The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/adventure/)
Though I have lived in Rochester for most of my life — and have subsequently attended school in Ithaca — this weekend marked my first local upstate New York Chili Bowl. Upon hearing the possibility of escaping our grimy collegetown house with a near-empty refrigerator for a sunny day in Oneonta sampling dozens of local chili recipes, my housemates and I packed ourselves into a compact sedan and hit the road.
Teddy Matel ‘22 and I coasted down Cornell’s hills into Ithaca, the sun warming our backs and the wind chilling our faces. When we reached town, Teddy led us to Black Diamond Trail, an 8.4 mile stretch of stone dust, converted from an old railroad bed, that passes through a mix of woodlands and fields along the western shore of Cayuga Lake. The trail ended at Taughannock Falls State Park, a 750-acre park northwest of Ithaca near Trumansburg, and we jetted onto Route 96, the adjacent road. By this time, the sun was at its peak in the sky. After five miles down the shoulder of Route 96, Teddy and I darted left, and we quickly found ourselves biking on a pebble road.