the Way of the Turtle

10.2 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Sunday, January 3, 2016

Tough time getting going today... I think a combination of not sleeping well last night and the last day of winter break. But it was too nice a day, temperature-wise, to not get out on the bike, and by the time I got outside there was even some sunshine to enjoy.

While it isn't officially open to bikes, I took my MTB  over to the Bethlehem trailhead for the Albany County Rail Trail and headed east, with the plan being to ride all the way to South Pearl St and back. The first mile is pretty rough, lots of stone and gravel, then it gets a little smoother until the Veterans park in Delmar, after which it is now paved all the way to South Pearl. They've done a nice job on the paved section, refurbishing several bridges and installing some safety fencing in certain spots. It's also a pretty easy ride because it's downhill pretty much the whole way (of course, that's not so easy for the ride back.)

I was a bit disappointed to see that they removed the old auto bridge about a mile east of the current start to the pavement... I'm glad I ran that far last spring and took some photos then. It was nice to ride the rest of the trail under the Thruway and Rte 9W, along the Normanskill - never been there before. And there were plenty of folks out enjoying the relatively warm weather, so I suspect the trail will see lots of use.

I still have mixed feelings about the paving... on the one hand, it's definitely better for riding a bike, and the trail will get used a lot more. On the other hand, we have almost no dirt rail trails left around here, so there are very few options for easy off-pavement runs. I know the current plan is to pave the rest at least out to where I parked in Bethlehem... don't know yet about the stretch from Bethlehem to Voorheesville. There's a public meeting in a little over a week regarding the rail trail - maybe I'll go to that and here what the powers-that-be have to say about future plans.

JMH