Biking - Bon Ton Roulet bike tour

Starting this weekend, seven of us are riding in this year's Bon Ton Roulet in memory of Phil Fountain.  Here's a link to the tragic story from last year's tour.  Ride safe everybody.

Disc golf - One quick round on a pleasant morning

The fewer times you have to throw the disc, the faster the round goes.  And today was a good one, scoring a 28-31-59, only 2 over par and tying my best.  I decided to leave it at that, and not poison the day with a bad round to follow.  Many things to do at home, so I just savored this one and left it at that.

Biking - SWC Thursday night beer/pizza ride

Last night, Holly and I drove to Delmar for the weekly SWC ride.  The route choices were 12,19, or 22 miles, and amazingly, everybody, including the usual animals, chose the short 12-mile option.  We all set off together, and then our host, Dorie, had a flat a very short distance from the start.  Several of us stopped to try to help while others continued on.  When we decided her tire could not be repaired, Dorie and a friend started walking back to her house and our group of 7 that had stopped continued on.  By now, the original group of 18-20 was scattered all over the route, and we never saw the rest of them again until a mile or two from the end.

It was an easy relaxed ride through residential areas and on country roads, and our group stuck together to be sure nobody missed any of the numerous turns.  The skies threatened near the end, but delivered only a cooling breeze as we settled in for the usual beer, pizza, and socializing.

Biking - 50 big ones on the hottest day of the year

Wow!  Glad we got out and finished up riding when we did!  2:30pm temperature at home.

A couple of friends and I had decided to get out for a long-ish ride today.  This was before the forecast for humid temperatures in the mid to upper 90s for the afternoon.  So we got an early start, beginning at 7:30am, drank prodigious amounts of fluids all day, stopped several times along the way, and got in our 50 miles by about 12:15pm.  By then it was already 92, and the ice cream stop at an air-conditioned Stewart's Shop near the finish made us very glad we were almost done.

Our route and elevation profile

We followed the former route of the Mohawk-Hudson Cycling Club's half-century (50 miles) ride.  It's no longer used for that purpose, but it's still one of our favorite rides, and we do it at least once every year.  The climbs are mostly short and not steep, but still add up to about 2,200 feet overall.

I had no cramping issues in today's heat, but another 10 miles may have taken me there, as I was getting the first faint hints of potential trouble by the time we finished.  I drank lots of OJ today, and the potassium fix seemed to do the trick.  And if it worked on a day like this, that's good news indeed.

Biking - Thursday evening SWC beer and pizza ride

Tonight's SWC bike ride started on Crane's Hollow Road, east of Amsterdam and up a big hill from NY-5.  Thankfully, we mostly stayed atop the hill, although we did enjoy some nice ups and downs, for a total of 18.3 miles and 1,160 feet of climbing, the steepest of which only hit 5.3%.

After watching the last two Tour de France stages in the Alps, this seemed like a wimpy ride indeed.  But it was all about the beer and pizza and socializing afterwards, so it was all good.  I took it easy on this ride, pretending it was a 50-miler and pacing myself accordingly, not pushing up the hills and hammering home like last week.  Need to start riding more like this - it's much more relaxing and enjoyable.

Hiking and paddling near Piseco

Yesterday, Holly and were invited to the camp of friends John and Diane, near Piseco Lake.  They have a place on Evergreen Lake, formerly Big Marsh, just west of the main lake.  The plan was for lunch, hiking, paddling, and dinner, and they were wonderful hosts.

After lunch, we headed for the trailhead to Echo Cliffs, a short hike to a great view over southern Piseco Lake.  The trailhead was much more crowded than expected, but we met many descenders on the way up, and hoped the summit wasn't too crazy.  Many of those on top actually started leaving as we arrived, so we had much of our summit time to ourselves.

Piseco Lake, with Spy Lake in the left background

After descending back to the now-empty trailhead, we noticed some very black clouds in the northern sky, and as we pulled away, the rain and winds began.  After a drive around the north end of the lake, we scouted out a private right-of-way allowing access to a nice canoe put-in on Spy Lake, our next proposed destination.

Back at the camp, we waited a short time for the storms to pass, and then drove back to Spy Lake for some paddling.  This was a very nice lake, with 3 waterfront camps on one side, but mostly surrounded by state land, complete with designated campsites.

Spy Lake

A trio of loons showed a fair amount of interest as we paddled around the north end of the lake, and watched closely as Holly, John, and Diane went for a swim back at the put-in beach.  I'm not a big swimmer myself, so passed on that experience.

