Otsego Lake: The Last of the Mohicans Remembered!

So, there I was ready to rock 'n roll on my bike when I reflected that, as a writer, Lake Otsego was the perfect training ground for my biking--after all, it was the principal feature in James Fenimore Cooper's novels, Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer and The Pioneers.  While Cooper referred to the lake as Glimmerglass, and depicted many axe wielding and long rifle survival tactics at this locale, I was expecting peace, tranquility and just a bit of sweat.  Well, the lake did glimmer like glass as I pedaled madly around its shores.  I rode close to the edge of the lake almost the entire 31 miles and the water had that same crystal clear blue-green hue of the Caribbean.  That was surprising!   I did detour off my main route by taking a Dead End Road through State park lands and forging my way through the  forests feeling very much like The Deerslayer himself, aka Natty Bumpo or Hawkeye.  "One shot, one kill" was his motto, but for me it was "one path, one pedal." In other words, the fastest, least exhausting route.  I did see tiny chipmunks with black stripes down their backs running across my path in the forests, along with deer and I heard the sounds of bobcats and bears (or thought I did) as it was quite lonely out there.  I happily got back to the main lake road, leaving my shortcut through Glimmerglass Park, with the dirt, roots and leaves tangling in my spokes.  I felt as if I was being watched by Fenimore Cooper himself from afar, the great frontier writer shaking his head in disgust at my escape to civilization.  But along the winding road, before I hit town again, I smiled at the towering trees and the forests hemming in the roadway and I gave my deepest respect to  Glimmerglass and its worthy role in American literature.