"Syracuse to Utica" written by Joe on estrip.org

Category: bikes

08/02/20 05:32 - ID#60816

Syracuse to Utica

Next morning was a late start with a long climb out of Syracuse. It was another very hot day.

Right on the edge of Syracuse there's a state park called Green Lake. Due to the minerals in it, it's a brilliant blue color. I would have loved to swim in it but it was a roped-off lifeguard situation, and was packed with families. Maybe another time.

Breakfast in Canastota. We were able to find a place that had a tofu scramble. I thought it would be hard to find vegan food in rural New York but it was not. The place was called "The Toast" and it was great. Unfortunately writing this in November it appears to have closed.

Right east of there was Oneida, New York. Next time I would like to see it because it basically was a utopian cult turned company turned town. Very interesting.

(e:terry) was getting beat by the heat. He was a little cranky by the time we got to Rome around 3pm. I convinced him we would go to Utica and stay in a hotel.

In Utica we ate at Zenia's Lebanese restaurant. It was so good.

We stayed at the Rosemont bed and breakfast. The building was a classy Victorian house.

I had never stayed in an actual bnb before, so I didn't know what to expect. The woman at the desk took our preferences for breakfast the next morning, had a whole list of recommendations of what to do etc. It was very nice. I think we stayed in the "Wine and Roses" room, lol.

Sheep getting ready for bed.

Utica obviously had seen some much better days but there was some remnants of some nice houses and architecture. The neighborhood around the hotel had brick houses nicer than Allentown, but a lot of vacant lots. Aroud the corner was a beer store, while I waited for Terry outside I saw a ton of drug deals.

Permalink: Syracuse_to_Utica.html
Words: 352
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/22/20 06:01

Category: bikes

08/02/20 05:29 - ID#60815

Macedon to Syracuse

Out of Macedon we decided to make our next destination Syracuse.

A lot of the canal was missing in this segment as the NYS Barge canal had replaced a lot of the old Erie Canal. So what remained was more of a swampy brush.

Obligatory stop for snacks in the town of Clyde, NY. It had a nice little square and also a cafe with snacks and coffee.

Out of Clyde continuing east, there was a bit of road riding with striped bike lanes. I didn't mind it since traffic was light but on a 90 degree day it was scorching in the sun. I also got stung by a bee for the first time in my life. It flew right into my shirt. Surprisingly didn't hurt that bad.

The next stop was a strange town called Weedsport. Twixxie and Ernie wanted to see the Teddy Mountain plushie store. Terry and I ate some Weedsport ice. The cucumber flavor was the most fucking delicious ice I have ever had.

Contiuing on into Syracuse which is suprisingly hilly. After such a hot day and a general need to wash our shorts, we checked into a temple turned hotel called Hotel Skyler. The rooms were very nice and the hotel clerk had locked our bikes in one of the rooms. They also had halved capacity for COVID.

Downtown Syracuse was actually put together. I think they urban renewaled less than Buffalo in their core. Armory Square had a lot of shops and restaurants, and of course a vegetarian friendly burrito place.

What is he covering?

Syracuse does have a monument to Columbus downtown, with Native American heads attached to all the corners. WTF?

Permalink: Macedon_to_Syracuse.html
Words: 316
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/22/20 05:42

Category: bikes

08/02/20 05:23 - ID#60814

Albion to Macedon

The place we stayed in Albion was not the best, because even though it was a tiny town and we were staying somewhat outside of it, it was summer and people continued to use the bike path at night, including screaming children.

So we got up pretty early and rode on to Holley in a drizzle. I am glad we didn't reach Holley Town Park the night before, because they banned cyclists camping or showering there (boaters are still allowed for some reason). Seems like a tiny town would want the tourism, but because of this (e:terry) and I looked around the park and continued on.

The Holley Canal falls were nice. Here's Ernie and Twixxie with a photo-op. The falls are entirely manmade, meant to keep release water from the canal.

Next places were Brockport, Spencerport and the west side of Rochester. There was a bit of a downpour by the time we got to Rochester, but once you are wet, you are wet!

We ate at Voula's Greek Sweets, downtown Rochester, which despite it's name is not just a dessert place. Omg it's so good. Everything is vegan and vegetarian, I got a seitan gyro.

The rest of the day was spent riding around downtown Rochester, along the trail into fancypants Fairport, and eating at of course, a taco restaurant called Lulu.

The canal east of Rochester became a bit more interesting since it followed a creek.

At night we set up camp in Macedon town park, which had free camping on an island in the canal not too far east of Rochester. The town was absolutely tiny and the camp side was nice and quiet.

Permalink: Albion_to_Macedon.html
Words: 295
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/22/20 05:26

Category: bikes

08/02/20 05:20 - ID#60813

Buffalo to Albion

We left on Tuesday the 20th, I had unrealistic plans about leaving early lol. Instead we were still packing in the morning and I ended up working until we left at about 12.

First stop was stopping by my parents' on the way to Tonawanda.

Then we rode down the rail trail to the canal. I always passed this sign and wanted to ride to Rochester, now I was.

First stop was Lockport. We stopped for vegetables at some cafe, I think I had a quinoa black bean bowl that was OK. We also got an iced coffee from Steamworks which is a coffee shop that chose an interesting name.

I don't remember the last time I was in Lockport but I definitely didn't remember that there were Lockport Caves. Are they just part of the canal lock?

Next up was riding to Medina. I got a flat somewhere in between but luckily had the repair kit and new pump, was able to fix it pretty quickly.

