Biking - First miles of the new season

The last couple of times I've been walking on the bike path, there have been a couple of other people out there on bikes. And why not? The path is now largely clear of snow and ice, there's no XC skiing within an hour's drive, and biking on the trainer in the basement is très boring. I've been doing that almost daily now for the past few weeks, including today, but this afternoon, I decided it was time to get outside for a ride.

The good bike is up on the stand attempting to inspire me to begin its winter overhaul, but it hasn't succeeded yet. Leaving it there just in case, I took out my old beater mountain bike, and headed to Schenectady Community College and the Schenectady end of the Rotterdam bike path. The plan was to ride west to the dead end at Scrafford Lane in Rotterdam Junction, about 7 miles one way. There was a pretty good headwind as I rode west, but no other problems with the path itself other than a couple of easily negotiated icy patches. There were very few other people out there today, despite it being a weekend.

Turning around at the end, the ride back was a sheer delight with a nice tailwind. This was infinitely more fun than riding on the trainer. If we can't have snow, I need to start doing more of this.