the Way of the Turtle

CONFUSED TURTLES?
21.3 Mile Ride Along the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Sunday, November 15, 2009

Since I don't get many chances to ride during daylight hours this time of year I headed over to Lock 8 to ride the bike path west the SCCC. I had hoped to ride through the short section on the west side of Rotterdam Junction, but the train was just leaving Scrafford Lane and I didn't want to get into trouble with the CSX workers who were probably there to see it off, so I settled for doing a second out-and-back from Lock 8 to Rt 5S after riding the whole path once.

Overall it was a decent day for riding - definitely warmer than usual for November. Not much wildlife to see - gulls by the lock, a few birds along the way, ducks and a muskrat in the old canal, and geese in the river. The water in the river is low - they've opened the gates for winter when the canal is not in use. The water in the old canal was the highest I've seen it in a while, probably because of the fairly steady rain we had for much of yesterday.

The biggest surprise was when I was riding back from Scrafford Lane and spotted 4 turtles up on logs in the old canal - boy are those guys confused. I would have expected them to be hibernating in the mud by now. The chilly weather definitely made them sluggish, usually they'd disappear the moment I stopped to take a picture and today they didn't move at all.

Today's ride felt tougher than it should have - yet another sign of my recent laziness. I definitely need to get my butt in gear; snowshoe season is just around the corner, and that's tough enough when I'm in halfway decent shape!

JMH