Who told you it was 1/2 hour!? It's not nearly that isolated. It's a 1 minute drive to one supermarket, one minute longer to the other one in town. There's a local drug store, chain drug store, the largest independent bookstore in upstate NY, half a dozen pizza places, sushi, greek, italian, a deli, "diner," health food store, move theater, dry cleaners, cute little shops, etc. Also a bunch of bars, heh. The closest HUGE mall (one of the biggest in the country, I believe) is 45 minutes away in Syracuse. Yes it's a small town, but it's cute, charming, SAFE, and has pretty much anything you need.
I studied probably 50x more than I partied. Probably not typical, but people do work very hard academically. If you'd rather study than party, the town will be more than enough to keep you occupied. There's also SO much to do on campus that you really don't need to leave.
More on cliques, etc. below. Though it has that reputation, Colgate is much LESS clique-y and preppy than many claim. I am far from preppy and far from clique-y and I found a great group of friends. Also most of the "preps" can be really nice, once you get to know them. Most aren't afraid to be friends with someone who doesn't dress identically to them.
To Current Colgate Students: Diversity the typical Colgate student Big Drinking School rich prep school? SOCIAL LIFE
Long story short, you'd be fine! The nice thing about Colgate is that there is no one type of student, so pretty much anyone can find their niche and love it.