Russ Nelson

52.11 km 170964.95 feet 32.38 mi 13264.00 seconds 221.07 minutes 3.68 hours 8.79 mi/hr

Went up to Brookdale to ride through the Lost Nation State Forest. I don't know what's so lost about it -- I had no trouble finding it. Then headed over to Norfolk to take a look at the New York & Ogdensburg railroad. They have a Jordan Spreader now! (A Jordan Spreader is the Utilimate of railroad MOW equipment). Oh dear, I suppose I have to explain what a Utilimate is now, don't I? It's a lathe that can convert into a sander, or a drill press, or a router, and probably another couple of things.

They also have a new piece of rolling stock. Not sure exactly what it is, but it looks like half the car is passenger seats, and the other half is bi-level seating?? But it can't be that.

The flooding along the Racquette is just astounding. I'll upload some pics to My Flickr account.

People are bringing up the point that people simply don't shop for health care. That we're not consumers. Usually that people are non-economists, like some ER doc who thinks that he had to study for 8 years to become a doc, but that economists are just people with opinions. Or like Paul Krugman, who gave up any claim to be an economist years ago.

To these people, I say: just *try* to be a consumer. Presume that somebody actually could act as a consumer, and go buy their health care. An honest seeker after the truth will quickly realize that so few people pay for their own health care that prices aren't available. Go into a doctor's office and say "I'd like a 20 minute visit with the doc -- how much will that cost?" and the staff will be flabbergasted. Chances are very good that they won't know what to tell you. This could make the point that people who consume health care aren't consumers (although it's hard to state that relationship without using the "C" word). I think, instead, that it makes the point that people are consumers, but they're not purchasers.

41.76 km 137013.01 feet 25.95 mi 12918.00 seconds 215.30 minutes 3.59 hours 7.23 mi/hr

Rode a fair bit of the Rutland Trail yesterday. Skipped the muddiest portions, but still ran into a chain of 15 mudpits, plus another couple of 25' long mudpits. I wish the ATVers would live up to their claim that they are maintaining the trail. It's not like the ATVers go through the middle of the puddle either. You can see tracks around the edges, indicating that THEY don't like to go through the mudpits their tires create.

The northernmost leg is down two infrequently travelled dirt roads. The 45 degree leg on the right is on an abandoned farm road. Much funs to drive these abandoned roads. I should make a catalog of them some day.

32.49 km 106599.58 feet 20.19 mi 8356.00 seconds 139.27 minutes 2.32 hours 8.70 mi/hr

Did some OpenStreetMap mapping today. Bicycled five miles into the village, rode ten miles around the village collecting house numbers, then five miles back home again. A bit brisk and a tiny bit cool, but a sunny and pretty day.

I have a goal of riding every named Rail-Trail in New York State. There are many more railbeds not used for trains anymore which are also ridable. They are usually unnamed, unsigned, and unpublished. I speculate that this is because the owner is either indifferent or away. I've ridden some of these but I'm more interested in getting the named trails ridden first. I'm maintaining the list of NY rail-trails on my Rutland Trail website.

Rode a half-dozen rail-trails last weekend. so I'm updating my list of unridden trails. Made a map of the unridden trails.

Trails I've ridden:

• Auburn Fleming Trail,
• Ballston Bike Trail,
• Black River Recreational Trail,
• Bog Meadow Brook,
• Cato Fair Haven Trail,
• Catskill Scenic Trail (2/3rds),
• Cayuga Hojack Trail,
• Corning Bike Path,
• DnH Canal Heritage Corridor North,
• DnH Canal Heritage Corridor South, (partially)
• Dutchess Rail Trail,
• Genesee Valley Greenway (partial)
• Gorge Trail,
• Hudson Valley Rail Trail,
• Jim Schug Trail,
• Jim Tedisco Fitness Trail,
• Joseph B. Clarke Railtrail
• Lehigh Valley Rail Trail,
• Maple City Trail,
• North County Trailway,
• Ontario Pathways Rail Trail,
• Orange Heritage Trailway (the unimproved eastern end),
• Oswego Recreational Trail,
• Railroad Run,
• Rivergate Trail,
• The Rutland Trail,
• South County Trailway (southern portion)
• South Hill Recreation Way,
• The Uncle Sam Bikeway,
• Vestal Rail Trail,
• Wallkill Valley Rail Trail,
• Warren County Bikeway,
• Zim Smith Trail,

Trails I haven't (yet) ridden:

Allegheny River Valley Trail, Canalway Trail, Catskill Scenic Trail (still need to ride the 1/3rd), Chautauqua Alison Wells Ney, Chautauqua Brockton Area Recreational Trail, Chautauqua Brocton Area Recreational Trail, Chautauqua Laurie A. Baer Trail, Chautauqua Nadine and Paul Webb Trail, Chautauqua Nancy B. Diggs Trail, Chautauqua Ralph C. Sheldon Jr. Trail, Chautauqua Village of Mayville Trail, Cheektowaga Trail, Clarence Akron Pathway (still need to ride the other half), Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Rail Trail, Genesee Valley Greenway (still need to ride it end-to-end), Harlem Valley Rail Trail, Lehigh Memory Trail, Lehigh Valley Linear Trail, Newstead trail, Orange Heritage Trailway (still need to ride the paved portion), PatMcGeeTrail, Philip A. Rayhill Memorial Recreational Trail, Portage Trail, Putnam County Trailway, Rochester, Syracuse n Eastern Trolley Trail, Shawangunk Rail Trail, Sodus Point to Wallington Trail (doesn't really exist yet), South County Trailway (north portion), Spring Run Trail (doesn't really exist yet), Tarrytown Lakes extension, Town of Edwards Nature Trail, White Plains Greenway,

I went for my annual spring railroad exploration expedition last weekend. I hadn't planned it all out in detail, so I scribbled down a bunch of rail-trails in the southern tier, plus some bridges in Syracuse and Baldwinsville, and some abandoned tracks in Geneva and Seneca Falls. Here are all the rail-trails that I rode on last weekend.

