Jason Gabak / Special to The Citizen
AUBURN - The good times got rolling bright and early Sunday morning at Emerson Park.
After a night of camping on the grounds of Auburn High School and a pre-dawn breakfast at the Springside Inn, nearly 480 bicycle enthusiasts of all ages departed for the first day of the 12th annual Bon Ton Roulet Finger Lakes Bicycle Tour.
Jim Courtney, executive director of the Auburn YMCA, said that the ride is a joint effort between the Y in Auburn and the Cortland YMCA, an effort that has proven to be increasingly successful as the years roll by.
“The ride has developed a really good reputation,” Courtney said. “The first year we did this we had 175 riders, we've had as many as 350 to 500, so this year we have a really good turnout. It is a wonderful ride that shows the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes and this entire area.”
Courtney said that this year's ride drew participants from more than 30 states, including Courtney Kudder of North Carolina.
Kudder said that she is a tri-athlete and stays in pretty good shape year round, but she has never done a ride that was longer than one day. When she heard about the Bon Ton Roulet through her family, she was eager to give it a shot.
“I was interested in doing a week long ride,” Kudder said. “I've had friends that have visited this area and they have always told me how pretty it is and I wanted to see it for myself and this seemed like a really good way to do that.”
Beginning in Auburn, the non-competitive ride takes participants on a six day, more than 400-mile ride throughout the Finger Lakes region, visiting places like Seneca Falls, Watkins Glen and Trumansburg along the way.
Riders go at their own pace and can plan their own day, following either the long course or a short course. The short course takes off between 15 and 20 miles per day. Participants can go along and stop and enjoy the scenery or other attractions along the way as they ride.
Debbie Friedman, of Brooklyn, and Marjorie Schaffer, of Manhattan, decided to do the ride together this year.
“I've done a lot of rides over the years,” Schaffer said. “This one has a really good reputation and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun, so here we are.”
Having a companion along only made the opportunity all the more appealing.
“It makes it more fun,” Friedman said. “We're really looking forward to this. I've heard really good things about the wineries and I'm looking forward to stopping and seeing some of them while we're here too.”
And still others like Bill Mark, of Florida, were simply looking for something different.
“Florida is flat,” Mark said. “Here there are a lot of hills. That is what interested me; I'm just going to be trying to get over those hills.”
Along the course of the ride the Y has established various rest stops and sleeping areas at local high schools and other facilities.
Courtney explained that the Y provides two meals a day, “and at night we have barbecues and music and things like that. I think that has helped a lot. We have a lot of volunteers along the way and the vehicles that follow in case anything happens. We have really focused on making this a very good, quality ride for everyone.”
After a night of camping on the grounds of Auburn High School and a pre-dawn breakfast at the Springside Inn, nearly 480 bicycle enthusiasts of all ages departed for the first day of the 12th annual Bon Ton Roulet Finger Lakes Bicycle Tour.
Jim Courtney, executive director of the Auburn YMCA, said that the ride is a joint effort between the Y in Auburn and the Cortland YMCA, an effort that has proven to be increasingly successful as the years roll by.
“The ride has developed a really good reputation,” Courtney said. “The first year we did this we had 175 riders, we've had as many as 350 to 500, so this year we have a really good turnout. It is a wonderful ride that shows the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes and this entire area.”
Courtney said that this year's ride drew participants from more than 30 states, including Courtney Kudder of North Carolina.
Kudder said that she is a tri-athlete and stays in pretty good shape year round, but she has never done a ride that was longer than one day. When she heard about the Bon Ton Roulet through her family, she was eager to give it a shot.
“I was interested in doing a week long ride,” Kudder said. “I've had friends that have visited this area and they have always told me how pretty it is and I wanted to see it for myself and this seemed like a really good way to do that.”
Beginning in Auburn, the non-competitive ride takes participants on a six day, more than 400-mile ride throughout the Finger Lakes region, visiting places like Seneca Falls, Watkins Glen and Trumansburg along the way.
Riders go at their own pace and can plan their own day, following either the long course or a short course. The short course takes off between 15 and 20 miles per day. Participants can go along and stop and enjoy the scenery or other attractions along the way as they ride.
Debbie Friedman, of Brooklyn, and Marjorie Schaffer, of Manhattan, decided to do the ride together this year.
“I've done a lot of rides over the years,” Schaffer said. “This one has a really good reputation and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun, so here we are.”
Having a companion along only made the opportunity all the more appealing.
“It makes it more fun,” Friedman said. “We're really looking forward to this. I've heard really good things about the wineries and I'm looking forward to stopping and seeing some of them while we're here too.”
And still others like Bill Mark, of Florida, were simply looking for something different.
“Florida is flat,” Mark said. “Here there are a lot of hills. That is what interested me; I'm just going to be trying to get over those hills.”
Along the course of the ride the Y has established various rest stops and sleeping areas at local high schools and other facilities.
Courtney explained that the Y provides two meals a day, “and at night we have barbecues and music and things like that. I think that has helped a lot. We have a lot of volunteers along the way and the vehicles that follow in case anything happens. We have really focused on making this a very good, quality ride for everyone.”
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