distance - 20.4 miles
average speed (mph) - 14.6
elevation climbed (ft) - 520
temperature - 61 F
As I rolled my bike down the driveway, at 7:45 this morning, the rain started to fall. Perfect. I decided to pull over, put my rain jacket on, and get on with the ride. Like I said in some previous posts, I need to be able to ride in any conditions, come rain, sleet, or snow. I rode over to Leon's house, stopped to talk to him, and then rode home. Of course, the rain stopped a couple miles from home. I don't remember seeing any rain in the forecast for today. Oh well, no big deal.
As I was riding down Empire Blvd this morning, I noticed a huge Snapping Turtle (~20" in diamter) crossing the road. This turtle was in the middle of the first of four lanes, as she was heading from south to north (maybe to lay eggs?). The roadside is littered with other turtles that weren't so fortunate in their attempts to cross the road. I slowed down as I approached the turtle. It was moving, albeit very slowly. I considered getting off my bike and helping her across the road. But, if you've ever been on Empire Blvd, at the south end of the bay, at the bottom of the hill, you know that helping a turtle across the road is a very dangerous move. I kept going on my ride, but hoped that when I came back, on my return home, that I wouldn't see a dead turtle in the road. Sure enough, when I returned along that same stretch of road, an hour later, the turtle must' ve made it because there were no carcasses to be seen.
It's not hard to imagine these creatures roving around with dinosaurs, 40 million years ago!
I came across a snapper at that exact location while driving about 20 years ago! Much less traffic back then, so tried to push the hissing monster across the road with a big stick, but it got really pissed off and was more interested in confronting me... or my stick. Left it to it's own devices. Nice to know they're still surviving down there! You'll have to add "big stick" to your tool kit.
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