the Way of the Turtle

15.5 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Thursday, May 13, 2010

Headed over to the bike path west the Schenectady for my ride this evening. Once again it was tough going at first, until my legs loosened up... and then I ended up a little bit bummed that I had to start as late as I did and couldn't ride another half dozen miles or so.

Along the way I saw muskrats in the old canal, ducks in the river, and geese and goslings, again along the old canal. I also glimpsed some big fish and even a couple of snapping turtles swimming. The surprise of the evening was not one but two green herons... the first near a spot where I stopped to watch a couple of fish splashing in shallow water. While I was trying to get some decent photos of him, a woodchuck came across the path, paused when he realized I was there, and then crossed the canal on a log (it looked like he'd done this many times before.) The second green heron was further along and did a fantastic job of retreating into the grasses and reeds to hide from me... no matter what I did I wasn't able to get a shot of him.

I took it pretty easy from Lock 8 over to Scrafford Lane and back, then pushed a bit more down to Schenectady County Community College and back. I would have ridden through Rotterdam Junction to do the short section of bike path on the west side of town, but there was a train at Scrafford Lane and I didn't want to risk getting in trouble for crossing the tracks. It was a good night to be on the bike path... while there were a lot of riders in the first half (it looked like I caught the tail end of some group rides) there were very few people on the path between Lock 8 and Schenectady. Best of all, not only didn't it rain, but the clouds even parted a bit during the latter parts of the ride.

With luck the weather will be good on Saturday and I can get out for a longer stretch with plenty of daylight!

JMH