the Way of the Turtle

RUNNING AND RIDING ON A SUNNY WEEKEND
8 Mile Run in the Albany Pine Bush
23 Mile Ride in Bethlehem-Slingerlands
Saturday & Sunday, November 4 & 5, 2006

All week the weather forecast for this weekend said "It's gonna be sunny but COLD!" So naturally I determined to make the most of it and get outside.

Saturday after classes and running a few errands I headed over to the Pine Bush for a run, and I'm glad I did - being out in the daylight let me read the signs that they're closing two of my favorite trails for habitat restoration (basically, they go through and remove the non-native plants and trees, usually by stripping everything down to bare soil.) Of course, I ignored the signs and went for what might be the last run I get to do on those trails - they hadn't started any of the work yet, so I had a nice run on some trails I've been running on for the last six years or so. Didn't even seem all that cold...

Sunday I ended up going out on the bike later in the afternoon than I should have - I forgot that with the switch to standard time it gets dark an hour earlier!) I repeated my Slingerlands loop from a couple of weeks ago, which trades the long downhill and steep uphills of Krumkill Road for a nice stretch along Font Grove Road and a return along New Scotland Ave. All in all a nice ride, other than having to do the last parts in the dusk with no lights and breaking two spokes on my rear wheel! (Looks like I'm back to riding the Dawes and my ATB until I get that wheel to the shop. Aargh.)

So yes, it was a chilly weekend, but it was definitely nice to get out and run/ride in the sun!

JMH