Erie Canal Forum

After riding Cincinnati to Cleveland next spring I’m thinking of taking the train to Depew and the riding east on the Erie Canal trail.

Is the road (Transit Ave) north to the trail super busy? Is there a decent shoulder? Any suggestions on alternate routes?

THX. Howard

I would not recommend Transit Road - between the train station and the trail to the north, a good chunk is a high-speed 6-8 lane suburban highway that would be extremely dangerous to walk or ride on, sidewalk included.

An alternate route, suburban traffic but manageable, would be Dick Road -] over to Union Road -] north to North Forest -] Elicott Creek Trailway -] trail at Tonawanda Creek.

However if you haven't been to Buffalo and don't mind a little extra time, I would ride down to Canalside in downtown Buffalo. It's a park centered around the former terminus of the Erie canal into Lake Erie. There is also a bit more to see downtown with some historic architecture, and just north of downtown in Allentown will be some non-chain places to eat and a bike shop if you need anything.

https://goo.gl/maps/GU6nJHB6r3P3rcwX8

From the Depew station, head down Dick Road -] west on Broadway -] south on Union to the Lehigh Valley Rail Trail heading east. You will find it on Google Maps.

From there, ride the trail down to the other end on William Street. William Street is a low traffic industrial street for the most part that will take you downtown. Once you are in the core there are several streets that will take you south of downtown to Canalside. From there you can start the official trail.

We took Amtrak to Buffalo Depew 2 years ago and opted to ride to the official train head. It added a lot of miles to the first day but worth it. A word of caution, not a lot of water on a hot day so be prepared. We passed a lot of nice trailside parks but none of the had water.

Agree with Joe about heading into Bflo. Transit Road is a rather busy N-S route without much of a riding shoulder. When you start out from Buffalo you follow the river up to Tonawanda and then follow the Erie Canal eastward. Regarding water... you are always a short distance from convenient stores or restaurants along the way.

Joe: Not aware of the Lehigh Valley Rail Trail in Buffalo -- didn't show up on Google maps as an option in BIKE mode either. I've ridden on it over in the Rochester area, but that's a linear trail over there.

wnybubba - I had never known the name of the trail until looking at it on Google Maps but it looks like it's also called "Cheektowaga Rails to Trails".

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/new-york/cheektowaga-historic-rail-to-trail?mobileMap=false&ref=sidebar-view-full-map

Sorry, looks like my first post lost formatting.

William Street from downtown to this trail is a good low-traffic connector from downtown to the eastern suburbs and country side.

Just a little south heading east is Como Park Boulevard which is a nice on-road ride into Lancaster. From Lancaster the "Lancaster Heritage Trail" takes you into into Alden, where the is very little traffic on the side roads.

Thanks Joe. All of your suggestions offer good advise. I live southeast of Bflo and haven't traveled too many trails in the city. However, on Friday when I was in town I crossed over the Heritage Trail -- one that I was unfamiliar with as well.

Drop me a line sometime if you want to get out and bike together. My email is my user-name here @gmail.com

Thanks guys. All very helpful

The last eastern segment that we have to ride is Rotterdam to Albany. We will use two cars. What is the address of the end of the trail and where can we leave a car for approx 3 hours Can find any published info. On the trails end/ start place

If you want to go a little further, when you end in Albany, take the Ped/bike overpass into Rennselaer and park at Riverfront Park on Broadway. Park has toilets and right across from Dunkin. The park is under the Dunn Memorial Bridge. I part there for the day when I take my club riding. Look for Signs for NY 5 & 9 Bike routes

Experienced 3 or 4 different employees at this store none of which ever had a mask on ,disturbing

Hello! I was planning to bike from Albany to Buffalo because that works better with my travel plans, but I've read about westerly winds being worse this way. Is that the case? Does it make much of a difference? I'm planning to ride the first week in October. I could rearrange my trip if that is advisable, so I'm curious!

Generally, the wind goes W-E but it’s not always the case and not guaranteed.

