August 2nd, Day 45: Rochester, NY to Syracuse, NY: 92 miles, 1274 ft. ascent

We started today on only 3 cylinders due to the front left malfunction as reported in yesterday's post.

James takes all the British support he can get for the front left cylinder

Consequently we chose to take a leisurely ride with fingers crossed that drugs, ice, heat and James’ youthful physique will be sufficient for rapid recovery (complete rest and leg elevation both sadly a tad tricky on a 92 mile bike ride).

This strategy seems at least good enough to get us through the next 2 days with similar terrain, judging by the score below 2 on the Pain Register throughout the ride and the absence of swearing from up front. The big test will be in 3 days time when we hit the serious hills in Vermont.

The other two mechanicals were more readily fixable – 2 separate back wheel punctures within 2 hours.

James demonstrated his mechanical prowess again on the first one and we were back riding in well less than 10 minutes.

Somewhat frustrated on the second puncture a couple of hours later, James nonetheless set about the task with his usual vigour. All went well until it came to the final step – inflate the new tyre. Ah, inflate the tyre…what should we use for that particular task I wonder? A pump perhaps? Where is the pump? Oh shit, where is the frigging pump? How could we conceivably have left the pump on the roadside 2 hours ago?

Never mind, we’re on a supported ride and they’re used to numpties like us. Within 10 minutes our esteemed leader rode past with a CO2 canister and 30 seconds later we were rolling once again. We made it to the hotel with no further incidents and an average speed of 14.6 mph.