After a great dinner back at the camp, we headed home after a long pleasant day outdoors with friends.

Biking, mini-golf, and more biking

Yesterday, after helping Holly with some pruning, we biked a short distance to a mini-golf and ice cream place near her house.  We do this several times a year just for a quick easy outing.

Today, with a big drop in humidity and much more comfortable weather, I got out for a more serious ride, a CCW loop from the Exit 26 Park and Ride in Scotia to Galway and back.

I knew that the 15 miles from the bottom of Spring Road to Galway would be a long gradual uphill grind, but what made it worse today was a pretty strong northwesterly breeze.  I was really ready for lunch when I reached the Galway Market at 17 miles.  They make great sandwiches here, and there are shady picnic tables in the small park across NY-147, a nice place for a break.

The climbing wasn't over yet, Right after lunch, westbound on Perth Road, there's another short pitch to the high point of the day's ride.  At least the wind was now across instead of in my face.  Turning south, it was a rolling downhill with a tailwind that helped on a couple of short steep uphills.  Then I reached the bottom of Ridge Road, at West Glenville Road.  I had thrown in this one last climb, the worst of the day, at the 31-mile point to test legs that I knew would be tired.  And they were.  I spun up this one in a low gear and just took it easy, but was glad to reach the top.  From there, it was downhill to the car, including a steep drop down Rector Road.  I'd only ever been up this one, and was a little surprised by just how steep it got toward the bottom.

All in all, it was about 37 miles with just under 2,000 feet of climbing.  It felt like a longer ride because of that initial long grind, and I was ready to be done.

Inflatable boating, and another bike ride

On a hot summer day when the wind is right, Holly and I sometimes pack up my inflatable 2-man boat and head for an Adirondack pond to just float the afternoon away.  We've learned that this thing is pretty hard to steer, or even to make forward progress without spinning in circles, so the wind direction is a crucial factor.  In the past, we've gone to Nine-Corner Lake, north of Caroga Lake, which is basically oriented west-east, and offers a nice long float when the wind is from the west.  The idea is to somehow get to the west end of the lake, inflate the boat, put in, and relax and let the wind do the work.  So that was yesterday's plan.

When we arrived at Nine-Corner Lake's parking areas, we found 20-30 carloads of people with that same destination in mind.  Not appealing at all.  So, just up NY-10 a mile or two is a trailhead for Broomstick Lake, a much smaller body of water, but also oriented correctly for the day's winds.  

Nine-Corner and Broomstick Lakes

While Nine-Corner has a snowmobile trail running along almost its entire length, providing easy access to the far end of the lake from the hiking trail, Broomstick has no such luxury.  But we were the only car in the parking area!  We just had to give this a try, since at worst it would be a short bushwhack along the lake from the end of the 0.7-mile trail at its east end.

Arriving at the end of the trail, we were fortunate to find an unofficial path along the south shore.  Most of Broomstick's shoreline is marshy, but we saw a reasonable put-in off in the distance, at exactly the right place, at the west end of the lake.  As the path petered out, we continued along the shore until we found our spot.  15 minutes later, the boat was inflated and ready to go.

After drifting back and forth across the lake a couple of time, on more of a southwesterly wind, we saw what looked like a sandy bottom on the northern shore.  Holly tried it, but sunk in up to her knees in mushy mud, taking a while to extricate not only her water shoe but her leg.  After that, she swam across the lake while I manned the oars and tried to keep up.  After that, we stayed in the boat and just drifted with the wind on a hot afternoon.  Two people and a dry bag in this boat is a somewhat tight squeeze, but having the entire lake to ourselves more than made up for it.

Finally reaching the east end of the lake and the trail we'd come in on. we got the boat deflated pretty quickly and headed back to the car.  Next up - ice cream at Udderly Delicious in Johnstown/Gloversville to cap off the day.

This morning, I got out for another bike ride, before the poor excuse for rain showed up later in the morning.  I only did 21 miles, and it was a relatively easy ride, aside from throwing in the short climb up Grant Hill Road to keep it interesting.

Biking, disc golf, and more biking

Got a little behind here again, so...

Yesterday, I joined Holly's Wed/Fri biking group for a relaxed social ride of just 15 miles, with an ice cream stop at Karen's in Fort Hunter in the middle.  It was going to be another hot afternoon, so a short easy outing in the morning was just the right thing.

This morning, again before the afternoon heat, I got in two rounds of disc golf, throwing a +6 and a +7, both slightly better than average.  The better front nine with the better back nine would have been only +2, so a pretty good morning.

