Stop to Smell the Cheese in Cuba

The locks along the Erie Canal have free camping.  This was at Lock 30 in Macedon.

Yesterday I went off script and turned south at Rochester.  It looked like there was a longish canal trail, and I've been spoiled by the shade you get on the narrow trails.  The NY state routes usually have wide shoulders, but the sun and semi-trucks get stressful.  The Genesee Valley Greenway runs along the remains of the oddest transportation project I could imagine.  A canal that climbs 980 feet and at one point hugs a sheer cliff.  At the time, a canal was that much better than rutted roads and horse wagons for moving cargo.

Let's build a canal that goes up 980 feet and through a gorge.

The greenway was relaxing, but physically more strenuous due to the trail surface, sometimes just a grassy path.  The going was slow for my ~75 miles of riding and it was evening before I reached Letchworth State Park.  It was worth the trip.  The Grand Canyon of the East, belied by the tall layered cliffs.   I came into the park via a rough and rocky gravel road, and found water, bathrooms (with showers!), and cabins.  The park office and tent camping was nowhere to be seen, so I cleaned up with a shower and followed the Greenway to it's terminus overlooking a massive waterfall.  One of the best camp spots yet.

I'm a sucker for stencils.

Bridge out.  Scramble!

Cliffs.  This is the canal route.

Small waterfall - View from Camp

Massive waterfall - View from Camp

Cuba, NY is known for cheese.  That’s what the sign at the edge of town said.  I stopped here for lunch and will of course be stopping in at the cheese museum and store on the way out.  No photos or cheese reviews yet, but soon.

And a couple more thoughts about BiCi Co.   These thoughts are about how transportation choices and patterns are set young.  If a youth is bombarded with car commercials and social messaging that the only way to show you’ve made it is to buy a shiny car, and there aren’t any other messages, what do you think the outcome is?  When that young adult follows the “consumer American Dream” and buys a cookie cutter home in the suburbs 20 miles from work, they’ve effectively killed off any alternative, sustainable transportation options.

The program we ran this summer spent time investigating the economics of transportation.  For a low income city, the economics really matter.  We talked about extractive, versus local, industries and economies.  Walking, biking, and transit result in more local shopping, more disposable income, and less money thrown out of state via gasoline and automotive costs.  CT Transit and CT Rides came in for an afternoon session on public transit and transportation options.   BiCi Co. won’t have polished multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, but it will provide the hands on exercises and discussions that question the otherwise assumed transportation answers.  These activities will make a difference, both for these young adults and for our city.

Read more!

Got Lost.

First – Did you “Like” the Center for Latino Progress Facebook page?  Please do.  That’s where we’ll make announcements about BiCi Co. and the upcoming

Second – If you missed Day 1, here’s the link.  I’m probably not going to keep this up every day, but it looks like a t-storm is coming so I ducked into a coffee shop.

Morning stop.  This village as where President Van Buren was born.

There isn’t much better than a hot shower while on tour.  I caught one of these gems at Copake Falls and combined it with laundering the prior day clothes.  To minimize weight you only bring a 2-3 changes of clothes and you wash / dry the ones you aren’t wearing, alternating days.  Another secret to bike touring (in developed areas) is to under pack.  I conveniently forgot several things - soap, contact solution, chain lube - and I didn't miss them for the first two hilly days.  I'll grab them today and have them on hand for the flatter days.

Excellent graffiti art under a bridge just outside of Albany.

Minimizing weight is of significant importance for a long distance bike tour, particularly when you take a wrong turn and go up Texas Hill.  The sign was rotated 90 degrees and up I went.  Fortunately it was only a slight, beautiful detour and I was able to hook back up to my cue sheet.   I’m an expert at getting lost.  You can ask Joel Gillespie or Valerie Sivicek.  My internal compass is faulty, particularly when the sun goes away.  Combine that with a love for trails and dirt roads and that’s a recipe for lost.  The secret to being frequently lost is to embrace the adventure and the unexpected experiences that lost brings you.

This is where I should have known things weren't right.

Yesterday I was making good progress on the Hudson River Trail heading north on my way to Schenectady.   It was rough going for a bit.  There was a bridge out and the trail was overgrown and closed in for a half mile.  And then it got better.  I was about to start looking for camp when the trail ended.  After checking the GPS, I realized that I had gone five miles north of my route on another multi-use path.  It was a nice path, but heading to Canada wasn’t the plan.  A couple of major hill climbs and my detour returned me to the Erie Canal path.  Losing light, I chose a wooded hilltop camp just short of a water treatment plant – upwind.

Day Two Synopsis – From the Taconic Valley to somewhere on the Erie Canal Path between Albany and Schenectady.  Not bad.  Another hot day, but most of the massive hills are behind me in Day One.  Just rollers today, and once I’m on the Erie Canal it’s flat until I turn South just short of Buffalo  

Storms are coming!  I heart t-storms!

New York puts these huge shoulders on state routes.  Great for cycling, even on busy roads.

I heart long bridges, and diminishing viewpoints. 

I drank a 1/2 gallon of raw milk today.  Healthy! 

Cute church, now town offices.

Erie Canal Path!

New York is kinda long

Read more!

It Begins – Hartford to the Taconic Valley

Update - For those looking to follow BiCi Co., there is a Facebook group to Like and Share.  The Fall Build-a-Bike / Earn-a-Bike program is starting October 6th, and the membership campaign for the teaching bike shop will be unveiled shortly.

Some bulls at one of those angsty CT prep schools.

