Short Tours
What: A series of short, self-contained overnight bike tours where we carry everything we need on our bikes. There will be no support vehicle or sag wagon. These trips are great for first time bike travelers and experienced people who want to rediscover their interest in bike touring around the beautiful Finger Lakes Region. You will need to provide your own camping gear (tent, sleeping bag and pad, etc), a basic set of tools and a spare inner-tube. If you do not own bike bags (panniers), we can provide loaner Donkey Boxes that zip-tie onto a rear rack.
Food: Most people will pick up food near the campsites or dine-in at nearby restaurants. Riders can also bring their own cooking gear; however, we won’t be group cooking.
Cost: We will split camping expenses, estimated to be about $50 per person. There is no tour fee, but participants will need to be FLCC members in good standing.
Where: Both tours start and end in Ithaca, NY and loop the Finger Lakes Region. Roads are primarily paved.
Group size: These are small group tours, with a maximum of 12 people.
What’s Provided: We will make camping reservations, provide cue sheets, maps, and RideWithGPS routes. An experienced tour leader will ride sweep, ensuring that all participants make their destination.
Contact: Steve Powell to sign up or ask questions. Spots are filled on a first-served basis.
Past Tours
Finger Lakes Tour (June 2021)
Our route starts and ends in Ithaca and makes a loop of Seneca Lake and Keuka Lake, camping at the following state parks: Watkins Glen, Keuka Lake, and Sampson. This ride includes a moderate amount of climbing and a generous number of lake vistas.
Days: 4 (3 nights)
Total Distance: 159 miles
Maximum riders: 12
Cost: $90 or less (depending on the number of participants) to cover camping reservations.
Detailed routes:
RideWithGPS Collection (View all of the routes on one map)
RideWithGPS Event (Easy way to download all routes)
Day 1 – Ithaca to Watkins Glen SP (41.7 mi, 2350 ft climb)
Day 2 – Watkins Glen SP to Keuka Lake SP (44.3 mi, 2640 ft climb)
Day 3 – Keuka Lake SP to Sampson SP (38.0 mi, 1000 ft climb)
Day 4 – Sampson SP to Ithaca (35.2 mi, 1427 ft climb)
Finger Lakes Tour (May 2021)
We planned the May tour as a 4-day tour self-supported camping tour. However, due to the unseasonably cold and wet weather, we combined our last two riding days into one and covered 65 miles in the last day, arriving back to Ithaca one day early.
Days: 4 (3 nights)
Total Distance: 110 miles
Riders: 6
Detailed routes:
RideWithGPS Collection (View all routes on one map)
RideWithGPS Event (Easy way to download all routes)
Day 1 – Ithaca to Taughannock Falls SP (13.7 mi, 697 ft climb)
Day 2 – Taughannock Falls SP to Cayuga Lake SP (33.1 mi, 1575 ft climb)
Day 3 – Cayuga Lake SP to Fillmore Glen SP (39.9 mi, 1569 ft climb)
Day 4 – Fillmore Glen SP to Ithaca (23.3 mi, 764 ft climb)
Young People’s Tour
For approximately the past 10 years the FLCC has offered a weekend of bike touring especially for young families and kids, called the Young People’s Bike Tour. We typically had 30 to 135 participants on these tours, which required about a dozen volunteers and a lead organizer, to carry out successfully and safely. In fact, the Young People’s Bike Tour was so successful that it served as the model and inspiration for Bike Travel Weekend, an annual event organized by the nationwide non-profit cycling organization the Adventure Cycling Association, which had over 9,000 participants in 2018. The original organizers of FLCC’s Young People’s Bike Tour have moved on to other endeavors. Therefore, for 2019, and until a new organizer steps up, the FLCC recommends that families from our area join up with groups in other locations that are organizing events for the first weekend in June, and are listed on the BikeTravelWeekend.org website. For example, one such trip, the Cape Cod Bike Travel Weekendlooks like it will be a great trip, very much in the spirit of the Young People’s Bike Tour.
Memorial Day Weekend Tour
We try to take advantage of the unofficial start of the summer by heading to a great cycling destination for a weekend of daily bike rides. Recent destinations have included Cape Vincent/Thousand Islands, Ottawa, Montreal, and Niagara-on-the-Lake. We’ve stayed in a variety of indoor group accommodations, ranging from college dorms to hostels to hotels. We try to do some group meals to help keep costs low. There will be a choice of bike rides of various lengths. Check back in the early spring for signup details for the upcoming tour.