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The Pedalshift Project 026: Bicycle touring upstate New York

Just me and the mic doing a little followup and giving an overview of a very fun upstate New York bicycle tour along the Erie Canalway route. It’s an all sleep-deprivation podcast after a long weekend roadtrip too!


psp026Hey it’s the direct download link for episode 026 (mp3)

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Who else has some early bike touring overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show pedalshiftproject@gmail.com or call the brand new Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109.

July #podcastapalooza

  • Pedalshift invades the Rose City and The Sprocket Podcast 245 (part 1 || part 2). This show was in-ter-est-ing.[footnote]This is funny. Trust me.[/footnote] You should subscribe to The Sprocket Podcast, but if you want to stream this ep, knock yourself out:

Sprocket Podcast 245 – Part 1

Sprocket Podcast 245 – Part 2

Follow up

More on the Oregon Outback – listen to Donnie Kolb’s interview with OPB:
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/212536771″ params=”color=ff5500&show_artwork=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Bicycle touring upstate New York

  • Want to see NYS? Do this.
  • Don’t expect canal the whole way. Lots of road sections.
  • Lots of small towns with charm.
  • Fascinating infrastructure.
  • Great history.
  • Biking quality – pretty top notch. Trails are in excellent condition. The worst parts are still pretty great.
  • Access to water/food – easy, but there are long stretches where there are no water sources directly on the trail. Didn’t carry food – picked up a spare meal as needed.
  • Camping – more expensive generally than other options (C+O and west coast) and wild camping availability was a bit overstated in my opinion. Free camping on the lock properties was excellent.
  • Good encounters – not a ton of bike tourists (although there were 600 two days behind me!). The ones I met were great.
  • Prime time – Summer was a good time, but upstate NY can be muggy. The ideal time may be in September for warm days and cooler nights or October for foliage.
  • BIG thanks to Tour Journals listeners and social media followers for tagging along! Special thanks to Rochelle in Albany (@lilithny on the Twitter machine) for some good tips and FOTS Ethan Georgie for his Canajoharie story, because I might have done the same without it.
  • Speaking of… FOTS Ethan Georgie’s story has an explanation! FOTS Tony S explains…
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2018 update… check out this amazing Erie Canal cycling resource from FOTS and Pedalshift Society member Paul Mulvey.

Next tour

  • DC to BOS the hard way
  • Local transit only (no Amtrak, no BoltBus, etc.) plus a folding bike
  • Union Station DC to Back Bay Boston in less than 36 hours
  • The least efficient, most ridiculous bike and transit tour… ever

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his self-titled solo album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, wherever cool music resides. And hey, a video for Ghost!