MUST BE MY WEEK TO GET DRENCHED...
3.8 Mile Ride on the Larkin State Park Trail
Friday, June 30, 2017

Well, that was a very short ride, especially considering that it took me over an hour to get to the trailhead and back.

It was pretty clear there was a storm nearby, especially since it was raining very lightly when I started riding. But it was barely making it through the trees and was more refreshing than anything else.

At a little under 2 miles I came to a road crossing and it didn't look like the trail continued on the opposite side (though all the maps I've looked at since insist it does.) The storm was making things pretty dark, so I didn't want to hang around in the road looking for the trail and instead I headed back to the start. Good thing, too, because apparently a worst of the storm was coming in from that direction. I had disconcerting views of several impressive lightning strikes and with about a mile to go it started getting really noisy - I just barely got my rain jacket unpacked and one before the deluge started.

The last miles was interesting, between the very poor visibility and the several inches of water running down the trail, My legs and bike ended up pretty muddy...

So now the question is - do I want to try to ride some more of this trail tomorrow, after I run the Redding Rock n Roots 9k?

JMH

7.2 Mile Run at Collis Huntington State Park
Friday, June 30, 2017

BOBOLINKS ALL AROUND
1.6 Mile Walk at Ooms PCA
Thursday, June 29, 2017

2 Mile Walk at Thacher Park
Wednesday, June 28, 2017

9.8 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Wednesday, June 28, 2017

A TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR + HAIL
14.6 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Monday, June 26, 2017

END-TO-END-TO-END, Year 2
CAUGHT BY JUST A BIT OF RAIN
12.4 Mile Ride on the Erie Canalway Trail & Old Lyons Rd (Newark - Lyons)
Monday, June 26, 2017

1.5 Mile Walk at Turning Point Park & on the Genesee Riverway Trail
0.2 Mile Walk at Ontario Beach Park
0.2 Mile Walk at Braddock Bay Park
Sunday, June 25, 2017

14 Mile Ride on the Lehigh Valley Trail (Rochester Junction to Fishers)
Sunday, June 25, 2017

Weekly Activity Summary
6/18/2017 - 6/24/2017

running (3) - 18.9 mi
riding (2) - 45.6 mi
walking/hiking (7) - 10.4 mi
paddling - 0 mi

outdoor activity 7/7 days

DDPY -

JMH

2 Mile Walk at Mendon Ponds Park
Saturday, June 24, 2017

1.6 Mile Walk at Buckingham Pond
Friday, June 23, 2017

A QUARTET OF WOODCHUCKLES
5.4 Mile Run at Saratoga Spa State Park
Friday, June 23, 2017


Early morning appointment at Saratoga Honda... bleah!

Opportunity to run on the Spa Park trails... yeah!

I took advantage of my Empire Passport to park in the "wild" portion of the park... since school isn't quite over yet, it was pretty quiet. Ran the 5 mile trail with modifications... thank heavens much of it is in the woods, today was very warm and humid but the woods were a bit cooler.

I still don't get the logic of having the disc golf course overlap the trails near the pool... I'm waiting for the time that I'm running there and a disc goes flying by me.

Just before the switchback trail down from the pool, I surprised an adult woodchuck and four woodchuckles. Two of the youngsters disappeared quickly, but two must not have been paying attention, because they actually stuck around long enough for me to get some pictures of them.

I would have liked to run around the quad and the paved path along the edge of the golf course - but it was too hot and that was too much distance for my legs. Another time...

