October 12, 2022 - Hudson, NY, to Albany, NY, and Return

Start and end: Hudson, NY
Turnaround: Albany, NY
Miles: 70.6
Feet climbing per mile: 51
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/105390479

Shortly after I awoke I called Amtrak to find out whether bicycles were allowed on the train from Albany to Hudson. I was told that they were and that the senior fare was $17.10 and the charge for the bike was $20. The bike would cost more than I would! There was a train leaving Albany at 12:10 and another at 4:30. I felt good and thought I'd be able to ride both directions, but I was glad to know I had the train as a backup.

I started riding just after 9:00, which meant I would have a little more than nine hours to ride 70 miles if I rode on the east side of the Hudson to Albany and on the west side for my return.

A few miles into my ride I crossed the Stockport Creek and stopped to enjoy the water flowing over the rocks.

A sign said that Henry Hudson was entertained by the Indians who were encamped where he landed in 1609. How do you think they entertained him?

About two miles north of where I saw the sign about Henry Hudson's entertainment by Indians is the so-called Shodack Island, on which is located Shodack Island State Park. Shodack Island is actually a peninsula. According to the Wikipedia article about Shodack Island State Park, "the area now occupied by the park was a group of six islands; it became a continuous peninsula in the early 1900s when a federal project to construct a deep-water navigation channel to Albany necessitated the construction of dikes and the deposition of dredged material along and between the islands. What was to become Schodack Island State Park was first acquired by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in the 1970s, and was originally known as Castleton Island State Park.".

By the way, do you know how Henry Hudson died? According to the Wikipedia article about Hudson, his crew mutinied and set him, his teenage son John, and seven crewmen who were either sick and infirm or loyal to Hudson adrift in an open boat, effectively marooning them in Hudson Bay. I wonder whether Hudson thought, "How much of an adventure can it be if everything goes according to plan?".

The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson, an 1881 painting by John Collier

The Hudson River is on the west side of Shodack Island while Shodack Creek is on the east side. To the east of Shodack Creek I saw a fixer-upper with great potential available for an attractive price.

Although I had been riding close to the Hudson, it was not until I came to Casleton-On-Hudson that I had a clear view of the river. The surfaces of the roads had been good until then, but through that village the surface was outstanding. According to the History section of the Wikipedia article for the village, Henry Hudson saw a structure that was a storehouse for foodstuffs, of such size that he thought it was a castle.

To enter Albany I had to cross the Hudson, which I did by riding the bike ramp on the Dunn Memorial Bridge. The ramp is steep and starts with a sharp turn. I found myself unable to start riding after making the sharp turn and so had to walk the ascent, the only climb I walked all day. I arrived at the Capitol shortly before noon.

After resting for half an hour I felt good so I decided I would follow my original plan of riding back on the west side of the Hudson. I would have about six hours of daylight to ride 39 miles.

A few miles after leaving the Capitol I saw a train of oil tanker cars parked in a narrow passageway.

Shortly after the oil tankers I saw a sign offering berries in front of a farm stand. The proprietor told me he had no berries but he did have pears. They were small so I had two. I told him the traffic had been very light on my northbound trip, but now was substantial. He said it was usually heavier. There would be moderate traffic for the first ten miles of the southbound trip.

About 48 miles into my ride I saw an inviting pond, and of course I stopped to put my feet in the water.

A man cutting the grass said, "They'll cool off fast. Good thing you didn’t do that when it was hot or a snapping turtle would have been fixin’ for them.".

On many of my trips I have stopped to remove a hazard from the road. The quarter I saw this day wasn't a hazard but I removed it anyway.

I was starting to feel depleted about 50 miles into my ride, and had eaten all the dark chocolate covered almonds I had brought for the day. The Yellow Deli in Coxsackie was closed for Jewish holidays, so there would be no food available until I reached the Stewart's in Athens. I had two scoops of chocolate ice cream which I ate with my camping spoon.

I followed the ice cream with a pack of crackers with peanut butter. I then felt fortified for the final 10 miles of my ride. As I approached the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, I wondered what I would do if somehow I wouldn't be able to ride across the bridge. Would I get someone to drive me across? Might I find someone with a boat in Athens to take me across? Fortunately I had no problem crossing the bridge, which had an adequate shoulder. I arrived at my hotel at 5:20, about an hour before sunset.

Before walking the half mile to American Glory, where I was planning to eat, I stopped to look at a diner near my hotel. While it offered grass-fed beef, I wasn't interested in the atmosphere of a diner, and so continued with my plan to eat at American Glory. But when I got there I saw that it was closed, despite Google Maps showing that it was open. I walked back to the diner and discovered that the atmosphere was not that of a diner. Instead it was once a diner that had been renovated as Grazin', a restaurant serving grass-fed beef from its own farm. As I was about to sit down was told that the kitchen had just closed. I said that I had ridden 70 miles that day and was starving. I was told I could get a hamburger but the fryer had been shut down so there would be no fries. No problem! I started with a bowl of chili and followed it with a hamburger and a salad. The hamburger was maybe the most delicious I've ever had. For dessert I had a slice of apple pie, made by one of the owners. I was told the apples are from a local orchard.

After returning to my hotel I was tired from the day's ride but felt well nourished and was looking forward to my ride the next day.

Previous day: October 11, 2022 - New Hamburg, NY, to Hudson, NY
Next day: October 13, 2020 - Hudson, NY, to Poughkeepsie, NY

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