the Way of the Turtle

21.7 Mile Ride Along the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path & to Cohoes Falls Overlook Park
Sunday, March 21, 2010

After snowshoeing, riding, and running for the last three days I would have preferred to take today as a rest day... but between going back to work tomorrow and a forecast of rain for the next two days I decided to get out on the bike instead... the end of April (and the Flower City River Challenge Paddle Triathlon) is approaching much too quickly!

I ended up over at the Niskayuna Lions Park once again, and headed east along the bike path toward Cohoes. Lots of birds along the way, especially red-winged blackbirds. The unseasonably warm weather has also managed to melt most of the ice that had built up along the shores of the Mohawk River. Of course, the tradeoff is that the river is very high right now, which is why I headed over to Cohoes Falls. In late spring, summer, and fall, the waterfall is typically almost dry, because water gets diverted from the river into both the canal (which bypasses the falls using a flight of locks to the east) and the hydroelectric plant near Cohoes Falls Overlook Park. As I rode east from Colonie Mohawk River Park, I could hear water going over the Crescent Dam (the point where water gets diverted from the river) so I was pretty sure the falls would be impressive.

Spent a few minutes at the falls taking pictures and just enjoying the view... definitely a lot more water than I remember seeing the last time I was there. Someone was riding a mountain bike on the cliff across the river; one of these days I need to get over there and check out the trails. Unfortunately, the relatively new Falls View Park doesn't re-open until May (there's a gate across the bridge to the park) so I had to get what side views I could through the fence running along N Mohawk Street. All in all it was really impressive, so much so that I decided to ride up the road to check out the Crescent Dam. Sadly, the views there were not as good, which is unfortunate since more water than I've ever seen was going over the top of the dam.

The ride back to the Lions Park was tough, mainly because the worst hills are in that direction... first the climb away from the river back to the bike path (which I struggled up not realizing that I wasn't in my lowest gear... d'oh!) and then after passing Colonie Mohawk River Park and heading down toward the riverbank again a series of climbs in short succession to get back to the old railroad grade (the Troy & Schenectady Railroad ran along the route of the bike path from 1842 until the 1970's/1980's, when the final sections that remained operational were shut down and abandoned. The rail line actually crossed the Northway just south of the Twin Bridges when it was first built in the 1960's, until New York State told the owners they needed to build a bridge or a tunnel for safety reasons and the financially prudent decision was made to break the line at that point instead. For more about the T&S, check this site which has quite a bit of info.) Along the way I stopped a couple of times to take pictures of birds and some interesting cloud formations. I was very pleased to finally get back on the relatively level stretch of path from Forts Ferry Road back to the park.

Even though it was getting a bit chilly as the sun went down I decided to ride a few more miles out to Lock 7 Rd and back, which gave me a chance to check out the construction site for the new Niska Island bridge... several muskrats were swimming around, and while I was watching them a number of ducks and geese flew overhead, presumably heading toward wherever they were planning to spend the night. A little further down there was a decent-sized group of mallards in the stream alongside the path, but no mergansers today. I would have liked to keep going all the way to the base of the old landfill, but tired legs, failing light, and ever-colder temperatures convinced me to head back. In any case, I still did my longest ride this year, with a bit of hill work... now I just have to keep at it once work starts back up again tomorrow!

JMH