There is a Cherolis reunion on September 5^th in Santa Claus, Indiana.  I haven’t seen the family in a while and I decided to make the trek – by bicycle.  A bit absurd, I know.  Many reasonable persons have asked, “Why?  Wouldn’t flying make more sense?”   Of course flying would be faster, but it wouldn’t fulfill the triangular route bike tour I’d been building in my head.  Here’s the overall outline for those with a short attention span.  It came to me in a dream.

• Hartford, CT to Albany, and West across New York on the Erie Canal path.  
• Then down into Ohio and Indiana to visit family.  
• After the reunion, turn east and follow the Ohio River valley all the way to West Virginia.  
• North to Pittsburgh and a relaxing 340 miles on the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal into Washington DC - no cars!  
• Turn north and follow the East Coast Greenway all the way back to Hartford.  

The highlight of the first day riding northwest out of Connecticut was stumbling across the John Brown birthplace.  After reading a book on his life, Man on Fire, I have found his approach to injustice admirable.  I you don’t know who he is, you may remember a sidelight from a US history course long ago – Harper’s Ferry.  John Brown’s culminating project was a takeover of the armory and the spark for a massive and growing slave revolution.  Unfortunately, the raid was a bust and the revolution never happened.  But the raid put the South on notice and sparked the debate on abolishing the evil institution.  Unlike many of the established Northern business interests, many directly profiting from the slave fueled agricultural and textile industries, John Brown called it as it was and wasn’t afraid to make a mess getting his point across.  

John Brown's birthplace!

Another thing one finds while traveling, particularly if one likes to hang out along rail tracks and under bridges, is graffiti.  While checking out the Farmington River I noticed some of the worst “angsty” graffiti I’ve ever seen.  Suburban Connecticut graffiti art often leaves much to be desired.  I think it may be that the best art comes from struggle and hardship.  Existential crises don't count as struggle.  Not much struggle in the suburbs, and more than is deserved in our cities.  

Craptastic Suburban Graffiti

It was a hot and hilly day and at one point I collapsed under a tree until my core temperature became manageable.  Ending in the beautiful Taconic Valley was a treat.  The view from my stealth camp at the edge of a field was … well.  You can see for yourself.   If you're familiar with stealth camping, its difficult to combine a view with the stealthiness required to not get rousted

Stealth camp with a view.  

Riding with Purpose – Rather than riding for my lonesome self, this ride is dedicated to the BiCi Co. teaching, bike shop that is starting at the Center for Latino Progress.  If you’re a cyclist, you know the magic of a bicycle.  Bicycles are key in urban areas for cost effective mobility and jobs access.  The youth and teens in Hartford already ride, but they deserve working brakes, helmets, lights, and a place to fix their bicycles.   Hartford’s last bike shop closed last year, and it’s time to bring this resource back to the community.  The shop will have a membership component for those looking to repair their own bicycles.

The BiCi Co. program starts with a youth program.  The teens will be learning about bike safety, handling, and mechanics, and sundry other bicycle and transportation related topics.  It's amazing that our Hartford youth don't realize that the Columbia bicycle was the most common in the world in the 1890's.  The teens will Build-a-Bike for a local charitable cause, and by doing so Earn-a-Bike for themselves.  Stay tuned for the crowd funding and membership campaign.  In the meantime you can check out photos of the Summer Youth BiCi Co. program on the Center’s Facebook page (Like it!).  We built up the 1st floor bike shop for the summer program and want to continue that program in both the Fall and the Spring - but we need financial and volunteer support.

Where Rt 44 crosses over into New York

Read more!

Traveling Man, Voluntarily Homeless

Starting next week I'm going to kick off an approximately six week bike tour from Hartford, CT to Southern Indiana and back.  It will be a wandering route.  Looks like about 2,500 miles if I don't get lost.  I always get lost.

• Outbound First Leg - https://goo.gl/maps/lmwTn (490 miles)
• [First Leg - Scary Hilly Option - https://goo.gl/maps/gW4QU (422 miles)]
• Outbound Second Leg - https://goo.gl/maps/X8Ifw (701 miles)
• Return Trip - https://goo.gl/maps/Ci1Gr (1,363 miles)

See below for a list of cities along the way.  Know anyone who can put me up - send me a note?  Or anyone that would like to have a meal with an odd bike tourist.  I'll be doing a lot of camping, but it's nice every couple of days to have a shower and a meal with friends (potentially new ones).  Will also be using WarmShowers.org for hosts, but friends of friends are best!  Bike tours are fluid and changing, so hosting days move around.  Typically I try to confirm (or reschedule) the day before if someone has offered to host.

• *Starting - Hartford, CT on August 18th or 19th*
• Schenectady / Albany, NY - Jumping on the Erie Canal Bike Trail
• Rome, NY
• Syracuse, NY
• Rochester, NY
• Port Byron, NY
• Brockport, NY - Leaving the Erie Canal and heading into the mountains
• Youngstown, OH 
• Akron, OH
• Columbus, OH
• French Lick, IN (really!)
• Cincinnati, OH
• All along the OH River in Southern OH
• Marietta, OH
• Wheeling, WV (Hills - OUCH!)
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Along the Great Allegheny Passage​ (my favorite segment ever!)
• Along the C&O Canal
• Washington DC - Starting East Coast Greenway Route
• Baltimore, MD - East Coast Greenway
• Wilmington, DE - East Coast Greenway
• Philadelphia, PA - East Coast Greenway
• Newark, NJ - East Coast Greenway
• Long Island, NY
• *Ending - Back in Hartford, CT.  Before Oct 4th.*
• [Or anywhere in between - I'll be passing through a lot of cities.]

So excited!  I've been playfully thinking about this tour for a couple of years, and now the rubber hits the road. You can follow my progress on the Beat Bike Blog.  Read more!