the Way of the Turtle

15.2 Mile Ride Along the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Path
Monday, October 8, 2007

Legs were pretty stiff from yesterday's trail adventure, so I decided a realtively easy ride was in order and headed over to the Niskayuna Lions Park to ride the path out and back in both directions (stopping at the first major hill in each direction and heading back the way I'd come.)

Weather was warm and muggy at first, with bits of sunshine that disappeared behind the clouds after I'd ridden for a while. That cooled things off slightly, but left it still quite humid. Still, one nice thing about riding is that you create your own breeze!

I'd left my camera home due to a forecast of possible rain, so naturally when I drove into the parking lot I was met with a view of three egrets perched on a log out in the river, plus two herons and an egret prowling the shallows looking for food. Oh, well... no photos, but it was still cool to see them.

At the base of the old landfill in Niskayuna (the 2nd major hill, and the 2nd turnaround) there was a duck convention going on in the river... I've never seen so many ducks in one spot on the Mohawk. These guys clearly aren't used to people, though, because when I stopped to watch them, a bunch flew away and many of the rest swam downstream a ways. A little further on, the redwing blackbirds in the tall swamp-grass were making an incredible racket.

Legs never really did shake off the fatigue from yesterday, but it still felt good to get out and move for a bit... after a lot of sedentary days last week, it may take some work to get back in the groove. We've got "professional development" meetings tomorrow (translation - much of my day will be a boring waste of time which would have been much better spent working with my students) so I'm hoping I can escape the school a bit earlier than a typical Tuesday and manage a 6-8 mile run, possibly up at Thacher.

JMH