Saturday, July 14, 2018

An Endo, Dog-faced trees and a little Native American flute...

It was hot today but not unbearable like it was mid last week.

Old Mine Park

I started out at Old Mine Park parking in the back and riding all the trails up top. Embarrassingly, while riding pretty fast on a fairly easy trail - I hit a rock and did an endo!! I was too busy looking all around me except for what in front of me on the trail!! OOPs!

 Pequonnock River

I next ventured over to Whitney Ave and rode along the river. I stopped--for a change--at a spot I hadn't visited in some time. This is the first ford - good memories here. My son and I use to bomb down the hill from the rail trail side and try to make it across the water ages ago...
I decided to take the less used White Trail thru the Serengeti - its usually wet but I figured in the heat of the summer it would be bone dry. Man... it was dry but more like a jungle  - the Serengeti should be renamed the Congo these days!!!
I ventured up to the yellow and was rewarded with seeing a new super well-built bridge over the Copper Creek. Bill, Brian and crew rock!!

 Mianus Park

Finally after heading home, I decided to "meander" over to Mianus and just hike and find a semi-secluded spot to play a little Native American Flute.
The first spot was right on the river,,,
...and had a tree burr that looked just like a dog!
I then wandered a bit north and veered of by the river to a trail I don't ride and found a great spot - a rock with a bed of moss.

I propped the cell phone up against my Camelbak on the rock made this mini video...

All in all, a nice day to be outdoors.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

North Bethlehem Quick Ride

 Saturday's weather upstate was so amazingly nice I ended up riding three parks (Luther Forest, Colonie AND Schenectady Central Park)! On Sunday, I was in the area (returning from a visit to my Mom and an extensive RR history trek in Ravena - LINK) so I  decided to check out the trails in North Bethlehem.

It's a small place but jam-packed with trails as the official map below indicates...
There is very little elevation change and trails are super smooth but... its easy to get disoriented as to where you are as there are no blazes and the extensive looping soon erases all sense of north and south!

Nevertheless it was a fun place to ride. There are no rocks and very little roots because the trails are built to be super smooth. There are extensive log up and overs thru out and quite an array of man-made stunts as well (log rides, etc. on the sides of the main trail).

I rode (I believe!) the red, yellow and part of the orange loop. It was a bit hot, without a breeze and being minus my Camelbak (which I had stupidly left in Connecticut!), I headed home after only about 45 minutes . I will need to return sometime to ride the rest of the park...