KRAC Blog

The Big Bike starts where it starts, but you get going in the Japanese Garden behind the Historical Society. The path forks as you approach Elmwood: one way takes you uphill, towards the parking lot, and the other takes you under the overpass, and out into a meadow behind McKinley High School. The bike path runs along the Scajaquada Creek, taking you behind Wegman's, and past playgrounds that only the neighbors ever knew about. I never saw the alligator, but I hear there's a beaver there now, and depending on the time of day it might be something that gets spotted-- one of the cool things about the bike is that it doesn't seem to startle the wildlife quite as much as running does. In high summer this stretch is notable for the prolificacy of the rabbits, which almost seem to spray out in front of you. You come out by the Polish Falcons' Hall, across the street from Tops; when you cross Grant, you follow the trail around to the left, past the parking lot, and into a stretch of almost completely abandoned industrial Buffalo. You are running under the Scajaquada expressway now, past plants that are empty, and streets that look like they haven't been used by anyone who wasn't lost for years. This stretch emerges on Niagara Street, and it looks like they have done a little work connecting this up with the next major part of the trail: according to Michael Beebe the trail will be linked directly to the Riverwalk. This is great news: the stretch that ran along Niagara Street was the only part of the trip that was unpleasant, with traffic that was fast enough, and heedless enough to make riding on the narrow, glass-strewn sidewalk preferable. Once you're on the Riverwalk, you are home free, and you are able to ride without really having to worry about cars all the way to Old Man River and beyond, to the bike path at UB.

If I worked at UB, and lived in the city, I might consider trying to turn my commute home into a cross training opportunity once a week.