NYSteve

I have only done one bike ride this year. I was suffering from a really messed up knee.

I have big plans now that I can walk on my knee.

Hoping for a nice ride today. We will see.

NYSteve

Wednesday, I got in 7 miles on the Catherine Valley Rail Trail.
Yestrday, I did 11 miles on the rail trail. I went from Pine Valley NY, to Watkins Glen, NY.

No knee pain at all.

NYSteve

Wednesday, I got in 7 miles on the Catherine Valley Rail Trail.
Yestrday, I did 11 miles on the rail trail. I went from Pine Valley NY, to Watkins Glen, NY.

No knee pain at all.

EnjoyinTheRide

I popped some new bearings in my new cruiser and took her for a quick shakedown. just a few miles. Im off to the canal tomorrow should be a nice day.

NYSteve

Enjoy, I will be out your way next weekend doing the ADA Tour De Cure at Verona Beach.
Do you know of any other rides going on out in the CNY Cuse area?
I have a long way to go, I want to build up some serious miles this year. I just got on my bike on Wednesday for the first time.

ecnewell 

Just moved back to Syracuse last summer, finally getting back out to enjoy some cycling. Just curious, are there camping locations along the Erie canal trail? Heading out for a few miles today while the weather is nice.

NYSteve

I am at work for a few more hours, but I will be out riding around noon time today.

lost_in_endicot

There is camping allowed at most of the locks along the trail. You could probably get away with stealth camping in more rural parts of the trail if you are careful.

Water Levels - New York State Canals

I'm not sure why the link says water levels, but it does go to camping information.

ecnewell 

Wonderful, thank you!

EnjoyinTheRide

There really is no camping along the canal except the locks, not that I know of. That being said Green Lakes State Park is right next to the erie canal out towards "dewitt" which is really part of the syracuse area(East). People camp there and simply ride across the street to the canal. That part of the canal is a real long stretch. It goes almost to Albany.

EnjoyinTheRide

I really dont. I know that Tour De Cure is popular. If I hear of any I will pass it on here. I dont know what your looking for as far as riding conditions. Paved road vs gravel canal type. You can access the canal near sylvan beach/verona. Depending on your direction you can go to either Rome (East) or Syracuse (West),

If you want pavement I would take rt 31 which goes along Oneida Lake. If you took that toward "Cicero" West that would be a nice ride.

Im off to the canal right now. Its nice out tonight..

kaos joe

There are boater/biker camping facilities at the villages of Macedon(Lock 30), Middleport and Holley, right on the bank.

No showers were available at Macedon although that may have changed. The bathroom was pretty much a port-potty when I passed through.

The one in Middleport has a bathroom/shower facility built IIRC onto the back of the village police station. I saw it from outside but did not go in. The Towpath Cafe a half minute walk away is a nice place for breakfast or lunch.

I have camped at the facility at Holley. There is a pavilion right on the canal with showers. The facility is kept locked, and one must walk over to the control tower for the adjacent lift bridge (maybe 75 yards?) and the bridge operator will provide the combination. When I've used it, it was impeccably clean. The village itself and its services are about 200 yards away. It's a good place to stop.

First pic is the canal somewhere near Middleport. Most of it looks like this in western NY.

#2 is the control panel for the lift bridge at Holley, that the friendly bridge operator was kind enough to show me.

#3 was my campsite at Holley.

Papa Tom

NYSteve: I don't have much to add to this thread, as I don't get up north enough to be any kind of expert. I just want to comment that I really enjoy reading the posts here. The tone is just what I had imagined for my "Long Island: Good Ride Today" thread, and there's a lot of good information about routes, trails, etc. here.

Keep it up, and thanks!

EnjoyinTheRide

Well I did a quick tour of the west end between Amboy and Sims Store. Perfect afternoon for a ride.

EnjoyinTheRide

I got wet today lol. I commuted with my work bike back and forth to work. On the way in it was sunny. On the way home it was pouring. But I got fenders lol

EnjoyinTheRide

Now that the rain has ended I can ride to work lol. Off I go....


Ill have the next couple of days off and its going to be real warm and sunny. Ill be hitting the east side of the canal for sure.