Tonight was our weekly beer and pizza ride with the Schenectady Wintersports Club, the so-called "eating club with a biking disorder".  The ride tonight was up in the hills east of Saratoga Lake, an 18-mile roller coaster affair with about 1,000 feet of total climbing.

As usual on these rides, the testosterone kicked in, and away we went, much faster than I usually like to ride.  For that short distance, it's kinda fun, but normally I'd pace myself much better for longer distances.  But, oh, that first beer is always heavenly after a ride like this.

Biking - Northbound to Desolation

Today, some friends and I were planning a ride from Charlton, in Saratoga County, north to Middle Grove and return, about a 30-miler.  There was an optional 9-mile add-on, the climb to Lake Desolation and back.  Since I had enticed my friend Ted to join us on this ride by stressing the "optional-ness" of that add-on, I doubted we'd be doing that climb.  If we had, the center peak in the profile below would be much higher and steeper.  Lake Desolation is just off the top center of the map.

Once we reached Middle Grove and its Stewarts Shop, we had a slight change of plan.  Some of the group would indeed be doing the full climb to Lake Desolation.  Ted and I decided to start up the climb, and then watch for a road on the map that seemed to parallel NY-29 headed west, which, if it worked out, would give us a better way back to Charlton.  As it turned out, the road changed to a seasonal dirt road after a little over a mile, all uphill, so we turned around and headed back toward Charlton by a slightly different route.  In the end, we'd covered a little over 37 miles, with about 2,000 feet of total lumpy climbing, and were finished by noon before the heat and possible storms later on.

Biking - Tour de Duanesburg

In honor of the opening road stage of the Tour de France, I got out today for a long ride of my own.  Of course, my 46-mile total was much less than the racers' 123 miles, and my 2,547 feet of total climbing paled in comparison to their 9,900 feet.  But I had several good climbs on a warm morning, and no cramping issues, so it was a good ride.

After I rode the flat streets out of Schenectady, I came to the bottom of the 7-mile climb up NY-159 to Mariaville.  I know this one pretty well, having climbed it dozens of times over the years.  The key is to just keep spinning along in a comfortable gear, and enjoy the brief respites in gradient whenever they appear. 

In Mariaville, I picked up a potassium-rich bottle of OJ at the store before continuing on my way (each bottle = 2 bananas).  The gentle downhill to NY-30 was somewhat nullified by a westerly headwind, but was pleasant nonetheless.  Then came the next climb, a shorter but steeper one-miler that was over before I knew it.  The long 3-mile cruise down into Esperance made it well worth the effort. 

At the Stewarts at NY-30 and US-20, I downed another OJ and half of an energy bar, and then started the last big climb out of Esperance, about 2.4 miles in two parts.  The legs were still feeling good, with no signs of any cramping.  Turning off of US-20 onto Suits Road east of Duanesburg, it was a screaming 40mph downhill down Darrow Rd. to Pangburn Rd., and a relatively flat ride the rest of the way.

I think I finally have the perennial cramping issues figured out.  It's the potassium.  I've never eaten enough fruit, so I'm probably always starting the day at a disadvantage, and it degenerates from there.  On my cross-country trip in 2010, I drank many OJs every morning as I stopped at stores biking through small towns, and never cramped once.  By pure dumb luck, I was managing the potassium and didn't even realize it.  Now I do.

Biking - Return to Kinderhook, and beyond

Last week, a friend and I biked from Castleton-on-Hudson to Kinderhook.  Once there, we decided to skip some added loops that this group often rides, grab a bagel, and then retrace our route to the car, for 22 miles.  Today, with several others in this same group, we continued on beyond Kinderhook for an almost 34-mile ride.  The extra 11-12 mile CCW loop can be seen on the map below

A hot day was on tap, so we got started from Castleton at 8:30am, and got up the first 1/2 mile climb while it was still pretty cool.  The ride to Kinderhook is flat to gently rolling through active farmland on lightly travelled roads. After Kinderhook came a 1.2-mile climb, followed by more rolling scenic rural countryside.  Part of the way around the loop, we stopped at a farm stand and the 4 of us polished off a quart of fresh strawberries before continuing on.  Back in Kinderhook, it was time for a bagel break, and then we headed back to Castleton, finishing just before noon and the heat and winds to come later.

