Day 4 I spent partly on the Empire State Trail, then off the trail on roads to attend a friend's wedding in Aurora NY. My morning ride was Newark to Magee. I started the day with a nice shower and a wonderful breakfast prepared by Vintage Gardens B and B husband and wife team. There were a bunch of cyclists at this bed and breakfast and we all discussed our routes. Most were going east to west, with some people that started in Albany, and others that had started in Boston.
As I headed from east from Newark on the Empire State Trail I went through the canal towns of Lyons and Clyde. There wasn't a lot going on in either of these towns, although I spotted an old factory in Lyons that I though could be converted into a funky trailside hotel!
Between Lyons and Clyde is rural and has some nice cornfield vistas.
Clyde had a funky downtown, with some interesting buildings.
Although I did not stay at the Erie Mansion, it looked cool and bike friendly. I had my heart set on a diner in Magee, NY but El Canal Taqueria in Clyde looked like a contender. I almost stopped there for lunch. Next time.
In Clyde, I ventured off the Empire State Trail to head south to Aurora for a wedding. I identified Magee Diner as my lunch spot. Magee Diner had some down home country food and I enjoyed my meal very much. It was was the best diner food I had so far on the trip. A win!
Go for the Magee Special, especially if you are doing long bike rides!
South of I-90 it's rolling hills all the way to the Finger Lakes. While some of the hills were a bit challenging, I set a much faster pace here for a couple reasons: all of the roads were paved, and I got a lot of speed heading downhill. In general, I found the on road sections of much more interesting than the Empire State Trail. Due to the downhills I could spend a little more time off the saddle, which was a godsend. I was still in a bunch of pain, but the cycling shorts and the chamois cream were definitely helping.
I arrived at an AirBnB later in the day to meet my parents. There was a nice rehearsal dinner and I promptly went to sleep.
The following day my parents and I spent the day Ithaca before the wedding. I ended up tCayuga Ski and Cycles, and the manager there was very familiar with my Terry Liberator saddle. After describing my issues in great detail, he suggested I continue to use the same saddle, keep wearing cycle shorts and that it would "get better". The guy at this shop reiterated that it was not my saddle, and in fact it was my butt that was unused to very long rides.
I bought some cycling shorts from him, and after careful research I also went to CVS and bought Boudreaux's Butt Paste diaper rash cream which helped saddle sores go away.
Ithaca had a cute downtown and was bike friendly. There was a bike share, bike lanes, and cute bike racks like this:
Later in the day we went back to Aurora and had a great time at Elizabeth's wedding! We were lucky to have an amazing sunset!
Stay tuned for Day 6 - Aurora to Syracuse. Biking thorugh the Empire State Trail in Syracuse was one of the highlights of my trip. NYSDOT spent huge sums of money in Syracuse to build the Empire State Trail and it was awesome!
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