600 cyclists reach Medina on first day of 8-day canal adventure

Cyclists will pedal 400 miles from Buffalo to Albany

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Cyclists head down Main Street in Medina this afternoon. They left Buffalo this morning and headed 49 miles east to Medina.

This is the 28th annual Cycle the Erie Canal bike tour. There are riders ages 8 to 86. More than 600 cyclists from 37 states and Canada on the journey, which is Parks & Trails New York.

A cyclist signals he will be turning right from main Street to Park Avenue. The cyclists were headed to “tent city” at the Medina Central School campus.

A cyclist from Pittsburgh, Pa. visits the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame inside City Hall. Craig Lacy, right, from the Medina Sandstone Society gave tours of the Hall of Fame, which includes 46 sites.

The Medina school campus has been turned into “Tent City.” The cyclists will camp in tents overnight while having access to the Clifford Wise Intermediate School for showers.

Barb and Jim Hancock from the medina Tourism Committee welcomed cyclists and shared points of interest they might want to check out. A shuttle bus took the riders into the downtown.

The Medina Tourism Committee has welcomed the cyclists all 28 of the event.

“We couldn’t do it without the school,” Hancock, the Tourism Committee chairman, said about Medina serving as a host site. “They are incredible opening up the school and the grounds.”

Dave Stockton and the band Pocket Change also performed an evening concert for the cyclists.

Zambistro also will be catering breakfasts for the riders in the morning, and they give rave reviews about the food.

The cyclists will head east 62 miles on Monday to Fairport, and will be greeted with refreshments in Albion and Holley as they head across Orleans County, and then more welcome centers in Monroe County.