Biking - Weekly beer and pizza ride

Tonight was our weekly SWC beer and pizza ride, this time hosted at a house in Clifton Park, near Okte School.  We dropped down Southbury Rd. to Boyack to Riverview, and rode west to Grooms Road, returning via Grooms, Ray, and Englemore.  It was only 16.46 miles, but as so often happens on these weekly rides, testosterone takes over and produces a very fast pace.  I swore I wouldn't fall prey to that tonight, but when the slight rollers on Riverview presented themselves, I was gone.  I never caught the lead pack, and didn't try, but powering up the hills felt good, as did passing many of the other riders who had previously been far ahead of me.  I don't usually ride like this, and try to just relax and take it easy, but sometimes it's fun to push a little, this time to an average speed of 15.8 mph.  I'm usually much more comfortable around 13-14.  Man, that first beer was good!

Hiking - A short walk in the Plotterkill Preserve

After getting in some yard work this morning, and with winds gusting in the 30s, I decided against biking today, and instead went for a short walk in the Plotterkill Preserve, west of Schenectady.  A week or so ago, Ed Atkeson posted an interesting loop on his Hiking the Plotterkill blog, a new possibility since the opening of an additional trailhead on Lower Gregg Road. 

This new trailhead allows easy access to the lower end of the Preserve, a big plus for rescuers, but also makes possible a short hike to some nice cascades and falls a long way from the other trailheads.  I was the only one here today, but there's room for 4-5 cars.

The new loop follows the new trail to the North Rim, where it picks up the existing red trail.  Turning downstream toward the Thruway and descending to cross the Plotterkill, a junction with a yellow trail is reached at the point where the red trail begins to ascend to the South Rim.  Following the yellow trail through some recent blowdowns, a nice cascade is reached in just a few minutes.  The yellow trail ends here.

From here, the loop follows the stream, and quite easily today because of very low water.  Just above this initial cascade is Jacob's Ladder Falls, with many small steps over the layers of rock.

Continuing up the stream bed, and crossing back and forth when necessary,  a series of 3 smaller cascades, Step Falls, is reached.

From here, some careful searching and terrain awareness reveals another yellow trail leading back up to the North Rim and the red trail. I had to search a little for the bottom end of this one, but it was clear once I found it.  Turning right and reaching the junction with the new trail from Lower Gregg Road, I was back to the car in less than an hour, and about two miles, from when I started.

This is a great short getaway when there isn't time for a longer walk here, and these lower cascades are some of my favorites.  Thanks, Ed!

Disc golf on a windy morning

With rain in the forecast for later (still nothing as of 3pm), I got out this morning for some disc golf in Schenectady's Central Park.  With a pretty good breeze blowing, I wasn't expecting very good scores, and the first round started out confirming that suspicion.  But then I settled down after the first few holes, and the "putts" started falling.  There were many errant "drives" today off the tee, but to use a golf term, I scrambled very well, saving par or bogey in most cases.  The first round was about average, a 65, but I followed it up with a 60, one of my better rounds of the year, only 3 over par.  It was a surprisingly good outing given the winds, and I headed home to catch up on some stuff around the house for the rest of the day.

Biking - Another day, another long ride

After a good 40-miler yesterday, I decided to join some friends today for another 45 miles, this time in Saratoga County.  It's a modified version of an old MHCC half-century (50 miles) ride, beginning and ending at Lakeside Farms in Ballston.

I arrived early, eager to down a good breakfast before we set off - bacon, eggs, toast and orange juice.  Plenty of salt and potassium there to head off the possibility of cramps later.  I had also spiked my Gatorade with both a little salt and a little potassium-based salt substitute, mostly as an experiment.  I'd be drinking this regularly all day, and would see how it worked out.  The taste of those two items was almost unnoticeable, so it seemed like a reasonable plan.

The weather today was at least drier than yesterday, and a bit cooler, only getting to the mid-80s.  But the June sun was hot whenever we stopped, interrupting our self-created breezes.  We tried to head for shade whenever pausing in the ride, and once stopped at a convenience store about halfway around the clockwise loop.  It was a nice ride with lots of variety, including the east side of Saratoga Lake, where the traffic wasn't bad for a weekend.

We finished with 44.85 miles, and no hint of cramping despite 1,600 feet of climbing.  Lakeside Farms was a bit crowded when we finished, so I passed on lunch or ice cream and just headed home instead, where lunch and a quick nap awaited.

Biking - A sticky windy morning

Today was slightly cooler less warm than the past couple of days, but still expected to reach the upper 80s with pretty high humidity.  I wanted to get in an easy 40-mile ride, and do it my way - no pushing, no powering up hills, easy pace, stop occasionally, drink a lot.  After several recent experiences of cramps at 45 miles, I wanted to push the limit just a bit, but not go past it, and see if the above steps were any help.  I chose a relatively easy 40 miles for this one, given the heat and humidity, a loop from home visiting Guilderland, Voorheesville, Altamont, and western Rotterdam, with plenty of opportunities to replenish food and drink and to bail out if the rains came.

