After a beautiful wedding at the Inns of Aurora, the following day I was on the road. The first leg of my day was Aurora to Weedsport (29 miles). I ascended the east side of Lake Cayuga and then headed north to Auburn NY. My butt was still in serious pain, but now with the cycling shorts and chamois cream I felt much more confident in completing my journey. Google maps had me go just west of downtown Auburn onto the Auburn-Fleming Trail. I can say with metaphysical certitude that you should not try to bike this trail.
This trail was an old rail line and in fact, Cayuga County neglected to remove a bunch of railroad ties in certain areas. It was basically unbikeable. Unless you have a mountain bike with very good shocks, this is a trail to avoid. It's a shame because it appeared nice from the entrance, but it was really uncomfortable.
After getting off this trail I meandered through the west side of Auburn NY. Central New York had the preponderous MAGA adorned houses.I saw upstate.
I kept heading north and eventually rejoined the Erie Canal Trail/Empire State Trail west of Weedsport. As I headed east I went through Brutus and the Centerport Aqueduct area. There were a couple nice parks here and manicured planting areas.
By lunchtime I arrived in Weedsport. This is another town that turns its back to the Empire State Trail. The town doesn't seem to care that a great bike trail runs through it. Unsurprisingly, the food options were extremely limited. A brewery looked intriuging but they only served questionable looking pizza. I settled on DB's Drive-In where I was able to park my bike outside and eat inside in the air conditioning. In a vain attempt to eat something healthy I ordered a Chicken Wrap. I had anticipated the chicken being grilled but in fact it was fried. Another mediocre meal in upstate NY. Generally in my estimation, if a restaurant's website is just a link to their facebook page, it's not going to be good.
My afternoon journey was Weedsport to Syracuse (32 miles). There is very little is going on east of Weedsport towards Camillus. I tried to bike through this area as fast as possible as because of very poor trail conditions. In some areas it's not much more than a 1 foot wide dirt path, and in other areas it was muddy. The good news is east of Camillus was my favorite part!
Parts of the Erie Canal are filled in this area, so there are many sections where it's not much more than an algae swamp.
There is a fun rest area in Camillus, with a bunch of neat stuff. The Sims Store Museum is a reproduction of a store that supplied the Erie Canal in the 19th century. There are lots of cool period artifacts and it's worth taking some time to check it out. It also had excellent bathrooms and I bought a bottle of water there. The picture on the lower right shows Camillus is exactly half way between Buffalo and Albany on the Erie Canal. This gave me a confidence boost that I was making good progress on my journey.
Between Camillus and my hotel in Syracuse was hands down my favorite part of the entire trip. I learned that Syracuse had been up until recently, the missing piece of the Erie Canal Trail/Empire State Trail. New York State spent tens of millions of dollars on this section to connect Camillus to East Syracuse. The thoughtful planning and design shows in this area, and it is an awesome piece of cycling infrastructure for Central New York.
East of Camillus there is a brand new trail that cuts through the former Camillus landfill and it was a joy to ride on. The stone dust had been crushed finely and it almost felt like riding on pavement it was so smooth.
After winding around on some on and off road sections, the Empire State Trail goes right through the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.
The trail route goes inside the fairgrounds near the entrances. I went up to a security guard and asked him if I could ride around the rest of the grounds and he said "sure go for it". It was fun to see the entire place empty, I felt like I had the place to myself.
As I headed east from the fairgrounds I crossed over I-690 and it dropped me into a large park. The southwest shoreline of Lake Onondaga had once been heavily contaminated and has recently been cleaned up by Honeywell. This was all downhill and there were beautiful plantings throughout the area. I did not get a chance to go inside but the Honeywell Lake Onondaga Visitors Center looked cool as I biked by.
As I headed east there was a wonderful 1,000 foot pedestrian and bicycle bridge over CSX tracks. It is all part of the Empire State Trail/Lake Onondaga Lake Trail Extension. This was awesome to bike over.
After crossing the bridge, the Empire State Trail connects up with the Onondaga Creekwalk which had a lot of former factories turned into office and residential buildings. I had to look at my phone a few times as the Empire State Trail signage wasn't great around here.
After meandering on the bricks on the Onondaga Creekwalk it spits you out right in downtown Syracuse. There is a bunch of interesting architecture here, including some art deco, my favorite.
My butt was still in pain the entire time during this day. I had ordered a new saddle on amazon and had it shipped to a locker in downtown Syracuse.
Another Art Deco masterpiece is the former New York Central Railroad Station. Like all upstate cities, Syracuse was no stranger to screwing up their downtown areas with urban renewal and freeways. I-690 was built over the former railroad right of way in Syracuse and now this building functions as an office for Spectrum Cable TV. Yes, you heard it right, the actual platform area of this former railroad station is now a freeway! WTF! The current rail station is nowhere near downtown Syracuse and the design is banal. Seems like I-81 isn't the only highway they should be tearing down in Syracuse!
East of downtown I skirted the northern edge of Syracuse University. On Erie Boulevard is a popular local bike shop called Mello Velo. Unfortunately it was closed when I tried to go in, but everyone I spoke to said this place is awesome.
Past Mello Velo I headed ontp a beautifully designed bike path in the median of Erie Boulevard. This is a classic example of a road diet, and was another expensive section of the Empire State Trail in Syracuse. It works great and I enjoyed riding this area thoroughly. Passing through the Syracuse area inspired me to think: with some more funding the rest of the Empire State Trail could be as awesome as Syracuse.
One of the few affordable hotel options was a Hampton Inn on Erie Boulevard in East Syracuse (Dewitt). I asked for a first floor room and got a wonderful large room where I had ample space to put my bike and belongings. I really enjoyed the fact that the hotel was directly on the Empire State Trail.
This area of Syracuse is not super walkable, but Erie Boulevard has a few restaurants. I tried Mr. Noodle and Mrs. Dumpling, which got good reviews. I had some wontons, and loaded up on sauteed pea shoots. I was trying to get my veggie fix in after mostly fried food for lunch. For upstate New York, the chinese food was somewhat authentic and good. I was pleased with the variety and would recommend Mr. Noodle to anyone riding on the Empire State Trail in this area.
When I returned to my hotel I swapped out my Terry Liberator Y Saddle with Selle Royal Lookin Moderate Saddle. Swapping it out was relatively easy with my multitool. Although everyone including bike shop people and my cycling friends said a thick gel saddle was going to be a disaster, I was in tremendous pain and needed to switch it up and give another saddle a try.
Stay tuned for Day 7 - Syracuse to Utica as I travel on the new saddle!
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