Ride starting Sat Apr 9 12:26:56 2011

10.76 km 35313.80 feet 6.69 mi 2557.00 seconds 42.62 minutes 0.71 hours 9.42 mi/hr

Rode the Vestal Rail Trail. A nicely paved trail, it doesn't go as far as it might. Hopefully will be improved later. Very popular trail.

Ride starting Sat Apr 9 14:01:55 2011

17.48 km 57358.95 feet 10.86 mi 5380.00 seconds 89.67 minutes 1.49 hours 7.27 mi/hr

Not sure if this is supposed to be an official trail, but it sure looks that way. Have nicely compacted soil as the surface of the trail.

Ride starting Sat Apr 9 16:09:27 2011

5.62 km 18445.52 feet 3.49 mi 1331.00 seconds 22.18 minutes 0.37 hours 9.45 mi/hr

The Big Flats Rail Trail is compacted stone dust. Just a short portion of the railroad is included. To the west, the tracks used to be still present. Somebody is actively removing them. To the east, there's a bridge missing.

Ride starting Sat Apr 9 17:06:12 2011

5.95 km 19535.63 feet 3.70 mi 1961.00 seconds 32.68 minutes 0.54 hours 6.79 mi/hr

Bicycled the Corning Bike Path plus a bit more. The trail seems to disappear once it goes underneath the highway, but if you're willing to duck a few branches, it comes out in the Norfolk Southern yard.

Ride starting Sun Apr 10 09:53:41 2011

15.05 km 49374.67 feet 9.35 mi 5756.00 seconds 95.93 minutes 1.60 hours 5.85 mi/hr

Rode the Naples-Middlesex trail, aka the High Tor trail. High Tor is the name of the wildlife management area through which it goes. Putting "-Middlesex" is hardly accurate since it doesn't get that far. Ran into a wet spot towards the north end. Had to go back, drive up to the north end, and ride back south. That's the next ride in this series.

Ride starting Sun Apr 10 11:44:54 2011

8.00 km 26240.02 feet 4.97 mi 3254.00 seconds 54.23 minutes 0.90 hours 5.50 mi/hr

As above, the trail got wet, and in order to ride the whole thing, I had to go to the other end and ride south.

Ride starting Sun Apr 10 12:59:53 2011

4.15 km 13605.73 feet 2.58 mi 1844.00 seconds 30.73 minutes 0.51 hours 5.03 mi/hr

Wasn't looking for this trail, but as I was driving through Rushville, I passed "Railroad Ave". Like dangling a carrot in front of a mule! Couldn't help but check it out. It's another portion of the Naples Branch I had been riding earlier. Found this trail at the east end of the road. It's called the "Moody Hiking Trail".

Ride starting Sun Apr 10 17:18:12 2011

5.36 km 17583.29 feet 3.33 mi 2494.00 seconds 41.57 minutes 0.69 hours 4.81 mi/hr

On to Auburn and the Auburn Fleming Trail. It's a portion of the Auburn- Ithaca trolley line. Just a mile and a half long, it still has all its original railroad bridges. To the north it's posted. The trail looks physically in good condition. I suspect that the property owners simply don't want a trail. To the south it runs through a propane distributorship and disappears in some brush. It's a nice trail. It should be longer.

Ride starting Mon Apr 11 08:07:43 2011

8.83 km 28955.43 feet 5.48 mi 4862.00 seconds 81.03 minutes 1.35 hours 4.06 mi/hr

I was actually looking for an unfinished railroad, the Pennsylvania & Sodus Bay. Found a culvert in Seneca Falls off Sackett Street. Couldn't find anything further south, so I thought I'd cut over using the old Lehigh Valley railbed. It's a bit grown-over but is tolerably passable. All of the bridges have been removed, and the LV is up on a high fill, so it can be a struggle to get down to the road level. I enjoyed it, though.

48.40 km 158799.32 feet 30.08 mi 13376.00 seconds 222.93 minutes 3.72 hours 8.09 mi/hr

Wow, 30 miles today. That's kinda funny, because I only bicycled around the village of Potsdam. Five miles in, five miles back, so twenty miles riding on village streets. Was collecting addresses and fire hydrant locations for OpenStreetMap.

28.98 km 95087.16 feet 18.01 mi 6196.00 seconds 103.27 minutes 1.72 hours 10.46 mi/hr

A cool day, but a gorgeous day. Just a few clouds in the sky. Wanted a longer ride than my usual "Go to Norwood and take quiet roads back" ride, so I circled around to the west of Norwood. Saw the new RR siding west of Norwood. Picked up a bit of rock salt, and yeah, wow, it's pretty darned salty for a rock.