the Way of the Turtle

16.7 Mile Ride Along the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Saturday, July 19, 2008

I had originally thought I might head to the Berkshires this afternoon and spend some time hiking and riding before heading north to Pownal for the Moonlight in Vermont race at midnight. Between lack of sleep and god-awful heat and humidity, that plan quickly fell by the wayside, and instead I ended up taking a nap for part of the afternoon. But I didn't want to totally ditch getting outside during the day, so early in the evening I headed over to the bike path in Colonie for a short ride.

I took it as a good sign that one of the first things I saw when I got on the path was a deer... good timing, that. The path was surprisingly quiet... I expected to see more people out enjoying the evening but maybe the heat earlier and the threat of possible thunderstorms kept them away. That didn't seem to bother the heron I passed wading through the water chestnuts at the mouth of the Lisha Kill.

Other than an occasional lap up the hill along the old landfill in Niskayuna, and an occasional hilly loop over to the Colonie Town Park, I've been very remiss about pedaling up hills this year... so today I decided to ride the hills past KAPL and GE R&D in Niskayuna. After yesterday's rather hilly run I expected them to hurt a lot more than they did... it was a good reminder of how much I enjoy riding over there occasionally. I was briefly tempted to go down the very steep hill on the other side of GE, but decided that I didn't have the time (since I needed to leave for Vermont by around 10ish) and that I should leave something in my legs for the race later that night...

The ride back was uneventful... just a nice ride on a humid evening. Along the way I spotted several ducks hanging out on a log (I think they were mallards, but it's hard to tell... it was getting toward dusk, which makes it tough to get good pictures) and a female wood duck leading her brood of young ones through the weeds in the water. And I caught glimpses of a nice sunset over the Mohawk River... always a plus!

JMH