the Way of the Turtle

21.6 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

There's something darkly comic about driving over to the bike path listening to the weather forecast of mixed clouds and sun under completely overcast skies with steadily increasing rain... fortunately I packed rain gear. And equally fortunately the rain stopped about 20 minutes into my ride...

Chilly one today, so I broke out a bunch of cold-weather gear - thermal socks, winter gloves, neck gaiter, ear band, and helmet cover. The latter was a new addition and an excellent idea; not only did it keep my head dry while it was raining but it kept the top of my head toasty throughout the ride. Now if only I could keep the ear band from sliding up and leaving the bottom parts of my ears uncovered...

Plenty of wildlife today... lots of small birds along the path, ducks, gulls, and geese in the river, several blue herons, and two deer. I also heard a kingfisher and startled a group of wood ducks into flying off. What I wasn't expecting was the groups of mergansers I saw at several points... it shouldn't be a surprise, since I saw them along there last spring. Unfortunately they tended to fly off whenever I tried to get close enough to get a decent photo. I also saw either a muskrat or a beaver... probably a muskrat, since I didn't see a broad tail the times he ducked under the water.

Opportunities to ride during the day are few and far between this time of year, so I'm glad I got out there today, even if it was raining for a bit. With luck the weather will be good enough Saturday afternoon that I can get in some more riding then...

JMH