Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Finger Lakes tour - we're back! With pictures

We drove up to Ithaca, NY and spent 5 days riding between lakes Cayuga and Seneca. Average mileage was somewhere around 20 - 25 miles per day. This was Martha's first tour longer than 2 days, and we both had a great time. (She wants to do it again.)

I hauled a trailer with all our gear, which kept us at about the same pace.

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The left rear tire shredded while we were driving up to Ithaca, probably due to hitting something sharp and metallic. Martha barely kept control of the car, but got us safely to the shoulder. We swapped in the donut, and then the car didn't start. AAA figured that the fuel cutoff got triggered, so all was well. We picked up a new (used) tire and continued on.


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(http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilfein/3755072747/in/set-72157621691287213/)Route 89 north of Ithaca is beautiful.

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(http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilfein/3755076349/in/set-72157621691287213/)We stopped at Taughannock Falls State Park for lunch.

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What good is a tour without a milkshake? Us at the Cauyga Lake Creamery.

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Our camp at Sned Acres. We got a new 3-person tent for this tour, and it held up very well. Sleeping on the Thermarests was pretty terrible, though. One objective for the next camping tour is to make the tent more comfortable for sleeping.

More to come...

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Relaxing at Goose Watch Winery. We actually had very little wine, considering that we were on a wine trail.

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One of the first of many such historical locations we saw when riding into downtown Seneca Falls.

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Train that went by the room of our B&B in Seneca Falls. The house we were in was built when railroads were new, and having one next to your house was considered prestigious.

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(http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilfein/3758150820/in/set-72157621691287213/)Declaration of woman's rights. National Woman's Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls, NY

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We rode past Waterloo, then headed southwest towards the shores of Lake Seneca. We got some very good cheese on the way. I hear the dairy/cheese folks want to start up a cheese trail to go with the wine trail.

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Lake Seneca was used for submarine training during World War II. Navy Memorial at Sampson State Park.

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Our campsite at Sampson State Park. A skunk got into our trailer, and we lost all our food, including the fresh cheese we had gotten the day before. the park itself is beautiful, on the shore of Lake Seneca.

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The back roads leading out of Sampson State Park are in pretty bad condition. I'd recommend using only the main roads to get into and out of the park.

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Lake Cayuga slowly reappearing in the distance.

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Seen on the sidewalk of Trumansburg. To read the caption, click on the picture to embiggen.

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Bed and Breakfast in Trumansburg

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(http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilfein/3758173638/in/set-72157621691287213/)Back in Ithaca, although we still have several miles to go.

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The Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca. Each tile represents a million years. We stopped here to get out of the rain, and I'm glad we did.

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Sculpture in the museum.

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I found the final approach to Ithaca a terrifying descent, hitched to the trailer with 50+ pounds of camping gear. I stopped here to give my aching hands a needed break.

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We made it! Back at the car at the Wegmans parking lot in Ithaca.

We both had a great time, and we make a great touring team, one full of energy when the other is having a tough time. We need to plan for future trips to either have better sleeping pads in the tent, or alternate nights of camping and B&Bs. (We canceled two nights of camping because we slept terribly in the tent.)

She performed very well on the hills. The hills in this region are worse than New Jersey (not hard) but easier than in, say, Pennsylvania. Martha will haul some of the gear next time.

Very nice. Sorry to read about the skunk, however. Reminds me about the rules against keeping food in your tent.

Looks like you had a good trip overall, just watch out for the skunks!

Where's the map, Neil? We wanna see the route!

