tour report, 3 days on the erie canal
05-30-05, 11:32 PM
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A friend of mine is on his way from Boston to Redding Ca. He dropped in Thursday to spend the night and catch up email and laundry. We had already discussed about riding together a couple of days west out the Erie Canal retracing much of my 2003 tour to around Camillus NY, where my wife would pick me up.
Day 1, 60 miles: We left about 11am Friday for the 60 mile ride to St Johnsville NY. We picked up the Canalway trail at Rexford NY and rode into Schenectady with a stop at Perecca's bakery for two small Italian rounds for later. From Schenectady west to Syracuse it is pretty flat if you stay on the Canalway trail and know the old trails and side roads that connect the unfinished sections. Schenectady to Forth Hunter is paved trail and road, beyond that most of the trail is stone dust( very fine gravel) and is hard packed. The trail was a bit soft in a few places because of recent rains but it didn't slow us much.
We stopped at Schoharie Crossing to eat our bread and so Mike could check out the viaduct. We stopped later in Canajoharie to check out theCanojoharie Library and Art Musuem but unfortunately it was closed for renovations ( till 2006) . We ended the day at the St Johnsville Marina/ Campsite. It is kind of funky but friendly and accomadating to Cyclists. Usually the tent area is next to the pavillion.this being a holiday weekend and the paviilon may be active late into the night. the campground manager gave us spots on the east side of the marina where it would be quiet. Dinner was at a local resturant. BTW Bernie the harbor master does not dress that formal everyday.
Day 2, 83 miles: We both slept really well last night, I always sleep better on the ground than I do a bed anyway. I made coffee and oatmeal to get us started. We ate, packed up and hit the trail at 7:30 am. Usually you have a pretty big climb out of the valley because the trail in past years hasn't gone through to Little Falls. However this year the trail between St Johnsville and Little Falls is being built which will save tourists from two long climbs. The trail was rough graded but was passable for us to get through Mindenville and past the old steel bridge to River Rd and a flat ride into Little Falls. While in Little falls we ate breakfast and checked out Lock 17 which is the highest lift lock on the Erie Canal system at 40 feet.
Continuing west we rode through the towns of Mohawk, Illion and Frankfort. Illion is home to Remington Arms and has an interesting museum of firearms that is open during the summer on weekdays. Remington also made bicycles at one time and has one on display.
Later we passed through Utica, We passed a popular destination here which is the Saranac Beer brewery , but it was still early and we weren't all that interested in the brewery tour.
As we left Utica we rode on the new section of Canalway trail that took us almost to Rome. We bypassed Rome and got on a old section of the orginal canal towpath that isn't officallly designated for use. we followe that out to New London and the
Erie Canal Village IMO it is 90% tourist trap and about 10% history, we passed it without stopping. From New London west on the Old Erie canal you can ride the old towpath for much of the way to Syracuse. The old Towpath is my favorite trail on the canals we followed the trail to Chittenango landing where we stopped for a snack and a few minutes to check out the restored canal drydocks at the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum we finished the day at Green Lakes State Park, where we had a minor hassle over availabilty of a campsite that was sorted out in our favor.
Day3; 58 miles. We had some noisy neighbors who finally shut-up at 12:15 am ( I hate state parks on holiday weekends) Syracuse is a PITA to get through on a bike so we figured the earlier the better. we broke camp and continued on the trail to East Manilus and Route 290. Traffic on rt 290 was fast but we had a decent shoulder to ride on and we avoided the bad neighborhoods that are just east of Downtown Syracuse. We had orginally planned on stopping at the Erie Canal Museum but neither Mike nor I were interested in waiting an hour and 15 minutes for the museum to open. especially on such a great morning for riding.
We continued west through Solvag and reconnected with the Old Erie Canal just west of Syracuse. My wife was suppose to pick me up at Camillus Canal park however since we didn't make a stop in Syracuse it was still early and we felt like riding more. I called her to meet me at Newark.
Between Camillus and Weedsport we rode towpaths and side roads till Weedsport. we had breakfast in Weedsport and continued west.
Just past Savannah, Mike was riding 50 yards ahead of me When I saw him and his bike nearly flip. He had hit a pot hole on the shoulder pretty hard. we looked over his bike and it seemed ok so we continued on. while going down a long grade Mike said the bike now had a shimmy. we stopped in Lyons and carefully checked the bike again. This time I discovered the frame was broken 2 inches below the joint of the down tube and head tube. and was only hanging on with a 1/2" still connected.
