kristingbridges
50 Miles from Weedsport to Canastota
Today was the longest day we’ve ever planned on a trip – we did more in a day 2 years ago, but that was an accident! We wanted to get an early start because it looked like there would be rain in the afternoon. Getting on the trail was easy since it was the road our hotel was on. As soon as it went to a path instead of a bike lane on the road, it turned into a single “rut.” It widened some shortly, but we were really glad it wasn’t raining for that section. My right knee was still giving me some trouble, but ibuprofen and ice are helping. It feels like the ligament from my quad that is at the top of my knee. After about an hour, the ibuprofen was helping. Brian also noticed I might be sitting a little to the right on my seat and that could have been causing some of it.
We are more along the old part of the canal system, so it’s not navigable and the wildlife has really taken over. Saw our first frogs and tons of turtles today. Still lots of great heron spotting, too. One just sat on our side of the canal, stalk-still, while we passed by. Another one took off as we passed and gave it’s grumpy-old-man “Gronk-gronk” as it flew to the other side of the canal. The trail did widen out finally.
Then we got to the part I was dreading when I looked at the elevation profile last night: Syracuse. As we approached from the West, the trail got really nice and took a completely different path than the older paper trail maps showed. They showed that it was on streets through Syracuse. This trail system was clearly new most of the way. Then I saw it – a hill. But it was a switchback up to a beautiful natural park area the trail went through. The switchback hit a 6% grade, but we were less than halfway through the ride, it was concrete, and we had clean chains, so it wasn’t too bad. At one point, I passed a wooly worm going the same way and I was faster than it, so I had that going for me!
Downtown Syracuse got a little tricky with more bike lanes on roads, sometimes calling it a bike lane was a stretch. It finally became a trail again near the New York State Fairgrounds and took us through the fairgrounds and then out the other side. There were a few more climbs up to dedicated walk/bike bridges and up a hill, then out to the shores of Lake Onondaga where we stopped for lunch. We didn’t want to stay long because it looked like rain might be moving in.
After lunch we got to the Eastern suburbs and they had very recently completely reconfigured the road so that there was a bicycle lane with its own signals running in between the two directions of the car traffic. It was very well done and made for a pleasant ride! As it was turning off to a trail again, we saw a Speedway, which required crossing 3 times to get to, but I got my Coke for the afternoon!
That was about halfway through the day and as we left the Syracuse suburbs, we ended up in the Old Erie Canal State park the rest of the way today. It was full of lovely trails, much of it paved, and beautiful trailheads. Watching the wildlife – tiny little turtles, herons, a giant fish jumping right next to me, a peacock, yep I said a peacock, – kept my mind off the general fatigue and the pain in my seat and knee. By the last 5 miles, what was really keeping me going was the thought of a nice shower 😉
We pulled into Canastota still thinking it looked like it could rain any minute. But just ahead of us, there appeared a rainbow! That was a perfect end to the longest day on the trail. We’ve now gone 222 miles of the about 360 miles for the trip. We’re tired, but ready for 4 more days!
Notable Wildlife
Deer 3
Snakes – 3, all small garter snakes
Groundhogs – 2
Kingfisher – 3
Great Blue Heron – lost count!
Green Heron – 1
White Egret – 1
Lots of little fish that jump out of the water
Big fish that jump next to me and about scared me half to death – 1
Cormorants – many, but hadn’t expected them at all
Squirrels – all over the place
Ducks – lots, mostly Mallards, but found a small little brown one today I need to research
Turtles
Frogs
Gulls – soooo many
Canada Geese – too dang many!