The New York Parks and Conservation Association sponsored Cycling the Erie Canal, August 13-20. It's about 400 miles from Buffalo to Albany along the Erie Canal. The ride is along trails where they exist (about 200 miles worth), otherwise on roads. The trails often follow the towpath of the original or widened canal.

One of the things you learn on this ride is some canal history. The original canal was started in 1817 and opened in 1825, so this ride marked the 175th anniversary of the canal. One of the strongest proponents of the canal was Dewitt Clinton, the governor of New York and the original canal is often refered to as "Clinton's Ditch." Boats were pulled along the canal by mule teams. The canal was a huge success -- among other things, growing New York City to the largest port in the United States from the fifth largest before the canal was opened. After a while the canal was widened (with some minor route changes). The widened canal was in operation by the 1850's. Boats were still drawn by mules so there was still a towpath. The widened canal is often called just the "Erie Canal," or sometimes the "widened Erie Canal." Later on the canal was widened again, this time with considerable route changes - making use of rivers, and with no towpath since mules were no longer needed. This canal came into operation just after the turn of the century and is still in use (pleasure boats) today. It's called the "Erie Barge Canal." I hope I got that straight. If not, I'm sure someone will let me know!

Back to the tour. Registration was on Saturday, August 12, and if you arrived early enough, you could cycle a loop to Niagara Falls and back. Jane and I drove from Lawrenceville to Buffalo on Friday the 11th, stayed in the Hyatt Friday night and went to the Waterfront Elementary School early Saturday morning. I cycled and Jane followed the tour with the van and our camping equipment. After completing the tour, we left Albany at about 1:45 on Sunday, August 20th and arrived home that afternoon. About 200 other cyclists rode in the tour. There were about a half dozen folks driving along the tour like Jane. In addition, the tour -- a fund raiser for the Parks and Conservation Association -- was supported by many volunteers across the state. People that were with us the whole way were Rich, the executive director of the Association; Suzanne, tour director; Jannell, assistant tour director; Jay, luggage truck driver; Rick, rest stop czar; and Patrick, bike mechanic.

We had amazingly good weather. It never rained during ride time the whole 9 days. Day 3 was hot, but most days were cool to moderate. There was a severe thunderstorm during our overnight at Seneca Falls. We all took down our tents and spent the night inside the Mynderse Academy buildings.

The condition of the trail ranged from very nice smooth asphalt to almost unrideable -- roots, ruts, and loose gravel.

Although it was great to do the riding and learn about the canal, the best part of the tour was seeing old friends, meeting new people, and the camaraderie that developed during the tour.

This table gives a summary of the tour. The mileages are what I read from my odometer at the end of each day. These might be more or less than the official mileages because I got lost, went on a side tour, took a shortcut, or whatever.

The links in the table are to each day's photo album. A single photo album for all nine days is here, but it may take a while to download as it contains 206 thumbnails. (The links from the full size photos go back to the daily albums, not the master album.)

I'm sure I've made many errors and there are many names I never learned or didn't write down before I forgot. So, if you have a correction, or know some names (especially if you see yourself in a photo), please email me at groth@pupgg.princeton.edu. Thanks!

So far, I know of one other web photo album of the ride. This link will take you to Mike's home page where his album is a click away (added 19-Sep-2000).