Pedalshift Tour Journals

I grew up within a stone’s throw of the Erie Canal in Fairport, NY. It’s a quaint town outside Rochester, NY. Back in the early 1800s, the canal was a major economic powerhouse that fueled the growth of western and central New York. Learn more and get this journal and more at pedalshift.net/plus. By the time I was around, it was little more than a watery green line that we were dared to swim in… fodder for elementary school field trips… and the towpath was a scary place where people were reportedly mugged all the time. I always thought that was a parental fabrication to stop us from swimming in the muck, but my crime data from the 1980s is a sadly incomplete. Despite the warnings, the canal path was a ticket to adventure. As a kid you knew you could ride out as far as you wanted and only needed to turn 180 degrees and you’d be back in the familiar streets. Permanent breadcrumbs, if you will. So I was able to ride my Huffy to exotic places like Pittsford and Bushnells Basin. Only a few miles away by map sta