YMCA will again offer free use of hydro-bikes, kayaks in canal

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 June 2026 at 9:04 am

Photo by Isabella Zasa, Orleans County Tourism Department: Orly the Ox rides a hydro-bike on the Erie Canal in Medina on July 18, 2025.

MEDINA – The Orleans County YMCA will again be allowing people to use hydro-bikes and kayaks in the Erie Canal this summer.

The Y has offered the program for several years. People can rent a hydro-bike or kayak for free. Bent’s Opera House is covering the cost for the YMCA to have staff managing the program.

Last year 1,300 people used the equipment. The Y will have four hydro-bikes and 10 kayaks available. Two of those kayaks are tandem.

Andrew Houseman, senior program director at the Orleans County YMCA in Medina, told the Medina Village Board he expects the program to start next week, with online reservations available later this week. People soon can sign up on Event Brite and rent them for free. (Go to eventbrite.com and search for kayaks and hydro-bikes to make a reservation.)

The program will run from Thursdays to Saturdays, from noon to 9 p.m. and will continue until Aug. 17.

Most of the equipment will be kept in a trailer in the Canal Basin behind Captain Kidz restaurant at 143 East Center St. The Village Board is allowing the Y to use one dock slip as well.

The Y received the kayaks and hydro-bikes in 2020 through grants from the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation and the Erie Canalway Corridor’s Consolidated Fund.