Jane and I participated in the ninth annual FANY ride, July 19-25, 2009. FANY stands for many things such as "Festival Across New York" or "Five hundred miles Across New York," or whatever you'd like! In any case, it's pronounced "fanny," as in what gets sore after 500 miles on a bicycle!

We drove to Niagara Falls on Saturday, July 18, and set up camp and registered. Jane drove our van with our camping gear while I rode across the state with the other riders. We returned from Saratoga Springs, NY, at the end of the ride on Saturday, July 25.

This is the ninth FANY ride. The 2001 ride had only about 25 riders. In 2002, there were about 60. Unfortunately, we missed 2003. In 2004, there were about 130 riders of which about 40 were taking advantage of the "hotel option," which allows you to stay in a hotel each night rather than set up camp. Another new feature that year was the "Sore FANY option" in which riders SAGged to the midpoint each day and then rode from the midpoint to the overnight town. In other words, about 250 miles total instead of 500 miles. I think about a half dozen riders were doing this. In 2005, the ride reverted to a camping only ride with a hotel ride promised for September. Also, the Sore FANY option was eliminated. (Not enough demand?) About 90 riders participated. In 2006, about 90 riders participated. The hotel option was back (I'm not sure how many did the hotel option) and the Sore FANY was back, but I don't think anyone signed up for it! In 2007, about 150 riders participated. The hotel option was back (I'm not sure how many did the hotel option) and the Sore FANY was back, but only a small number participated. In 2008, about 190? riders participated. A number of people took advantage of the hotel option but only a small number did the Sore Fany.

This year about 160 or so people participated.

An improvement in 2003 was arrows taped to signpoles along the route, showing when to turn. In 2005, the arrows were replaced by colored ribbons tied to whatever was handy. "Always keep the ribbons on your right." Starting in 2006, we've had painted road markings.

The rest of the story is in the photo albums below. Click on a thumbnail to see the photo album for that day. If you want to see all the thumbnails on a single page, which will take a long time to load, look at the super album. Note that the album links on the individual pages return to the daily albums, not the super album.

I really need help with the names. When the ride had only 25 people I could remember everyone's name. With over 100, I can't. I should have been writing them down, but I didn't. If you know a name, email me at groth@princeton.edu. Thanks, and don't be shy!

I have two names for this year's ride: "The Great Big FANY Walk and Ride," or "Karen's Revenge." Usually, the big hills come in the second half of the ride, after you've ridden into shape. This year we had almost 5000 feet of climbing and many steep sections on the second day. I walked a lot of the steep sections on Monday and pretty much spent the rest of the week recovering, walking a decreasing number of hills each day until only one on Friday and none on Saturday.

Monday had the most climb of any FANY day I have data for. The climb and mileage for the entire ride are similar to previous tough rides. It was getting so much on Monday that got to me! I've prepared a table showing the mileage and climb for each day of each FANY Ride in which I've participated.

In case you're into data, here's a beverage data summary.

	Saturday, July 18, 2009 The day before the ride at Niagara Falls Windy with an occasional sprinkle.
	Sunday, July 19, 2009 Niagara Falls to Brockport Cue sheet: 88.0 miles, GPS: 88.2 miles, Climb: 1119 feet A tailwind from the west for the west to east portions of the ride. Visited the lighthouse. Went straight from Medina to Brockport on 31. (no excursions off 31).
	Monday, July 20, 2009 Brockport to Dansville Cue sheet: 77.8 miles, GPS: 80.7 miles, Climb: 4756 feet A couple of tries to find Scooter's Diner for breakfast. Used Nunda Dansville Road between Nunda and Dansville to try to save some climbing. May actually have added a bit of climbing!
	Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Dansville to Watkins Glen. Cue sheet: 70.5 miles, GPS: 70.7 miles, Climb: 2942 feet Followed cue sheet.
	Wednsesday, July 22, 2009 Watkins Glen to Cortland Cue sheet: 57.4 miles, GPS: 57.8 miles, Climb: 2911 feet Followed cue sheet.
	Thursday, July 23, 2009 Cortland to Verona Cue sheet: 73.4 miles, GPS: 73.8 miles, Climb: 3048 feet Followed cue sheet.
	Friday, July 24, 2009 Verona to Speculator Cue sheet: 77.7 miles, GPS: 77.3 miles, Climb: 3307 feet Folllowed cue sheet. Rain all day except for 10 miles near Rome. Stopped just before arrival in Speculator.
	Saturday, July 25, 2009 Speculator to Saratoga Springs Cue sheet: 67.6 miles, GPS: 67.1 miles, Climb: 2227 feet Followed cue sheet. Foggy in the morning.
	Maps and Profiles

If I learn of additional photo albums of the ride, I'll add links here.

Stache and Naomi's album.