In Motion

Vermont 2012 - plan now!

2011-12-21T12:13:00.001-05:00

I am now accepting reservations for a 4 day / 3 night trip to Ascutney Mountain in Vermont for August 26 - 29, 2012. The price of $400 per person includes transportation from NYC, 3 nights lodging in a suite and use of resort facilities / amenities. Our rides will go along country roads and through/to the quaint towns of Quechee, Woodstock and Windsor as well as up Ascutney Mountain and through Okemo State Forest to climb Ludlow Mountain

Amenities and facilities:

High-speed Internet Access
Wireless Internet acess
Sauna
Outdoor tennis courts
Racquetball courts
Outdoor basketball court.
On-site trails
Indoor and outdoor pools,
Extensive fitness club
Nightly complimentary movie in the Alpine theater with free popcorn.
On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities (washer/dryer)

The hotel has an on-site cocktail lounge and a restaraunt for dinner.

On pace and riding style

2011-07-02T23:54:00.002-04:00

My rides are usually listed with the NYCC.
Anyone reading these posts who does not know how the NYCC rates it's rides there are two components: difficulty and pace. The difficulty gets a bit tricky as it also implies a certain riding style. NYCC doesn't have B+ indicating a more challenging ride with 'B' riding style. In NYCC, 'A' rides use a fast rotating paceline and riders are expected to take their turn at the front pulling at the listed pace -- not miles and miles but a couple of minutes. B rides might use a paceline and we teach that in our SIG program but it's not a requirement. B pacelines rotate too but slower and spaced out a little further.

As a leader, when I get a rider on the front pulling who actually reads the cue sheet and makes the turns it makes me very happy. Conversely, when I get someone on the front who doesn't look at the cue sheet and decided to have their iPhone plot a route to some street of similar name (e.g Peconic Bay Ave vs. Peconic Ave) and then goes off the front taking half the group along -- that makes me less than pleased though I do try not to get hopping mad about it.

Pace is much more straightforward and is explained in the NYCC self-test chart

July 3rd ride plan

2011-07-01T11:24:00.003-04:00

I decided to plot the Long Meadow loop as an add-on to the main plan for this Sunday's ride and I tweaked the route. From my prior experience with trying to use the Google maps cuesheet track I decided to plot a Garmin route more-or-less following the track -- which showed me a few turns to eliminate.

The final route is in 3 pieces:
Before lunch which will include an optional stop at 7-11 after we climb Little Tor
After lunch 40.5 miles, 1888 feet of climbing

On the 'After Lunch' route, at Haverstraw and Mayer Drive we have the option to either continue homewards on Mayer Drive or detour through Harriman and/or Tuxedo. A loop down to Sloatsburg and up 7 Lakes then out Gate Hill is 25.5 miles and 1888 feet of climbing. A loop around Tuxdeo Lake and back out through Sloatsburg 24.9 miles and 1492 feet of climbing. The Long Meadow - Tuxedo Park - Sloatsburg , with the climb up the highest point in Tuxedo Park, 955 feet, loop is 30.6 miles and 1830 feet of climbing. The idea of Long Meadow across and out through 7 Lakes at Sloatsburg is exceedingly long and challenging, even without the High Mountain climb, at 33.9 miles and 2296 feet of climbing (Google maps thinks we could do it in 3 hrs 40 minutes as if we could keep a 10 mph average with all that climbing).

The Tuxedo Lake loop seems potentially feasible if we are at the Sloatsburg entrance by 2PM and accept coming home to NYC by 8 PM. The advantage of Gate Hill is that there's a good long fast downhill out and down.

