Riding (and pushing the bike) along the Lehigh Valley Trail and the Genesee Valley Greenway Trail
Sunday, July 31, 2005
photo slideshow
Today Ann and I drove down to Canawaugus Park in Scottsville. From there we biked down the Genesee Valley Greenway to the river crossing, an old railroad trestle which was recently re-decked to connect the Greenway Trail with the Lehigh Valley Trail, which runs from the river all the way over to Victor. From there we rode the Lehigh Valley Trail to Rush.
The Lehigh Valley Trail is also sometimes called the Black Diamond Trail, both because the official trail signs have a black diamond on them and because the trail was originally the railbed for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which was originally built in 1891 to carry coal and then later offered passenger service between Buffalo and New York City. After changing hands numerous times during the mid-1900's, the railroad was shut down in the 1970's, and Monroe County acquired the rail bed. (See Rich and Sue Freeman's books at Footprint Press for more information.)
I first rode the Lehigh Valley Trail several years ago, on my road bike - the trail was definitely for the rough-and-ready, and after a long, hot, bone-rattling ride I decided I would only go back once I had a mountain bike. The following year Ann gave me an ATB for my birthday, and several days later I rode the trail again, and had an absolute blast. Rocks, mud, water, dirt mounds - both the bike and I came out of that ride covered in water and mud. What fun! Since then, the trail has been smoothed out and resurfaced with packed stone dust. It's much easier to ride... but I must admit I miss the "wilder" trail. The current trail is a nice ride... but the old trail was a FUN ride, at least for this crazy fool.
We took a short break at the park in Rush, and then headed back. Along the way I found some puddles to splash through, and Ann graciously agreed to take some pictures of me getting wet. Unfortunately, not long after that one of my tires went flat. No big deal - I had spare tubes and a pump - BUT no wrench to loosen the axle nuts so I could remove the wheel! (My road bike has quick-release skewers!) So I pushed my bike for about 3 1/2 miles back to the car. That part was not a whole lot of fun... but at least now there's a wrench in my ATB tool kit.
-JMH
