DUCKLINGS & A REALLY LARGE SNAPPING TURTLE
1.8 Mile Walk at Durand Eastman Park
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Sunday, June 23, 2019
CRITTERS GALORE
18.5 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Sunday, June 23, 2019
That was further than I'd planned to ride, but it was such a nice evening... though I suspect my legs will disagree with me tomorrow.
Lots of wildlife tonight - a wood duck with ducklings, geese with goslings, muskrats, a heron, cedar waxwings, a multitude of catbirds calling from the trees and bushes, robins, and even two fawns who apparently found the greenery on the canal side of the path tastier than where they probably spend most of their time. They were especially amusing because they couldn't figure out what I was and whether or not they should get out of sight.
I also talked briefly with a fellow on a fully laden bike who is apparently riding across the US. Better him than me!
18.5 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Sunday, June 23, 2019
That was further than I'd planned to ride, but it was such a nice evening... though I suspect my legs will disagree with me tomorrow.
Lots of wildlife tonight - a wood duck with ducklings, geese with goslings, muskrats, a heron, cedar waxwings, a multitude of catbirds calling from the trees and bushes, robins, and even two fawns who apparently found the greenery on the canal side of the path tastier than where they probably spend most of their time. They were especially amusing because they couldn't figure out what I was and whether or not they should get out of sight.
I also talked briefly with a fellow on a fully laden bike who is apparently riding across the US. Better him than me!
JMH
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
1.5 Mile Walk at the Mohonk Preserve
(To & From the Race Start)
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
My plan was to park in the West Trapps lot and let the latecomers get redirected to the Visitor's Center, but just past the Visitor's Center there was a massive traffic backup due to road work being done on the road up and over the ridge - so I turned around and parked at the VC. Which of course meant I had a 3/4 mile walk to get the the Trapps Bridge start location... most of which was no big deal (nice wide carriage trail along the base of the cliffs) but the first 2/10's of a mile went pretty much straight up the mountain utilizing a series of steep steps made of carefully placed stones (and wow that must have been a delight to build.) Despite that I still managed to get to the start area, survived picking up my race number (which was complicated by the shift in location to the Mohonk Preserve, which required that everyone present either be a preserve member or purchase a day pass, and the staff member handing out the day passes was carefully explaining to everyone that if they brought them in with them the next time they visited, they could get a $15 discount off the year membership) and then had only a short wait until the first small group of early starters set off.
The fun really kicked on after the race... a relatively easy walk for half a mile downhill on fried legs, and then I had to navigate those blasted steps with bad knees, shaky legs, and an easily triggered sense of vertigo due to how steep some sections were. It took me 26 minutes to walk back to the car, and over half of that was crawling down those steps. I might have been better off walking along the side of the road...
JMH
(To & From the Race Start)
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
My plan was to park in the West Trapps lot and let the latecomers get redirected to the Visitor's Center, but just past the Visitor's Center there was a massive traffic backup due to road work being done on the road up and over the ridge - so I turned around and parked at the VC. Which of course meant I had a 3/4 mile walk to get the the Trapps Bridge start location... most of which was no big deal (nice wide carriage trail along the base of the cliffs) but the first 2/10's of a mile went pretty much straight up the mountain utilizing a series of steep steps made of carefully placed stones (and wow that must have been a delight to build.) Despite that I still managed to get to the start area, survived picking up my race number (which was complicated by the shift in location to the Mohonk Preserve, which required that everyone present either be a preserve member or purchase a day pass, and the staff member handing out the day passes was carefully explaining to everyone that if they brought them in with them the next time they visited, they could get a $15 discount off the year membership) and then had only a short wait until the first small group of early starters set off.
The fun really kicked on after the race... a relatively easy walk for half a mile downhill on fried legs, and then I had to navigate those blasted steps with bad knees, shaky legs, and an easily triggered sense of vertigo due to how steep some sections were. It took me 26 minutes to walk back to the car, and over half of that was crawling down those steps. I might have been better off walking along the side of the road...
JMH
Monday, June 17, 2019
MORE FIREFLIES & A PAIR OF POSSUMS
Monday, June 17, 2019
I definitely need to go for a night run on the rail trail soon and see if I can repeat my "tunnel of fireflies" experience from last summer.
I actually had an encounter with a friendly cat while I was walking tonight - most cats around here do their best to stay away from strangers (and I am admittedly pretty strange!) This one started staring after a bit and when I turned around there was a 2nd cat about 10 feet away... that one very smoothly slipped into a nearby bush as I approached it.
The greater treat though was seeing a pair of possums scurry across the street ahead of me. I've seen singular possums around here previously (in my backyard, as well as other spots) but never two at once.
JMH
Monday, June 17, 2019
I definitely need to go for a night run on the rail trail soon and see if I can repeat my "tunnel of fireflies" experience from last summer.
I actually had an encounter with a friendly cat while I was walking tonight - most cats around here do their best to stay away from strangers (and I am admittedly pretty strange!) This one started staring after a bit and when I turned around there was a 2nd cat about 10 feet away... that one very smoothly slipped into a nearby bush as I approached it.
