Ride of the week

I’ve been meaning forever to track some of my rides and put them together on a page like the rollerblading page, which gets all kinds of hits despite my not having seriously rollerbladed in several years. (They haven’t moved the paths.) So here’s yesterday’s ride, a route I’d never taken before, which took place under a surprisingly blazing sun that took us into the high 80s, and from which there was no hiding because there are no leaves on the trees yet.

So, in Rensselaer County, I headed north on Route 4 up to Winter St. Extension, all the way to Route 66 (by mistake — I’d meant to take Whiteview, which is shoulderless but quicker). Then a quick left off 66 up Sharpe Road (Rt. 75), with some tight little uphills that got me up off the seat. At the end of Sharpe, a right on Spring and then a quick left on Creek, which follows the Poestenkill down to Route 2 in Eagles Mills. Right on 2, then a quick left on Moonlawn Rt. 133 (my map called it Woodlawn). This was a challenging little stretch of road so early in the season . . . lots of climbs. Out on Brick Church Road, where I hid in the shadow of the Brick Church for a few minutes just to be out of the sun, then out onto Route 7 headed back into town. At Grange Road Route 142 I faced the choice between coming home soon through rough city streets and heading out further to Waterford. Lance Armstrong appeared in my head and convinced me to head to Waterford on 142, so that’s what I did. That brings you down to the river with a quick right/left onto the Watervliet bridge. From there, a south to the Peebles Island Bridge (where Parks hasn’t opened the restrooms yet!), and then the rest of my usual route in that part of the world: out of Peebles and take 470 up into Cohoes, then left on 32 down to Mohawk Paper, where you make a left on Dyke Avenue and then cross 787 to Cohoes Avenue, through the new industrial park area and then left on Tibbits in Green Island. Right at Paine St. Park, then just keep heading south until you can pick up the bike path at Watervliet. Then it’s an easy slog through the flood mud (it’ll be gone soon) down to the Dunn Memorial Bridge and back home. 62K, just under 3 hours at a very slow average speed of 21kph and I needed the granny gear to get home. But I got home.