• Overview
  • Trip Outline
  • Trip Includes
  • Trip Excludes
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Pack your camera, tempt your taste buds, cycle quiet rural roads and relax at scenic lakeside accommodations. Enjoy World-Class Vineyards, Stunning Natural Beauty and Charming Small Towns.

New York’s Finger Lakes region takes its name from the 11 pristine, freshwater lakes placed like a handprint between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania Border. The region encompasses 9,000 square miles. Glaciers carved out the Finger Lakes themselves as well as some of the beautiful surrounding landscape. Gorges and waterfalls can be found throughout the Finger Lakes region.

The Finger Lakes is one of the best-known regions in the world for almost 100 top-quality wines. Because of the lake’s great depths, they provide a lake effect to the lush vineyards that flank the shores. While cycling along the ridgelines we’ll enjoy the patchwork of farms, vineyards, and lake front communities. The Finger Lakes Wine Country has a rich cultural history with ties to glassmaking, winemaking and viticulture, aviation and motorcycle history, literary history, the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War. We’ll visit charming villages with one-of-a-kind museums and unique shopping opportunities, fascinating sites, including the National Women’s Hall of Fame, Cornell University’s stunning campus, It’s a Wonderful Life Museum, and the spell-bounding Watkins Glen State Park. The area is a dream come true for water and outdoor activities. For the bicycling enthusiast, the choices are too many to take in a short 6-day tour.

This tour was designed with the help of long-time local guests of Cycle of Life Adventures. There is not a more perfect source for local knowledge than from local cyclists.

Travel

Fly into Ithaca or meet at our Starting hotel by 5PM for an orientation dinner.

Accommodations

6 nights – Please see the detailed itinerary

Tour Highlights

  • Daily rides along silky smooth roads that follow the shores of Lake Cayuga, Seneca and Keuka Lake.
  • Wine tasting at the world-class Glenora Cellars.
  • Two-night stay at the Statler Hotel on the campus of Cornell University.
  • Two nights of accommodations in Penn Yan on the waterfront.
  • Ride across George Bailey’s (It’s a Wonderful Life) bridge.
  • Explore Cornell University vibrant stunning campus, the Cornell plantation, and the famous The Lab of Ornithology.
  • Visit the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, the Fight for Civil Rights that changed the world.
  • Relax in the mill town of Penn Yan with local charm and historic buildings.
  • Visit Taughannock Falls, the tallest single-drop waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains.
  • Explore Watkins Glen State Park and its 18 cascading waterfalls and breathtaking gorges.
  • Historic Registry Village of Aurora on the east shore of Cayuga.
  • The beautiful village of Hammondsport and a vintage biker’s dream visit to the Glenn Curtiss Museum, named after the pioneer in aviation and bicycle frame builder.
  • Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, a 10,000-acre wildlife preserve home to eagles, heron, snow geese and much more.
  • Picnic Lunch on the lush grass of Long Point State Park on the shores of Lake Cayuga.
 
Orientation Day - Welcome to the Finger Lakes! Ride from Ithaca to Glenora. Meet the group at 5 pm at the Statler Hotel for a group cocktail hour, orientation dinner and time to get to know each other

Dinner: Taverna Banfi

Itineraries

Day 1

Ithaca to Taughannock Falls loop

Ride Details: long and short options today. 33 miles or up to 71 miles

Dinner: Terrace Restaurant

Accommodation: The Statler Hotel

Day 2

Ithaca to Watkins Glen

Ride Details: 38 miles, 2440 ft

Today we will start our tour with a ride through Ithaca, then up and away from Cayuga Lake to Watkins Glen, through the southern part of the Finger Lakes region. The quiet roads and low traffic will let you relax and warm-up for the wonderful week to come! Lunch will be in Watkins Glen, located on the southern shore of Seneca Lake. We will ride to Watkins Glens State Park, the most famous of the Finger Lakes State Parks.

Day 3

Keuka Lake Loop

Ride Details: 57 miles; 3839 feet

On today’s ride, we get a taste of the rolling farmland that makes this region such a perfect area to ride. The rolling ups lead to an incredible downhill to meet our third Finger Lake as we ride along the lovely shores of Keuka Lake. We stop in the tiny village of Hammondsport with its traditional Town Square surrounded by local lunch spots. Hammondsport was voted the “Coolest Small Town in America” and is referred to as “The Cradle of Aviation.” Also, for viewing the Glen Curtis Motorcycle Museum.
After lunch, we head north on the west side of Keuka. In the afternoon we ride along the north end of Keuka Lake and into the town of Penn Yan

Lunch: Hammondsport (on your own)

Dinner: Keuka Restaurant

Accommodation: Hampton Inn

Day 4

Penn Yan Loop to Glenora

Ride Details: 38.9miles; 1914 feet

Today we first head south then east, enjoying views that alternate between open fields and vineyards with beautiful Seneca Lake in the background. Like Keuka Lake this morning and yesterday, the western shore of Seneca plays host to numerous wineries, and who knows where we may stop for some refreshments.

Lunch:

Dinner:

Accommodation: Hampton Inn

Day 5

Penn Yan to Seneca Falls

Ride Details: 44 miles; 1168 feet

Then we’ll ride through Geneva at the northern outlet of Seneca Lake with its beautiful lakefront park. From there it’s only a short trip east to historically Seneca Falls famous for the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention in the United States. The meeting held in July of 1848 launched the women’s suffrage movement, which more than seven decades later ensured women the right to vote. Spend the rest of the afternoon visiting the National Women’s Hall of Fame and don’t forget to grab a selfie on the bridge from the iconic movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life!”

Lunch: Picnic in Geneva

Dinner: Seneca Falls (on your own)

Accommodation: The Gould Hotel – Seneca Falls

Day 6

Taughannock Falls Loop

We start our spin today with a spin through Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, an 8,000-acre refuge serving as a major resting area for waterfowl and other waterbirds on their journeys to and from nesting areas in northeastern and east-central Canada. From here we head South and pedal along the Eastern side of Lake Cayuga. 40 miles in length, Lake Cayuga is the longest of all the Finger Lakes. We’ll stop in the small college town of Aurora. Then complete our last 30 miles back to our starting hotel

Ride Details: 22 miles- 55

Lunch: Long Point State Park

Dinner: no dinner

Accommodation: No Overnight

Included

  • Van Support
  • The services of 2 bike tour guides
  • Accommodations for 6 nights
  • Wine tasting at the Glenora Cellars
  • Snacks

Not Included

  • Airfare
  • Meals on off days
  • Souvenirs
  • 12% gratuity for guides, mechanics, volunteers and tour staff is not included, but greatly appreciated

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