The greater treat though was seeing a pair of possums scurry across the street ahead of me. I've seen singular possums around here previously (in my backyard, as well as other spots) but never two at once.
JMH
Sunday, June 16, 2019
A BIT OF RAIN...
12.2 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Sunday, June 16, 2019
I had originally planned to run today but for various reasons decided to wait one more day... which unfortunately meant riding in the rain, since breaks in the precipitation were short-lived. But in the end it was less unpleasant than I expected. I broke my usual pattern and started at the far end in Voorheesville instead of the approximate mid-point in Slingerlands. That meant that I would have mostly downhill riding on the way out to warm up my legs, before the slog uphill to get back to the car.
The three parking lots were empty on my way out, though that wasn't the case at Slingerlands on the way back. The biggest surprise was how many people on bikes I encountered - I must have passed half a dozen or more, when I figured I'd be the only nutjob riding in the rain.
Spotted a couple of deer right off the trail on the way back, including one that seemed not quite sure what to make of me when I stopped to take a picture of the Hilton barn.
All in all, not a bad ride, and it even felt a little better than yesterday's. Perhaps that's a sign that one of the more important factors in my getting back into shape is consistency (like I didn't know that already.)
JMH
12.2 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Sunday, June 16, 2019
I had originally planned to run today but for various reasons decided to wait one more day... which unfortunately meant riding in the rain, since breaks in the precipitation were short-lived. But in the end it was less unpleasant than I expected. I broke my usual pattern and started at the far end in Voorheesville instead of the approximate mid-point in Slingerlands. That meant that I would have mostly downhill riding on the way out to warm up my legs, before the slog uphill to get back to the car.
The three parking lots were empty on my way out, though that wasn't the case at Slingerlands on the way back. The biggest surprise was how many people on bikes I encountered - I must have passed half a dozen or more, when I figured I'd be the only nutjob riding in the rain.
Spotted a couple of deer right off the trail on the way back, including one that seemed not quite sure what to make of me when I stopped to take a picture of the Hilton barn.
All in all, not a bad ride, and it even felt a little better than yesterday's. Perhaps that's a sign that one of the more important factors in my getting back into shape is consistency (like I didn't know that already.)
JMH
Saturday, June 15, 2019
THAT HURT WAY TOO MUCH...
13.2 Mile Ride Through the Corning Preserve & Schuyler Flatts Cultural Park
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Talk about an obvious lesson regarding what lousy shape I'm currently in - I picked the Corning Preserve because it's flat and easy with the plan to do an easy paced ride. Granted, the brisk headwind I was fighting half the time didn't help, but my legs were cramping for most of the ride thanks to how little time I've spent on the bike this year. (I've walked almost as many miles as I've ridden, just short of halfway through the year...)
The last time I rode here was late October, so this was another example of "surprise, it's almost summer!" Any grass that hasn't been mowed was thigh high, and the rather formidable troupe of goslings are all the goose equivalent of early teenagers. While I was there I also spotted several adult woodchucks, including one with an accompanying wooodchuckle (or pup, if you want to be pedantic.) The little guy was pretty cute - at one point he actually moved up next to the adult and was licking the side of its face. I don't know if woodchucks are generally affectionate with each other or if the adult had something tasty on its fur, but it was fun to see.
Lots of traffic on the way out to Schuyler Flatts, much less on the way back (obviously much more to my preference.)
At the end of the ride, I even got to see the swing bridge in operation when a tug pushing a barge went through.
Anyway, summer is essentially here... time to start regaining that balance I talked about a little while ago.
JMH
13.2 Mile Ride Through the Corning Preserve & Schuyler Flatts Cultural Park
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Talk about an obvious lesson regarding what lousy shape I'm currently in - I picked the Corning Preserve because it's flat and easy with the plan to do an easy paced ride. Granted, the brisk headwind I was fighting half the time didn't help, but my legs were cramping for most of the ride thanks to how little time I've spent on the bike this year. (I've walked almost as many miles as I've ridden, just short of halfway through the year...)
The last time I rode here was late October, so this was another example of "surprise, it's almost summer!" Any grass that hasn't been mowed was thigh high, and the rather formidable troupe of goslings are all the goose equivalent of early teenagers. While I was there I also spotted several adult woodchucks, including one with an accompanying wooodchuckle (or pup, if you want to be pedantic.) The little guy was pretty cute - at one point he actually moved up next to the adult and was licking the side of its face. I don't know if woodchucks are generally affectionate with each other or if the adult had something tasty on its fur, but it was fun to see.
Lots of traffic on the way out to Schuyler Flatts, much less on the way back (obviously much more to my preference.)
At the end of the ride, I even got to see the swing bridge in operation when a tug pushing a barge went through.
JMH
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Sunday, June 09, 2019
Saturday, June 08, 2019
Thursday, June 06, 2019
Tuesday, June 04, 2019
Monday, June 03, 2019
Sunday, June 02, 2019
Saturday, June 01, 2019
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