The End of This Blog

In December 2007, I retired from the Federal government and started a separate blog at norockingchairforme.blogspot.com. That blog covers ALL outdoor activities, including biking, which is also covered here. It's become a bit of a pain to either do double entry or keep entering links back to this blog for any biking entries, so I will be discontinuing updates of this blog from this point forward. For any of you who have been following along, and there are probably precious few, please continue to do so at that new address above. Thanks for reading!

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.

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.

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.

Last Ride?

After being off the bike for over 3 weeks, I decided I needed to finish off the last 8 miles to put me over 2,200 for the season. It's a stupid arbitrary number, but I just couldn't let it stand at 2,192.

Today was a breezy cold November day in the upper 30s, so I dressed for it and headed for the bike path. I only intended to do the usual 14+-mile river loop, from SCCC to Lock 9 and back. And that's what I did. My hands were cold to begin with, but warmed up after 5-6 miles. I should have worn the silk liners inside the windproof fleece gloves. By the time I finished, my feet were getting a little cool, which I could have prevented with plastic bags over the socks. That worked great last year.

The rest of this week is sloppy, wet, and maybe snowy, so I may well be done for the year, aside from some local MTB jaunts just to get out.

River Ride

Another semi-nice day, with temps in the 50s, and I needed to get out and do something. I don't seem to be up for any big ride anymore, and haven't been riding enough to take one on anyway, so I did the usual 15-mile river loop. For the first mile or two, my right knee was twinging - it just hasn't been right since I was running last week and almost couldn't continue. It actually hasn't been 100% for many years, but the pain while biking has been only recently. After those first few miles, it worked itself out, and the rest of the ride was OK. It may be time to start putting in some regular time on the trainer just to keep things loose.

Historical Tour of Ballston

Holly had picked up a brochure from the town that outlined a 20-mile driving tour of the town's historical sites. Here's a link to some history. Unfortunately, several of the stops were on roads that were less than bike-friendly, so today we did an 11-mile subset. It was a beautiful fall day in the 60s, and we had a very relaxed ride.