The only thing to do is keep an eye out for the forecast and see if there’s any pattern to the winds and change trip direction if it looks like you’ll get better winds going another way.

The prevailing wind is not much of a factor on the eastern part of the trail because it is heavily wooded and it mostly follows a low corridor with an escarpment on both sides so the wind tends to swirl in the depression. Much of the western part of the trail, roughly from Spencerport to Lockport, is elevated from the surrounding terrain and very exposed. It can really be a slog on a hot sunny day riding west into a strong westerly wind. Unfortunately the Army Corps of Engineers cut down most of the large trees in this section several years ago because they were a threat to the integrity of the canal. New trees are still small and not as close to the edge of the canal so there is little shade and little protection from the wind.

Thanks for this info! I think I'm going to keep my original route and prepare my legs for some extra resistance. Still open to comments if anyone else has perspective!

Bikegal, give us recap of your journey when you’re done!!

John

It's been a minute, but I did complete the ride from Albany to Buffalo! It was in early/mid-October, so the foliage was gorgeous. On the eastern part of the trail, the wind wasn't bad at all. On the western part, it was a slog. The wind was pretty aggressive and the ride was slow going. The views were lovely, but most of the open canal was brutal riding. Maybe part of it was the time of year and the weather, but it seemed like the prevailing winds were a strong force. I'm still glad I went east to west because that's the direction I needed to travel and the eastern part of the trail is especially scenic, but I would recommend west to east for wind.

i agree West to East probably better. Although I had tailwinds leaving Buffalo when I started that changed to headwinds for the second half. Nothing huge but slowed me a couple of mph.

Kane and I may have passed each other going in opposite directions!

It's been a minute, but I did complete the ride from Albany to Buffalo! It was in early/mid-October, so the foliage was gorgeous. On the eastern part of the trail, the wind wasn't bad at all. On the western part, it was a slog. The wind was pretty aggressive and the ride was slow going. The views were lovely, but most of the open canal was brutal riding. Maybe part of it was the time of year and the weather, but it seemed like the prevailing winds were a strong force. I'm still glad I went east to west because that's the direction I needed to travel and the eastern part of the trail is especially scenic, but I would recommend west to east for wind.

The winds are worse from West to East. That's why Mt. Washington has the worst weather

Does anyone know of backroads to take on the 20 mile route on 5s outside of Herkimer?

Not a direct answer to your question, but you would be following Bike Route 5. Nice bike shoulder lane on a state highway. I don't remember it being dangerous or uncomfortable at all. Admittedly, I'm fine on state roadways and have a decent rear view mirror so I know what's going on around me.

There are some beautiful roads with open country and Amish farms and little traffic on both the south (5S) and north sides but they are really hilly!

It’s funny that you commented on Route 5S outside of Herkimer. This past summer while biking the Erie Canal path, my friend and I ended up on 5S thinking we were on the canal trail. We biked the 2 most longest and steepest hills that I have ever biked. Finally at the top of the second hill we sensed something was wrong, thinking hills this big would surely not be part of the bike route. After studying google maps, we realized we were riding parallel to the trail path located several thousand feet below us. That was an exhausting day. We are not sure how we missed a trail sign (though we did serval times throughout our trip) but I still blame my biking partner thinking he saw a sign for ice cream just ahead.

With the bridge closed how does one access the Barnes Ave parking?

As of November 6 2020 the Canalway Trail over the Palmyra Ganargua/Mud Creek Aqueduct is barricaded and marked closed (the structure may be in danger of collapsing?). A detour utilizing Quaker Road is indicated, but that route is quite narrow without significant shoulders and no marked bike lanes.

