The Mohawk valley is indeed interesting and on this particular day the atmosphere and temperature were just right to make the whole scene enjoyable. Up on the hillsides a few trees had begun to change the color of their leaves, putting on the first faint tinges of yellow and scarlet, an indication of the brilliant autumn coloring which is to follow. The goldenrod, our national flower, if we have a flower emblem, was everywhere in evidence, and I smiled as I wondered if it indicated the stand which New York will - but I have promised myself not to mix politics with this article, and I shall adhere to that promise as far as I can and still record the events of August 25 which went down in my diary under the head of "my busy day."
He continues to muse about the biggest issue of the day, the gold standard.
I'm going to have to take Mr. Babcock's word regarding the beauty of the Mohawk valley. I really did not see much of any scenery today as it rained on me all day and a driving headwind made it particularly damp. It has rained three of the five days I have been in New York and although I realize that it is just those weather probabilities catching up with me, it is nonetheless disappointing.
Ever since skirting Buffalo I have been noticing a small sign along my route that has perplexed me greatly. It shows the outline of a bicycle and the number "5" and pretty clearly is indicating that the road is some kind of a designated bike route. For three days I have been cycling along state highway 31 and although the traffic has sometimes been thick, the road has always had a wide shoulder and the route has been fairly direct. I noticed my map shows route 31 ending today, and my curiosity got the best of me, so I determined to find out what these signs were all about. I tried calling the state highway department but was not able to negotiate their telephone maze. I stopped in at a local office of the state police, and the best that they could do there is to tell me that it must be some kind of bike route. This was not helping me at all, so I stopped in the town of Clay at the local police office, and they could not help either, but they did direct me to the office of the town supervisor, where a very helpful woman tried valiantly to find an answer for me. After searching her Rolodex file, she started calling DOT office after office and finally found someone who knew something. These signs were indeed indicating a bike route, the number 5 route did go to Albany, and perhaps as far as the Massachusetts border, but there was no certainty and there was no map.
I tried to encourage her to have a map created, because though the signs were easy enough to follow, it was not particularly useful information if the destination is unknown. Here is a situation where some authority has begun a project which would assist touring cyclists greatly and only partially completed it.
I have been musing for some weeks about a similar scheme for helping cyclists negotiate the maze of county and township roads that exist in most states. I have made a concerted effort to ride on these back roads, even though it has taken a great deal of time to find my way. Two sources of maps which do show sufficient detail are the Delorme gazeteers of each state, and some public libraries have county highway maps which show all the roads. Both of these sources are mostly correct but not 100%.
The 100% solution would be to call upon the local bike clubs to agree upon an optimal route between each town in a given area and mark the road with arrows (in the cycling world these markings are called Dan Henrys) indicating which town the arrow is pointing to and perhaps the distance to that town. In this way towns could be linked together, showing a safe, pleasant, efficient way through the countryside without the confusion of routefinding, and the bother of collecting all these maps. Some kind of coordination would be necessary to prevent total anarchy, but it would greatly aid the touring cyclist.
Over the past two months there have been many occasions when I have chosen to navigate by following some of these Dan Henry marks, and it worked fine, even though I had no idea where they were headed. At the time it was enough to know that some group of cyclists thought that it was an optimal route.
In New York, both Mr. Babcock and I have been following the Erie Canal most assiduously, so that routefinding has not been too much of an issue. Babcock's journal for August 24 mentions all the towns I rode through:
August 24, 1896 Amsterdam, NY
Left Canastota at 7am and followed the towpath by Little Falls, passing through Utica and Herkimer. Found Turner's tracks at Utica. Took the towpath of the canal from Little Falls to Plainville. Took supper at Fonda where I met Schultz, a professional racer. Roads good and wind favorable. Mohawk valley leaves just beginning to fade.
meter 100 - 3962 expense 1.40
Interesting. He was here three weeks earlier than I and was noticing the leaves turning then, even though I am only just noticing that now.
88 REALLY wet ones today. Here's hoping it dries out tomorrow.
Dennis