Finger Lakes Cycling with Great Canadian Bicycle Tours

The Finger Lakes of New York State are an ideal destination for cyclists who enjoy riding by water and enjoy the challenge of a few steep hill climbs. This long weekend, I had the opportunity to return to this region and stay at Keuka College next to Keuka Lake and ride with the Great Canadian Bicycle Tour gang from Kitchener Waterloo. They are a warm and friendly crew, maybe there is something about coming from smaller towns.  The rides were well designed and organized, the accommodation and food was great, and the group friendly. The biggest obstacle was getting to the lake district over a long weekend, when the bridges to the US are backed up with traffic and the Burlington Skyway bridge closed due to an accident. I fought the evil inclination to give up on this adventure but glad I persevered and made it.

The Finger lakes are named after Indian Bands, such as Seneca, Keuka etc. However there is not a first nations person to be found as the lands have been developed for recreational purposes.
The roads in the Finger Lakes are ideal for cyclists as they circumnavigate many of the waters. The lakes are a resort area for residents of Rochester, Syracuse and New York. The town of Pen Ya is quaint, with a few simple family restaurants and a local tavern. The night life in the area is quiet, as this is basically a lake community for families to chillax.

What I did notice in the region was a strong anti fracking movement www.preservethefingerlakes.org. America is under great pressure for resources and the gas companies are searching for deposits in the Finger lakes region. Many landowners are against this type of resource pressure and there is an environmental awareness that reminded me of Vermont.

In Canada, we have small number of people, lots of resources and limited manufacturing. The opposite is true of America, and they are feeling the pressure on their ability to be self sufficient in energy. They would rather buy from friends such as Canada, then the not such good guys in the middle east.

The Finger Lakes is close to Toronto, but the bridges make it a unique novel adventure, not too far by car. Well worth the challenge of getting there. The trick they say is to go late at night or early in the am to avoid the congestion.


Cycle On,

The Adventure Guy