Bicycling New England, the
Erie Canal, & around Lake Ontario 2005
Hudson to Albany NY

July 1, 2005
Distance 37.7 Miles

This morning we left the hotel at 7:30 to ride down the hill for breakfast. We ate at the same Diner that Jim and I ate at the night before. We had good oatmeal with blueberries on top. George and Jane headed to Valatie to get their bicycle rim fixed. We headed towards Highway 9J and Albany. The first part of the ride had a few hills, but once we reached highway 9J it was almost flat with beautiful views of the Hudson River.

We stopped in East Greenbush for some excellent homemade ice-cream. It was a nice break and a chance to read the newspapers while we waited for the owner to catch up with the other customers so he could wait on us. For our patience we each got an extra free scoop. With the extra energy we started up some serious climbs towards Rensellaer/Albany. Just before the bridge we had a long downhill with the view of Albany skyline.

The bridge had a sidewalk only we could not find where it started so we had to cross with the cars, and no shoulders. We were lucky as we reached Albany there were no cars coming so we were able to take the 2nd exit right into downtown. We walked our bicycle about 3 blocks to the capitol building.

We arrived just at noon and got to hear the bells play from the City Hall. We then followed the roads about 6 miles to our hotel out by the airport. Riding down the streets was interesting, as people would double park their cars and then just go into the store. So we had to weave our way in and out of the cars. We made it through town with no major mishaps, although we did have a few people honk at us. Hard to know if they thought we were in the way or just wanted to say Hi.

Jim and I arrived at the motel around 1:00 in time for a swim and sit in the hot tub before George and Jane arrived with the new rim on their bicycle. They called us before they headed to the airport to pickup a rental car so they could drive down and have dinner with George's sister. Albany expected major thundershowers and hail this evening so Jim and I ate dinner in the motel.