On August 30, 2025 we set out to ride all the way around Seneca Lake. A route that would be over 82 miles. By far the most miles I would ride in a day to that point.

I was getting a little nervous in the lead up to this ride. Our previous high mileage day was when we rode around 2 different lakes back to back for a total of a little over 60 miles. During that day I was like burnt toast. Exhausted and overheated. I got off my bike to walk for the first time on any of our long rides during that ride. How was I going to survive 82 miles in the summer August heat?

We had what was in my opinion an unsuspecting stroke of luck in a form you would not have expected. The week we were supposed to undertake this ride both myself and my biking partner got sick. So we canned the ride for that week and pushed our schedule for our rides back one week. That landed us on 8/30 for Seneca Lake. And as luck would have it the temperatures were much more moderate for the ride on the 30th than they would have been if we had conducted the ride on the original date planned.

We had been getting most of our routes from the Bike The 11 Finger Lakes Challenge website. And one of the things I liked best about that was the routes generally tried to keep you off of the busiest highway roads. The route around Seneca Lake could be pretty simple mostly up Route 14 on the west side Then 96 and 414 on the east side. The route we followed kept us mostly off of those roads.

The route we followed was so much more enjoyable without the traffic. It was much more comfortable to not have to worry about all the traffic. And another aspect of the route that hit just perfect is that the route we used made it really feel like an adventure.

This route we followed had us out on some beautiful country roads. So scenic and beautiful. But not how one might expect. Not scenic views of the lake. For me that wasn’t the goal anyway with this one. I live relatively close to Seneca Lake and have seen it regularly both in car and while running Seneca 7. So it was fun to get out and explore the surrounding countryside.

There were many times during the first half of the ride where I was like “I literally have no idea where we are right now.” It was such a fun feeling of adventure and exploration. That is really what I am after when I get into the outdoors. My outdoor pursuits are for that feeling. I do all the training and work so I can have that. And This ride really provided it.

When my friend and I first started talking about this adventure of riding around all the Finger Lakes one of my first thoughts was It is going to be a tough ride getting up the hillside and out of Watkins Glen.

If you are familiar with Seneca Lake at all you know that the lake itself basically sits down in a valley. And Watkins Glen at the southern end of the lake is at the bottom of the valley even with the lakefront. That was our starting point for this ride. We would have to start off the ride with a fairly steep climb up out of Watkins Glen to kick things off. Getting started was hard but not impossible.

Then as the date of this specific ride got closer and I started to look at the map I noticed something. There as another significant climb about three quarters of the way into the ride. At around mile 60 I saw this big climb on the map. That made me nervous especially in light of my literal melt down in the heat of our 60 mile day. But thanks, I think in large part to the cooler weather I was able to manage this climb as well.

I managed all the climbing so well that I actually would like to do this ride again some time. At the time it was my longest ride to date and most elevation gain on any ride.

Another fun part about this ride is if you start at the southern end in Watkins Glen you arrive at the northern end and the halfway point in Geneva where there is a great visitor center to take a rest and get some food if you want. There was actually a farmers market going on when we arrived there. Then after the visitor center rest break we got to ride along the northern shoreline through Seneca Lake State Park. Along a beautiful scenic paved bike path. One of my favorite places to relax and seeing it this was a new experience for me. The fun surprise was that after that paved bike path we had to navigate this switchbacking boardwalk ramp as we left the back to get back to the road and the route we wanted. If someone had told me about that in advance I would have had questions.

Another fun side note is that as a relative newby to cycling I really don’t know much of anything about much of anything. Especially when it comes to gear or how to fix or maintain a bike. But one thing that I did learn is that bike shorts are actually designed to be worn sans underwear. And normally I follow that guidance. But for this ride I was planning to wear a different set of bike shorts that on test rides didn’t fit quite as well as my other ones. These were lighter weight and designed for the warmer summer weather. So I made a totally rookie mistake, that I definitely should have been able to avoid due to my experiences in running and knowing this rule. I did something different on my big adventure that I had never done before. The rule is never try anything new during a race or when it really matters, always test it out first. But I didn’t do that. Why I don’t know. But I decided to wear underwear underneath my bike shorts thinking that would help with the fit. It didn’t. What it did do is give me the worst chaffing I have ever had. And when I got to the half way point I discarded that underwear as fast as I could. And that helped relieve a lot of discomfort for the rest of the ride.

It is a rule for a reason folks. Never try something new on the big day. Just don’t do it.

I love this ride and the whole experience. Highly recommended if you like to explore on your bike.

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