From Albany to Buffalo

Niagara Falls to Buffalo NY. Saturday May 1, 2021

Tra la, it’s May! The lusty song from Camelot rang in my ears as I headed out today. It was in the 30s, but sunny and with that blessed gentle tailwind. Better weather has got to come, right?

Despite my ebullient mood, I felt chagrined today. Today my lovely wife Jane turns 65, and here I am gallivanting around while she enters senior-citizenhood alone. I sent a gift, and that crazy errand at the mall last Sunday was to find a birthday card, but still. I’m rarely without thoughts of how selfish this trip is, how caddish to abandon her for a year. I plan to reflect on this at length in an upcoming blog. For now, though, I was heartened to hear of celebrations from friends, and an outpouring of love from family.

Here’s the route for today, and once again it begs the question: WTF?

Why this crazy track? If I “hypotenused” (a great term courtesy of Brian) from start to finish today’s trip would be 20 miles instead of 61. And there’s supposed to be a southwest wind springing up later today. Get a grip, guy.

Alas, like Popeye, I yam what I yam. See my entry from Wednesday. I had left the Canal at Lockport to see the Falls, no way was I going to bypass the last 30 miles of it. Much of that last stretch has been upgraded since I was last here in 2007, and it was pretty great then. It’s only miles, right? It’s not like I’m burning up any fossil fuel.

It all went smoothly, the wind wasn’t too bad, the renovated path truly spectacular, I regret I didn’t stop for a picture. I did get these from a rest stop:

Every 10 miles or so along the canal the state has placed these beautiful aid stations, with a cluster of bike tools dangling from cables, and a floor-style bicycle pump, much more efficient than the frame pump you see clipped under my top tube. Tire-inflation valves can be fragile, so I had a resisted using these pumps up until now, but today I gave it a try. It worked beautifully. I was gratified to see that after more than two weeks and 600 miles, I had only lost 7 pounds of pressure in my rear tire, and 5 in my front.

Also there was an overview map of the Empire State Trail System, on which I have been from day one.

Again, you can see that if I’d hypoteneused across the Adirondacks, bypassed Troy, and eschewed the Canal, I could have made Buffalo in 370 miles, rather than 624. But that’s not how I roll.

Looking back to today’s map, you may ask, what’s that little ditzel labeled McKinley? Well now we come to another motivator for the trip, checking out America’s dark places. I already wasted time looking for the Love Canal. Now I was seeking the place where our 25th president was assassinated.

A few years back I chanced upon a frothy little book by Sarah Vowell titled Assassination Vacation. Best known for her role as Violet Parr/Invisigirl in The Incredibles, Sarah is also a humorist, and she took a fascinating trip around the country seeking out the details of presidential assassinations. I too plan to visit Dealy Plaza, Ford’s Theatre, and for good measure throw in the final-act sites of James Dean, Bonnie and Clyde, Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King, and Meriwether Lewis. Not to mention the field where The Day the Music Died happened. I can’t explain this. I’m hardly morbid or Goth. I’m just drawn to these places like a moth to a flame. My daughter Hope can’t get enough of podcasts about serial killers. I guess we’re a family of rubberneckers.

Anyway, old Bill was gladhanding at the Temple of Music, an elaborate structure built for the Pan-American Exposition, when the anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot him at close range with a pistol hidden under a handkerchief on September 6, 1901. McKinley seemed to recover initially, and VP Theodore Roosevelt felt it was safe to begin an expedition to climb NY state highpoint Mt. Marcy, but on day 8 gangrene set in and McKinley succumbed. The story has it that poor Teddy was within a mile of the summit, a huge deal to reach in those days, when the Secret Service caught up to him and said, trip’s over.

The Temple, and the entire Exposition, were torn down the next year, and a two mile detour took me to a quiet suburban neighborhood, where a forlorn American flag marked a small boulder in the median strip.

I suspect the neighbors must be heartily sick of the gawkers.

It was just a few miles to the official end of the Erie Canal, a weird lighthouse in Buffalo, with a view of Lake Erie itself, which will be my companion over the next few days.

The song goes From Albany to Buffalo, but the canal really begins at Troy. The first 10 miles from Albany are just along the Hudson River, which is navigable up to that first lock in Troy. Back in 2007, when I was doing this ride with Eric, I insisted that we detour to circle the state house in Albany. He wondered why we had to ride 20 miles in the rain “just to tag a post”. I consider it a big step for me, that I didn’t go to Albany this time. Trouble is, From Troy to Buffalo doesn’t scan as well in the song.

Buffalo is the second-largest city in New York, and rather grand in places. Its 32 story Art Deco City Hall was built the same year as the Empire State Building, and is one of the highest municipal buildings in the country. The observatory on top is free, but closed on weekends.

At the base are two other US presidents associated with New York, more obscure than the Roosevelts. Millard Fillmore was only in office for two years, Queen Victoria called him the handsomest man she had ever met, and many think he is the spitting image of Alec Baldwin. What do you think?

With that schnoz no one could accuse Grover Cleveland of winning the handsome sweepstakes, but he (so far) is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, he was our 22nd and 24th president. Jury is still out whether his feat will be matched in 2024 by our most recent NY president.

I have failed in my quest to sample all of the signature New York dishes, missing the Garbage Plate and the Tomato Pie. At least I got Buffalo Wings and Big Ass Pork. Today I googled Beef on Weck, was lucky to get a seat by the window on this Saturday evening at the Pearl Street Grillhouse, but the menu was Weck-less. “We only carry those specialty items on occasion” the waiter said. Oh well.

The Hampton Inn had a beautiful pool and hot tub open until 10PM, but I figured I’d better shower first. It was so relaxing I just laid down for a quick rest, and woke up 5 hours later. In the words of Homer Simpson: D’oh!

So today was not only May Day, Jane’s birthday, and end-of-canal day, but it was also president’s day. Next four days are forecast for rain, 50s, with a SW headwind. Oh well, that’s what they say about New York. If you can make it there…

Distance 61.2 miles, 624.2 total. Time 8 1/4 hours with stops. Elevation gain 787 feet.