the Way of the Turtle

15 Mile Ride Along the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Path
Thursday, March 27, 2008

I dragged my heels a bit too much and ended up missing the morning sunshine, unfortunately. Still, temperatures were mild enough that I was able to get away with leaving the tights at home.

Yesterday I spent a while working on the bike I use for much of my riding... trued the wheel I rebuilt a while back, then replaced the tubes and added tire strips (which are supposed to help guard against flats... they ended up being a major pain in the butt to install.) I also replaced the bike computer with a wireless model I found on sale at Nashbar. So today's ride was something of a shakedown run, to see if anything needed to be adjusted.

Apparently Schenectady has done some work over at the trailhead to the bike path... what used to be a wide breakdown lane (and where most folks parked for accessing the path) is now a multi-use path with a guardrail separating it from the road. I had a smooth ride from SCCC out to Scafford Lane in Rotterdam Junction... had the weather been nicer I might have hopped on the road and added a loop of the bike path extension, but as it was I turned around at the railroad tracks and headed back.

Startled several wood ducks as I was riding along the old Erie Canal... funny thing is, I might not have noticed them if they weren't so jumpy, but they're hard to ignore when they go flying off shrieking. I also saw a couple of ring-necked ducks on the river.

About 3 1/2 miles from the end, I noticed the path seemed a lot bumpier - aargh, a flat! There were no obvious punctures in the tire, so I'm guessing either I nicked the tube when I was putting it in yesterday or a bit got pinched and took that long to wear through. Either way, I ended up alongside the path changing the tube. But while I was there I spotted a muskrat digging away at the edge of a drainage ditch, and snuck up on him to get some pictures.

Not really what I would call an ideal ride, but it was still good to get out and do some pedaling. Given the weather they're predicting for the next few days (winter returns!) I'm guessing I won't be doing any more riding until sometime next week. But with luck I can manage a run tomorrow and make it 5 straight days of getting outside to either run or ride.

JMH