Day 45--Henrietta NY to Liverpool NY--August 4th

Miles Ridden 95.4
Avg. Speed 16.8
Climbing 1600 Ft.
Total Miles Ridden 3240
Miles To Go 389

Today's long  leg from the Rochester suburbs to the Syracuse suburbs with a forecasted high near 90 degrees didn't generate a lot of pre-ride enthusiasm from the group who were expecting another heavy dose of farm scenes.  Everyone was pleasantly surprised by the route that took us on bike trails along the Erie Canal for most of the first thirty miles (even more than the 15 miles of the song) and then paralleled the canal and the New York Thruway on Route 31 for most of the rest of the day.

From just outside Henrietta, the well-maintained gravel bike path went through quiet, empty stretches of water and several small towns. The Erie Canal in this area is a widened, modernized version that used to be known as the Erie Barge Canal, not the narrow, old Erie Canal that can still be seen in some places. There were many large pleasure boats and canal boats at anchor along the route and a number of operating locks. The town of Pittsford has done a really of  nice job of restoring old buildings and building some tasteful  new ones along the canal. 

 The canal bike trail ended for us at Palmyra which is famous as the location  of the founding of the Mormon faith. The Erie Canal bike path was one of the best I have ridden on and is certainly worth a visit for the scenery and history.

The rest of the ride generally followed the path of the canal so we had only a few hills which was a good thing as temperatures rose into the upper eighties.  It was difficult to take in enough fluids to avoid dehydration. By my estimates I drank about four gallons of water and Gatorade today. I'm glad we missed the really hot weather of a few weeks ago.

My friends from Oneida, Carol and Charly Cleary, drove up to take me to dinner at the famous Dinosaur Bar-B-Que  in Syracuse. My roommate, Mark came along and we both finished off a full rack of great ribs, all the extra stuff and pie for dessert.

Tomorrow we continue along the path of the Erie Canal through Canastota, Oneida and Utica on the way to Little Falls. My parents are coming up from Hamilton to take me for dinner. It will be great to see them.

The Remains of an Old Railroad Trestle Along the Canal

The Erie Canal near Pittsford

Part of the Canal Near Palmyra

I judged I had the best salt stains on my shorts today. It was very difficult to drink enough in the high humidity.

My long-time friends Carol and Charly Cleary took Mark and I to the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse

The Justifiably Famous Dinosaur Bar-B-Que