June 7, 2024
Day 1 - Buffalo to Lockport
Biking the Erie Canal
This is the story of our 360 mile bicycling trip of the Erie Canal. We completed the trip in June 2024 over 6 days of fairly leisurely riding.
I'm posting day 1 today January 10 and will post additional days later this month.
The Journey Begins
Our flight, from Phoenix to Buffalo connecting through Charlotte was uneventful. The first leg was on a red-eye and we both managed to get a couple hours sleep. We were in Buffalo and we were on our rented bikes before noon.
Mile 0 (zero) of our trip began in downtown Buffalo along the banks of Lake Erie. The weather looked a bit questionable, but we were excited to begin our ride.
No canal... but there's a river!
In Buffalo the canal has for the most part has long since been covered up. We took this photo at a small section of the canal that was preserved, but as time passed, Lake Erie and the Niagara River replaced the canal as the water way of choice due to the advent of motorized boats and barges.
During the first few miles, we rode on a few city streets before connecting with a dedicated bike route. All in all, we were just happy to be stretching our legs as we got used used to our bikes. We had some good views of the river in between the occasional buildings and stand of incredibly green trees. Wow... they must get a lot of rain in Buffalo to create so much greenery.
You call this a storm?
The first rain storm we encountered was about an hour into our ride. It wasn't unexpected and being the beginning of our ride, we just rolled with it hiding under a stand of trees while we put on our rain gear. Luckily the rain was short-lived.
We continued following the Niagara River knowing if we went too far, we could be riding our bikes over an epic waterfall. All we had to do was remember to make the right turn in the town of Tonawanda, 16 miles from our starting point.
The riding was great in this section as we had great views of the river... and the approaching storm. We needed a port in the storm and that port was Mississippi Mudds, a cool restaurant offering for burgers, fries, ice cream, wings (We are near Buffalo)... and a view of the Niagara River. Why it's not called Niagara Mudds is beyond me.
We barely had our bikes parked before the rain came. (Lucky break #1)
We ride again!
We were all fueled up after lunch when we wondered if we'd be riding the rest of the day in the rain. The sky was threatening but there was barely a drizzle as we departed Mississippi Mudds. Fortunately, we started riding at just the right time to avoid the heaviest of the rain.
The small town of Tonawanda was a cool spot with great scenery including a few cool bridges. This was also the spot where we started following the Erie Canal.
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Dodging the rain to Uncle G's
The next 12 miles loosely followed the Erie Canal with occasional road riding sections. Most of these roads were not busy and felt safe with a nice shoulder in most areas. Like other sections of the trip, we wouldn't be able to ride adjacent to the canal as the tow path was what appeared to be either overgrown, non-existent or dotted with private land. None of this took away from the journey however.
Speaking of the journey, Doug and I both love to leave a lot to chance and take things as they come. A good way to approach this is to leave room for the unexpected, as that's where the magic happens.
A small dose of magic was coming upon Uncle G's Ice Cream shop in Pendleton NY, settled in 1821. It wasn't magical just because of the epic ice cream flavors in a historic building. But as luck would have it the rains came again and we were able to hang out on a covered porch eating ice cream. Sometimes these little moments are the most memorable. Life is good.
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Exploring Lockport
It was about 7 miles of easy riding from Uncle G's to Lockport, where we'd spend our first night on the trail. We checked into our hotel and since we didn't get enough exercise, we walked about 2 miles into town for dinner followed by a little exploration of the locks.
Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 35 miles (56 km)
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