In our ongoing series on favorite riding trails, I took Jim Sayer’s advice and contacted the Empire State Trail’s Chris Morris for a look at New York’s 750 miles of cycling and walking paths through the State.

Chris is the Empire State Trail Program Manager, living a short distance from one of the trailheads as well as having traversed many a mile on the trail himself.

Brian and I spent a couple of days riding our tandem on the Erie Canal Towpath back in 2016, traveling from Lockport to Brockport and back, staying in a lovely B&B overnight, and discovering some of the rich history of the Canal.  We loved the adventure.        

With three basic sections to the trail – North from Albany to Canada; West from Buffalo to Albany; and South from Albany into downtown Manhattan, the Empire State Trail offers some of the most diverse riding opportunities on the east coast.

Well – we’ve seen the entire Tour de France come and go – and WHAT a race this year.  Now, we’re smack-dab in the middle of the 2024 Olympics with America showing up all over the place.

So, who better to talk to about all-things- tour-de France and the Olympics, than the managing editor of Escape Collective, Joe Lindsey.

Joe can recite chapter-and-verse about the riders, the teams, and the individual stages of a race that both started and ended differently than in the past and, I always learn so much about bike racing when we talk.

At the time we spoke, the Tour had already completed its 21 stages and we had a short breather before the Olympics – so, while we now know some results, Joe had some predictions.  We’ll see how he did.