Hey, did you know the canal goes west, too? (Comments: 0)

I took a nice 20-mile ride today on the canal trail, and I discovered something. The Erie Canal not only runs east, it also runs west. I know, I know. I couldn’t believe it either.

Going west, young man, is a completely different experience. For one thing, you don’t pass through Hummertown and Lexusville (for the less caustic, Pittsford and Fairport) if you go west, so the conditions along the trail are much more industrial and, in many places, run-down. That said, the canal itself seems like a more organic creature west of Rochester, with stone banks and the occasional waterfall. The trail is also paved the entire way, unlike large portions of the trail east of Brighton.

I don’t know how groundhog tastes, but if I ever lose my gig, I could feed my family for weeks by hunting along the canal trail. There were enough groundhogs, rabbits and squirrels on the trip today to make it feel like an episode of Moderately Wild Kingdom. I think that’s one of the most charming parts about riding the trail. You may be no more than 100 feet from a decaying uranium refinery, but it still feels like you’re riding in the country most of the time. And the uranium gives everything that soft, Barbara-Walters-interview glow.

At one point, shortly after getting on the trail, I came to the junction of three trail systems: The Genesee Valley Greenway, the Genesee Riverway Trail and the Erie Canalway Trail, which I was already on. The Greenway is a north-south trail that runs through Monroe, Livingston, Wyoming, Allegany and Cattaraugus counties. You can get on the Greenway from the canal trail right near Genesee Valley Park and the University of Rochester. That’s definitely on my schedule for a ride in the near future.

Genesee Valley Park is one of three Rochester parks designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in New York City. Along with Genesee Valley Park, Olmsted designed Rochester’s Maplewood Park and Highland Park, the latter of which is right near my house. Who says you can’t learn stuff at RocBike.com?

In other news: A good friend of mine is getting bitten by the bike bug now, and we’re discussing our first extended road trip. In the previous sentence, “extended” is pronounced “short and easy.”

And in other-er news: Today I welcomed my first guest essayist to RocBike.com. Be sure to check out part 1 of Jack Spula’s northeastern cycling adventure. In the weeks ahead, I’ll be featuring essays from Julie White, Adam Durand and others.

And finally, in even more other-er-er news: You knew it was going to happen. Crane + blog = podcast. So look for The RocBike Review to be coming to an audio output device near you very soon!

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