Nancy only had time for five riding days, and she wanted to see a little piece of the Finger Lakes herself, so today we’d be riding south to Lake Conesus. The place we’d stayed was chosen for its location; reachable in one day from Medina, close enough to get to the Finger Lakes the following day. Tonight we’d stay in Lakeville at the north end of the lake, which was about 40km away; our plan was to ride to our motel, drop our bags, and if Nancy was up for it, do the loop around the lake for a 70km day.
The Finger Lakes fill gaps in a drumlin field that remains from the retreat of the last glacial ice sheet, so our terrain would be much hillier than the flat canal path we’d been riding. By Bay Area standards, there’s not much altitude in western New York, but there are many short, steep hills.
We woke to a pleasant sunrise on a beautiful day. Riding began with low-traffic roads through farmland on this Sunday morning.
After 15km we got back on gravel on the Genesse Valley Greenway, which turned out to be lovely; a rail-trail with a crushed gravel surface through a tunnel of trees. It was the first day of autumn and trees were beginning to turn; leaves and nut cases decorated the path. We had about 15km of wonderful riding, keeping it moving because of mosquitoes.
After we left the greenway, it was time to climb. The Finger Lakes are on the edge of the Adirondacks, and Lake Conesus’s valley is 100m up from the flatlands where we’d been riding. Most of the climb was gradual but there were a couple of steep pitches.
After the very highest point there was a short, steep downhill to a railroad undercrossing, then a steep climb on the other side. Nancy got caught in too high a gear and wound up walking the last of the hill, disappointingly. (She’d ridden everything else so far).
After that spot we joined Conesus Lake, saw the small town of Lakeville, and dropped in to our motel. After a quick snack and shedding luggage, Nancy decided she wanted to go for the circumnavigation. More riding is always good. East Lake Road had little traffic and had been recently repaved, so it was a nice cruise. Most of the lakefront is private property but there was some nice views from the rises.
The south end of the lake has a county park at the inlet, with an observation platform over the lake. The park is not very well developed, though, and we lost the overgrown trail, bushwacking through a wetland and getting assaulted by stinging nettles before turning back. We had a plan to stop by Vineyard View Winery on our way, so we didn’t have time to mess around.
West Side Road was a little busier but not too bad. The afternoon light against the east side of the lake made the views lovely. Getting up to the winery meant climbing a bit of a hill, but the setting was very nice. We did a tasting on the porch and snacked on a cheese plate, watching others come in to have distasteful-looking “wine slushies”.
We were nearly finished with our trip around the lake, except we hadn’t put our feet in the water. We found a public park in Livorna and rolled down to the lakeside. There aren’t any real lounging beaches, and we weren’t up for jumping off the dock, so we went down a boat ramp and soaked our tired feet (and our nettle-stung legs).
The town shuts down early on an off-season Sunday; we went back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes so we could run by the dive bar before the kitchen closed. Dinner, couple of Yuenglings, and we were ready to go get cleaned up and ready for our last day riding together.