After much saying of goodbyes, and then some more saying of goodbyes, and then some more saying of goodbyes, it was time to leave the amazing amenity free, understaffed Roaring Brook Ranch, and after the bikes were loaded, and more saying of goodbyes it was now time to leave Roaring Brook Ranch, and after saying goodbye again to the three people that had not loaded up yet, we left.
Our destination is the Revolution Rail Company for a ride on
their rail bikes, over tracks that once carried logs, fuel, freight, and
tourists to and from the area before plugging up the roads with bazillions of
cars became such a good idea.
The ride up to Hadley was not to far, the weather was good, and the scenery was great. As we got closer to Hadley I started seeing more and more busses with rafts, and I wondered where the river and rapids are, as all I could see from the bike was trees.
Crossing over a bridge in the village of Warren I finally
saw the Sacandaga River and its confluence with the mighty Hudson. So this is
where all the rafters are headed.
Since it was a warm day the river was actually quite busy, with jet skies, kayaks, tubers, and people just wading out into the muddy water to experience some wetness besides what the humidity affords. It looked like fun! And I might have been in the swim too except we had an appointment with the rail bikes.
Pulling into Hadley I spotted the venue right away as it is
in the old train station. Their parking lot is gravel so I pulled in next door
at the vfw only to be told that we really should not park there as they were
expecting maybe one other car, and two motor bikes would really just overload
their lot.
No worries I pulled over to the Revolution Rail Co. lot, parked and watched and waited as my compadre slowly, and accurately I
might add came around in a great sweeping arch and parked behind me.
Inside the old rail station now occupied by revolution rail
we filled out waiver forms so as to insure that just in case we were damaged,
revolution rail would in no manner way or form be libel for our injuries.
Seemed fair to me so I signed on the dotted line.
Not much else was offered inside the old train station, a
few trinkets, and a couple of clean washrooms. I was surprised that they did
not give us a bottle of water or at least offer water for sale, but I had a
empty on the bike and filled it from their sink after being assured that indeed
the water from the tap was fresh mountain spring water.
After a not so serious safety briefing we were led to our bikes and climbed aboard.
The bikes themselves are a aluminum frame with steel axels, plastic wheels, a crank with platform peddles for both riders, and are single speed with a disk brake operated by the rider in the engineer’s seat.
At the grade crossing I had hoped that they would drop the
existing crossing arms. That did not happen but the woman that checked everyone
in, flagged traffic and did so at the next crossing further down the track.
We peddled for 2 or so miles before reaching the turnaround
point. Since trains like level tracks the ride was mostly flat, and that was a
good thing. We did burst forward with a tremendous burst of speed that left the
people behind us in the dust, and they did the same to us on the way back.
The ride back was almost like the ride out, under the tree
covered track, except it was in the opposite direction. The big highlight of
the trip is crossing the 90-foot-high trestle over the Hudson river. You do it
twice, and it really is quite neat hanging out on the trestle with nothing but
gravity to keep you and your rail bike on the track.
Rail biking is a way cool adventure and will do it again if
we run across another rail bike operation.
Thanks for reading
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