I love Medina as far as small towns go mostly because I have a totally healthy obsession with sandstone. The downtown is cute and suprisingly bougie.

Terry and I of course stopped for Mexican at Mariachi de Oro in Medina. They have a nice healthy veggie fajita, and Terry had grilled cheese and cactus tacos. Gulped down a jamiaca/hibiscus drink with it. Would definitely go bvack again

Typical trail between Lockport and Rochester

At some points you are crossing over creeks in a sort of canal aqueduct.

Here is the only road that crosses underneath the canal. Somewhere shortly before here a man came riding up and asked if we wanted to camp in his backyard. We should have taken him up on his offer. We decided to keep riding to a town called Holley instead, because I had read they had a town park with bathrooms and showers.

Permalink: Buffalo_to_Albion.html
Words: 348
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 10/25/20 06:37

Category: bikes

08/02/20 05:03 - ID#60811

15 miles on the Erie canal

So last year I finally bought a touring bike (e:joe,60796) but I really hadn't gone very far on it outside of Port Colburne and Niagara Falls.

I had a ton of vacation days and not going anywhere populated due to COVID. So when the weather looked nice with little rain for a week I managed to convince (e:terry) to come a trip across the Erie Canal trail.

The trail itself is about 350 miles if you go from canalside to Albany.

It's mostly flat since most of it follows the existing or old canal.

We really committed to going on the 20th, leaving the 21st. I felt like we were going to be woefully unprepared somehow but figured there's towns across the way.

We each brought two panniers.

Packing list for future trips:

Bike tools

multitool
tire lever
patch kit
two 700cx35 presta tubes
adjustable wrench
portable frame pump, bought the Topeak road morph G on recommendation from Ricks

Clothes

4 shirts
bike shorts and sporty shorts
regular shorts
5 pairs of socks and 1 pair of underwear
towel
hat each
2 rain jackets

Sleeping

1 pillow
light blanket
heavy 4 person coleman tent
light blanket
two inflatable sleeping pads

Food

purple cabbage
cliff bars
cashews and almonds
2 metal water bottles

Misc

Paul's old macbook air for work emergency
big ol power brick, 50,000mAH
chargers/phones
Terry brought kindle and switch
sunscreen

Mascots
Twixxie and Ernie the sheep for trip mascots :sheep:

The tent was the heaviest and bulkiest thing but I didn't want to commit to buying a lighter one if this worked. I figured there should be water along the way to hobo wash our clothes/selves.

It all fit pretty well in our bags and actually we had a lot of room left over.
Tent and pads had to be strapped to our rear racks but bungees did the job.

Permalink: 15_miles_on_the_Erie_canal.html
Words: 312
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/02/20 05:05

Category: misc

01/18/20 12:31 - ID#60800

Wood shop at the foundry

(e:terry) and I checked out the woodshop at the Foundry last week, and took the basic safety class.

I had a ton of fun. I have pretty much zero knowledge about woodworking, so when we were able to take this scrody piece of wood, mill it to a perfect rectangle, and then route and finish it into a cutting board it was pretty amazing to come out and feel the end result.

The great part about it is they have all the tools and stations set up and organized. I don't think I would have tried it if you have to buy all the tools.

I'd consider going back and getting a membership to learn more but I want to have a specific project to work on before I do that.

Here are some pictures of Terry planing his wood. It's pretty butch.

Permalink: Wood_shop_at_the_foundry.html
Words: 149
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/19/20 01:07

Category: winter

12/22/19 10:10 - ID#60798

Happy solstice

It's only up from here everyone. (e:terry) and I went on the Wassail ride. Last bike ride on the shortest day of the year. We sang the channel four holiday song as the unofficial theme.

(e:twisted), I am working on getting estrip infrastructure ready. We severely neglected the server and host estrip was on, to be expanded on in another post!

Permalink: Happy_solstice.html
Words: 65
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/23/19 12:34

Category: bikes

10/07/19 11:51 - ID#60796

So long, trusty steed

I don't really write anymore. This is partly due to working to much, partly conflagration of the world we're living in right now and firehose of news that comes along with it.

But anyways I wanted to write about my bike. Around a month and a half back on a Fwednesday night ride, my poor Trek FX 7.1 bit the dust. The rear drop out snapped right off at the axle! Only 8 years old - I guess I might have killed it by pack mule-ing groceries.

Here it is in it's final moments, looking undignified.

It was my first real bike and first real purchase that took me to my first job, on my first dates, around at school and everywhere!
Here's baby-faced me with it in 2012:

Luckily I was able to find a warranty claim on it with Trek. They sent me back a new Trek FX 1. I thought it was time to move on to a touring bike though, so I traded it in and now I am riding this beautiful Surly Trucker.

Drop handlebars and a steel frame have changed my life - same weight as my old bike and it doesn't even flinch at a pothole or a full load of groceries. I've already ridden to Niagara Falls on it with (e:terry).

Permalink: So_long_trusty_steed.html
Words: 221
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 10/08/19 12:15

Category: birds

12/13/17 12:01 - ID#60775

Snowy Owl

Wow, in any possible timeline of the universe did you think you'd feel so invested in an Alabama election? I know I didn't. Thanks for not letting us down, 51%.

Yesterday (e:terry) spotted a snowy owl on top of our garage. She is so cute. I love the way her head just rotates around. I'd prefer if she would stay away from our yards rabbits and mice though and stick to something veggie.