I love NY!

Yesterday was the first time in a month that I've been able to go for a long bike ride. The plan was to start in Little Falls and go till I was 1/2 tired and turn around. :) Then on Thursday my friend, Shibu, messaged me via facebook and we started talking about riding and I invited him to join me.

Saturday morning - I was up bright and early. Packed up the peanut butter rounds sandwiches (if you've never tried Arnold's whole grain rounds, you are missing out), did a small bag of mixed nuts, and a couple of packages of Black Cherry Shot Bloks with caffeine. Oh, and 3 bottles of water. I put my bike rack on my car and then loaded up everything else. I was in Little Falls at 7:30 - Shibu got there a lot a-bit later - but honestly it was perfect. I brought a book with me - watched the fog dissipate off the canal and just relaxed. Shibu got there - we got our bikes set up - checked air and headed out.

It was absolutely beautiful. Stunning. Perfect. I love the Canal Trails. The Birds. The Blue skies. God couldn't have given us a more perfect biking day. We rode till we got to a creek area - don't know the name of it right now. We stopped for a little sustenance and water. Then we got on our bikes again. We had a little problem in Mindenville - a small part of the trail is closed because they repaved it and I didn't read the sign right and we ended up down by the canal. But the man who works on the canal was wonderful and explained that the trail was just to the left of the entrance for the canal - so we continued on. I was excited about maybe, just maybe, making it to St. Johnsville. For not having been on my bike in a month I was feeling great. Even my bum was dealing. Well - we made it to St. Johnsville (I didn't even see the sign - had no clue) and kept going. We talked about going to 15 miles and turning around. It would be the farthest either of us had gone. So at 15 miles we stopped. We looked around and I kept hearing running water. I think we both really wanted to keep going so we 'looked' for the sound of the running water - for another 2 miles and made it into Fort Plain! Woo Hoo!

We turned around when we hit the Main street - right across from Save-a-lot market. I slowed down on Shibu for a little while but got my second wind. We met a couple about 2 miles from the Herkimer Home that had bikes loaded down with bags on front and back wheels and on the handle bars - they were on a long ride! They asked us which way to go - there are a couple of places on the canal trail where you can take a trail down to the canal - but you wouldn't know that unless you were familiar with the area. I told them to continue on - warned them about Mindenville detour and there is an area where Herkimer and Montgomery Counties meet where the stone dust trail is really deep and loose. My back tire kept kicking out - and I kept squealing like a little girl! It was fun! But back to the couple. They also asked about a place to sleep - I figured that Fort Plain would have the best place - or Canojaharie. This is the best part - they were going from Buffalo to Albany - meeting with the rest of their bike group and then go to NYC - by bike! I really need to find a group like that and start doing stuff like that!

Shibu and I had perfect weather - sunshine, cool breeze, bright clear skies and a beautiful, safe trail. The canal trail is something to enjoy and share! Please go and see what I am talking about!