Category Archives: Article

by Toni | June 11, 2011 · 12:00 pm

Camping: The Hill to Thompsons Lake

This weekend was the ABC camping trip to Thompsons Lake. It was a Friday to Sunday affair, but today I am just going to focus on the ride up to the campsite.

Disclaimer: I am a commuter; I like to ride to places. I am not the type of person who can just go out and ride big loops, just to ride. I ride to the library or Hudson River Coffee house, and sometimes even to my work when I am feeling energetic. I hate hills. I avoid going down State Street like no tomorrow, and when I am leading a ride with ABC you know I won’t take you up a hill if I can help it. I am also a slow rider; someone who isn’t in a rush and likes to enjoy the ride.

Now, that you know where I am coming from you can imagine the terror that filled me when everyone wanted to ride up to Thompsons Lake. It involves not just hill, but what I would call a small mountain. There was no way around it; I was going to have to ride up Thatcher Park Road. My only other choice was to drive up, and while there were people who did drive up to go camping with us, I just couldn’t do it. Therefore, I had to make it up the mountain on my pretty little bike.

For courage I bought some gloves so my hands wouldn’t hurt as bad and a new jersey that I thought I looked cute in. Going on this ride with me was Claire, aka Mom, and without her I don’t think I would have made it. Google maps says it takes 2 hours by bike to make it up to Thompsons lake. Maybe for someone who like hills, not for someone like me. So we left early, like 3 o-clock, since I knew it was going to take me forever. Ken who still had to leave was going to leave at five, and I knew I might not make it before dark if I left at five.

So off we went, heading towards the small mountain in the distance. We passed through Voorheesville, and we hit a small hill, which to me was torture. My goal was to make it up without walking. I did that, but I did have to stop. All that was running around in my head was “that really wasn’t even a big hill.” It was just a small one to get my blood going. It took some time, but then we were there at the bottom of Thatcher Park Road. We were standing there talking so I could rest and try to get my courage up.

To be completely honest standing at the bottom, I didn’t think I could make it up that hill. I had seen others go up it, and I really thought that they were crazy. It just wasn’t on my to-do list or even can-do list. Yet, I made it that far and had to keep going. Off we went. I knew that this was going to be hard. At the very beginning there was a jogger heading up the hill and I tried to keep up with him. I kept my pace, and then he took two steps in front of me leaving me behind. Claire passed me and kept pace with the jogger. Seeing her go up the hill was inspiring. I thought maybe I could do this.

My eyes stayed on her backpack as I slowly climbed. Finally I had to stop and take a breath along with some water. Then back on my bike I went. I focused on each telephone pole and mail box. Bit by bit I made it along. When I needed to stop, I stopped. I didn’t get discouraged or feel rushed. I had friends above me on the mountain and Ken below me who hadn’t left yet. My goal was to not get passed by him. Finally, I saw Claire waiting for me next to a turn off to make sure that I went the right way. I stopped and relaxed for a moment while she spoke on the phone to Bert and John who were already at the campsite. I really needed that moment of just standing there. It kept me on my feet. That break did turn into a pit stop as I waited for my heart to stop pounding. Then off we went again heading towards the park and the lookout.

Getting to the lookout where I could see the starting point was awesome. I felt like I could do almost anything. Staring out over Albany, and knowing that I got up there by bicycle was something that everyone who rides should experience. I understood why people would ride up that freaking hill, and that they weren’t crazy; just really really smart. The rest of the ride to the campsite was awesome. I was tired but filled with joy. Bert and John rode out to meet us, the laughing and talking really kept me going. We had to stop to take photos at the sign to the Thompson’s Lake and I believe that part of me was in shock. I couldn’t believe that I actually made it up there on my bicycle.

It was awesome, and I thank everyone who has helped me get to that point. Especially, Claire who would tell me stories as we rode so I had something to think about besides how far we still had to go.

Written by Toni Cameron

Grand Opening of the Albany County Rail Trail

On Saturday, June 4, 2011, the Town of Bethlehem, the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, and Albany County hosted the Grand Opening of the Albany County Rail Trail, Phase One.

The Rail Trail reception area, staffed by volunteers from the Friends of the Rail Trail (FORT) Committee of Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy (MHLC), was at Adams St. and Hudson Ave. and featured maps, historical photos, and information about the trail. Guests received delicious oranges from the Honest Weight Food Cooperative while there were free ice cream cones for the early arriving children.

The first two-mile section runs from Veterans’ Park in Delmar (near the Stewarts) to Firefighters’ Park in Slingerlands (near the Tollgate). It is open to pedestrians and leashed pets from dawn to dusk. It is a “carry in-carry out” facility. Bicycles may use this first section of the Rail Trail but only after completion of some required safety features. However, there are bicycle racks at Veteran’s Park, the Municipal Lot on Kenwood near Delaware, and at Firefighter’s park. Cyclists must refrain from using the trail until it is opened to them.