Can I or not load a bike in Albany to Buffalo on Lake Shore?
Amtrak sched states yes but *00 phone number has different train numbers that what's currently posted. I live in Springfield MA and don't want to drive to NYC to load up. Looking to ride Erie Canal in the Spring. Know I will hit Buffalo after midnight so that's no problem

Thanks

Ed - I just checked and it is the Empire Service that comes into BUF (Depew) from ALB (Rensselaer). I looked into 2021 and the schedule is only open into APR, with trains arriving at 6PM or 9PM which seems earlier than I recall trains arriving in BUF (and is the same on the current schedule). I believe that roll-off service is only available at Depew and not Exchange Street -- Depew being an eastern suburban (not too far from the BUF Airport). So, yeah, it should work if you check about roll-on service status... and it looks like the near midnight arrival may not be true anymore. (Give me a shout if you need any help at BUF end.)

Thanks for the assist. There is some conflicting info from Amtrak as the Lake Shore 48 & 49 will carry bikes and he #800 number from Amtrak told me I can’t leave from Albany. The trip is for the Spring so I have plenty of research time.

I'm thinking that this is the same as BUF in ALB - that Rensselaer is the roll-on station not Albany station. Agree you have plenty of time to figure it out -- and half the fun is preparing, right?

I did the Erie Canal bike trip from Buffalo to Albany in September. We rented a van at the Albany airport and drove to Buffalo and dropped the the van off at the Buffalo airport. We parked our car at the Rensselaer train station for the week. The hotel in Buffalo had an airport shuttle, so you can drop your bikes off at the hotel and then drop the rental at the airport and shuttle back to the hotel. Due to COVID the shuttle wasn't operating, so I had to uber back. I think a rental is better than Amtrak if you have multiple people in your group.

Does anyone know what the fastest time for the End to End ride is? I've looked online and can't seem to find any source that would indicate what the record time would be.

I'm planning on an end to end ride in a few weeks and hoping to finish in around 30 hours, but I'm curious if that would set a record or come close to a record.

Haven't seen anything like that.

Will this be non-stop? You know the canal is closed after dark?

I checked on https://fastestknowntime.com and didn't find anything either. My thought is that either PTNY or the Canal Corp would be the best resources to ask. If neither of them have any record, then I'd say go for it and set it in place! Keep us posted here and good luck.

Why bother,it's trail,meant to be savored wand enjoyed.
Want a record,go to the roads

Well, I ended up doing it. West to east, starting at Veterans Park in Buffalo and ending at the Corning Preserve in Albany. It took 32 Hours 2 Min.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/5532806302

Tristan - Thats incredible. After 32 hours, I’d just be hitting town on night 2 of a weeklong trip!

How was riding at night? Any delays that you encountered? Where did you catch z’s (if you did catch any)? Love to hear about some of the details of your journey.

Well done...

John

Riding at night was no problem, I've done a couple other long rides that went into the night so I was prepared...I had multiple light sources with extra batteries. Riding in the dark didn't really slow me down either, and made riding through towns a little easier because there was no traffic.

I didn't face any delays, no flat tires or bike issues, but I did make a huge mistake around Port Byron and got turned around, not realizing I was going to wrong direction for about 2.5 miles. The biggest issue I ran into with time was just stopping to eat/rest. Of the 32 hours of elapsed time almost 6 hours was spent not moving. I was carrying a bunch of granola bars, some soda and a 2 liter bladder full of water, but that was not enough to get me through the whole ride so I would frequently stop at gas stations and buy some gatorade, beef jerky, candy, chips, sandwiches, more water. Late in the ride I felt like I was stopping more frequently and for a longer time than in the beginning. I would stop maybe every 20 miles for about 20 min...all that time added up.

I did not sleep at all during the ride, around 24 hours in was when I really started to get tired, at times feeling like I was dozing off with my eyes open while riding even when it got light out...by the time I got to Little Falls the thought of spending an hour or something sleeping on the side of the trail was tempting but something I wanted to avoid just to finish quicker.

I felt one of the biggest challenges of the ride was the wind. As soon as I got on the canal in Lockport I was constantly riding into the wind. This slowed me down a bit, and caused me to use up more energy than I would have liked.

I stopped for "breakfast" in Frankfort, and between there and Rotterdam Junction I was having trouble finding gas stations or restaurants that were open... I was feeling tired, hungry and I was using up all the extra calories I was carrying with me and by that point I was realizing that I wasn't going to make my goal of finishing in 30 hours or less.

