Day 2 involved a lot of dodging rain squalls. I modified my original route to cut out the gravel sections through the East Bay that would all be sticky mud. The road riding was mostly pleasant except for the wind on the bridge, and through a combination of planning and luck I managed to avoid riding in the rain.
Day 2: Sibley to Samuel P. Taylor Read More »
This was going to be a short day, just 25km up the hill to Sibley Backpack Camp. It was quite windy and threatening rain, so I decided to take the more wooded Butters&Burdeck route up the hills, picked up dinner at Skyline Community Market, and hunkered down before the rain came in.
Day 1: Sibley Backpack Camp Read More »
From my trip last year I had a few ideas for equipment and technique tweaks for bikepacking. I’d also discovered a local camping option (Sibley Backpack Camp) I hadn’t known about, and combined with the bike/hike site at Samuel P. Taylor, that seemed like an opportunity for a quick local adventure. While I was planning that trip, a friend who couldn’t make the first two nights suggested a third night at Anthony Chabot Family Campground. Great idea!
Introduction: Local four-day bikepack Read More »
I always embrace the chance to have a different kind of cycling experience, and the three phases of this trip gave me a number of opportunities.
Upstate New York: Conclusion Read More »
The plan was for a relatively short day. After breaking camp, I decided to check out the park’s mountain biking trails; with the full touring rig it was a little spicy. The ride was mostly flat or downhill from here, not so much of the rolling terrain I’d spent the last few days coming through. I’d drop 200 meters over the course of the day.
Day 13: Sprague Brook Park to Buffalo Read More »
The morning would be riding through Letchworth State Park, known as the Grand Canyon of the East; probably overstating the case, but it’s pretty comparable to Big Bend and some of the other features of the Southwest. Really quite impressive granitic river bends with autumnal trees.
Day 12: Letchworth State Park to Sprague Brook Park Read More »
Because I had chosen to camp two nights at Keuka, today’s day would be the longest on the trip. The route I’d sketched out came to 105km, but the last few days had shown me to check the terrain before I finalized the plan for the day. A couple of the straight-line roads looked like they went straight up steep ridges; I’d probably be better off doing some more distance and skirting some of the drumlins.
Day 11: Keuka Lake to Letchworth State Park Read More »
Route research had identified Keuka Lake as the nicest lake to circumnavigate; today’s route plan was just to go around it. The weather had other ideas.
Day 10: Keuka Lake Read More »
From Ithaca I’d be gradually making my way back to Buffalo through the Finger Lakes region. That meant cutting across the glaciated landscape, which in turn meant a lot more climbing than I’d been doing so far. Today’s route would start with 500m of climbing, some of it steep. The weather was lovely, so with some rest and recuperation behind us, we were in for a great day.
Day 9: Ithaca to Keuka Lake Read More »
I was now over a week on the road and in desperate need of laundry and a chill-out day, so John was going to show me around Ithaca a bit. Ithaca is Gorges, as you may have heard, and there are interesting waterfalls all over the place. We visited the campus and Moosewood Restaurant.
Day 8: Around Ithaca Read More »