Eventually, the Rail Trial will connect Voorheesville and the port of Albany, thus providing commuter and recreational access to downtown Albany and the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail. For more information on the Rail Trail, please visit http://www.mohawkhudson.org.

Written by Lorenz Worden

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by Christopher | June 9, 2011 · 12:00 pm

Bicycling on the Battlefield

If bicycle riding to historic battlefield sites and witnessing historic battle reenactments interest you, then listen up. This Saturday, June 11th, American Heritage Bicycle Tours is offering a FREE bike tour and a FREE reenactment event at the Gelston Castle Estate in the beautiful Mohawk Valley. A very limited number of participants will be welcome to join us on a SAG supported bike tour in Utica New York, 90 miles west of Albany, for a casual ride along the legendary Erie Canal to the Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site where “one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution was fought” (Wikipedia) in 1777. Activities are planned. Upon returning to our vehicles, and a short drive to the Gelston Castle Estate, a genuine reenactment will be held, and if you’ve never witnessed a battle reenactment you’re in for an amazing surprise.

Go online towww.gelstoncastleestate.com and check out the “events” link. This place is located high on a ridge top with views of the Mohawk Valley that are nothing short of stunning. Contact John at 518.225.4209 or hardworkinjohn@aol.com for location, directions and other details such as camping options, food options,etc. Confirmation by Friday evening at 6 pm please.

Written by John Vendetti

Volunteering as a Bike Mechanic for the Tour de Cure

My alarm went off at 6:30 on Sunday morning. I had all my tools ready, so I threw them in a backpack, grabbed something to eat, and headed out the door. A few blocks away I picked up Dan, who had also volunteered to be a roaming bike mechanic for the 20th Tour de Cure.

We arrived at Saratoga Springs High School and met up with Brent, our contact there. We got bright yellow t-shirts that said we were volunteers. He split us up; each of us teamed up with a radio operator and a vehicle, and around 9 we were off.

There were a lot of cyclists there. I heard rumors that there were 2000. When you have rides of different mileages, you get a lot of different people. Obviously the vast majority were racers in full kit, but I saw some people on trikes, some nice cruisers, young guys on mountain bikes, and a lot of kids. They took off in waves, and it was impressive to see so many cyclists.

Dave, my radio guy, was a real pleasure to work with. He was very familiar with the area and had a lot of great stories. We were “Roamer 2”, and we patrolled Area 2 in a donated Nissan Xterra.

I don’t know why they gave us a mammoth SUV to drive around with cyclists, and I told them as much. Of course, event coordinators understand that, but Lia donated the vehicles and they probably just wanted to show off something shiny.

Most of what I did was pump up tires. People who had problems would notify anyone with a volunteer shirt, who would notify control, who would notify us to go help them. By the time we got there to help out, most people had already swapped tubes. We usually showed up just in time to pull out the big air pump and wrap things up.

I did have to tinker with a lot of kid’s bikes. This is my only real judgmental complaint. I don’t understand why people ride a department store kid’s bike 25 miles, without tuning it up first. That’s got to be brutal. The nice thing, after helping them out, was looping around through the route and seeing these kids still on the road, pedaling away.

It was interesting to see all the cyclists riding on roads with cars. Despite being told to follow the rules of the road, most blew through stop signs and red lights, and often look the entire lane making it impossible for cars to get by. At one point we had to tell some people to get out of the lane for oncoming traffic. There’s a lot of room for education at events like this.

After a few hours of that we got lunch. And ice cream.

I had a good time. I don’t consider myself much of a bike mechanic, but it was really nice to help out, even with my meager skills. Maybe next year, the ABC can send more than two people.

Written by Ethan

All About Lube

I am going to get through this entire post without making one lube joke. I swear.

BikeCommuters.com recently had an interview with Mike Kaelon from KHS Bicycles which was all about chain lube. We all, hopefully, know that it is important to clean and lube your chain on a regular basis. Now that winter is over we will have a much easier time doing this. Here is an excerpt from the article that I found interesting:

“…you really have to work at keeping the wax from building up on the outside of the chain, which can prevent any new lube from getting inside the links. If you use wax lubes like most people do, which is to just apply the lube and forget it (which is why most people use those lubes, because it doesn’t get dirty), the wax starts to build up, and eventually all you end up doing is putting new lube on top of the old build up, instead of getting it worked down inside the links.”

I just bought a new Shram bike chain recently and the thing came loaded with a wax based lube. I guess I have to clean the heck out of it before re-applying more lube.