600 Riders, 400 Miles: The 28th Cycle the Erie Canal Tour Rolls Triumphantly Into Albany

ALBANY, N.Y. — More than 600 cyclists rolled across the finish line in Albany on Sunday, July 19, closing out the 28th annual Cycle the Erie Canal tour — an eight-day, 400-mile ride from Buffalo that tested riders with mid-90s heat and wildfire haze before rewarding them with banners, live music, and food trucks at the capital’s waterfront celebration.

Eight Days, 400 Miles, Riders Aged 8 to 86

Organized by Parks & Trails New York, the tour set out from Buffalo on July 11 with participants from 38 states and Canada, ranging in age from 8 to 86. Riders covered 40 to 60 miles a day, with roughly 85 percent of the route following the off-road Erie Canalway Trail through the lock towns, aqueducts, and Main Streets that the canal built two centuries ago.

Heat, Haze, and Determination

The week did not make it easy. As the peloton reached its halfway point at Camillus Erie Canal Park, smoke drifting from Canadian wildfires turned the sun an eerie orange and pushed Central New York’s air quality index to 151 — an “Unhealthy” rating — while temperatures climbed into the mid-90s. Riders pressed on anyway.

“I’ve tried to find other rides that might compete with this one, and haven’t been able to,” said John Forsyth, 69, who traveled from Corinth, Texas for his third crossing of the Empire State. “It’s a cool accomplishment to be able to do it, especially at my age.” First-timer Meredith Lark, who rode with six family members from Queens, put it more simply: “It’s nice to be outside and away from a screen for a while, just enjoying good company.”

A Finish Line Steeped in History

The final day delivered some of the route’s signature scenery: views of Cohoes Falls, a stop at the Waterford “Flight of Five” locks, and a breather on Peebles Island before the last push into Albany. Along the way, volunteers like Camillus historian Bob Randall reminded riders what they were tracing — the original 1825 canal, 363 miles long, four feet deep, and 40 feet wide, dug almost entirely by hand by Irish immigrants and local farmers.

Momentum for the Canal’s Third Century

The tour’s finish caps a summer in which the canal corridor is riding real momentum: the waterway is in its 202nd navigation season, backed by a $50 million state investment in dams, embankments, and water-control structures, and trail towns from Lockport to Waterford are courting a new generation of visitors. For eight days in July, 600 cyclists proved the point — two hundred years on, the Erie Canal still moves people across New York.