Riding Bicycles Along the Historic Erie Canal Trail in Upstate New York With 10 Guys Was Fun, Challenging, Entertaining and Educational

What happens when 10 guys from disparate backgrounds decide to fly across country and ride bikes along a trail that follows the historic Eric Canal?

Normally, you would expect chaos to ensue. And, truth be told, there was some of that. But after seven or eight days of riding, as many nights in different hotels, motels and small towns, and nearly 400 miles bobbing along on rented bike saddles – sometimes on rough and uneven terrain – the end result of our little odyssey were broad smiles, any number of guffaws, historic lessons learned, new scenery and places taken in, old friendships reinforced and new ones forged, and fresh memories spawned.

As Charles Dickens once mused, “It was the best of times, (and) it was the worst of times.” For our gaggle of guys – all senior citizens, with an average age of 75 – it was mostly the best of times. Seven of us hailed from Bainbridge Island, two from nearby Whidbey Island, and one from the Chesapeake Bay area.

Why the Erie Canal? Our gang, comprised of a couple of ex-lawyers, a few scientists, a former non-profit executive, a successful businessman or two, a one-time restaurant owner, and a hackneyed journalist, all enjoy riding bikes and all, it appeared, had a curiosity about history, geography, and perhaps more to the point – remarkable engineering feats.

The 365-mile-long “Big Ditch” pretty much filled the bill. If you know your history, you will recall that at its completion in 1825, the Erie Canal was the single most important transportation link in the world. It allowed goods to be shipped on barges pulled by donkeys along a hand-dug waterway that stretched from Albany, N.Y. (now the state Capitol) to Buffalo, N.Y., and into Lake Erie – one of the Great Lakes.

The canal opened up trade between the East Coast and the Midwest and was seen as a pivotal turning point in helping to transform the United States from a mostly agrarian, neophyte nation into an emerging power broker on the world stage. What’s more, it turned New York City into a major port and New York State into a “preeminent” region for commerce, industry and finance. It also opened up western America for settlement and helped spread new ideas such as the abolition of slavery and women’s rights.

If you are of a certain age, or if you grew up in New York State like I did, you might recall the familiar song that most school kids learned back in the day:

“Low Bridge, everybody down, low bridge ‘cause we’re coming to a town. You always know your neighbor, you always know your pal, if you ever navigated on the Erie Canal.”

For a half dozen of our riders, the bike trip officially began with a first day ride to beautiful Niagara Falls, some 30 or so miles from downtown Buffalo, where the rest of us got started the next day. Niagara Falls is one of the wonders of the world, and our guys took it in from both the American and Canadian sides. I’ve been to Niagara Falls a couple of times before and, as a little kid, I remember almost falling in when a cigar dropped out of my dad’s breast pocket and flew over a railing, landing on a tuft of grass. I went in after it, but fortunately my dad grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and pulled me back to safety. Whew! Tragedy averted. Life continued!

Renting bikes is always an adventure, as several of us learned later in the ride. Some of our guys shipped their own bikes to Buffalo and road them on the trail. Six of us, however, rented pedal pusher bikes from a small Buffalo outfitter. You never know what you are going to get when you rent, especially on a multi-day trip like ours.

After some experimenting, adjusting seat heights, pedals, handlebars, helmets and other gear, the remaining four of us made our way out of Buffalo, up the Niagara River and in search of the Erie Canal. We found it, along with a nearby marker designating it one of the original sections of the waterway. Not too far down the trail we ran into the rest of our group near the town of Townawandas.

As we discovered, many of the small towns we passed through on our journey are named after either European settlers, Native American Tribes, Ancient Greek or Roman cities – Syracuse and Utica, come to mind– or some sort of geographic phenomenon, such as a place with many locks.

The city of Lockport – our first lunch spot – is a prime example of the latter. This small town, that is home to Niagara Falls State Park and one of many Erie Canal museums, derives its name from the locks that were built in 1825 to partially overcome the 70-foot difference in elevation as the canal crosses the so-called Niagara Escarpment. The latter is a massive geological formation of sedimentary rock cliffs running in a northern arc around Lake Huron and Lake Michigan to Wisconsin.

Niagara Falls, it turns out, is the result of the water spilling from Lake Erie over the escarpment to Lake Ontario. In Lockport, a set of five step locks were built to accommodate the massive transfer of water on the canal. Some of the original “Flight of Five” locks are still in place, working it appears alongside more modern ones.

That afternoon, we trundled along the canal – getting used to the path and our bikes – passing little burbs, expanses of farmland, and grazing cattle before ending up in Medina, and completing our first 50-plus-mile leg. This is an area recognized for its abundance of apples and grapes, as well as the sedimentary rock, known as Medina Sandstone.

Our historic, four-story hotel and nearby homes in the area were clearly built using this material, and, back in the day, we learned, the sandstone was shipped as far away as London, presumably for use in the construction of stately homes in and around the English capitol.

Riding can be both blissful and painful. You have to have the proper clothing, gear and accessories to feel comfortable pedaling 50 to 60 miles a day. It goes without saying that you need sunscreen, a windbreaker, comfortable shoes and reliable biking gloves. I cramped up a bit on the first day, so I made sure I had a sufficient amount of Gatorade and Nuun tablets in my water bottles to provide more electrolytes. People don’t talk about this too often, but Chamois cream, aka “butt butter,” is a must on consecutive day rides to keep your bottom from chaffing too much. It works!