The final stretch from Schenectady to Albany went by alright, mostly just trying to push through and finish...it felt like the wind got worse as I got closed to Albany and started heading south.

Overall it was a fun ride, got to see some cool things on the trail and I enjoyed all the towns along the way. Apart from the wind the weather was perfect, I was expecting it to feel a little colder than it actually was...I rode the majority of the ride in shorts and a t shirt, only putting a long sleeve shirt on at around 4 in the morning. I think if someone had a nice gravel bike and a crew waiting for them at towns with food instead of using gas stations or restaurants they could finish the whole route in 24 hours or less.

T

Tristan - great job. I read your TR in my email and haven't been over here on the site to give you congratulations. Super job and surprised to see that you were doing this un-assisted... that's pretty remarkable. Make sure you register the ride for FKT. I'll give you an official ranking of it... as unofficial as it would be! Fine job.

The last eastern segment that we have to ride is Rotterdam to Albany. We will use two cars. What is the address of the end of the trail and where can we leave a car for approx 3 hours Can’t find any published info. On the trails end/ start place

I believe the end of the trail is Jennings Landing right on the Hudson. Not sure of a parking lot but you’ll be downtown so parking lots are down there for sure.

The last eastern segment that we have to ride is Rotterdam to Albany. We will use two cars. What is the address of the end of the trail and where can we leave a car for approx 3 hours Can’t find any published info. On the trails end/ start place

Is it safe or even possible to leave a vehicle in the Corning City Preserve in Albany?

Dear friend,

Are you planning to leave your car for a long time? I would have concern in that case. Shorter periods are better. I would advise you to use the parking at the train station in Rensselaer. You need to pay but, the parking lot is under surveillance.

Enjoy your trip! Joseph

Agree with Joseph, parking in Albany is focused on state employees and not out of town visitors leaving their cars overnight. The long term parking at the train station is only $7/night(follow the Megabus pickup sign) and there is a 24 hour attendant.

Crossing over the Hudson River on the Dunn Memorial bridge is not for the faint of heart, but there is a dedicated bike/pedestrian path that is mostly in good condition.

For Joseph Pafundi:

Bonjour Joseph, c'est le père de Ryan. J'espère que Mathieu et le reste de votre famille vont bien, nous allons bien. Le vélo nous aidera à rester jeunes!

Bonjour a vous tous!

Je vous souhaite bonne sante et de bons voyages sur les pistes et routes de notre belle region!

Jospeh

We are planning on arriving in Fort Erie and would like to ride the trail to Albany. BUT we have road bikes with 25mm tires. I read that the trail is mostly gravel or crushed limestone. Does anyone know or had any experience riding the entire trail on a road bike rather than gravel bike or mountain bike.

There are several strings on this forum regarding the question of road bikes and tires. In general it seems there is agreement that a road bike with road tires is fine. One rider commented that they rode the entire trail with slicks without a problem. Much of the trail is paved but in the western end there are long sections of packed stone dust that can get a little squirrely when it's wet after a rain. There are a few short sections of two track packed dirt and grass, but those are currently being paved or converted to stone dust.

I've ridden the entire trail, some of the sections several times, on a steel frame road bike with city/trekking style 700x32 Kenda tires. My riding companions have ridden road bikes or hybrid bikes with similar tires. If you have the inclination to change your tires and have skinny slicks, consider changing to a fatter hybrid/trekking style tire.

Is it safe or even possible to leave a vehicle in the Corning City Preserve in Albany?

Hello! I was planning to bike from Albany to Buffalo because that works better with my travel plans, but I've read about westerly winds being worse this way. Is that the case? Does it make much of a difference? I'm planning to ride the first week in October. I could rearrange my trip if that is advisable, so I'm curious!

Hi,
I was also planning to bike the same week starting monday 10/5. The winds usually do go west to east so if you start at albany if there are any winds they would be in your face as opposed to your back when biking buffalo to albany. I would start in buffalo if its possible.