Wednesday Wheelie - Hornell Aboard

  • 11 Sep 2018
  • 9:30 AM
  • 13 Sep 2018
  • 4:00 PM
  • Hornell, New York, USA

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In October 2017 a group of nine Wednesday Wheelie types headed down to Hornell for some fall leaves cycling. We quickly concluded that we had stumbled on a cycling hidden gem - great scenery, terrific roads and lots of challenging hills. We also lucked out on the weather - bright sun and great temperatures. Thus, we scheduled a repeat of the event this year in mid-May. Unfortunately the weather got the better of things and we had to cancel. But 2018 is far from over. We are now scheduling a Hornell event for Tuesday September 11 to Thursday September 13. If you think you might be interested in joining the Wednesday Wheelie Hornell peloton in September, please read on.

Accommodation We will be staying in the Econo Lodge (website) in North Hornell which is a short distance south west of the Finger Lakes. Please call the hotel directly at 607-324-0800 to make your reservation. Tell them that you are part of the Wednesday Wheelies group and ask them to put you in the "New Building". It's a separate structure of 18 large rooms, all of which are non-smoking. If you run into any confusion trying to make your booking, we suggest you call back when Kyle is on duty. There are also about 50 additional rooms in the other buildings. You can expect to pay around $60 per night, including breakfast. Don't try and use one of the many of the online booking options as you may actually pay more, and you probably won't be able to ask to be put in the New Building. We suggest you drive down on the Monday evening and stay through until the Thursday morning. However, if you want to come for either a shorter or longer stay, no problem. 

The Scenery As mentioned above, the region is very hilly, and so not for the faint of heart (sorry). You may wish to consider using a granny gear bike. There are some really long beautiful remote stretches on all of the routes. It will be impossible to avoid enjoying the scenery, even when you are climbing! You may even decide that the scenery is spectacular. Be sure to bring along some sort of camera device.


The Rides We've plotted hilly rides on the Tuesday and Wednesday. On the Thursday, there will two around a lake options - one flat and the other hilly. Click here to see a first cut of the RWGPS plots of the rides (click on the "Show all on map" button in order to see the big picture). As the event approaches, we will refine parking lot information, refreshment stops and other details, and some nits will be fixed. Start times for the rides will tentatively be 9:30. There will be a short drive to the start locations for the hilly rides, and a slightly longer drive to the start location for the rides around the lake on the Thursday.

The Highlander Perhaps the routes we have plotted won't be enough for you. For the truly inclined at heart, click here to read about the Highlander. It's a charity ride of 164 km with 2500 metres of climbing! It takes place on the weekend following our event. There will likely be a number of our cycling friends from the Niagara Freewheelers participating. Perhaps you would also like to participate.  

After Ride Socializing and Dinner Each day after the ride, we will meet in the parking lot outside our rooms for some after ride socializing and rehydrating. We will generally head off as a group around 6 pm for dinner at one of the local restaurants. 

Flexibility Since we all be staying in the same hotel and will likely be a fairly small group, we will have the flexibility to change details to suit the circumstances (e.g., start times or restaurant details).

Weather and Cancelling Your Hotel Reservation Click here to check out the weather forecast for Hornell (this page also includes also includes links to 14 day and 7 day forecasts). If the weather looks like it will be really lousy, you will be able to cancel your hotel reservation without penalty up to 11 am on the day before your scheduled arrival. If we have one bad day of weather, Corning is a very touristy town about an hour away that's worth a visit. Of particular interest is the Corning Glass Museum (website) where you can learn all about glass making and how Corning developed Pyrex, Corelle, fiber optic cable, gorilla glass and other game changing technical glass products. Another bad weather day option would be a visit to Ithaca and Cornell University.

Driving For driving directions, click here. Google Maps estimates the driving time to be 3.5 hours in good conditions. Of course, there is the border and possible traffic delays. Hence, we recommend that you drive down on the Monday evening. In order to avoid roaming charges on your phone, you may wish to download the Google Maps sections for the area before leaving home. This will allow you to put your phone in airplane mode after crossing the the border. In addition to using Google Maps to get to the hotel, you will also find it useful for finding parking lots, restaurants, etc.

Registration If you think you are likely to join us, please click on the registration button on the left and register as soon as possible. If you change your mind at any point, not an issue. However, it will be very helpful to us if you register so that we have a reasonable sense of our likely numbers.

Suggestions or Questions If you have any suggestions for changes or refinements to the proposed program, we will be very happy to hear them. Also, if you have any questions about the event, please feel free to contact us.


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