Longer and higher

2011-06-30T18:56:00.000-04:00

I came up with an alternate route for the ride. I had wanted to go through the southwest portion of Harriman and Sterling Forest / Tuxedo to get the climbing. Before lunch instead of coming over Little Tor from the North it comes up from the south, heads up to Cheesecote and climbs to almost 900 feet before coming back down and heading to lunch. That makes the route to lunch 46.6 miles and 3311 feet (it would be more if I left in the Alpine climb in Palisades Park). The route after lunch heads over to Sloatsburg and enters Harriman on Long Meadow and has a climb up to 992 feet elevation from 640 (of course, Long Meadow starts at 453 feet and before that Orange Turnpike is at 300 feet). After all that climbing and mileage I had to find the shortest way home but it still comes to 68.6 miles and 3646 feet after lunch. Total would be 115.2 miles and 6957 feet.

I am thinking maybe this is a bit much though with having the next day off ...still, should probably get an earlier start than 7:45 AM. I did the Tour de Cure about 105 miles and lots of stopping and was still back in NY 6PM from a 7AM start.

4th of July weekend

2011-06-27T22:42:00.004-04:00

Elevation chart

The Metro North bike train rules prohibit bikes on trains this Sunday and Monday (with the day off on Monday, Sunday is a perfect day to attempt Woodbourne). So I've planned a long (98 mile) hilly ride for Sunday with a short recovery ride for Monday.. According to google maps, it should have 6738 feet of climbing. It's a Rockland County ride and of course I put in a stop for lunch at Bubba's Bagels of Wesley Hills.

Updated route

Butterflake

2011-06-23T17:53:00.000-04:00

This Sunday I'll take a short, 31.6 miles, ride into Teaneck to Butterflake Bake Shop. I could just do River Road but this is a bit more interesting route through Bergen County including a nice fast down hill ride on Clinton Ave. . The shortest way back is up Ft. Lee Road but I don't like that because it is narrow, busy and steep. Van Nostrand isn't as busy and it's wider.

Strawberry route (updated)

2011-06-13T00:29:00.004-04:00

This Father's Day, take a ride along the North Shore of Long Island to the annual Strawberry Festival in Mattituck, NY. Along the way, we'll ride on quiet country roads and have some harbor views. While this is not a flat route, there are no long climbs in the rolling hills of the North Shore. We'll have a food stop at a kosher bagel shop in East Northport. We return to NYC via LIRR, arriving before 7PM (assuming no LIRR delays). I expect us to have perhaps an hour at the Strawberry Festival before we have to continue our ride to the LIRR station for our train home.

Bring your MTA bike pass and $14 for the train ticket for our return via the LIRR. Also $5 for admission to the festival (proceeds to the Lions Club of Mattituck).

Note: due to crowding for the Festival, there are no bikes on trains on the Main Line Sunday June 19th.

The route is split into two parts:
Before lunch
After lunch

Elevation charts:

Before lunch

After lunch, to end

Bagels and Little Tor

2011-05-25T15:48:00.003-04:00

Let's take a ride through Rockland and Bergen counties for some hills, a noted regional climb and bagels for lunch. After lunch, more climbing with a view from the top then a stop for refueling at a great bakery before the ride back to NYC. 93.2 miles, 6168 feet elevation gain
From start over Little Tor to Bubbas
Return from Bubbas

Liberty Epic cancelled and rescheduled

2011-05-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

due to the rain and especially thunderstorms tomorrow, I've rescheduled the ride for May 22nd which the forecast calls for sunny and 70F.

Also I found that the Highlands Bridge is under construction. The google streetview doesn't show us having access to the ramp to the bikeway and looks unpleasant to ride through. I still think the Bayshore bikeway, in dry weather, is worth a look but we'll hook down to the Shrewsbury bridge instead of the Highlands Bridge on the revised route.

White Bakery

2011-05-06T01:45:00.002-04:00

I was going to try to hang on to the NYCC A/19 "recovery ride" this Sunday but that seems to have been canceled. I've got to get home by 12:15 PM or so in order to be ready for Mother's Day lunch with my wife and Mom in time. A fast ride over moderate terrain is what I need, along with a destination. So it's off at 8AM to the White Plains Bake Shoppe via the South County Trailway and the Bronx River Greenway which should allow some good sprints. Here is the route. It's 53 miles and supposedly 2651 feet of climbing.

