I decided getting a good night's sleep was more important than leaving really early. Weather was clear and cool with a light south wind. It was noticeably strong even riding through the city so I knew the next 100 miles or so would be challenging. The only route confusion I had early on was a connector along a power line between two sections of the Genesee Valley Greenway. It wasn't obvious in the early dawn as it just led to singletrack along a 3 foot wide grassy cut among overgrowth underneath the power lines. But this didn't take all that long to sort out. As the sun rose higher the wind picked up and was a very strong cross headwind. A lot of the scenery I was riding through was farmland so there wasn't much to block it. Buffalo arrived before too long and I rode a couple of nice rail trails and some quiet streets thanks to Sunday morning. I rolled through the city along an industrial area near a railroad yard and the area looked like it had seen better days. Getting through the downtown area wasn't too difficult and I rode up to the border. I accidentally waited on the US side for a little while before I realized that one needs to cross first before getting checked in and so I then proceeded across the very windy narrow side path along the Peace bridge. In the sky visible nearby over Lake Erie was a small rain shower making its way over to my location. I only waited around 10 minutes to get through and it was painless. I jumped on a path headed due west from Fort Erie and fought the strong wind from the SSW. Finally made my first stop a bit after 100 miles at a gas station by the trail. Prices were noticeably higher although it was a gas station after all. I still felt great at the mid point despite the battle with the wind. At Port Colburne I had to divert around a closed bridge which added a mile or two. By the end of the rail trail the surface was single or two track gravel owing to less use and I was glad to start heading at least somewhat north. As it was I was still really fighting the wind hard while going northwest. So I was really looking forward to my next stop in the small overgrown crossroad town of Binbrook. I stopped at a small but very nice grocery store. The town was very new looking and surprisingly dense for what I assume is a bedroom community for nearby Hamilton. I finally turned north in this section and with the wind mostly at my back I was making serious speed and added on top of this the several hundred feet drop in elevation I had on the way to Lake Ontario. There were some really fun and mostly deserted winding gravel paths along here. The paths beside the lake were pretty wide but I still had to do a lot of wandering around groups of people. At length my route took me to riding along a three lane road near the shore without a shoulder or bike lane. This wasn't too busy but it was definitely more stressful than riding on the path. This went on for many miles, long enough that the sun had already gone down by the time I was riding a path by the lake again. Again I had to dodge groups of people scattered all over the path but this time in the dark. I had made good time up to this point but all the little neighborhood connections and turns and path branches off in all directions made for slow travel. But eventually the walking traffic died down and I was mostly riding alone. I took a road through High park which was deserted and then rode Bloor Street for most of the remaining miles which was just total chaos and although I had a protected bike lane it was evening so there was a lot going on and while I was feeling good I was also ready to be done. I was dodging scooters and people and cars all of which seemed to be darting all over at all times. Despite this the last few miles went by pretty fast. ‍🎷🐛 215.4 new miles ✨ First time on bike in Erie County ✨ First time on bike in Genesee County ✨ First time on bike in Ontario ✨ First time on bike in Golden Horseshoe ✨ First time on bike in Southwestern Ontario ✨ First time on bike in Toronto ✨ First time on bike in Haldimand County ✨ First time on bike in Niagara Region ✨ First time on bike in Peel Region ✨ First time on bike in Halton Region ✨ First time on bike in Hamilton 🏘 Completed 25% of Hamilton Beach A 🏘 Completed 25% of Confederation Park A 🏘 Completed 25% of King's Forest Lower D -- From Wandrer