Day 7: Amsterdam to Albany, NY

Our last day, 41 miles to Albany with a scenic visit to the Cohoes Falls before grinding through the afternoon warmth into Albany.  
 Sunday morning view of the great hall in the Amsterdam Castle as we checked out and all of our bikes lined up and ready to be mounted and ridden to Albany. 


Our breakfast stop at the Hungry Chicken about 11 miles down the trail.  It was an eclectic shack with great, fresh made food conveniently right off the trail. 

Riding through the mean streets of Schenectady!

2nd only to Niagara Falls as the biggest east of the Rockies is Cohoes Falls on the Hudson River. 

The afternoon was warm and sunny and we needed a bathroom and cool treats get us through the last 10 miles to Albany. 

Annette leading the way to meet up with Len along the trail. 

Shortly after 2:30 we arrived in Albany, the end of our bike tour, 7 days and 371 miles later.  It’s been a great trip, great friends, great weather and great memories to come.  

Day 6: Herkimer to Amsterdam, NY

Another glorious day of 51 miles to The Castle at Amsterdam, traveling almost 100% on nicely paved or crushed rock trail. 

We road into cool and misty weather this morning and for quite a while until the late summer sun burned it off and then into clear and calm blue skies the rest of the day. 

The Tunnel of Fun…. 

Mid-morning we pulled off to explore the historic estate and monument to Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer.  On August 6, 1777 he led 800 militiamen and 60 Onieda warriors at the Battle of Oriskany against the British. Considered a turning point for America during the Revolutionary War, Herkimer was injured in his leg and died of his wounds 10 days later.  Too bad, he left a nice place behind. 

Living a “high on the hog” lifestyle in NY. 

Around noon Cindy Maybie (say her name out loud-Maybe she’s Cindy, Maybe she’s not) explains that we are experiencing the 3rd annual Canajoharie Street Festival!  She also told us that once upon a time Canajoharie was a thriving town of 10,000 when the Lifesaver and Beechnut factories were here. Since they left, the town has shrunk and is struggling.  Now, festivals like this are a way to breath new life and interest in the area.  

We breathed new life into our belly’s with  locally grown hog to sausage and pepper sandwiches from the festival. 

And of course we sat and talked…..

…and slept.  Sometimes the best part of cross country riding is not riding, like taking a nap on green grass under the shade of a nice tree.  

After soaking baths and showers we finished off our Youengling’s in the sitting room of our castle, and had an excellent al fresco dinner at Lorenzo’s, a few blocks away.  

And yes, this is the Amsterdam Castle Hotel where we stayed for the night. It was built in the 1720’s as a mansion and converted to a hotel in the 1830’s.  It was lodging whiplash compared to our Red Roof Inns and Days Inn accommodations from rhe last week!!

Day 5: Canastota to Herkimer, NY

Another nice day to ride; sunny, still winds, cool in the AM, and warm in the PM so that the beer tastes so darn good going down at the end of the ride. 55 miles today and NO flats!!

Len captures our fresh and eager faces all suited up and ready to move eastward into the morning sun shortly after 8. Good bye Days Inn!  


The trail was pretty good to us today; good asphalt or crushed limestone with maybe the last 5 miles into Herkimer on a 2-lane back road.  

Our goal today was to try to get done earlier so we road steadily for the first 20 miles into Rome for “elevensies”, then continue steadily on our bikes until a nice lunch stop in Utica and then get the last 15 miles done before 3. That was our plan at least.  There’s nothing that compares to dining on the curb at the Quicky Mart!

Of course we had to stop to take a picture of this big boy along the trail. 

This was a sign we were almost ready for lunch in Utica at the Dennys, 40 miles done by noonish!

All checked in before 3 at the Red Roof in Herkimer, Len treats us to ice cold Youenglings on the motel grounds after our showers.  Not a frown in sight!

We found the “long way” to a nearby Mexican Restaurant with “Two for One” Jumbo margaritas.  What could go wrong?!  We waddled home to our rooms and fell quickly to sleep, except for me writing this blog!!! 

Day 4: Weedsport to Conanstota, NY

A beautiful warm and sunny early autumn day along the Erie Canal for 52 miles, 8am departure and 4pm arrival at the Conanstota Days Inn. 

Some people like regular BM’s in the morning; Donna appears to enjoy her morning flats!!  At first I thought she just wanted to get me in her “honeymoon suite” at the Red Roof Inn and into her jacuzzi tub but alas, it was just to fix her flat.  However, this time I found the teeny, tiny little thorn embedded in the tire that was the likely cause of her flat yesterday morning.  A new tube and we were on our way without delay.  Will tomorrow be another “regular” morning??

The ladies are beaming in the NY morning sun.  

And there was a little mud on the trail, but mostly in great shape. 

Today, our 4th day, we passed the midway point of the Erie Canal trail, 175 miles behind us and 175 more to go.  Lisa runs the Erie Canal Museum there and gave us the 411 on the trail and key things to look forward too. She also told us that some cyclist aren’t considerate…we tried to act surprised.  

Mark uses his ample selfie skills to capture the Erie Aquaduct over another stream.  If you have this displayed on a 65” TV you can see Angela and Annette smiling up on the aqueduct. 

We had some exciting moments navigating through downtown Syracuse but after the busiest area we found respite at Cafe Blue for lunch.  

This picture is noteworthy because it was taken by Mark and forwarded to me. When I asked him of its significance, he said he took it the fourth time Donna passed him yesterday.  That Donna is a cycling machine!!

The significance of this picture is Mark’s butt is hurting and he’s experimenting with seat modifications.  It is futile but we can’t tell new riders this.  We did recommend A&D ointment (available where baby diaper rash products are sold) to help with the discomfort and healing.  The scars will make the man!

A nice pub dinner and drinks at the Three Pines Restaurant and we walked back the half mile to finish our laundry at the motel and get some rest for another day tomorrow.  

Day 3: Pittsford to Weedsport

A long 63 mile day to Weedsport from Pittsford, full of sunny skies and surprises. 

Our first surprise was Ms. Donna’s flat rear tire at 7:30 this morning.  So much for our earlier start to get ahead of our longest day of the ride.  Mark, Len and Terry are quick to answer the call in the lobby of the Hilton Garden Inn, right in front of the elevators.  



Oh, and then Len had another flat mid-morning. Len’s bike is starting to make a habit of this.  


We finally got to see some actual locks on the Erie in operation, in this case a small motor boat is heading down stream from Lock 30.  At this point the water has almost lowered to the downstream level.

The trail was a mix of everything today; asphalt, crushed limestone, mud, grass, dirt, rocks and 15 miles of highway NY31 into Weedsport. 

We weren’t the only ones out enjoying a day along the Erie.  

After Len’s flat this AM we all supported him on his decision to try to remove this flat tire curse he has experienced by replacing worn out tires with new ones.  We enjoy a “picnic” on the deck of e315 Electric Bikes while the upgrade takes place.  The food was curtesy of the Crosby’s gas station next door in Newton.  The advantage of our early 7:30am start is being quickly diminished by our mechanical issues.  

The Welcome Wagon culture is clearly strong near Galen, NY.  The whole neighborhood of trailer homes equally embraced Erie Canal travelers.  

Oh, and there was one more flat on Len’s rear wheel even after new tires and tubes were installed!  The curse continues.  

Only 4 miles outside of Weedsport the warm, long day demanded ice cream be ingested. 

Finally arriving in Weedsport at 5:30, a tasty dinner was had at CJ’s after some quick showers.  Most of us were in bed by 9am, dreaming of a smoother day tomorrow.