Biking the Erie Canal

Five hundred, seventy-five bicyclists. Four hundred miles. Eight days in the saddle and eight nights in a tent. Two spills.

And one grand and historic canal.

And, for me, three flats. Another rider, a woman, outdid me - she had six.

That was, by simple accounting, our July venture, as it has been staged every July for the last 12 years: The Erie Canal Bike Tour. Joining my wife, Liesbeth, and me on the pedaling journey from Buffalo to Albany were cyclists from 30 states as well as Canada and England, ranging in age from 85 to 2, with the average age just under 50.

Cycling the Erie Canal, organized by Parks and Trails New York, a statewide nonprofit, is a relatively cheap and absolutely bracing opportunity to tour one of the engineering wonders of American history.

Along the way, there are encounters with Amish farmers, the 50-foot depths of canal locks (Lockport), the founding of the American Women's Suffrage Movement (Seneca Falls), the cooling sustenance of legendary Abbott's frozen custard (Spencerport), the boyhood home of Joseph Smith, founder and prophet of the Latter Day Saints (Palmyra), the International Boxing Hall of Fame, of all unsung places, (Canastota), a horse-pulled canal boat float, the colonial Fort Stanwix (Rome) and a most welcome respite at a brewery (Utica).

Of course, the overriding attraction of bicycling the canal, for which excavation began in 1817 and which officially opened in 1825, is that the terrain is invitingly flat. Most of the route, as well, is along the canal way, serenely isolated from motorized traffic. The pathway is cinder-like compact stone, and can be dusty. Hybrid bikes are recommended, but cyclists pedaled on all manner of two-wheelers, and more than a few three-wheelers.

An average day's biking is about 50 miles, though there are a couple of 60-mile days. The shortest haul is a mere 38 miles. Riders push on, whatever the weather, and at whatever pace is comfortable. This is not a race. Route maps are distributed before each day gets underway, and riders are encouraged to explore the surroundings. Though July in upstate New York can be high-summer hot, cyclists are comforted, or, at least, spirited on, by the breezes accompanying the sport. Rain is rain.

For the cost of the tour ($565), participants are fed two meals a day (except for two nights when no evening meals can be provided) and given ample refreshments at two scheduled rest stops a day, many of the stops augmented by the hospitality and baking skills of folk from canal towns and villages.

Along for the ride, as well, are a couple of nurses, a corp of volunteers (expert flat-fixers, every one), and, perhaps most crucial, a bike mechanic who sets up shop at each rest area and evening camp site, and whose service and rates are agreeable.

After the day's ride is done, cyclists then set up tents in what soon emerge as tent cities on a high school football field or in a city park, on a college campus or at a state-preserved fort.

Not everyone, however, elects to pitch his or her own tent. For those not charmed by the task of finding good ground or shade and then pounding tent stakes after biking for five or six hours, the organizers will provide a roomy tent, double-air mattress, fresh towel and easy chair upon your arrival at that night's camping area. The cost for that luxury is another $355 for a single tent or $475 for a double. We braved it and pitched our own.

Everyone also is welcome to freshen up using shower trailers - literally, stalls and ample hot water trucked from site to site. The organizers also transport all gear from site to site, ahead of the riders. Backpacks and tents are carried by the bikers onto trucks each dawn and retrieved after the day's ride is finished from areas where they've been deposited. Rain, once again, is rain. The gear is left in the open and it is advised to double wrap everything in plastic bags.

Breakfasts are hearty and dinners substantial, prepared by local volunteers. Bottled water, at no cost, and beer for a minimum price are available in well-stocked coolers after the day's ride. Each evening there is some kind of entertainment, be it live music or lectures or bus trips to nearby towns.

Generally, everyone, exhausted and content, repairs to their tents after the evening meal and entertainment, and the makeshift city sleeps soundly from 9 p.m. or so until 5 a.m., when the ubiquitous pull of tent zippers breaks the pre-dawn quiet.

In the Mohawk Valley, toward the end of the ride, there are a few challenging hills, but also the happy consequence of learning how to pronounce "Canajoharie," which, as it happens, is as easy as saying "Canastota."

It's all part of the Eric Canal culture, and there may be no better way of exercising the chance to experience it.