Day 86 Brewerton, NY

August 10, 2018

We had a great ride today after we finished our retrace of the Erie Canalway. The day started with a little glitch. We left the hotel and rode DOWN a long hill on the way to the trail, according to Ride With GPS. At the bottom of the hill was this:

Being not at all inclined to ride back UP that hill, we decided to try a paved trail off to the right. It seemed to be going in the correct direction. After a very short distance, we came to this:

Having no more paved options, the captains pushed the bikes up the grassy hill to the road and we started over at the hotel. This time, we found a road route which led us right to the trail. The trail turned out to be terrible - very rough and rocky. Team A was wise enough to go back to the road, but Kerry can't admit defeat on a trail. We rode that nasty mess for probably a mile with me scared we were going to fall the whole time and Kerry trying to tell me we were perfectly safe and not to be afraid. We finally got back to a paved road, which led to paved trail, which led to unpaved, but smooth and well graded trail. About twelve miles into the route, we were able to leave the Erie Canalway behind for good and enjoy smooth pavement on wide shoulders the rest of the day.

The Erie Canalway has some excellent sections for cycling and many interesting historical sights, but it is not easy to ride from end to end. The state of New York, I think, way over promotes it as a destination trail.

After saying goodbye to the trail, we rode along the south shore of Oneida Lake to the little town of Brewerton. This part of the ride was fun with some views of the lake and lots of marinas, stores and restaurants for summer visitors. The only other picture I took today was of this front yard. There was no sign, so they have an unadvertised bicycle business or a whole lot of cyclists in the family!

Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 3,927 miles (6,320 km)

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