the Way of the Turtle

BIKE PATH END-TO-END (SORT OF...)
41.5 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Longest ride since mid-May today, mostly on the bike path. There are three major off-road sections of the Erie Canalway Trail around here - the path through the Corning Preserve, from downtown Albany to Watervliet, the Mohawk Hudson bike path from Cohoes to Schenectady, and the Mohawk Hudson bike path from Schenectady to Rotterdam Junction. I started at the Niskayuna Lions Park and headed west to the end of the path in Schenectady... haven't ridden over there since last summer, mostly because of all the hills involved. Took it slow and easy and had a little over 21 miles by the time I got back to the park.

I had been thinking to just ride to the top of the hill in Colonie, but decided during the first leg to go a bit farther - both because I need to work on distance, with a 75 miler in mid August and a century ride in early September, and because I've never done the entire Cohoes-Schenectady stretch in one go before. Of course, the drawback comes after turning around in Cohoes, where the path climbs for 3 miles - nothing steep, but a gradual 3 mile climb after 31+ miles of riding is going to be a challenge. After that there were only a couple of short climbs to get past, and then the last 4 miles were as straightforward as the last few miles of a long ride will ever be.

Overall, legs felt pretty good... guess I'm on track for the long rides in August and September...

JMH