Day 3- Corning to Binghamton

240 miles down, 260 to go! Today was a lovely day of riding- 80 miles from Corning to Binghamton. Legs are not sore at all- amazingly the body adjusts at about this time in the ride and starts to expect a day of rigorous cycling. This was everyone's favorite day of riding so far. Beautiful backroads, lovely scenery, and for most of the day, light cloud cover and high 80's low 90's.

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Most people biked 80 miles today- except Joan Plumb and yours truly- we did 85. Joan made two mistakes today- one was losing her cue sheet (which tells you what turns to make). The second was relying on Ken to accurately read his. Ken's literal miscue came at the bottom of a two mile hill. Joan and Ken climbed, and climbed, and climbed, and were treated to one of the more spectacular views of the week, before realizing that we had missed our turn at the base of the hill! It was fun in the end, and it gave us hill-climbing bragging rights for the day (and calls for new glasses for Ken). Note Ken's Red Sox jersey today, which he wore proudly and luckily was not run off the road in Yankee territory!

The other highlight (no pun intended of course) was lunch today. Jerry Foster's radar for amazing eateries continues- we found a winner in Candor NY. A large group of us descended on Punk's Place, a fun bar/restaurant that was empty when we walked in but we quickly filled it up. The food was delicious, the jukebox was fantastic (there was even singing involved), and we had more fun than a group of middle-aged folks should have without alcohol (table photo compliments of Dee Dee Cronin Nemeth Juno). Note Daryl McMillan, who is known for wearing orange jerseys. He even eats orange food (photo compliments of DJ). A truly special Anchor House memory for everyone involved.

On a personal note, today was a memorial day on the ride, where riders remember those who have passed away in the last year. My Mom passed away a little over a month ago, and I was reminded of her this morning when I saw a white baby grand piano in the lobby of the hotel (my Mom had a white baby grand). I wrote her name on the memorial white board, and my friend Kathy Sonnenfield gave me an Anchor House wrist band to think of her during the day, which I did often.