I rode this rail trail from Cazanovia to the end - 5.63 miles. Its a great trail with some nice ups and down along a scenic river. We continued onto the section that "Supposedly" is for Hikers Only. But we saw a lot of evidence of bikes and ATV's. Another section of this rail Trail up north about a mile was just given over to the Local Snowmobile club to convert to Multi use. All of this rail trail is part of the North Country trail. And a very nice section it is. They have put a lot of work into placing stairs at washed out areas and at Road crossings where the Overhead rail bridge has been removed. Great work and very nice.

But the Majority of the surface is cinders from the days of the railroad and biking is not going to effect it one bit. Its a generally well drained trail. We saw 4 hikers on it past the "Multi-use" section and none were bothered by us using it. we stopped and talked to them about how often it is used and I guess it does get used. But its fantastic.. So give it a spin..

This trail folows the Lehigh Valley Elmira and Cortland Branch through a pretty gorge with nice views of the river. You start one block north of downtown Cazenovia at the train station, and go up to Chittenango Falls (the effective end of the Gorge Trail). About halfway up are some pretty ruins (on posted property -- stay off) between the trail and the river. Somewhere prior to Chittenango Falls is the official end of the Gorge Trail, but the signage permits you to bicycle to the Falls. Beyond that the trail is closed so that only hikers can use it (and there's no trailhead nor any evidence that hikers actually use it.)

Here are my ride notes: http://blog.russnelson.com/bicycling/1221843892.html