In Voorheesville, at 15 miles, I ate a banana, not my favorite, but full of potassium, a necessary electrolyte.  I also picked up a Gatorade for later.  At 22 miles, in Altamont, I downed a sample package of E-Gel, an electrolyte supplement with more potassium and also a good bit of sodium.  At 27 miles, I stopped at a kids' lemonade stand and chatted for a bit.  They also nicely refilled a water bottle with ice water.  All the while, I was riding easy, drinking plain water regularly, with an occasional gulp of the Gatorade I'd bought earlier.

Whatever I was doing right apparently worked.  I arrived home with not even a hint of cramping, though the temperature was now near 90.  I never reached the magic 45-mile point, and it also wasn't a very hilly ride, only 1,000 feet total, so the jury is still out.  But I did order a box of E-Gel packets, and will continue the other behaviors next time out.  Which happens to be tomorrow.  45 miles.  Hmmm....

Biking - A relaxed 30 miles with a gelato reward

Some friends were meeting at the Niskayuna Train Station (Lions Park) this morning for what was being a "ride of the tip-over crowd", so-called for the speed of some of the older riders.  The plan was to ride the Mohawk River Bikeway to Jay Street in downtown Schenectady and return, about a 20-mile ride at a "tip-over" pace.  With temps expected to be well into the mid-90s again, a slow morning ride seemed like the right idea, so I decided to join them.  But I would ride from home to Lions Park, a distance of 10 miles, and then peel off and head for home before returning all the way back there with them at the end, for a total of 30 miles.

As it turned out, only four of us showed up, and none of the older slower riders.  But we took it very easy and relaxed anyway, enjoying a gelato at Civitello's in Schenectady's Little Italy before turning around and heading back.  For variety, and to avoid climbing Amen Hill, we cut through Union College and back streets through Schenectady and Niskayuna, rejoining the bike path near KAPL, beyond that climb.  I turned around here and headed for home in Rotterdam, and the others continued back to Lions Park.  It was getting pretty hot by the time we finished, even though it was only noon, with the worst heat still to come, but it had been a nice relaxed ride.

Canoeing - Heading north to escape (?) a sizzler

Today and tomorrow are forecast to hit the mid-90s here in town, with high humidity and really uncomfortable conditions.  So Holly and I loaded up her canoe and headed a couple of hours north to the southern Adirondacks for an afternoon of paddling.  Sand Lake, near Piseco, is one of our favorite places to go, despite the half-mile sometimes muddy carry to the put-in.  It wasn't too bad today, and with the canoe on my shoulders, we made good time to the lake.  It only (?) got to about 90 here, and there was a welcome breeze and even some cloud cover.

We paddled the circumference of the lake and explored the main inlet from Mud Lake before heading to The Big Rock and a cooling swim.  This lake is completely surrounded by state land, and the only "trail" is the muddy path we'd used to come in on.  We only saw two other people all afternoon, and they just appeared and then disappeared from the put-in off in the distance, apparently exploring for a future visit.

Sand Lake from "The Big Rock"

As often happens here, Holly spent a lot of time in the water, but with the nice breeze, I was content to just sit and watch the resident pair of loons and then lie down and relax in the shade until it was time to head back to the car.  No trip on a day like this would be complete without ice cream, so we made a stop on NY-30A north of Johnstown at Udderly Delicious, which aptly describes the experience, before heading home to the real heat.

Biking - A pleasant spin from Castleton-on-Hudson to Kinderhook

On Sunday's ride, there was much talk about a possible ride in the Kinderhook area today, in southern Rensselaer and northern Columbia Counties, south of Albany and east of the Hudson River.  Somehow, that ride never came together, so friend Terry and I did it together anyway.  It's an area I don't remember ever visiting, so I was looking forward to seeing something new.

Aside from the initial climb up out of the Hudson Valley, this was a relatively flat to gently rolling 11+ miles each way through rural farmland to the village of Kinderhook, a quintessential small town with much to offer.  We stopped here at a bagel shop to refuel after doing that first 11 miles into a headwind, and then reversed our route and returned to Castleton and the cars.  Along the way, we visited the grave site of Martin Van Buren, the 9th president of the United States, in a well-kept cemetery in Kinderhook.

It was a pleasant side-by-side ride with much conversation on lightly trafficked roads in an area I'll need to visit more often.