Liberty Epic route revisions

2011-05-03T16:40:00.001-04:00

The ride now will feature a triumphant (to us) entrance to Philadelphia over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, quick photo op option at Liberty Bell (or save it for after dinner when it's dark out and the Bell is lit) followed by dinner at Hamifgash restaurant which we need to reach by about 7PM.
Lunch in Deal, NJ 52 miles out from the start we should reach by noon. Our choices include Jerusalem Pizza of Deal and The Chocolate Soda (dairy luncheonette cuisine).

The route to lunch from Newark will use the Henry Hudson Rail trail and more time on Ocean Ave. than last years ride to Cherry Hill. The route from Deal to Philadelphia will take us down the rest of the North Jersey coast into Bay Head then swing west through a pleasant neighborhood, through the Pine Barrens to Lakewood (whose bus terminal is the next bailout point after we leave NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast line behind) and beyond.

Liberty Epic

2011-05-02T16:48:00.000-04:00

I've gotten some feedback with concern about the plan to ride an additional 12-1/2 miles after dinner and that this ride would be in the dark. The second objection I can address by moving the start location from Newark to elsewhere. Elizabeth only saves 7.4 miles (and perhaps 5 minutes less time to exit the station since it's just a platform not a complex). So that's perhaps 40 minutes savings but the travel time is slightly longer. A more dramatic step is moving the start to South Amboy, since that's where the riding starts to really get nice. It's a 55 minute train ride (with a $12.25 fare). That allows us to reach Elkins Park in time to finish dinner and ride the 12.5 miles to Market East in daylight.

The objective of this ride is to ride our bikes and take the train home; Newark via PATH provides the means of getting across the Hudson and past Secaucus to where we CAN ride our bikes.

Liberty Epic

2011-04-29T15:04:00.002-04:00

An epic ride from Newark to Philadelphia. Along the way, we'll see some of the Jersey Shore and ride through the Pine Barrens. We'll stop for lunch at a kosher dairy restaurant in Deal, NJ and have dinner at kosher meat/fish restaurant in the Elkins Park section of Philadelphia. Along the way, we'll take a spin on the boardwalk and along the Schuylkill River before we pass Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. We return from Philadelphia Market East Station at night.

This ride will end after sunset: bring front and rear lights and expect a late return home to NYC. We will adhere to the listed pace: we cannot allow pace-busting on this very long ride. If you cannot keep up or have any other problem, there are a limited number of bailouts: early by train and later by bus. There are long sections with no public transit available, so bring your cell phone and some extra cash in case you need a taxi to get you to the train. Train fare: $1.75 PATH; $24.25 adult / $11.38 Senior citizen for SEPTA + NJ Transit combination back to NY Penn station.

Yes, if you inform me in advance you can meet us in Newark. Anyone can take the train to anywhere on the return.

Mileage	147
Miles until lunch	51.5
Miles from lunch to dinner	83
Maximum elevation:	250 feet
Elevation gain:	approximately 2500 feet
Sunset time:	8:08:57 PM

I'm still tweaking the route through Elkins Park to avoid the steepest climbs and the route through Browns Mills to provide an option for a rest stop.

Meet the Gunks

2011-04-29T01:11:00.000-04:00

When 30,000 cyclists descend on Manhattan, it's time to leave the city if you want to ride your bike. The Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County is lovely place to ride and so every year on the Sunday of the 5 Boro Bike Tour I lead a group of cyclists on a Gunks ride. This year, I've done some changes to the route to swing out onto some of the other quiet back roads as well. The ride climbs both Minnewaska and Mohonk. There is a scenic overlook south/east of Minnewaska.