JMH

BUNNIES ALONG THE BIKE PATH
16.4 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Thursday, June 22, 2017

A PERFECT EVENING FOR A RUN AT MINNEWASKA
Slow Going 2017 - Race #24
Summer Solstice 14k Trail Race
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

JMH

2017 Event Totals
Run 202.1 mi, 53 hr 52 min
Bike 33.7 mi, 2 hr 47 min
Snowshoe 30.0 mi, 10 hr 16 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min

states visited: CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT

2.0 Mile Walk at Minnewaska State Park Preserve
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

4.9 Mile Run on the Halfmoon Old Champlain Canal Trail
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

2.2 Mile Walk at the Sandra Frankel Nature Park
0.8 Mile Walk at Tinker Nature Park
Monday, June 19, 2017

A BUNNY, A WOODCHUCK, & PLENTY OF DEER
1 Mile Walk at Tinker Nature Park
Monday, June 19, 2017

AFTER THE STORM
0.8 Mile Walk at Ontario Beach Park
Sunday, June 18, 2017

END-TO-END-TO-END, Year 2
A HOT DAY ALONG THE ERIE CANAL
29.2 Mile Ride on the Erie Canalway Trail (Newark to Lock 32)
Sunday, June 18, 2017

Weekly Activity Summary
6/11/2017 - 6/17/2017

running (1) - 4.6 mi
riding (3) - 48.8 mi
walking/hiking (8) - 11.8 mi
paddling - 0 mi

outdoor activity 7/7 days

DDPY -

JMH

A QUICK GLIMPSE OF BABY DEER
0.5 Mile Walk at Tinker Nature Park
Saturday, June 17, 2017

WANDERING AROUND OAK ORCHARD WMA, IROQUOIS NWR, & TONAWANDA WMA
1 Mile Walk on the Kanyoo Trail
0.3 Mile Walk at Oak Orchard WMA
1.3 Mile Walk on the Swallow Hollow Trail
Saturday, June 17, 2017

FLAT RIDE? SHADED RUN? NOT QUITE...
Slow Going 2017 - Race #23
Steelman Duathlon
Saturday, June 16, 2017

bike route

run#1

JMH

2017 Event Totals
Run 193.5 mi, 51 hr 39 min
Bike 33.7 mi, 2 hr 47 min
Snowshoe 30.0 mi, 10 hr 16 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min

states visited: CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT

1.2 Mile Walk at Tinker Nature Park
Friday, June 16, 2017

ALMOST BEAT THE RAIN...
15.1 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Thursday, June 15, 2017

HARRIED HAWK & FLICKERING FIREFLIES
3.7 Mile Walk on the Albany County Rail Trail
Wednesday, June 14, 2017

1.5 Mile Walk at Buckingham Pond
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

20.5 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path & Rte 5S
Monday, June 12, 2017

1.3 Mile Walk at Tinker Nature Park
Sunday, June 11, 2017

A Visit to Montezuma NWR
1 Mile Walk on the Seneca Trail
Sunday, June 11, 2017

A Visit to the Rosamund Gifford Zoo
Sunday, June 11, 2017

Weekly Activity Summary
6/4/2017 - 6/10/2017

running (3) - 10.5 mi
riding (2) - 37.2 mi
walking/hiking (5) - 7.6 mi
paddling - 0 mi

outdoor activity 7/7 days

DDPY -

JMH

1 Mile Walk at Onondaga Lake Park
Saturday, July 10, 2017

END-TO-END-TO-END, Year 2
22 mile Ride on the Erie Canalway Trail & Rte 31 (Weedsport to Savannah)
Saturday, June 10, 2017
 
Last summer I decided to try to ride the entire Erie Canalway Trail end-to-end over two years. For a few years I had planned to do the entire trail over the course of a week or so during the summer, but as I thought about that more and more I realized I didn't want to spend a week of my summer doing nothing but riding my bike - which led to my revised plan to riding it one segment at a time. I started recording rides in late June and by the time I logged my last segment of 2016 in early November, I'd ridden just under 220 of the roughly 360 mile trail.

Ann's off with some friends on a white water rafting trip today (a little too adrenaline charged for me, thanks!) so I headed over to Weedsport to log my first new miles for the year. One of the unfortunate realities of the miles I have left is that there are a couple of significant road segments - Newark to Weedsport, Camillus to Dewitt, and Utica to Little Falls. There's also still plenty of off-road riding to do, especially heading out toward Buffalo, but this summer's wrap up definitely includes some of the less pleasant segments of the trail. Other than a very nice 2.5 miles section along the old canal between Weedsport and Port Byron, and a short side trip into the village of Montezuma, everything today was on Rt 31, which thankfully has nice wide shoulders.

