Sunday, December 28, 2008

Lights in the Park (Albany)

MHCC, NYBC, and ABC all coordinated a group ride this evening through Albany's Capital Holiday Lights in the Park display. It was supposed to have been last weekend, but the multiple storms knocked it out and they rescheduled for today. About 15 of us showed up at 4:30 pm, before the displays opened to vehicular traffic (at $15/car), and did 4-5 loops through the light displays. The very beginning of the ride also included a spectacular sunset as a backdrop. That was the real show.





Another rider posted a 4-minute video of the ride on YouTube. I'm the rider in the yellow jacket who appears only occasionally.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Tour de Clifton Park - Part Trois

This was another Taconic Hiking Club group ride from a friend's house in Clifton Park. It was a sunny fairly calm day, with temps expected to reach the low 40s, but starting out at 10am, it wasn't quite that warm. 5 of us rode a nice mix of back roads and bike paths at a very casual and social pace, stopped for lunch at a local Stewart's shop, and had donuts and cider when we returned to the host's house after 28+ miles.

Monday, December 01, 2008

It's not over 'til it's over...

Sunny. 53 degrees. December 1. Yesterday's miniscule snowfall has all melted, and the roads are dry. Time for a ride!

After being flat on my back since Thanksgiving night with a MAJOR lower back issue, I was ready to get out of the house. I'm not sure yet what it's all about, but it dates back to a 5k run I did on October 6, after which I experienced excruciating back pain later in the day. It's been off and on since then, but on Thanksgiving, it was definitely the sitting still that brought it forward again. Lots of rest and heating pad time over the weekend, and today I went for x-rays, just in case it's more than a muscle strain. I biked on the trainer twice briefly over the weekend, which went OK, so after being cooped up for all that time, decided to try a real ride today.

I just did a really relaxed 14.6-mile river loop, from SCCC to Lock 9 and back through Scotia. That was fine, so I think I'm almost back to "normal". Taconic Hiking Club is doing a longer slow-paced ride on Wednesday, so I may give that a try if all goes well.