Otisco Lake

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In all the excitement over the baby news, I accidentally let a week and a half go by without writing up my ride around Otisco Lake.

If it was going to happen to any lake, I could have told you it would be Otisco. It's a pretty under-the-radar body of water. It's the easternmost Finger Lake and one of the smallest, just 18 miles around. Even in Syracuse, people are more likely to go to Skaneateles than Otisco. And the largest town there is Marietta, which is, well, not a large town.

Otisco is also the only Finger Lake I've never even set eyes on before this summer, so I was excited for the ride. My partner was Scott MacPherson, a good friend I met when he and my wife Kat attended law school at Syracuse University together.

Now, Scott is a staff attorney at Volunteer Legal Services Project, which is another of those crucial services that you may never have heard of. It provides free legal counsel to people who couldn't otherwise afford it. It's really good work that he's doing there.

Our weather was really good, and since it's a pretty short lake I assumed we'd just breeze right around. My map indicated one little hill, but nothing alarming. Right?

Something I've learned from experience: roads with the word "hill" in them are not kind to cyclists. Moon Hill Road at the southwest end of Otisco is a case in point. The climb was barely half a mile long but rose at an 18 percent grade, which is significantly more than I've seen on Hemlock, Seneca or anywhere else.

This is how I got up: ride for 200 feet; topple off my bike gasping for air; sit on the side of the road for five minutes; repeat. It took a lot of repetitions. So many that Scott, who had the good sense to walk his bike up, texted me from the top of the hill letting me know he'd wait for me.

Thanks, Scott!

After that little hiccup, we had a beautiful ride the rest of the way around. It was a great day on an out-of-the way lake. I hope to go back again.

Now I'm caught up on the blog, with just three lakes left. Coming up next: Canandaigua Lake, this Saturday. I can't help but noticing a lot of the roads are named after hills.