Wheels Up in Buffalo: 600 Cyclists Launch the 28th Cycle the Erie Canal Tour Across 400 Miles of History
BUFFALO, N.Y. — More than 600 cyclists from 37 states and Canada rolled out of Buffalo on Sunday morning, July 12, setting off on the 28th annual Cycle the Erie Canal bike tour — an eight-day, 400-mile ride to Albany that this year doubles as a moving celebration of the canal’s bicentennial era.
Eight Days, 400 Miles, Two Centuries of History
Organized by Parks & Trails New York, the fully supported tour runs July 11–19 and follows the Erie Canalway Trail, now part of the Empire State Trail. Riders cover roughly 50 miles a day, with about 85 percent of the route on off-road paved and stone-dust trail. Each evening a colorful tent city springs up in a new canal community, with overnight stops in Medina, Fairport, Seneca Falls, Syracuse, Rome, Canajoharie, and Schenectady before the finish-line celebration in Albany on Sunday, July 19.
The ride is as much a history tour as an athletic feat. Along the way, participants can join guided visits to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, Fort Stanwix National Monument in Rome, and a boat tour through the famous flight of locks at Lockport.
A Rolling Celebration of the Bicentennial
The 2026 edition arrives at a remarkable moment. The canal is in its 202nd navigation season, the state’s bicentennial commemoration of the original 1825 completion is in full swing, and New York has committed $50 million to the canal system in the FY 2026 Enacted Budget. Cyclists this week are sharing the corridor with the Albany Symphony’s free Water Music NY: More Voices festival, which brought thousands to Lock E2 in Waterford on July 10 and continues with performances in canal communities including Medina, Seneca Falls, Utica, Fort Plain, and Schuylerville.
Trail Towns Reap the Rewards
For the villages and cities along the route, the tour is an economic event as much as a recreational one. Hundreds of hungry riders mean full cafés, busy bike shops, and packed farmers’ markets in trail towns that have spent years — and, recently, a share of $207,953 in state tourism infrastructure and event grants — preparing to welcome visitors arriving by trail and towpath.
Two hundred years after mule teams first hauled freight along the towpath, the Erie Canal is still moving people across New York — just at pedal speed now. The riders reach Albany on July 19; if you live in a canal town along the way, step outside and wave them through.