Knowing that we were going ride nearly 400 miles in just over a week’s time, we wisely rented a small van in Buffalo that served as our sag wagon. Each morning, we would stuff our luggage in the back of the rig and hit the road. We always had a few guys who were willing to take a few miles off and drive to the next town. The approach worked very collegiately as everyone took a turn or two driving the van during the course of the ride.

On a ride this long, you sometimes find yourself “budding up” with another guy for miles on end, swapping stories and learning things about your friend, or maybe a new acquittance, that you didn’t know. Howie Frumkin, a fellow Bainbridge Islander and I, rode for many miles together one day and discovered the only road that passes under the Erie Canal. Not surprisingly, it’s listed in Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

Later, we veered off the trail, crossed a bridge over the canal and entered the town of Albion, which has an historic Courthouse, some remarkable brick-building architecture from yesteryear, and several beautifully crafted murals. When you look down Albion’s main drag, you’d swear it was 1860, if not for the parked cars along the avenue.

Our journey took us to many historic landmarks, bridges and canals, none more interesting perhaps than Seneca Falls, the home of the women suffrage movement of the 1840s. We took in the National Women’s Hall of Fame, which honors and celebrates the accomplishments of distinguished American woman and the nearby Women’s Rights National Historic Park. Seneca Falls, located in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State, where ice age glaciers carved out a handful of beautiful lakes, is also the place where many scenes from the historic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” (starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed) were filmed, although we never did spot Clearance Odbody, the guardian angel who protected George Bailey.

Back on the trail, we got rained on passing through my hometown of Syracuse – where, due to some extenuating circumstances – we were not able to spend much time. The next day we ventured to Rome and had lunch at a local cafe, where, initially, the waitress was a bit snarky having to serve 10 sweaty men, and thinking she’d have to make out 10 individual checks. But, alas, we assured her we had a banker, keeping tabs of expenses, and once she found out that she only had to write up one bill, she warmed up considerably.

During our trip, we discovered that most servers were good, hard-working people and could be great sources of local information. For example, across the street from our Rome restaurant, was Fort Stanwix National Monument, constructed on the nearby Mohawk River during the French and Indian War. It also played a key role in the Revolutionary War. Most of us toured the fort and listened to a number of talks from enactors, dressed in period clothing.

It was just prior to arriving in Rome that I lost the main shifter on my bike. I wasn’t the only one with bike issues. One guy had three flats along the way and eventually had to buy a new tire. Two other guys had two flats each. My problem required a replacement part, though. Fortunately, we found a bike shop in a nearby town, and I got the new part and the repair done in less than two hours, allowing me to ride into Utica and meet the rest of the crew at our hotel.

The next day we set out on our longest jaunt of the trip – a 65-mile ride from Utica to the little town of Amsterdam. Our quarters here turned out to be a big surprise. The hotel was called the Amsterdam Castle and was one very impressive edifice.

The castle was constructed, according to its website, by a prolific architect and builder named Isaac Perry, who was born 1827. But the historic building dates back to 1736, where a magnificent mansion once stood in its place in. Besides the Castle, Perry also designed the famous Capitol Building in Albany, among many other notable structures in the Empire State.

The inside of the building, which at one time served as an armory, resembled a European fortress, with Coats of Arms of hanging from rafters, knights in armor lining the hallways, beautiful paintings attached to the walls, plus a long-narrow dining room decked out with white linen tables, that were festooned with gold-covered plates and accompanied by leather-bound chairs and booths. It was quite impressive for a bunch of hungry guys, just winding up a long day’s ride. “Are we going to eat here,” someone asked. No, it turns out. The dining hall was off-limits to guests.

The next day – our last on the trail – we cruised into Albany, where we stayed in a comfortable downtown hotel. The following day some of us took a historic bike tour of the State Capitol, while others walked around and took in the sights on foot. Later that morning, Mike Cox and I drove our rental vehicle, along with six bikes, back to Buffalo, a five-plus-hour drive, while the rest of the guys flew back home on different flights out of Albany. We Buffalo guys ended up leaving early the next day on flights heading for Seattle.

The ride was distinguished by many things: historic places, interesting restaurants and hotels, a few bumps and bruises, good and bad weather (mostly good, considering the time of year), and a number of running jokes and commentary. None of us, it turns out, are overly religious, but one question posed at the beginning of our journey by a fellow rider who few of us knew initially, got us thinking, “What’s your relationship with God?”

He used it as an icebreaker, but we’re all still scratching our heads over that one. What is my relationship with God? And, as it turns out, it happened around the time a new Pope was named, who happens to be an American! Coincidence. Hmm. Ok, moving on, does anyone know any good Sven and Olga jokes?

Riders: Andy Maron, Mike Cox, Steve Johnson, Kevin Dwyer, Rob Crichton, Ron Sher, Steve Romein, Ed Maibach, Howie Frumkin, and Marty Fernandez. Some information obtained from the book, “Cycling the Erie Canal.” Pictures Kevin Dwyer, Andy Maron, Rob Crichton, and Howie Frumkin. For more information, visit:Erie Canal Bike Trail

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