Technically I may end up doing a double end-to-end, since almost every ride is an out-and-back. I think the only segment I haven't done both ways is from Brighton to Newark, and I'm thinking about riding that in the reverse direction next Sunday when Ann goes to visit her dad for Father's Day. Then when I finally finish the whole trail I'll be able to say that I've done an end-to-end-to-end.

JMH

UP & DOWN THOSE MENDON ESKERS
Slow Going 2017 - Race #22
Mendon Mauler 4.5mi Trail Race
Friday, June 9, 2017

JMH

2017 Event Totals
Run 188.9 mi, 50 hr 33 min
Bike 20.5 mi, 1 hr 41 min
Snowshoe 30.0 mi, 10 hr 16 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min

states visited: CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT

VERY VOCAL FROGGIES
5 Mile Run on the Albany County Rail Trail
Wednesday, June 7, 2017

JMH

FIRST DUCKLINGS
1.5 Mile Walk at Buckingham Pond
Monday, June 5, 2017

2.3 Mile Walk at Five Rivers
Sunday, June 4, 2017

DEFINITELY A WORKOUT
15.2 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Sunday, June 4, 2017

Didn't feel like driving very far, so I headed over to the Slinglerlands trailhead for the rail trail. Before I left I swapped out my skinny road tires for the wider dirt ones, with a washer added on the rear axle to see if I could use the 8-speed freewheel without it rubbing against the rear dropouts (turns out I can, but the shifting for the 2 lowest gears is glitchy.) The packed-for-paving surface on the trail heading toward Voorheesville seemed like a good chance to try that out.

Turns out the trail is packed all the way to Hilton Rd now... I turned around there because it looked like the last section into Voorheesville, while smoother than it was a little over a week ago, was still rougher than I wanted to tackle on the road bike. What a difference heading back made... on the way out I was averaging 8-9 mph, but on the way back I easily hit 15 mph, between the downhill grade and the packed surface.

The trail down into the Delmar and even down to the S Pearl St parking lot was pretty busy. The ride downhill is always fun, other than knowing that soon I'll be pumping my way back up the same hills. Took my time and had no problems, though I suspect my legs will be letting me know that I rode 30 miles over the last two days, with half of today's ride uphill.

JMH

Weekly Activity Summary
5/28/2017 - 6/3/2017

running (1) - 3.1 mi
riding (2) - 25.4 mi
walking/hiking (10) - 12.2 mi
paddling - 0 mi

outdoor activity 6/7 days

DDPY -

JMH

THE MOON AND JUPITER ON AN EARLY JUNE EVENING
Saturday, June 3, 2017

JMH

A WINDY AFTERNOON
15.1 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Saturday, June 3, 2017

1.5 Mile Walk at Buckingham Pond
Friday, June 2, 2017

Originally I was supposed to be out in western NY this evening, getting ready for the Webster Trail Classic tomorrow morning and then the Roc Du Sunday morning... except Monday night into Tuesday I came down with a fairly nasty cold/flu type bug that's been doing it's best to kick my backside all week and into the weekend. So it was actually a pleasant surprise that I felt like driving over to the pond for a walk.

Good thing, too, since right after I parked the car a young guy on a bike came over and asked if I had a bicycle pump (he saw the bike rack and decided it was worth asking.) Got his tires solidly pumped up and he was on his way.

The geese still have all 8 goslings, surprisingly enough (last year's pair started with seven or eight and ended up with either 3 or 4 making it to maturity.) There's also a small group of geese hanging around that aren't nesting - I have to wonder if it's the youngsters from previous seasons. Not many ducks in sight at the moment, but that may be because it's nesting season for the females. The fish seemed pretty active, and it was generally speaking a very pleasant evening to walk around the pond a couple of times.

JMH