Saturday, April 19, 2008
After a long morning and afternoon spent working at the karate school getting things ready for next weekend's weapons competition (as well as doing general upkeep and improvements) I packed up my bike and headed over to the bike path for a ride. The path was a little less crowded than I expected, but there were still plenty of people out enjoying the warm evening.
I started out heading west, to the base of the old Niskayuna landfill, and was pleasantly surprised to find the riding easy - no headwind! Along the way I passed numerous walkers and riders... and a very muddy snapping turtle at the edge of the path. On the way back I found out why the initial riding was so easy - a rare west-blowing wind. Oh, well... on the way back to the park, I spotted two swimming muskrats and even managed to get some decent pictures for once.
It was getting a bit darker as I headed east along the path, and I had some nice views of the setting sun as I left the shore of the river and headed up into the wooded stretch between River Rd and Island View Rd. I also had a nice view of a flock of turkeys, including a large tom turkey who gave several displays of his fan of tail feathers.
At the top of the steep hill down to Island View Rd, I decided to go for it and headed down the path to ride the short stretch out to Dunsbach Ferry Rd - not much distance, but it gave me some hill work, which I need to get ready for the Spring Classic Du in a month. Paused at the top of the hill on the way back, and watched several deer cross the path - it was getting too dark for me to get any decent photos, but I did get what I think is a cool action shot of one deer leaping into the woods. Spotted a few more deer off in the distance on the ride back to the park, and even a couple of rabbits - hard to believe that in another month or two the sides of the path will be crawling with rabbits in the evenings.
Back at the park, I took some time to admire the rising moon and enjoy the dark and the quiet... maybe this summer I can get over there for a few night runs, with a lot more of the path to choose from than the 2 mile Gerbil Wheel stretch I run in the winter!
JMH
