the Way of the Turtle

HILLS
18.4 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Before I screwed up my knee I had planned to run the Olana Star Loop trail race this evening, for the 7th year in a row... it's one of my favorites of the spring running season (though I will admit I preferred it more when most of the trails were a bit more rugged and washed out) despite the fact that it's almost non-stop hills. The weather was good enough to take a bike out, so I decided I should ride some hills instead, and headed west on the bike path toward the Niskayuna hills near Knolls and GE.

Fewer people on the path than on Saturday, which was nice. At first I thought I'd ride to GE, but then I figured what the heck, might was well continue to the top of the killer hill above the power lines and river... and then I figured what the heck, what's one more hill and went all the way to Aqueduct Road. At that point the sky was clouding up a bit so I decided to head back in case it rained.

The trip out had two tough climbs - the old landfill and the hill up to GE - plus a lot of low-grade climbing between Blatnick Park and the path west of GE. The ride back was easier - two tough climbs (the killer hill climbing away from the river and powerlines, and the climb back up to GE) but then is relatively easy. When I got back to the Lions Park I decided to keep heading east... almost made it to the view of the river, but decided I'd had enough and turned back early. Except apparently I hadn't had enough, because I went a bit further chasing the sunset, which was lighting the sky on fire... unfortunately, by the time I got back to spot with any sort of view, it was mostly over.

It continues to amaze me how quickly everything greened up - seems like just a couple of weeks ago everything was brown and grey, and now there's green everywhere. Lots of birds around too... I spotted a wood thrush, a yellow-shafted flicker, a bluebird, and one which was either a cerulean warbler or a black-throated blue warbler... he disappeared too quickly for me to make a positive ID. Plus of course a gazillion robins, catbirds, and blackbirds. Even saw a hawk getting harassed by a group of blackbirds.

JMH