the Way of the Turtle

GREEN HERONS AND OODLES OF WOOD DUCKS
19 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Hot, muggy evenings are much better for riding than for running... at least for me. Even so, my legs were definitely feeling the effects of the past four days and I almost cut my ride short... until I reminded myself that in less than a month I'll hopefully be doing the longest duathlon I've ever done, with almost 25 miles of riding sandwiched between 5k and 10k runs. Otherwise known as suffer more now and hopefully suffer less later.

Not that tonight's ride on the bike paths between Schenectady County Community College and the far side of Rotterdam Junction were much in the way of suffering... unless you count being hungry and tired, but neither of those states was due all that much to my ride.

Along the way I saw several green herons and of course the usual geese, plus numerous wood ducks complete with youngsters... this seems to have been a good year for them in the old Erie Canal over there, I've seen more than any other year I've been riding and running there. Most had older ducklings that I tend to think of as teenagers but one must have nested late because her brood was still in the incredibly cute fuzzball stage. This is one of the best times to see wood ducks, when they can't fly off without abandoning the youngsters... at other times of the year they're so skittish that even the hint of someone coming along often sends them into the air and away.

JMH