Moravia

Today I'd planned to do a trip around Owasco Lake, but got a late start and ran into strong headwinds, so I did a trip to Moravia and back instead.

Moravia is a few miles south of Owasco Lake, in the Owasco inlet valley. Owasco is the next Finger Lake east of Cayuga, so getting there involves going up and then back down. The geography of this region was created by retreating glaciers, which dug out deep trenchs, the deepest parts of which became the Finger Lakes. Between the trenches are high hills, so going east to west involves going up and down the hills.

My trip to Moravia goes north on Route 34 out of Ithaca, alongside Cayuga Lake, up until Asbury Rd, where I turn right (east). Asbury follows Asbury Creek. I then turn north and head up Benson and then Van Ostrand Roads. Van Ostrand goes through slightly rolling farmland, with some forested areas, deadending at North Lansing School Rd (intersection shown in photo on right).

Then a quick right onto Breed, which hits Creek Road. Creek follows Locke Creek, in a valley, until it hits Rt 90, which takes you into the village of Locke (named, as I just learned, after English political philospher John Locke).

Turning north onto Rt 38, Moravia is just a few miles up the road from Locke. I've biked to or through Moravia a number of times, and always stop at a great little coffee shop, "Coffee 'n Cream." It's about 22 miles from home, so a good place to stop when I am doing my Owasco Lake ride. The photo at left is from a century ride I did in January that took me through Moravia.

I had lunch at Coffee 'n Cream, and then turned back down Rt.38. This state route follows the Owasco inlet valley all the way past Groton. It's relatively level, though it is rolling in quite a few places. I passed back through Locke and kept going south, and eventually came to the village of Groton. Rt.38 turns a couple of times through Groton and then continues south. The Owasco Inlet valley eventually turns into wetlands, and then becomes part of the Fall Creek valley. Rt 38 hits Fall Creek at Freeville, and continues south through a deep valley toward Owego. (photo at right was taken from Rt 38 bridge over Fall Creek at Freeville, looking west).

On this ride, though, I turned back west onto Rt 366 at Freeville, and followed it out of town, turning right onto Upper Creek Rd. Rt 366 is very flat here. Following Upper Creek Rd and Lower Creek Rd, which go alongside Fall Creek, through rolling hills, past small hamlets, a goat farm and then after crossing Rt 13 into the Northeast area of Ithaca. Following Freeze Rd into Varna, then onto 366, onto Forest Home Dr and through Cornell campus back down into Ithaca.

The weather was beautiful, sunny, a bit cool (in the upper 50s). There was a stiff wind coming out of the north, so I was going into it for half the ride, probably 10-15 mph. This was the first time I'd ridden Rt 38 from Locke to Groton, and it's a nice ride, I'll definitely do it again. Very low traffic and pretty good shoulders.

Overall this is a great ride. It goes through lots of farmland, but also some forested areas. Moravia has a few places to eat besides the one I stopped at, including a pizza place, and Locke also has a diner. There's a great little ice cream stand in Freeville on Rt 38 just past 366 -- I was tempted to stop but decided to wait until next time.

Route: Ithaca - N.Lansing - Moravia - Groton - Freeville - Ithaca
Total distance: 49.30 miles
Ride time: 3:12'34
Avg speed: 15.36 mph
Total climb: 1846 ft
Low point: 390 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1210 ft, Van Ostrand Rd near Goodman
Avg climb: 37.44 ft/mile
Consumed: 1 liter water, 24 oz orange juice, small coffee, turkey, lettuce and tomato sandwich on rye with mustard.