The first day's ride would be from Dryden to Auburn, the start of last year's ride.  As a result, the middle of today's route was the same as last year's.  We went north through Homer towards a rest stop at the same overlook above Skaneateles Lake that we passed through our last day last July.

Early in the ride we did a moderately difficult climb followed by a right turn that sent us down a perfectly paved road with no traffic or cross winds.  We hit a new record speed on the way down - 49.3 mph.

We passed through Skaneateles late in the ride, stopping for lunch before completing the last few miles to Auburn.  We each had a sandwich and both suffered stomach cramps afterwards, so this was the last time we ate much for lunch during the ride. 

When we arrived in Auburn we were disappointed to see that there wasn't any shade at all in the designated camp ground, the high school ball field.  After getting cleaned up at the shower truck, we walked a mile and a half to a park at the top of Owasco Lake. Dinner was served in an enclosed pavilion there, and after stuffing ourselves, we decided to take the shuttle bus back to 'tent city' rather than repeat the long walk.

While we were waiting for the bus we were talking to other riders about the various different tours we each had done in the past.  Two other tandem riders mentioned that their bike had given out after 20 miles of riding, suffering a cracked rear rim.  They had taken the wheel to a bike shop in Ithaca, but the shop didn't have any 40 hole rims, which are generally only used on tandems.  This was Sunday, and it would be Monday before the shop could order a new rim, and with overnight shipping, they might be able to have he wheel rebuilt in time for Wednesday's ride.  The riders, Don and Liz from Columbus, Ohio, were going to miss 2 days of riding before they could get their wheel fixed.  They didn't look too happy about it.

I was familiar with Gear To Go Tandems in Elmira, NY.  This is a small tandem shop run by Rich Shapiro out of his home.  Dawn and I had previously visited their home/business when we rode several years ago in the 2 day Southern Tier Tandem Rally that they host each year. 

We called Rich to see if he had any 40º rims in stock.  No such luck.  Did he have any used wheels he could rent out for the week?  No again.  He did however have some pre-built new wheels he could sell.  I thanked him and passed the information on to Don and Liz, initially thinking a new wheel would just be too expensive to justify.  I forgot that some of the tandem wheels aren't quite so expensive as others.  Don called Rich back, checked what he had available, and soon he and Liz were on their way to Elmira to get a new wheel.  They made it back to Auburn before midnight, with a new wheel, new tires, and a newly installed drum brake.  They not only replaced the wheel, they upgraded the bike at the same time.