the Way of the Turtle

16.2 Mile Ride on the Genesee Valley Greenway (& a Bit of the Lehigh Valley Trail)
Monday, July 20, 2009

Friends of the Genesee Valley Greenway site

While we were eating dinner I decided to stay until tomorrow morning - just didn't feel like makig a 4 hour drive tonight. So when Ann went off to her Monday night fire dept drill, I took my mountain bike over to the Genesee Valley Greenway to do a bit of riding. Since I was getting a late start (7 PM) and I know what I'm like (always wanting to stay out a little bit longer) I grabbed one of the lights I'd bought Ann for commuting to work when it's dark - that turned out to be a really good decision.

The Genesee Valley Greenway is an old railbed that runs alongside the remains of the Genesee Valley Canal. On the plus side, it's fairly straight and relatively level, which makes for fairly easy riding. On the minus side, that can get a bit boring at times, and the black cinder dust that makes up a good part of the trail surface gets all over everything. There are also ATV riders who use the trail illegally, so in some spots it's a good idea to keep your mind on the trail. I used to ride and run there a lot, but the last few years I haven't visited the trail as often, mainly because Ann and I have found a large variety of other places to visit. So many trails, so little time...

I parked at the Brookdale Preserve lot and road from Brook Road south, stopping occasionally to take pictures. The section of trail between Brook Road and Scottsville Road is the portion I've travelled the most often, so it was good to cross the road and ride some trail I'm not as familiar with. Buzzed through Canawaugus Park in Scottsville; as is typically the case in the summer, there were a bunch of kids hanging out on the old railroad bridge over Oatka Creek. It's a shame they don't have anything better to do with their time.

I had originally planned to turn back after 45 minutes, but I was getting close enough to the old railroad bridge across the Genesee River (also the intersection with the Lehigh Valley Trail) that I decided to keep going. Of course, once I reached the bridge I just had to ride a short ways up the Lehigh Valley Trail before heading back...

I concentrated mainly on riding on the way back, since it was getting dark, though I did stop a couple of times to get photos of the sunset. Just past Canawaugus Park it was getting hard to see the trail, so I turned on the light and used it for the rest of the ride. I don't know that I'd want to ride anything challenging with it, but it was perfect for riding the double-track rail trail. The light let me keep up a pretty good clip - I suspect I'll be feeling that tomorrow, after all the riding I've done in the past couple of days. Passed two people out walking dogs in the last half mile, and was glad for the light since it let me see them far enough ahead of time that I could slow down.

I may have to do some more night riding this summer... that was a lot of fun!

JMH