June 14-16

One of the relatively new cycling routes in the United States that has gotten a lot of attention in the last year is New York State's Erie Canalway Trail.  It runs for 365 miles between Buffalo on the west side of the state and Albany on the east, forming the east-west spine of the 750-mile Empire State Trail.

It fit right in with my trip plans to explore cycling trails from the Midwest to the East Coast. The western trailhead is a short ride from the Buffalo home of my sister-in-law Jo and her husband, Mike. I've been eager to check it out.

Several weeks ago my brother-in-law Tom expressed interest in riding the trail with me for a couple of days. Tom recently retired. His last job was with Peloton, makers of the trendy stationary bike and other exercise equipment. During his time with the company, he got one of the bikes for his Manhattan apartment and used it to improve his conditioning. When I told him I'd love to have him as a riding companion, he also began training in earnest on his road bike.

In my initial, overly aggressive planning, I had considered riding the 90 miles from Buffalo to Rochester in one day. That distance scared Tom a bit. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep up with me. As my trip progressed, I realized such a distance wasn't realistic for me, either. So when Tom offered an alternative plan — riding two days of 45 miles each between those two cities — I embraced it.

June 15

After a great night's sleep, I woke to a big breakfast spread. Jo prepared a cast-iron skillet full of scrambled eggs and set out all the fixings for us to make breakfast burritos. Tom and I also enjoyed some tasty muffins that our niece Naomi very thoughtfully bought for us at a local bakery after I had mentioned that muffins were one of my favorite morning treats on this trip.

And then, at about 9:30 a.m.,  it was time to hit the road.

Jo often cycles to her job at the University of Buffalo — and she just got a new bike! — so she joined Tom and me for the first few miles, leading us from her house (below) to where the Erie Canalway Trail begins in the suburb of Tonawanda. 

Tom and I then got started on the trail, stopping for a few posed pictures to honor the occasion.

The first 17 miles from Tonawanda to Pendleton were gorgeous, with well-maintained landscaping — including little flower beds at street crossings in Pendleton — a sparkling canal-front, and a smooth, asphalt trail surface.  

When we got to the city of Lockport, it was lunchtime. (I wasn't that hungry, but, hey, let's eat!) We pedaled to one of the city's institutions, Wagner's Restaurant. I showed Tom my strategy for where to put our bikes — hidden somewhat from view of the street, near the kitchen's screened backdoor. The cook saw us putting our bikes there — and knew we were coming in for lunch — so his presence could discourage someone who might come along and have thoughts of messing with them. We also locked them to the railing of the stairs that led up to the kitchen, just to make sure.

Once inside, Tom and I both ordered a regional staple — beef on weck (a roast beef sandwich).

Lockport also has a museum and other attractions tied to its history on the canal, including an excursion paddle-wheeler that was giving tourists rides when we pedaled by.

We had an enjoyable ride the rest of the day. When we got to the little town of Medina, our overnight stop, we easily found the Airbnb unit Tom had reserved. We followed the suggestion of our Airbnb host and had dinner at the Zambistro restaurant on Main Street. We both ordered the same thing again — grilled lamb chops served on a bed of polenta. After that, I was still hungry and ordered a chocolate lava cake and ice cream for dessert.

June 16

The next morning, before we got on the road, we stopped in at another local favorite in Medina, Rudy's Soda Bar & Cafe. Several tables appeared to have regulars discussing issues of the day over coffee, almost all of whom were older than us. A couple of the customers were sporting Make America Great Again caps.

After breakfast, we returned to the stone-dust trail and quickly settled into a rhythm. 

A couple hours later it was time to start thinking about where to stop for lunch.

(When I'm riding by myself, and often covering more miles in a day, I usually have "lunch" at a convenience store. Part of the reason is that it doesn't take as long as going to a restaurant; also, eating alone in a restaurant isn't much fun. It was nice having this opportunity with Tom to slow down and enjoy sampling the local eateries.)

As we rolled into the little town of Holley, passing one of the drawbridges on the canal, a man came out of one of the towers atop the bridge — where the person who raises and lowers the bridge might sit —and was walking down the stairs. 

"Where's a good place for lunch?" I shouted to him.

"Sam's Diner is good!" he replied.

He said he was driving to the next bridge, which was closer to Sam's.

"When you guys get farther up, I'll be there and give you directions."

Sure enough, he was at the next bridge and pointed the way to the diner. At Sam's, Tom had a meatloaf sandwich smothered with gravy. I had a patty melt — maybe the best I've ever had. 

The remainder of our ride on the trail went easily. We did have to seek shelter under a bridge to wait out a brief downpour, but we had a nice visit with a man and woman who had also stopped to get out of the rain. They were riding their bikes to a wedding.

Despite Tom's concerns about not being able to keep up with me, he was more than capable. I often tend to speed up toward the end of the day, and when I started pushing harder several miles from our hotel in the Rochester suburb of Greece, he was right with me.

Visiting Another Old Friend

I had another visit planned in the Rochester area. A college friend, Len LaCara, who had worked on the campus paper with me when we attended Marquette University, has worked for the Gannett media company in Rochester for many years. He and his wife, Denise, picked up Tom and me at our hotel and took us to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner.  I ordered a dish I was told is a Rochester favorite — Chicken French. It's a battered and fried chicken cutlet served in a lemon-and-sherry sauce. It was very good.

During dinner, Len and I got caught up on things without boring Denise and Tom too much. It was great seeing him again.

June 17

Tom and I had the complimentary breakfast together at our hotel this morning. I then rushed to get on the road at about 7:30 a.m. I had 75 miles to go to my destination of Weedsport, where heavy thunderstorms were forecast to move in at about 4 p.m.  I rode hard all day — stopping only once for a break at a convenience store — and arrived at my motel at 3:20 p.m.  The thunderstorm started at about 4:30, with a torrential downpour. I'm glad I wasn't out on the road somewhere when it hit.

I checked in with Tom, who had taken the train back to New York City from Rochester, with his bike. As it turned out, he had quite the adventure. He had planned to ride his bike the four miles to the Amtrak station, but he got a flat tire soon after leaving the hotel. He didn't have tools or a pump to fix it, so he walked the four miles with his bike. Fortunately, the train was running four hours late, so he was still able to get his ride back home.

"Two bad things worked out OK together," he texted me. That's Tom.

Tomorrow, I'll be back on the Erie Canalway Trail. I'll be headed to Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake, where I've reserved an AirBnB and plan to take a rest day. 

Contact me: Thoughts or comments? Email me at richardridesusa@gmail.com.

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