Hard to believe that 3 months have passed since my last entry, made at the outset of the planned ride of the Erie Canalway trail from Buffalo back to Albany. I am happy to report that although my writing abruptly stopped, the adventure did not!

Myself and another friend of one of the “Docs on the Locks” as they came to call their merry band of Veterinarians on the trail were seven strong as we started east on a cloudy and cool October morning in Buffalo. As is typically the case with bike packing and touring, especially with new bikes and bags, day one’s ride was marked by a lot of adjusting and readjusting loads and unfortunately Craig developed an issue with the rear tire on his new Lynskey steed. The tires were converted to tubeless recently, and although he had topped-off sealant, I began to suspect the valve stem which did not appear to be tight enough. After numerous attempts to hand-tighten the retaining ring and addition of more sealant proved unsuccessful, I resorted to a more invasive approach and broke the bead to access the internal part of the valve stem which as I suspected, had a fitting that accepted an Allen key to enable tightening of the valve stem, and proper seating of the rubber grommet in the wheel hoop. A quick blast of C02 and a little light dribbling of the wheel, followed by dipping the valve stem in the canal at the suggestion of one of the crew to verify no telltale bubbles, and that problem was solved for the remainder of the 360 miles!

I am always amazed and uplifted by the response from a group that may not have much experience with minor roadside repairs when someone makes a fix like that, and makes it look easy. As the person that has a modicum of experience with such repairs, you take on an almost shaman-like aura with the group. They become a bit more confident in the overall undertaking as now they believe they have a fixer of bike maladies in their presence, it's kind of cool and although I am no means a bike wrench, I am always happy when I overcome a breakdown and get the group back on their way! Other than a quick link failure leading to a broken chain–easily repaired with the right quick link that I had in my kit–we had few mechanicals come up.

As it turns out that day and the short rain shower that night were the “worst” of the weather we would experience on our 6 days on the trail! We had blue skies after the fog burned off on a few mornings, fair winds and warm temps which was quite unheard of in those parts for that time of year, and we made the most of it! As planned, two of us camped the first and second nights on the trail. I think we planned on at least some rain, but what we did not count on was the very heavy dews each night that accompanied the evening low temperatures. Combined with the short days and low sun, it presented a challenge for getting tents and sleep systems properly dried out, so we joined the rest of the crew opting for indoor sleeping for the rest of the trip. I should mention that the options for camping along the trail are better than the trail guides lead you to believe. Green Lakes State Park, just east of Syracuse is a very nice campground but staying in downtown avails the group to a dinner at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Syracuse which I have to say is amongst the best barbecue I have enjoyed!

Highlights for me had to be the stop in Lockport New York and a guided tour of the Erie Canal Discovery Center located there alongside the Flight of Five Locks, courtesy of Dave Chatt a Lockport native, engineer and fellow cyclist. (Craig it turns out takes care of the dog on Dave’s brother in Maine and our meeting and tour was prearranged by Craig.) The Flight of Five Locks were constructed to overcome what is the most significant natural obstacle posed by the terrain in the roughly 360 miles the canal traverses. In the center of what became Lockport, the land rises some 60 feet over a very short distance up and onto the Niagara Escarpment. At the time 60 feet of difference in altitude could not be overcome by a single or even succession of 2 locks given the available technology at the time (the modern canal in fact does it with only 2 locks), so 2 sets of a series of five locks was constructed, one to raise traffic headed west and another to lower barges heading east to overcome that hurdle and put Lockport on the map! Dave took several hours to provide a lot of personal insights about his town and its canal history, canal engineering past and present, the Locktenders Tribute Monument that recreated an 1897 photo taken at the Flight of Five in a bronze sculpture, a must-do photo op that we took advantage of!

By far my favorite section of the trail was the section of the original Erie Canal that was completed first, spanning roughly 70 miles from Dewitt (just east of Syracuse) to Rome, NY a small city in Central NY nearly adjacent to my hometown of Marcy. Perhaps I am a bit biased, but that stretch of the trail which is now a NY State Park, the Old Erie Canal State Historic Park, was the most scenic and inspiring. It turned out to be precisely what I had envisioned the ride to be like. The stretch was selected for work on the original canal to begin as it runs across a plain that required no locks. The promoters of the canal saw it as a way to show rapid progress and deliver immediate results, hence why the project began westward from Rome in 1817. The trail today runs along long sections of the original sections of the original Erie Canal, dug to the specified 40 feet wide by 4 feet deep by local farmers paid by the amount of material they moved, along what was the towpath the mules that pulled the barges and driven by handlers that were often children back in the day. Beautiful wooded areas give way to agricultural fields and at many times you get a distinct feel for what it must have been like being on the canal over 200 years ago when the first barges travelled that section.

