Biking - Mohawk River Bike Path, lunch, and a tour of Schenectady

Another nice day, and this time without the wind! The Taconic Hiking Club had a bike ride scheduled for today, and since these are always low-key affairs, usually including a lunch stop, I signed up. The plan was to ride from the Colonie Town Park along the Mohawk River Bike Path to the "Little Italy" section of Schenectady, where we'd have lunch at Civitello's, home of great pastries and sandwiches. It's a bit over 30 miles R/T, and only a few hills along the river.



When we got to miles 13 and 14 on the map above, between Aqueduct Road and Anthony Street, the "Trail Closed" signs really do now mean CLOSED. There was heavy equipment at work there, and we sheepishly made our way past them and continued on. At Maxon Road, we followed the signed detour to Nott St. and then wound our way down to North Jay and "Little Italy". Our group of 11 had to split up, with some sitting outside and others inside, but the food was all we'd hoped for.

After lunch, to avoid the closed section of the bike path, we cut though Union College and the GE Realty Plot, up through Old Niskayuna, across Balltown Road on Baker Ave., and rejoined the bike path near the GE R&D Center. It turned out to be a very pleasant route on residential streets with little traffic.

It was a pleasant relaxed 31 miles with a great group of friends, and very hard to believe that we actually did over 1,000 feet of climbing!