Albany - Hudson Rail Trail 8/15/21

 One of my goals for this summer is to complete the 35 mile Albany - Hudson Electric Rail Trail. This gorgeous Sunday was perfect for the Kinderhook to Hudson section - a plan hatched at Lyne's pool a day or two before. We could not have had nicer weather - too hot for hiking, but with the breeze generated by the bikes speed, just right as long as we had lots of water*. 

We parked next to a cornfield just south of Kinderhook where a couple of runners just finished their workout. They assured us it was a beautiful ride on mostly trail but with a few sparsely traveled road sections. They were right and the scenery was bucolic as depicted in the photo below.

At one point early in the ride we passed a man sitting on a rock wearing only shorts, beet-red faced, and he uttered the word "water" as I rode past. My conscience would not let me continue on, so I circled back and asked if he was ok, did he need water? He replied yes so I had to hastily decide which of my water bottles I would offer. I decided on my 1 liter tank that I use to refill my smaller bottle. I handed it to him from the greatest distance I could maintain, with my girls standing flank. Then the guy started talking and throwing down metaphoric red flags all over the place (anger issues, broken phone, no plan.) I said he could keep the water bottle, wished him luck and backed away. We quickly mounted our bikes and rode away. Yikes! Two other guys riding bikes had stopped up ahead to make sure all was well when they saw us turn back - thank you good sirs!

Without further delays we enjoyed one of the nicest rides into Hudson with only one beastly hill to get to downtown. Once there we had lunch at a cafe on Warren St. and did a little window shopping. The ride back was much improved as we navigated through the streets of Hudson in order to avoid the dreaded hills back to the trail. That was successful and wonderful as the temperature was in the 80's now.

The ride back to the cars was just as lovely with just a few stops to drink and stretch and take a photo or two. 


*Thanks for the extra water Lyne!

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