We quickly decided the best thing was to get his bike back to my house in Albany where I could either braze in a new down tube or loan him a frame. My wife was on her way and we agreed to limp his bike the 5 miles to NY Thruway exit 42 to meet her. using duct tape we taped his down tube up enough that it might make the 5 miles without breaking. Fortunately highway 14 had a vey smooth shoulder he rode slow and easy while I rode slighty ahead to watch for holes and bumps. We got to the exit and only had to wait 45 minutes for my wife to appear.
Back home we quickly pulled the bottom bracket and things looked bad. lots of rust and rust flakes in the Bottom Bracket shell. He has just paid for a complete overhaul and apparently the Bikeshop never pulled the bottom bracket. If they had they would have seen the rust. With that much rust the frame was shot. I had a 18 inch Specialized Iquana frameset that had never been built up, orginally it was going to be my wife's ride. I brazed on a third water bottle boss setup, front low rider bosses and a couple cable stops to handle his V-brakes. once done we gave the frame a quick and dirty rattle can paint job before refitting all of his componets.
The next morning(Monday) I drove Mike back to Lyons NY to continue his tour.
Total mileage : 201
Total carnage : 1 flat, 1 broken frame
Day 1, 60 miles: We left about 11am Friday for the 60 mile ride to St Johnsville NY. We picked up the Canalway trail at Rexford NY and rode into Schenectady with a stop at Perecca's bakery for two small Italian rounds for later. From Schenectady west to Syracuse it is pretty flat if you stay on the Canalway trail and know the old trails and side roads that connect the unfinished sections. Schenectady to Forth Hunter is paved trail and road, beyond that most of the trail is stone dust( very fine gravel) and is hard packed. The trail was a bit soft in a few places because of recent rains but it didn't slow us much.
We stopped at Schoharie Crossing to eat our bread and so Mike could check out the viaduct. We stopped later in Canajoharie to check out theCanojoharie Library and Art Musuem but unfortunately it was closed for renovations ( till 2006) . We ended the day at the St Johnsville Marina/ Campsite. It is kind of funky but friendly and accomadating to Cyclists. Usually the tent area is next to the pavillion.this being a holiday weekend and the paviilon may be active late into the night. the campground manager gave us spots on the east side of the marina where it would be quiet. Dinner was at a local resturant. BTW Bernie the harbor master does not dress that formal everyday.
Day 2, 83 miles: We both slept really well last night, I always sleep better on the ground than I do a bed anyway. I made coffee and oatmeal to get us started. We ate, packed up and hit the trail at 7:30 am. Usually you have a pretty big climb out of the valley because the trail in past years hasn't gone through to Little Falls. However this year the trail between St Johnsville and Little Falls is being built which will save tourists from two long climbs. The trail was rough graded but was passable for us to get through Mindenville and past the old steel bridge to River Rd and a flat ride into Little Falls. While in Little falls we ate breakfast and checked out Lock 17 which is the highest lift lock on the Erie Canal system at 40 feet.
Continuing west we rode through the towns of Mohawk, Illion and Frankfort. Illion is home to Remington Arms and has an interesting museum of firearms that is open during the summer on weekdays. Remington also made bicycles at one time and has one on display.
Later we passed through Utica, We passed a popular destination here which is the Saranac Beer brewery , but it was still early and we weren't all that interested in the brewery tour.
As we left Utica we rode on the new section of Canalway trail that took us almost to Rome. We bypassed Rome and got on a old section of the orginal canal towpath that isn't officallly designated for use. we followe that out to New London and the
Erie Canal Village IMO it is 90% tourist trap and about 10% history, we passed it without stopping. From New London west on the Old Erie canal you can ride the old towpath for much of the way to Syracuse. The old Towpath is my favorite trail on the canals we followed the trail to Chittenango landing where we stopped for a snack and a few minutes to check out the restored canal drydocks at the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum we finished the day at Green Lakes State Park, where we had a minor hassle over availabilty of a campsite that was sorted out in our favor.
Day3; 58 miles. We had some noisy neighbors who finally shut-up at 12:15 am ( I hate state parks on holiday weekends) Syracuse is a PITA to get through on a bike so we figured the earlier the better. we broke camp and continued on the trail to East Manilus and Route 290. Traffic on rt 290 was fast but we had a decent shoulder to ride on and we avoided the bad neighborhoods that are just east of Downtown Syracuse. We had orginally planned on stopping at the Erie Canal Museum but neither Mike nor I were interested in waiting an hour and 15 minutes for the museum to open. especially on such a great morning for riding.