NYsteve U should have awesome riding weather for the tour de cure this weekend in verona. Have fun...

NYSteve

You ride a single speed, wow!
That looks like a fun comfortable bike to ride.

I am excited about heading out to the beach this summer and renting an bike and riding.

EnjoyinTheRide

They are fun to ride, simple. It works well for where I ride. I did go for a short ride yesterday along Onondaga Lake west trail. I didnt last long because my sciatica nerve acted up. I pulled my back a few months ago and my sciatica is still a little effected. Im thinking this coming Wednesday I should be good to go lol... However I will be riding to work this am. Thats a short distance lol.

Enjoy the tour De cure. I think this is the 2nd day??? good luck...

Ferdinand NYC

I hit the Westchester Bicycle Sunday today, a 6 1/2-mile stretch of the Bronx River Parkway between Yonkers and White Plains. The weather was glorious.

The entry at Yonkers is about 25 miles from my home in Woodhaven, at the Brooklyn/Queens border; so the whole trip was about 64 miles.

I also learnt an important lesson: never take Kimball Avenue. Too damn hilly! I took Bronx River Road / Midland Avenue going up there; but I took Kimball on the way home, from Palmer Road all the way down to McLean Avenue. Bad mistake, as Kimball is painfully hilly, while Bronx River Road / Midland Avenue is relatively flat.

UniChris

I was there as well, doing both the closed section and the path up to Kensico.

Remember seeing a guy with a bike "license plate" that said Ferdinand - was that you or a random coincidence?

Cheated in taking metro north up to Bronxville to start, so then had to head over to the south country trailway to get in some miles.

Not sure I can fully agree on the weather... that much sun without shade was a bit oppressive, though fortunately I only missed a few spots with the sunscreen.

Ferdinand NYC

That was me! Someone called out to me, a guy with a small group; this happened while going on the southbound direction. Might that have been you?

I must say that I really dig the weather. I did 58 more miles on Monday (this time exploring North Jersey); and I am off again today to ride some more. We get so few 90-degree days in New York, and I love them so much; so I take vacation days on all such days, so as to ride.

UniChris

No, I didn't say anything, just remember your license plate. If you had seen me, you would probably remember it. I remember riding along not to far behind you for a bit, but it may have been that you sped up before I ever actually pulled past.

Impressed! Monday was a painful rest day for me. Might do a short ride Thursday but right now it seems if I do a serious one, I won't be up for a long ride next weekend, and I want to get in another mid-40's ride doing a roundtrip up the south county onto the north, before I try doing the full one-way from the Brewster train station all the way back to the Bronx.

Vifam7

Long Islander here.

Yesterday, I put my bike on the car, crossed the Whitestone Brdge and drove to the Pelham Bay Park to try out the Mosholu-Pelham Greenway. Started at the Bronx Victory Memorial. First went west, stopped just before entering the NY Botanical Garden, then turned around back towards the where I started. Returned to my car for a short lunch then headed towards City Island, crossed the bridge into City Island, then went back over the bridge, swung by Orchard Beach (which was packed!), then followed the trail up along Shore Road and hit the trail endpoint at Park Lane. I considered going all the way to Glenn Island but my arms were tired and I was running out of water in my bottle. So I headed back to my car and went home.

All in all, a nice bike path to ride on. Pelham Bay Park looks to be a nice place to start if one is coming from LI and is looking to head towards Van Cortlandt/OldPutnam-S.County Trail.

Bronx Victory Memorial.

Steve B.

Oooo, I've done that.

Started at Toussaint Ave. on the SCT in Yonkers, then down to VCP, east/south on Mosholu, around the north end of the Botanical Gardens, then east along Pelham Bay Parkway to the Hutch, where I turned around.

My plan someday is to repeat this and extend to Orchard Beach.

UniChris

What's the Mosholu path itself like? Particularly wondering about street crossings and hills.

I often start from the 4 train (Jerome Avenue) take the small section into VCP and then ride north in Westchester, but if I started instead at the Pelham Parkway 5 train station about halfway from the Botanical Garden to Pelham Bay Park, then riding up to Brewster would be a definite 50 miles rather than an "almost".