Erie Canal Ride, Day 6, Quiz 6

Rome to Canajoharie - 63 miles.

The days are starting to run together and my memory of them is starting to blur. Riding for hundreds of miles alongside a canal will do that to a person.

I do remember the Herkimer Homestead - pictured here. And I also think that I'll never forgot some of the people. While we didn't get to know all 500, there were some that we ran into almost every day, some that we even spent a good bit of time with.

Mark- a serious biker, pulled into the Albany parking lot right behind us, and came from a town in Rhode Island. While other rides tired out as the days went by, Mark picked up steam eventually riding the last two days (73 miles) on the 7 day and going home early.
Sue- a member of the asphalt burning peleton, and contributor of the following photo.
Fresno - the guy from California that would have looked just as comfortable on a surfboard as on a bike.
Fixie Guy-one of the younger tour participants. His name derives from his bike. We almost always ran into him at the coffee shops.
Sergeant Paul-the man in charge of Truck #2 and defacto, the volunteer squad
John - the bike mechanic, always cool, always under pressure.
Front Panier Guy - older gentleman on an old ten-speed that only had front panniers. We'd pass by him mid-morning every day. Once, on a downhill he blew by us so fast I didn't even recognize him - til we passed again on the uphill

And there were groups of riders:
The volunteer squad - responsible for marking the daily routes (generally in a very thorough way but sometimes to extremes), helping out along the trail, loading and unloading baggage and keeping the Tent Cities in order.
The Do-Rag Boys - an older group of men, predominately bald, who tended to discuss New York Sports and politics.
The Canal Volunteers - not official part of the ride, these were the enthusiastic staffers of the several historic museums and parks along the route. I work in a volunteer-centric museum but I've never seen such a diverse but wholeheartedly dedicated and knowledgeable group.
The German Family - (really self explanatory)