I can't get to the bikely routes, and they're inaccurate based on what we actually did. Here's the basic idea in google maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=102560808235390065034.00046fa3ac2c4b9355145&ll=42.683445,-76.587067&spn=0.730892,1.461182&z=10

The Finger Lakes are to New York what sand in ones shoes are to the Carolinas.
You keep comming back:o)
Lot of hilly riding but if you take your time and concentrate on the 'journey' vs the destination, the miles simply melt away (well..unless you're comming up rt14 with the wind in your face)
The Finger Lakes (believe they're out of Ithaca NY)Cycling club holds a camp/cycle out of Watkins Glen State Park (the walk up the gorge alone is worth the trip)every June.
So; would I be off base if I presumed you sold off most of your equipment and filled the bike trailer with bottles of wine from all dem winerys?? (lol)
Thanks for sharing!

Great Pics neilfein. I lived in Ithaca for 3 years and moved away well over a decade ago (I hated those hills). I actually live about an hour away now and am planning a similar tour. When I was a kid I never appreciated the scenic beauty in Ithaca (of course I lived in the city and really never saw much of the views).

Did you visit College Town (Cornell) or downtown in the Commons? Also Buttermilk Falls are pretty nice as well as Taughannock Falls State Park which you guys visited. Hope you brought back a tshirt or bumper sticker which reads "Ithaca is Gorges". I think its mandatory or something :D.

By the way, that Bed and Breakfast in Trumansburg, did it have rooms named "Shiloh" or "Logan" or "Seneca"? If so I actually went to college with the owners daughter. Small world after all sometimes.

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us :thumb:.

So; would I be off base if I presumed you sold off most of your equipment and filled the bike trailer with bottles of wine from all dem winerys?? (lol)

Fortunately (or unfortunately), no. We had startlingly little actual wine on this trip. We're thinking about returning, maybe to see the other side of Lake Cayuga. I hear that Aurora is a nice town.

)
The Finger Lakes (believe they're out of Ithaca NY)Cycling club holds a camp/cycle out of Watkins Glen State Park (the walk up the gorge alone is worth the trip)every June.
!
So does the Southern Tier Bike Club out of Binghamton, NY. It's usually the second weekend in June. It's starting to get a real following again. I'm fortunate to live very near the Fingerlakes and ride there often. While the area can be very hilly with some of the steepest climbs in the region, the roads between some of the lakes are suprisingly flat and very low traffic.
Denny

Did you visit College Town (Cornell) or downtown in the Commons? Also Buttermilk Falls are pretty nice as well as Taughannock Falls State Park which you guys visited.

No, but those areas are on our short list for a return trip. We also didn't see the actual falls at Taughannock Falls.


By the way, that Bed and Breakfast in Trumansburg, did it have rooms named "Shiloh" or "Logan" or "Seneca"? If so I actually went to college with the owners daughter. Small world after all sometimes.

Yep, that's the one (http://www.morningglorylaurie.com/rooms_inside.htm). Laurie, the owner of Morning Glory, retured from working in a used bookstore before opening the B&B.

One trip to think about for next year is the "Bon Ton Roulet", the biggie organized tour thru the Finger Lakes ea. July. http://www.bontonroulet.com/

From what I've read from blogs, a well organized supported tour, 7 days, $500 or so for camping with dinner/breakfast. I'm training for next year. FWIW and from what I could see following the weather websites, they got DUMPED on with rain this year !.

Having just done a 3 day wine tasting trip with my wife, using Geneva as a bass, I will either return for the BTR or bring a bike, which I did not do this year. This is a terrific riding area, though the southern Finger Lakes get very hilly, as you probably discovered in Ithaca.

Thanks for the pix

SB

hehe, it's weird seeing peoples vacation photos of areas i see daily. I work in Ithaca, and my daughter goes to the summer camp in Ulysses...and I also work at a winery in Burdett on weekends as needed...

This area truly is beautiful. We've been here for 2 years now.

Great report, thanks for sharing,

Michael

Sleeping on the Thermarests was pretty terrible, though. One objective for the next camping tour is to make the tent more comfortable for sleeping.Check out the Exped Downmats and SynMats. They can be coupled together and are _extremely_ comfortable while remaining lightweight. Also, their insulative ratings (R values) are much higher than standard camp pads (thermarest, etc.).