the Way of the Turtle

WHEN YOU CAN'T RACE... RIDE!
30 Mile Ride on the Canalway Trail
Schoharie Crossing to Sprakers
Saturday, October 21, 2006

Since going to Rochester was out, and today was sunny (albeit cold and windy!) I decided to give the new bike (the one I crashed back in August!) a real shakedown and see how it handles as a "riding" (as opposed to "racing" - I have the Dawes for that) bike. So after running a couple of errands I hit the road for Schoharie Crossing, west of Amsterdam.

Schoharie Crossing is kind of an interesting place, as it's where the old Erie Canal used to cross Schoharie Creek right near the Mohawk (before the Mohawk became part of the canal.) It's also one of the few locations where all three versions of the canal ran right near each other, and now there's a historic site to display that. There are also the remains of a cool aqueduct that used to run across the creek, until parts fell down and parts were dismantled to help with ice jams in the creek and river. For more info, check out the Schoharie Crossing page of a rather informative site on the Erie Canal.

Parked the car, geared up, and hit the bike path, which is mostly stone dust in this section (there's a paved stretch running back a couple of miles toward Amsterdam.) I discovered quite rapidly that the wind was blowing predominantly toward me... in other words, I had to pedal fairly vigorously to maintain any slow forward motion, even on the downward sloping stretches. When you are a rider often THE WIND IS NOT YOUR FRIEND! Thankfully it was sunny - otherwise it would have been very cold and very miserable. But while it wasn't the carefree easy cycling I would have preferred, it was still a nice day and it felt good to be out doing something. Even with the constant traffic noise from the Thruway off to my right...

Didn't see to many other nuts... oops, fellow riders... along the trail, probably due to the cold and wind. After a while I started to get into it and thought I might actually make it to Canajoharie, for a total ride of about 35-40 miles. Then about 10 miles along I noticed a wobble in my rear wheel - a loose spoke. And guess who left the spoke wrench at home? Aargh. Tightened it as best I could with my fingers, and decided that (1) it wasn't that bad a wobble, and the stone dust masked the effect somewhat, and (2) I really wanted to bike past the Noses (Little Nose and Big Nose, two cliffs that overlook the Thruway and the river between Fultonville and Canajoharie.) So I rode another 5 miles, stopping in Sprakers.

On the way back - wonder of wonders, I had a tailwind and the riding was GOOD. A bit chillier, too, since the sun was disappearing, but I was able buzz right along at a nice clip. (On the way out, my average speed was 11.6 mph... not bad with a headwind. It was 13.4 mph on the way back!)

The wobble worsened on the return trip, and my front wheel picked one up too. (Note to self - pack the dang spoke wrench in the tool kit! And get another one for use at home!) So I decided to end the ride at Schoharie Crossing instead of heading down the paved path toward Amsterdam. Just as well - it was getting pretty chilly and probably would have been dark by the time I got back to the car had I continued on.

So - it wasn't the Black Diamond Du - but it was a pretty nice ride all the same, and the longest distance I've ridden all year. Now I've just got to figure out how to keep those blasted spokes tightened...

JMH