16 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Monday, December 22, 2014
Another grey, chilly day for a ride (though not as chilly as yesterday.) I toyed with the idea of trying either the bike path west of Schenectady or the Zim Smith trail, but I'm glad I went to the Colonie-Niskayuna path instead... from what I saw of the unplowed sections there, the other two options wouldn't have been rideable on my road bike.
I went into today's ride with just under 16 miles left to hit 2000 miles for the year... that sounded pretty easy. But during parts of today's ride I considered stopping after about 10 miles... what can I say, riding back and forth on the same stretch of path gets pretty tedious, especially on a dreary day like today. The ducks, gulls, and pigeons on the river provided small bits of distraction, but for the most part it was more a day to grind out the miles.
Funny thing was, during my last two miles there was a small break in the clouds and I got a bit of sunshine for 20 minutes or so... that was remarkably symbolic, since that's when I just barely broke the 2000 mile mark for the year. The sun made a noticeable difference in my mood, too... sticking out the entire 16 miles would have been a lot easier if it had been sunny, and I might have even done a few more to boot.
Don't know if I'll be riding again before the end of the month, but regardless this has definitely been a banner year for my cycling... I did several rides over 50 miles for the first time in longer than I can remember, rode my first century, rode over 2000 miles for the year, and rode every month. Nothing to write home about for the hard-core cyclists out there... but all pretty significant for me.
JMH
