IAT 7-27-13 Albany Segment - Devil's Staircase Segment

ROUGH day.  So I came up with the plan to try a bike and hike.  Ride my bike to the end of the trail and then hike back to the car.  Now I had not ridden a bike since I was a kid.  I don't own a bike so I had to borrow my wife's.  And just to make things interesting I planned a 30 mile bike ride followed by 30 miles of hiking.  Of course part of the trail goes over a nicely graded bike path so I should just take that on the bike right?  Nope...  Took the streets like an idiot to save .4 miles on the bike and paid for it with all the hills.  By the time I was done with the bike portion - 3 hours later - I was done.  Could barely walk...

But I forced down a power bar and started the hike back.  Walking felt wonderful after the 30 miles on the bike.  I flew through the Albany Segment and finished that up before lunch time.  Then came the wonderful 20+ mile connecting route.  That was rough to say the least.  Towards the end I was running on fumes and in a lot of pain.  The Arbor Ridge and Devil's Staircase segments were a blur.  It was so nice to get off the streets, but my exhaustion and pain kept me from really enjoying these segments as much as I should have because they were both very nice.

Made it back to the car and then drove to retrieve the bike and the drive home.  Slept well that night that's for sure.  I didn't have my camera on this trip - just the cell phone and frankly taking pictures was not too high on my list of priorities this day.