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areallivehuman -> RE: Motorcycle Ride (10/2/2010 5:05:05 AM)
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Well I'm blessed up here in west/central NY. I live in a small village about 11 miles from work, smack in the middle of farm country. My daily commute is all back roads, I don't wear a suit at work , so I ride all the time. This is my favorite time of year, cool crisp mornings, beautiful fall afternoons, the leaves are just starting to change in earnest.
Any ride is a good ride, my favorite? If you've never heard of the Finger Lakes area, it's a series of lakes carved out by glaciers long ago. Ther are 5 or six of them, long and narrow, set in an area roughly 200 square miles. If you look at a map, it looks like a giant left a handprint on the landscape.
We'll ride down Canandaiga Lake today, east side or west side.....west I think. Riding on the lake road is a bit of a pain, it's heavily populated, the cottages are mostly gone now,replaced with year round homes of folks who can afford to pay 300k and up. So we'll ride down Rt 21. The hills rise up sharply from the lake about half way down, highest hilltops are about 900 feet above the water. The lake is about 22 mile long, no more than 3 miles wide at it's widest, in most places it's a mile wide. Riding along 21, I can look down at the sparkling water, and see the cliffs on the east bank. All around are rolling green hills, this is Gods own country.
We're about halfway down the lake now, another decision, 21 dips down and becomes the road next to the lake, or we can take county road 12, the "high road" as it's known to the locals. Yeah the high road it is, there's a nice steep grade to climb, I love to feel the old girl pull as I twist the throttle to its stop. As we get to the crest of the hill, there it is, laid out in all its splendor, a spectacular view of the lake and hills that goes on for miles and miles. I guess words cannot do it justice so we'll just continue down the high road a few more miles and then start our descent into the village of Naples NY. These sun kissed hillsides stay a little warmer because of the lake effect and are perfect for growing grapes, so at this time of year as you roll into Naples the smell of grapes is heavy in the air. Sure beats the smell of the regular morning commute, where this time of year the farmers are manuring their fields for a crop of winter wheat. You want to avoid those piles in the road, too. We can stop in Naples for a beer or cup of coffee and then... ride back on the east side? or head further east and ride up the side of a different lake? Around here, if you're going any distance, you have to decide which lake you'll ride around. You can't go east-west in a straight line without first going north-south.
As I said, I'm a lucky man.
Ride on..........
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