Russ Roth

October along the Erie Canal has some great weather and scenery. Rain is only every few days and not great soakers so not a huge issue. However, expect the potential of real cold in the morning, nice temps by noon and fast temp drops in the afternoon, especially towards the end of the month. Growing up on the canal meant trick or treating in winter coats seemingly every other year as the first snow of the season was often by the end of the month. That will be true for Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse though I can't recall that Albany was the same when I lived there.

I'd actually suggest that most of the trail is not paved. The Buffalo area is paved though I started in Amherst since the connection between the two isn't that great and I don't find Buffalo much to write home about. The trail turns to crushed gravel/cinder by Amherst and will remain that way till just outside Rochester in the Gates/Chili area; still fairly flat and fast moving, with no troubles if you run as small as 28c. At Pittsford, just to the east of Roc you'll run back into cinder which will be the case most of the way till Newark with some random spatterings of paved sections for short bits of time. Macedon for example has paved and a nice bridge to cross, also has bathrooms as the locks. Palmyra has a rougher dirt section that's a little rocky going through the town but also nice parks. After Newark you get to the Lyons area where you'll basically just stay on 31 until Weedsport, its a reasonably trafficked road with decent shoulders and nice farmland to keep you bored. Other than gas stations there's really nothing between. Weedsport to Syracuse is some wider dirt trail and some double track dirt trail. Syracuse to Canastota will start with pavement and move to nice flatter cinder/gravel but after Canastota to Durhamville will transition to narrow dirt strips in the grass but when you get to Durhamville stay on the trail to see the cute little spillway just before you get into the town. It remains mostly unpaved with the area east of Rome some of the worst, in summer it had bad mosquitos, don't know what Oct is like there. I didn't make it past Herkimer and haven't been on any of the trail till Scotia but from the highway it looks to be a mix of paved and cinder. From Scotia on has been paved for decades and was recently updated so I'd expect decent conditions.

My experience having ridden most of the trail several times over the years is that a 28c tire is doable for the whole thing, but not comfortable for some stretches though most of those are no more than 10 miles long. A 32 or 35 would be the better mix of speed and comfort and bigger would be unnecessary. The 38c tires I ran measure 34mm wide on a 19mm internal width rim and at no time did I wish for a wider tire. Mine has a solid center line with a file pattern to each side and that's as aggressive as the whole trail needs. But do pick a tire with some puncture protection, having been a mechanic at shops in the Rochester and Albany areas I know the cinder can work its way into softer tires.