My planned ride today was to get a little hill work in, the first of the season, usually I would have been starting this at the end of April, but life... Anyway, started out headed west towards the hills along the Mohawk river. I first go through the Schenectady Stockade, a section of town where most of the homes are 1700s. Conservative Dutch settlement, no great architecture. In the center you pass this statue.
Riding on you start to follow the old Erie Canal bed, wild flowers were in bloom on the old canal.
And then you pass an old lock
And finally a new lock on the Mohawk where the waterway is today - Lock 8.
A little ways further you go away from the canal and start up the hill. There are numerous roads to take up, each with it's own character. I decide on a favorite training hill, it has terraces the has moderate grade mixed with high grade pitches. A good workout. Now that I am out of shape again this is a lot more work and a lot less fun, but I need to keep some level of fitness. It is hot and humid and I am moving slow up the steep grades. The bugs are circling my helmet, sweat bees, black flys, mosquitoes and nats. I am just waiting for them to come in for the kill. Then I get to thinking, how fast do you have to go before these guys leave you alone. I was moving about 4mph. At the end of that steep I get a little relief and can go a little faster. 5MPH, still there, 6MPH still there, I dig deep and get up to 8MPH and they start to disappear but still buzz me.
I hit the next steep and they are back, sweat rolling down my face - this time I think they brought the families for a bicyclist buffet. I crest that steep and then start to push hard, it's also a little flatter - 8.5MPH - they are gone, escape velocity reached!