Today I cycled past Rochester along the Erie Canal and then headed more South West. The Erie canal continues on a rough circle more northwest before coming into Buffalo. The last bits also have more gravel sections. I decided to pick a route that goes more directly to Lake Erie and uses smaller roads. It was a nice day of riding with a slightly later finish. Both because I started later and because it was a 60 mile ride.

Across a steel deck one-lane bridge. It wasn’t as cold this morning.

Back to the canal trail. This section was gravel, but most trail riding today was paved.

The Fairport sign gives a good overview. I headed via Batavia on that green line while the canal is the blue line further north.

Fairport had a nice downtown including this draw bridge and a section of “walk your bike” with some stairs.

Lock #32.

Lock #33. This was only 1.3 miles from lock #32, so a rapid rise in canal elevation.

The sign at lock #33 says the next westbound lock isn’t for another 54 miles.

Along the Erie Canal, there are occasionally these repair stands with a bicycle pump and basic tools. After riding six days along the canal route, I’m still impressed with both the popularity of the canal for bicycle tourists and the job New York State has done with signs (both historic and directional) and facilities like this bike pump.

At 18 miles, I left the canal, cycled past the Rochester airport and headed out on small suburban/rural roads headed towards Batavia.

An example of suburban road I cycled.

Churchville closed the road for a Memorial Day parade. I waited briefly but decided to continue since it wasn’t clear how long until the parade.

Headed out on country roads.

The cow jumped over the moon.

When there aren’t many hotel choices or in places like Vermont where hotels seemed to fill up, I’ve often made a reservation at the start of the day. However today there seemed to be many motels near Batavia. Not sure if it is related to a casino/horse racing venue (Batavia Downs). I got there at mile 49 and decided I could go a little further to Pembroke where I found a reasonable place to stay.

Strava says: 60.59 miles cycled in 6:32:42 for 9.3 miles/hour. 1532 feet climbed and 4293 calories burned.