoye Lake itself is only about 4.5 miles long, the second-shortest Finger Lake after Canadice, I think.

We rode at a fairly good clip, stopped just once for a drink of water and rolled back into the high school at about 9:30 a.m. As on my last two rides, the weather was great.

I won't be riding the next two weekends, but plan to resume July 16 for Seneca Lake, which is the second-longest ride at 77 miles. Until then, have a Happy Fourth of July, and thanks for your support of Nurse-Family Partnership.

Owasco Lake

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After an unforeseen one-week break, I restarted my ride Saturday at Owasco Lake with my good friend, former colleague and Twitter personality Robert Harding. It was a hot, sunny day for a 30-mile ride.

(OK, I recognize the videography has a ways to go, but at least I figured out the GoPro this time.)

Owasco Lake is in Cayuga County, with Auburn at the north end and Moravia at the south. I guess it's one of the least-known or visited lakes, but I got to know it well while working for two years at the Citizen newspaper in Auburn, where I met Bob. I made water quality part of my news beat there and learned a lot about invasive species, agricultural pesticide overflow and that sort of thing.

Compared with Canadice and Hemlock, Owasco was a pretty flat ride but we took it slow and finished by the early afternoon. Bob's wife Sarah was awesome as road crew, bringing water at the halfway point and taking our sweaty photo when we got back to Emerson Park at the end.

That now makes three of 11 Finger Lakes completed. Next Saturday, I'll be doing Honeoye Lake with David Riley and perhaps some other Democrat and Chronicle colleagues. In the meantime, please visit my GoFundMe page to support the riding and my charity of choice, Nurse-Family Partnership.

A good reason not to ride

I planned on riding around Keuka Lake Saturday, but it didn't happen.

Earlier this week, my dad had a routine appointment with a cardiologist, who thought it might be a good idea to go in for a closer look and, possibly, a stent in one of his arteries. Not a big deal.

When they got in there, though, they instead found that three arteries were nearly completely blocked. While he had never had a heart attack nor shortness of breath nor any other symptoms, he seemingly had nearly no blood flow to his heart.

He was scheduled immediately for triple bypass surgery on Saturday afternoon. That's when my cycling plans went out the window. My mother, my siblings and I and our spouses spent the afternoon in the waiting room at Strong Memorial Hospital, staring at his number on the monitor and trying to keep ourselves distracted.

Everything went great. He's in recovery now and already back making stupid jokes, even though he's on doctor's orders not to laugh, lest he tear his open chest wound apart.

It was a blessing beyond description that my dad went to get checked out before he had a heart attack. So today, instead of bothering you all for a donation to my charity (though you can still do that if you want!), I have a different request: if you have some preventive health care you've been putting off, please stop putting it off and make a doctor's appointment in the morning. Please consider, at least for your family's sake, that it could save your life.

The riding begins again next Saturday, on Owasco Lake with my good friend Bob Harding.

Back on the road

After two weeks away from my bicycle, I'm starting riding again this Saturday. My good friend John Forbush and I will be heading out bright and early to Keuka Lake, probably my favorite of the Finger Lakes. Its Y shape, unique among the lakes, provides for some incredible vantage points, particularly on the bluff in the middle.
It's a 55-mile ride with little elevation change, so it should be very pleasant. I've also figured out my GoPro camera, so hopefully I'll have some nice footage to share afterward.
Please remember, all this bike riding is not only fun but intended to raise money for a good cause. Please look at my GoFundMe page for more details!