Bikepacking to the Source of the Erie Canal in New York's Adirondack Mountains

North Lake Reservoir, source of the Black River Feeder Canal for the Erie Canal

I bikepacked the hard way to the source of New York's Erie Canal, the source of mid-west America's growth and prosperity, the source of economic prosperity for Northern, Central and Western NY and home of NY's 750mi bikepacking route, the Empire State Trail. 

The Little Collie monkey on my back

It was heinous, miserable, mostly hike-a-bike in mud that was effectively bottomless, but no less than hub deep if you were to claim there was a bottom. It was so bad I chose to bike on 22 miles of pavement with my 40lb dog, Marshall, on my back for the return trip rather than the out and back (lollipop) route I had planned. The total distance of the trip in either case was effectively the same, but one had virtually no pavement and no monkey (Marshall) on my back and one was the opposite of everything I enjoy. 

Sometimes these exploratory trips suck, but they build resilience for future times. If I was injured or had a serious mechanical I'd accept help, but I'm out there to ride, often hike, and always seek to be challenged. The worst case scenario is it sucks, I'm miserable and I raise the bar for future adventures by looking back on the experience. 

The views

The interlude between the suck

The means of suffering

The respite

Heaven

Gateway to hell

The route

Stewart's Shops an Upstate New York (and now Vermont) Staple of Bikepacking Resupply

Final resupply at Stewart's in Arlington, Vermont

Stewart's Shops, an upstate NY staple of bikepacking resupply that has expanded into Vermont. Final resupply of the trip. 22 miles and 2500ft gain ahead of us in the rain.

I ate a terrible hamburger (I crave protein and sodium on these trips) and downed a coffee for the caffeine. Bought 2 bananas, a 20oz root beer for the sugar which I dumped into a 20oz water bottle, a snickers bar, a Reese Peanut butter protein bar and gallon of water.

I refilled my 20oz electrolyte/carb bottle with a Mango Chili LMNT and dumped my last 4oz of maple syrup into it. I also still had two gluten free honey stinger cookies.

Besides maple syrup and hamburgers I never eat any of this crap in real life (not even bananas which are filled with sugar, unless you eat them green, in which case they are filled with healthy resistant starch).

I ate all but one of the honey stingers and 6oz of root beer on the final 22 miles.

Bikepacking isn't the time to lose weight or count calories or eat super clean (though you can meet your nutrition without going entirely off the tails). Any single day ride you can limp home bonked out, but multi-day trips the damage is cumulative for nutrition and hydration. Eating and drinking constantly is best to avoid starting out with zero energy. A lesson I learned riding the Moose River Plains loop in 2022 where I totally bonked out midway into day two on no sleep and horrendous fueling.

Maple syrup isn't cheap, but unlike expensive gels (or homemade simple syrups) my GI tract seems to have unlimited capacity to consume the stuff. It's possible I'm part Elf. I drank 22oz of it over 4 days (2 water bottles had 3oz each to start and I brought 16oz in flexible flask). Adding it to my electrolytes should speed up water absorption and help top off my glycogen stores.

I was tired at times but never felt under fueled. Oh, and I lost about 3lbs of actual weight (my fleece cycling jacket was noticeably roommier to end the trip and that isn't water weight). No matter how much you eat, you'll end up in a deficit over multiple days so don't stress.

Stewart's Shops, Poultney, Vermont

Rounadabout Manchester Route- Gravel bikepacking in Vermont and Eastern New York

Just a quick, this is what we did, it was fun, and go have at it post. 

The road to IP Road

I call it the Roundabout Manchester. I've had it on paper (or pixels) for about 4 years and it was pretty awesome to finally do it. I only live about 40 miles (an hour) from the start so it was sort of inexcusable to not do it. However, it wasn't a dog friendly route (even if I had a trailer those Cat 2 climbs would absolutely suck). It's a gravel bike tour with some abandoned Vermont Class 4 roads. 

Lots of good camping, resupply at good intervals. You can do this as an epic day ride, challenging overnight, or a 3 or 4 day trip. We did 4 not so equal days (day 1 only had 22mi and 550ft of 11000ft elevation total) but it worked out great. At camp almost every day with plenty of light. 

D&H in Granville, NY

Camping in Green Mountain National Forest

Exploring the Adirondacks by Bicycle - Bikepacking Wilcox Lake Wild Forest

With ~2 million acres of public land open to bicycles within and adjoining the Adirondack Forest Preserve, the Adirondacks are a blank canvas for exploration by bicycle. Just don't expect to ride your bike the whole time while finding which trails are rideable and which are not.