the Way of the Turtle

11.5 Mile Ride Through the Corning Preserve & Schuyler Flatts Cultural Park
Sunday, December 18, 2016

Snow yesterday, rain today, accompanied by temps in the 40's... except this afternoon a cold front was supposed to rush in and flash freeze everything. The latter led to the cancellation of this afternoon's snowshoe race (unsafe conditions for driving home) and since I'm hoping to go for a run tomorrow after having some work done at Saratoga Honda, I decided to brave the fortunately light rain and get in a ride before the big chill. Given the probability that I would be soaked by the end, I went with the quickest commute and headed down to the Corning Preserve.

The path along the west side of the feeder ponds is finally open, so I rode that for the first time. I only went as far as the visitor's center just beyond the ampitheater - didn't seem like there would be much to see on the way down to the USS Slater & back. There was a stiff, chilly breeze that picked up even more the longer I rode, but most of the time it was coming in from the side rather than the front or back. One huge plus was that the rain pretty much stopped not long after I started riding.

The path was mostly clear all the way Watervliet - only one tricky spot, and that was pretty easy to ride through. I wasn't frozen yet, so I took the road over to Schuyler Flatts and did a single loop around the park - there was one section there where I ended up walking the bike through the grass alongside the path, and two other spots where I rode in the grass to avoid the ice.

On the way back I briefly considered one more trip down to Jennings Landing and back, but decided instead that my feet were cold enough  and that it was better to head home than ride another 1 1/2 miles. The temperature was definitely starting to drop - it was probably 5 degrees colder when I finished than when I started.

Not the most scenic or most interesting ride I've done... but any day you get out for a ride in December is a pretty good day. One huge success of today's ride - usually I would end a wet ride like this with a stripe of mud up the back of my seat, seat pack, and jacket. Today I used a SKS XtraDry rear fender that I bought for my fat bike - and it worked great! Best of all, it's incredibly easy to put on and take off. I don't know how well it will work on the fat bike (the tires are wider than the fender) but I was really pleased to have it with me today.

JMH