We continued west through Solvag and reconnected with the Old Erie Canal just west of Syracuse. My wife was suppose to pick me up at Camillus Canal park however since we didn't make a stop in Syracuse it was still early and we felt like riding more. I called her to meet me at Newark.
Between Camillus and Weedsport we rode towpaths and side roads till Weedsport. we had breakfast in Weedsport and continued west.
Just past Savannah, Mike was riding 50 yards ahead of me When I saw him and his bike nearly flip. He had hit a pot hole on the shoulder pretty hard. we looked over his bike and it seemed ok so we continued on. while going down a long grade Mike said the bike now had a shimmy. we stopped in Lyons and carefully checked the bike again. This time I discovered the frame was broken 2 inches below the joint of the down tube and head tube. and was only hanging on with a 1/2" still connected.
We quickly decided the best thing was to get his bike back to my house in Albany where I could either braze in a new down tube or loan him a frame. My wife was on her way and we agreed to limp his bike the 5 miles to NY Thruway exit 42 to meet her. using duct tape we taped his down tube up enough that it might make the 5 miles without breaking. Fortunately highway 14 had a vey smooth shoulder he rode slow and easy while I rode slighty ahead to watch for holes and bumps. We got to the exit and only had to wait 45 minutes for my wife to appear.
Back home we quickly pulled the bottom bracket and things looked bad. lots of rust and rust flakes in the Bottom Bracket shell. He has just paid for a complete overhaul and apparently the Bikeshop never pulled the bottom bracket. If they had they would have seen the rust. With that much rust the frame was shot. I had a 18 inch Specialized Iquana frameset that had never been built up, orginally it was going to be my wife's ride. I brazed on a third water bottle boss setup, front low rider bosses and a couple cable stops to handle his V-brakes. once done we gave the frame a quick and dirty rattle can paint job before refitting all of his componets.
The next morning(Monday) I drove Mike back to Lyons NY to continue his tour.
Total mileage : 201
Total carnage : 1 flat, 1 broken frame
Last edited by Cyclist0094; 05-31-05 at 05:43 AM.
05-31-05, 12:12 AM
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Nice report, velonomad. Your friend is one lucky SOB to have caught that before it happened out in the middle of oklahoma or montana, and in particular have a riding buddy with a spare bike who can also braze. good job!
06-01-05, 12:09 PM
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His friend is also a lucky SOB to have a friend with both the tools, skills & spare parts to modify & lend a frame! Nice ride report, but I'm almost more envious of the shop time at the end...
06-01-05, 07:11 PM
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Mike has had a tough go of it the last couple of years. His 6 figure job went overseas and he lost in a winner-take-all divorce. This bike tour is his soul cleansing. I was pleased to put him on a better ride than the one he had. Along with the Iquana frame and mods I added a nashbar trekking handlebar and a pair of zefal ATB fenders I had been meaning to give away. He called from Canada a little earlier this evening and said the new frame is working very well for him.
I was looking at his old frame this morning. it appears moisture had collected in the downtube at the head tube joint and rusted enough of the tube that a moderate hit would crack it. (Mike said this evening he used to hang the bike in the garage by the back whee). looking at it this evening with a magnifying glass I saw the crack had rusty edges on the bottom indicating that the crack had started sometime before he hit the pothole. So yeah he was lucky it broke where it did.
Of the 201 miles we rode, roughly 120 miles were off road. Some of the old trails we rode were pretty rough since they are not designated bike trail yet and are thus used by atv's and dirt bikes. we both rode 26" wheels with 1.5" width tires
I was looking at his old frame this morning. it appears moisture had collected in the downtube at the head tube joint and rusted enough of the tube that a moderate hit would crack it. (Mike said this evening he used to hang the bike in the garage by the back whee). looking at it this evening with a magnifying glass I saw the crack had rusty edges on the bottom indicating that the crack had started sometime before he hit the pothole. So yeah he was lucky it broke where it did.
Of the 201 miles we rode, roughly 120 miles were off road. Some of the old trails we rode were pretty rough since they are not designated bike trail yet and are thus used by atv's and dirt bikes. we both rode 26" wheels with 1.5" width tires