Like all good adventures, this one came to an end pretty much as planned on a sunny afternoon in Albany where the canal meets the mighty Hudson River, the state capitol of the great state of NY. I enjoyed learning much more about the canal, while very much appreciating the beautiful fall weather and my companions for the trip! Yes, there were some conversations about hideous animal maladies and gruesome procedures, but they were few and much more prevalent was the usual banter shared by folks that share a common interest in cycling and discovery of new trails! I should mention that I was the youngster of this group! The eldest member of the Veterinarian contingent had logged 76 orbits of the sun, but you could not tell given the way he navigated the 360 miles over the 6 days. Certainly provided me yet another example of how cycling can keep one young beyond their years!

I personally was left with a very favorable impression on what Parks & Trails NY has done with making the Erie Canalway a cycling destination. Having grown up along the canal, at a time when it was still primarily a working waterway and long before anyone had visions of its current recreational and tourist-drawing role, it was very encouraging to see such a successful transformation. Much like the Mickelson Trail repurposed the railway, the canals also provide an excellent opportunity for a similar conversion and other successes like the Great Allegheny Passage and adjoining C&O Canal Towpath are gaining in popularity and on my list for 2025. Of the three trails I rode this season, the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes on the Idaho panhandle, the Mickelson in the Black Hills of SD, and the Erie Canalway, I would have to rate the Mickelson my favorite as it kept my total interest with very few gaps from start to finish. The stunning scenery and bit of elevation made it a bit more interesting for me. If you have not tried the Mickelson, I highly recommend it but that is not intended to dissuade anyone from riding the other two, they are very fine experiences in their own right.

In addition to the ride of the Mickelson Trail and Erie Canalway trips and some of the adventures in between and memorialized in previous blog posts embarked on since the launch of VeloBellUSA in August, there have been some other events of note that I would like to reflect on in this last post of 2024.

During my extended stay in southern Maine on the late summer trip with the primary purpose of introducing folks to swisstrailbell®, I was able to join my good friend Craig’s annual Lobster Ride which includes a section of the emerging East Coast Greenway Trail, envisioned to one day provide a complete bike & walking route from Florida to Maine. Craig’s ride includes an overnight stay on one of the islands off Portland inhabited year round by a hearty community of commercial fisherman, their families and others that enjoy the island life. Downeast Maine is a rugged and beautiful landscape that is absolutely experienced best on two wheels, particularly with the great group that Craig assembles each year. True to its name, the ride features a lobster feast that is simply over the top, not to mention a stop or two at Maine’s finest craft breweries. I have ridden this ride most years since inception and although those in the group change a bit year to year, it's always a great ride and opportunity to reconnect with good friends, and one I look forward to joining every year.

Another highlight was a stunning late September gravel bike ride starting and ending at Crawford Notch in New Hampshire, in the shadow of Mount Washington, known for its annual bicycle hillclimb touted as the world's most difficult climb. Having survived it myself on two iterations, I would concur that the 4618’ feet of gain over 7.6 miles is in fact, very tough. I am sure many will take issue with it being the toughest, but that is really of no matter for those that have dared as the ride’s tagline goes. This ride however did not include the climb up the Auto Road to the famed Mt Washington Observatory which still holds the record for the fastest wind speed ever recorded by a staffed weather station: a 231 MPH gust recorded in April of 1934. Regardless, it was a very special event for me. About 20 years previous while I was living in the Seacoast of NH, I was lucky to be part of a small group of dedicated cyclists who assembled just before sunrise several days each week in the summer to get a ride in before the workday in our little town of Rochester on the NH seacoast. We adopted a group name, the Rochester Early Risers, and even had a club logo and jersey! For this ride this past September I was able to muster the four most-regular members of that esteemed group, Craig and myself included, to join a larger group on a beautiful fall day in the White Mountains. Although many years have passed and I have since moved across the country, it was easy to recreate the fun we had riding those summer mornings together so many years back. A moment to celebrate, and again a memorable part of this trip.

All the rides this year, like every year I have been riding as an adult for the last 30 plus years, share one key characteristic; sharing the miles, smiles and memory making with a great bunch of fellow riders, on road and trail! Some of those friendships are approaching or beyond the multi-decade mark. One of the things that I have always said about cycling is that it has been the common ingredient for many of the strongest and longest lasting friendships I have been lucky to have experienced in my time as an adult. The bicycle is such an amazing machine in so many ways, great for fitness and can add so much more to life!

This larger adventure started in earnest this past August to get the word about swisstrailbell® and VeloBellUSA.com across a very large swath of the US. Arguably a very ambitious assignment for one cyclist! A lot of things both good and profoundly sad that I will not detail here happened in the course of this trip. I do feel however that I made some strides in the primary objective. There are now a group of folks in a number of states visited, coast to coast in fact, that are now riding a bit fairer with a swisstrailbell® on their bikes, improving the experience for themselves and others on the trail as well. I have maintained from the outset as its inventor does as well, that you have to experience the bell firsthand in order to truly appreciate it. I believe I made a small but important first step in that effort as a result of this trip, and had some incredible experiences both good and bad in the process as outlined in this post and previous entries. That said, there is much more work to do in the coming year, and as always I say, bring it on in 2025!

Happy New Year everyone!