Month: June 2020

June 18, 2020

This was our final day on our New York adventure and state number 39 on our challenge to ride 100 miles in all lower 48 states. It’s always an exciting day when we finish our 100 mile ride in a state and are able to add another sticker to our map.

This trail provided an awesome ride – starting at the southern end in Ithaca, it’s a steady grade for 8.5 miles to Taughannock Falls State Park near Trumansburg. It was a hot day but there was plenty of shade provided by the forest. We were high above Cayuga Lake but views were mostly obstructed by the trees.

The trail is named for the Black Diamond Express which ran from Buffalo to New York City not for the difficulty of the trail. The 8.5 mile steady climb was surprisingly easy and the ride down was out of the house fun!!

After finishing Black Diamond we still needed a few miles to finish our 100 so we biked the Ithaca Waterfront Trail. We enjoyed the smooth asphalt surface as well as the views of the city.

We did our “trailhead showers” and were off to spend the night at Buttonwood Grove Winery in Romulus. They were very welcoming and when the winery closed at 5:30 we were the only RV there. Quiet, serene evening and night – only 4 hour drive from home.

June 17, 2020

Our third day on the bikes and all I can think is “back in the saddle again”. We are riding on the Canalway Trail, Camillus to Jordan section. This section of the Canalway is so different from what we saw yesterday. No shops or cafes here. What a contrast, so glad we were able to experience such different views of the canal.

There was one area with what looked like a tour boat in the water, but not in operation. Also, a tavern which was closed. They were doing some major tree work here and not too pleased that we passed through. We had come too far to be turned away.

We made our way to Jordan which was about 12 miles from where we began in Camillus. We were in and out of shade and had the trail practically to ourselves. Jordan looked like a quiet little town. We rode about a half mile around the neighborhood and never saw anyone.

I really enjoyed seeing fish in the canal on our return, the light was perfect for seeing into the water. In some areas there was canal on one side and swamp on the other – no gators like in Florida.

One of the highlights of this section of the trail was Nine-Mile Creek Aqueduct near Camillus, which was the halfway point on the original Erie Canal.

We rode 24 miles today and are getting a little saddle sore – 81 miles into our New York 100. Our plan was to take a week to ride in New York but with rain predicted for Friday we are anxious to get our miles in.

June 16, 2020

There was a time when we thought we would complete all our New York 100 on the Erie Canalway Trail. We had campgrounds and routes tentatively planned. Our goal now, due to the pandemic, is avoiding crowds and campgrounds.

Ground broke on the Erie Canal on July 4,1817. And here we are 203 years later riding our bikes along this historic route.

In the 1960s some of the Canal communities that had lost most of their commercial traffic were seeking new ways to benefit from the Canal. They began building trails on remnants of the old towpath. Pittsford’s Schoen Place is an excellent example of the revitalization along this section of the canal. There are shops and cafes right on the canal. You can walk your bikes through this area or detour using the road which is what we did on our return as it was becoming very congested.

We parked at Lock 32 Canal State Park. We were able to squeeze our RV into a parking spot. When we returned from our ride the park getting full and parking spots were becoming sparse.

There is an area about 3 miles east of Pittsford called the Great Embankment. A 70 foot high, mile long fill was constructed to carry the Canal above Irondequoit Creek. Here the tops of the trees are practically level with the trail. Interesting, but to be honest we passed by this area without really seeing this. The guide book said we would know when we were traversing this canal skyway. Oh well…

Fairport was a busy little town we passed through. There was ongoing bridge construction which had us detour on the road for a short distance. A very busy area – drivers were very respectful of bikers. Yeah!!

We had views of beautiful homes with pontoon boats, wooden boats or bass boats tied to their docks on the canal. Bike traffic increased on our return, making for more and more dust. We did travel west a few additional miles towards Rochester and Lock 33.

There is a Camping World near our next planned trail. They offer free overnight parking, a dump station and water. Perfect!! We took the opportunity to enjoy extra long showers. Spent less then $25 at Camping World – a record for us.

June 15, 2020

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” John Muir

We had a good nights sleep at Deer Run Winery – peaceful and quiet. We were off to pedal our first New york miles around 10 am. We parked at the Honeoye Falls trailhead. Thank goodness there was adequate parking for our RV.

We traveled on the “stone-dust ” trail east to the town of Victor. We wore our gaiters and covered when passing or approaching other trail users. The majority of which did not use face coverings. The trail was mostly flat with only slight changes in elevation – crushed stone and did I mention “dust”.

In Victor we rode a couple miles of the Auburn Trail. Trail was covered in large gravel and made for a rough ride. We did see a small fawn while on the trail. It was running straight at us and at first we thought it was a dog. So small, it ran into the woods just before it reached us. It was worth the rough ride just to see the fawn.

Stopped after about 20 miles for our gourmet lunch of PB and Js. Pretzels for dessert! Couldn’t believe how dirty our bikes were. Imagine what we looked like. 🙂

We returned to the motorhome and grabbed some more water and headed east. We passed through Rush, with nice views of the creek. Took trail only a short distance past Rush and returned to trailhead.

We had a great time and completed 28 miles today. There was plenty of shade, beautiful forests and farm land. A great welcome to New York for us.

Hate to keep mentioning this but there was an abundance of dust. We were so dirty that we took showers right at the trailhead.

Tomorrow we plan to ride some of the Erie Canalway Trail. I think there may be some more dirt. 🙂