the Way of the Turtle

28.4 Mile Ride Along the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Path
Friday, June 15, 2007

Cohoes to Rotterdam Junction bike path map (1.9 MB PDF)

What a great day for a ride! Not too hot, not too humid... definitely a good time to test out my once-again repaired rear wheel. So I took the bike over to the Niskayuna Lions Park for a ride on the bike path. (Since I'd just fixed the wheel, I didn't want to go out on the road, in case it suddenly self-destructed...)

Started out heading east into Colonie to the Colonie Town Park. Originally I thought I'd turn around here, but the path is pleasantly shady along much of this section down into Cohoes, so instead I went all the way to the end and then climbed the long gradual hill back up into Colonie to return to Niskayuna. Passed a number of riders, almost all older folk (no great surprise, given that it was mid-afternoon.) Not much in the way of wildlife... lots of birds, obviously, and a few chipmunks. After a brief rest stop at the Lions Park, I headed west toward Lock 7 and the Hill (site of last year's Crash.) I was feeling energetic, so I trucked up the Hill and rode past KAPL and over towards GE R&D. Guess I wasn't feeling that energetic, because I stopped before reaching the top of the final hill (the entrance to GE) and headed back instead... needless to say, I was very careful riding down the hills...!

The ride back was a little more interesting, critter-wise. Passed a painted turtle commuting across the bike path, and stopped to look at a big ol' snapping turtle drifting in the sunshine near the bridge across the path. And as I pulled into the Lions Park at the end of the ride, there was a heron out among the weeds in the river.

All in all, this was a good ride - great weather, my spokes held up for the whole distance, and I rode my longest ride yet this year!

JMH