Archive → November, 2005
Rocket Ride update
Here’s the latest on the last few rocket rides:
10/2: I decided to join the ride as it went by house. No sense in getting up at 5:30am to be at Nyack at 8am so I can get dropped in Hackensack by 9:00am! So I rode out to New Clarkstown road and headed south to meet up with the ride near the Nanuet Mall. I got dropped up North (or, as they in Minneapolis, Up Nort) on Scratchup Road (a well deserved name) because the fellow I was following lost contact with the group. We rode back together.
11/6: This was the first winter ride of the year. The winter ride is shorter, and cuts back to Nyack through Orangeburg rather than going North to New City. Thankfully, it starts at 9am instead of 8am. Unfortunately, I was unaware of this. My friend Simcha from Monsey showed up, which was quite surprising. I felt like I was doing quite well, but then got a flat climbing out from Lake Tappan. Simcha stopped and helped me change the tire, then we rode back to Nyack.
11/13: I showed up at 9am, which was nice. I blew out climbing out from Lake Tappan, and got dropped on Rivervale Road.
11/20: This time, rather than riding down to Engelwood, then cutting through Orangeburg, we cut off the Engelwood section by riding through Demarest, but then completed the northern section from the summer ride. I got dropped on Scratchup, but managed to catch up with another fellow from the ride. We passed a couple other riders from the ride on the way back to Nyack. Simcha was along on the ride again, and got dropped earlier.
Here’s the graph:
Here’s the map:
Orienteering Sunday
Today I ran and orienteering event at Lake Kanawauke. I ran the red course, which was the most advanced course offered at the event. If the course were run along the red lines, it would be 6.55km (4.07 miles). Here’s the map:
I had a watch with a split lap timer, but I failed to split the laps at each control, so I think my times are probably as follows:
S – 1: 13:57
1 – 3: 31:27
3 – 4: 6:08
4 – 7: 18:24
7 – 11: 32:59
11 – 12: 4:00
12 – 13: 8:07
13 – 14: 8:09
14 – 15: 5:59
15 – 16: 3:52
16 – 17: 4:20
17 – F: 0:28
For a total time of 2:17:55. The time limit is 2 hours, so my finish is considered OT (over-time).
I lost a lot of time on the first 3 controls as I tried to relearn orienterring, having not done it in several months. Here’s the map:
Particularly irritating was control #2 – I had to give up and bear in the direction of control #3, which was next to a swamp. I found the swamp, found control #3, then doubled back to find control #2. Grr!
Anyway, loads of fun!
Just a couple o’ hobos
Mechel and I drove out to Monsey Glen park this afternoon and hiked up onto the abandoned rails there. I’ve seen on a map that the tracks run South, then curve to the West and finally North and come back under Route 59 in Tallman, a couple miles West of the park.
I had to take some pictures, or course:
At one point, a small trestle was missing and the track just went out into thin air:
Farther along, the tracks became increasingly impassible, as we encountered more and more debris and brush on the tracks. Here’s Mechel sitting on a tree in the riddle ot the tracks:
Towards the end, we saw a deer staring back at us from father down the tracks. By now, the tracks were completely overgrown, and getting through was tough:
We came out in Tallman, where Trish picked us up. Mechel is looking forward to exploring the portion North of Route 59 at Tallman, as the tracks head towards Sloatsburg.
Maybe someday.
Sukkos 2005
Eventually there will be a page for our Sukkos vacation on the Adventures page. For now, you’ll have to settle for a slideshow.
(If the slideshow page doesn’t appear, try this instead. If the slideshow page appears, but the slideshow doesn’t begin, you’ll need to install RealPlayer to view it.)