A Whopper (or Two) of a Day

Things got off to a bit of a slower start this morning but only in a good way. The plan for the day was to bike to Seneca Falls – a very manageable 90 km away. I won’t lie, the manageable distances are much more relaxing than the gruelling efforts of a 150 km day. Yes, I know. That’s a pretty obvious statement.

The reason for today’s slower start was breakfast. Rather than a quick meal before hitting the road, Brad suggested that we ride over to a local restaurant for breakfast. That sounded like a great idea for multiple reasons – it was along the canal and so along my route, plus I hear breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

The restaurant in question was the The Coal Tower Restaurant and I have no excuse for not taking a picture of said establishment. On the upside, I did take a picture of my breakfast (which was more than a little delicious, I might add). Over breakfast, Brad and I exchanged various tales of travel and such – he has some great stories. That said, the time was getting closer to 10:00 and, even though I had a manageable ride ahead of me, I really needed to hit the road.

As days go, this one was certainly the most leisurely day from a pacing perspective. I had made arrangements for tonight with Ashley, a Warm Showers host in Seneca Falls. Included in those arrangements was an arrival time of about 5:15. That left me plenty of time – even with this morning’s slightly later departure.

One of the benefits to a leisurely ride is taking more time during the day to stop for things like food and water. Although, one doesn’t really need to stop for the latter. The copious amounts of General Tso chicken from last night meant that General Tso could join me for lunch along the road today. Clearly, this was my best day of eating on this trip so far. Not necessarily they HEALTHIEST day of eating but more on that later.

Okay, it’s later. I’m not sure how healthy the General Tso chicken was but I don’t think it was particularly UN-healthy. The same probably can’t be said for tonight’s supper.

I arrived in Seneca Falls well ahead of schedule and decided I would hang out at Burger King for a leisurely meal and a bit of WiFi. I was able to do both but I’m not sure I really needed to order TWO Whopper meals. Yes, I was hungry. And yes, they have a 2 for $10 promo on right now. But still, it seemed a bit gluttonous. I still did it. But I wasn’t particularly proud of myself. Oh well … I’m sure I’ll get over it. (Spoiler Alert: I did.)

Shortly before 5:15, I headed over to tonight’s resting place where I met my host, Ashley (and her two dogs). She was super friendly but I didn’t get to talk with her much as she had plans to head out for the evening – I was invited to come along but after today’s ride (leisurely, though it was), it was a very hot sun beating down on me all day and I was more than a little bit in need of a shower – both for me and those in close proximity to me. At that time, standing downwind of me was not recommended. That seemed like an unreasonable scenario so Ashley was generous enough to let me hang out while she headed out. The generosity of people continues!

Today’s totals:
Distance traveled: 92.89 km
Ride time: 4:14:48
Average speed: 21.87 km/h
Maximum speed: 43.01 km/h