As I crested the first hill, the “Bike Route” sign gained a whole new meaning…
Yikes… it wouldn’t be so bad going this direction, but the other direction would be hell. And it just kept going:
And up the other side in the distance:
In case it hasn’t already become clear, I live in an area of hills. Lots of hills. The same forces that carved out the Finger Lakes also helped sculpt the other features in this part of New York State.
While I was heading up the hill in the distance, I thought about how much thought the highway designers had put into Route 20 in this area. Every time the road headed up, a second lane appeared for the slower traffic:
That came in handy more than once on this trip.
In some areas, it was clear that some adjustment to the landscape were necessary when the road was built:
There was no shortage of hills:
I passed by Pratts Falls Park and briefly considered heading in (it’s quite scenic) but I was on a mission and I was getting hungry
Besides, I had established a rhythm and didn’t feel like pulling over.
This big fella managed to find the one area where there wasn’t another lane going up hill but I didn’t care… I was riding.
Caution: tractors may jump out without notice:
There was a ton of horse farms along the way:
Thankfully, this was a rare sight along the way:
More hills coming up:
Going dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn:
(What’s interesting about the above picture is that this road in the middle of nowhere had granite curbs…)
As I crossed into the area around Lafayette, NY, it became clear that I was entering Apple Orchard territory… every other farm had rows and rows of apple trees:
Oh look… another closed road:
…