Bikepacking the Genesee Valley, Lehigh Valley & Erie Canal Trails | a film by Bike Adventurer

Описание: A short film detailing my four day bicycle excursion on three major trails in the Rochester area, two of which are long, gravel trails following what was once a railroad right-of-way. The Genesee Valley Greenway runs from downtown Rochester, almost to Pennsylvania, and runs along the Genesee River, while the Lehigh Valley Trail runs from West Rush (where it intersects with the GVGW to Victor. The third trail was the Erie Canalway Trail (or Empire State Trail), which I used to get from Syracuse to Rochester; the Genesee Valley Greenway connects to the Erie Canal trail in Rochester, which was how I found the trail in the first place, in September of 2018 when I did the entire western section of the trail from Syracuse to Buffalo. Due to a CX event in the adjacent park, the canal trail was closed and I detoured onto the Greenway to bypass the park; thus I found the GVGW. Upon reviewing the footage from the trip and doing some research, I decided to go back the following summer and explore the trail more. I soon had it all mapped out into one giant loop encompassing the Erie Canal, Genesee Valley Greenway and Lehigh Valley trails. I had originally planned on riding all the way to Pennsylvania but, the trail became very difficult to ride after Avon, NY, turning from gravel, to mud, to grass and then even taller grass, so I decided to cut my trip short because of that and the fact that I was having some issues with my tent and my bicycle.


Although there were quite a few issues with the trip, there were always kind people ready to help. I encounter kind people on all of my bicycle trips, but on this one, there were more than usual. When one of my tent poles snapped, a nice older woman gave me twenty dollars to help repair the pole, at Letchworth State Park, a very nice couple offered to bring me up the seven mile hill to the camp office, so that I could get there before it closed and get a camp site; later that night I got a bit turned around after showring at the bath house. A nice young woman and her three children helped me find my campsite once again; in Montezuma a family let me use their air compressor after flatting near their home. Not to mention the friendly staff at Letchworth who were very helpful in telling me how to get around the massive park, or the mechanic at Towpath Bicycle in Pittsford who only charged me a fraction of the normal price to fix my derailleur and rear hub, after a crash knocked them both off kilter. Not to mention the day before, when I first noticed the issues with my bike in Clyde, NY a nice man offered to get me tools from where he worked at town hall; that man turned out to be Jerry Fremouw, the mayor of Clyde! and of course I can't forget about my father Richard, who not only called Towpath and arranged for them to fix my bike ahead of time, but also paid for the repair so that I would still have money enough to finish the trip, not to mention his ongoing support for my bike riding and video endeavors, even if he doesn't understand why I ride so much sometimes, but hey, that's love. It was truly heartwarming, the kindness I recieved from everyone on this trip. Thank you and enjoy!!

-B.A.