Bishop Bike Adventure Day 55 August 24, 2010

Much to our pleasure, we walked out of the motel room this morning to bright sunny skies, albeit crisp air. The temperature for most of the day was in the low 70’s, but felt a bit cooler on the bike. The wind was again unfavorable.

We rode on the Erie Canalway Trail for much of the day, which was an interesting experience. The canal offers bikers some benefits despite being predominantly a crushed gravel surface. Since the canal requires level ground, there are no hills to contend with. There is also no traffic to contend with, besides other bikes, pedestrians, and an occasional tame duck. And the wind became less of a factor in the canal chute as it was somewhat protected by trees and man-made structures. There is also esthetically pleasing scenery. Another consequence of riding the canal is that we were engaged by more people, like fellow bikers, who wanted to hear our story. One such couple were taking their daughters on their first overnight tour, while a mother and son in Pittsford lauded us as their heroes!

The canal created some unusual landscapes, again because of its requirement to be on level ground. There were many times when we would look to the side, away from the canal, and notice that the canal was higher than its surroundings, such as can be seen in this picture. Riding along the canal also had the effect of creating a slower pace of riding. We saw some puddles from recent heavy rains in the area and also some fallen leaves, precursory of the season ahead. There was also some boating activity on the canal, including kayakers and pleasure craft. Periodically, some archaic equipment like barges and tugs, were parked along the side.

Believe it or not, we stumbled upon the town, Pittsford, where Debbie lived while in junior high and high school. We rode by the house that she lived in while she reminisced about days gone by. Because the area has undergone some significant change, she did not recognize many of the surroundings. The canal had once been seedy and rundown, but has since been cleaned up. The town has added shops and restaurants along the bike path. The biking activity increased on the paved path through Pittsford.

Our canal riding experience left us with mixed emotions. It was nostalgic to ride along a route with such grand history tied to it. The canal wound its way through many towns and cities. It seemed so small scale for such a large application of transporting goods back and forth to the Great Lakes, but one has to realize that it was used in a different day and age. It is now a dilemma for the people of New York. What do you do with this albatross? It requires significant infrastructure upkeep at the expense of taxpayer dollars. Currently it is emptied from mid-November to mid-April and only exists as a hopeful economic stimulus for the tourism industry, which we did not see as thriving in the canal zone.