The view from the scenic overlook sout/east of Minnewaska in the Gunks

The light is better for a nice photo of the view on a clear afternoon,but the weather forecast is for mostly cloudy this Sunday afternoon. So this year we'll climb Minnewaska first, stop for a quick photo opportunity and continue on to Minnewaska State Park. We will then ride downhill to the outskirts of Kerhonkson on a nice long descent until the terrain more or less levels off. This makes the route slightly more than the listed 55 miles but the extra miles are downhill. and we'd probably blow the turn on the slope of the descent anyway. After the descent, we'll loop around and then climb Mohonk from the west. The golf clubhouse makes an excellent spot for a rest after this second major climb of the day.

When we get back to Poughkeepsie, if time permits we may stop for beer at Annie's. Those who aren't strictly kosher may choose to get some dinner before the long train ride home.

Good Darlington

2011-04-21T13:04:00.002-04:00

I'll ride out tomorrow to the Ramapos on an NYCC listed B-ride. . Darlington Lake Park is open but not for swimming yet so no admission charge yet. Nice spot to picnic. The route is only 68 miles and 3600 feet elevation gain.

Stony Point

2011-04-21T12:54:00.002-04:00

I've updated the Stony Point route and plan for this year. It's listed as B-16 with NYCC. I originally put it in as a B16 82 mile ride but I've changed it to make it a little shorter and a little faster 78.4 miles at a B17+ pace. I'm also moving the start time to 8:45 AM from 8:30 AM. A cue sheet and GPS route generated from the foregoing is here

Spring into some hills by dhudes at Garmin Connect - Details

2011-04-03T20:29:00.000-04:00

Spring into some hills by dhudes at Garmin Connect - Details

New wheels arrived

2011-02-24T23:56:00.000-05:00

My existing wheelset for my 'road' / 'touring' /'cyclocross' bike are pretty durable custom wheelset built from Mavic A119 rims and Shimano Deore XT (mountain bike) hubs. They have 28mm tires on them and have proved a fairly good ride but, although I climb much better than on my hybrid, I'm still way behind those on lighter-weight bikes. More importantly, from standing stop, the fast riders on bikes with skinny tires and light wheels leave me struggling to catch up to the paceline.

Lightweight vs. aero wheels are a subject of considerable discussions from various sources from the well-regarded Jobst Brandt to wikiepdia Bicycle weight and power. Here, though, I'm changing two variables: rotating weight and contact patch width (along with higher pressure tires).

Tweed

2011-01-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

Interior route out to Tweed, back on 9W 55 miles

Monsey Bagel ride

2011-01-27T14:53:00.000-05:00

ride to Bubbas bagels for April 17

Strawberry shores

2011-01-25T19:13:00.001-05:00

This Father's day, June 19th, I'll lead a group of cyclists out from Manhattan to Mattituck's Strawberry Festival. The festival has free admission for fathers. Presumably with kids in tow but it doesn't say that on the website.

I have a nice route drafted which will take us through Queens, onto the LIE then up along the North Shore. It's a hillier route than hauling out along the LIE but scenic with harbor views, quiet roads and of course the ride is free for NYCC members. Lunch plan is to stop at Bagel boss in East Northport for a quick bite then continue back north and east.

Along the way we will pass through downtown Port Jefferson, pass the Stony Brook Grist Mill and generally have a great time riding. I plan to keep equivalent to a 17 mph cruise with a 6:15 AM departure from Central Park Boathouse. We return home via LIRR with our bikes, but not from Mattituck: the Greenport - Ronkonkoma train is a 2 car train which cannot accommodate more than 4 bicycles, 2 per car. Negotiations with LIRR are in progress.

Israel 2010

2010-12-05T19:25:00.000-05:00

Jerusalem at night. I went to eat at restaurant Lara the first night in Israel. Delicious lamb stew.

ALYN Wheels Of Love 2010

2010-11-17T00:32:00.001-05:00

The first of the official clips of the 2010 Wheels of Love is out:

Even though the ride is over and I am back home, it is not too late to make a donation, we still need to collectively raise another million dollars to cover the shortfall for this year.

Israel

2010-10-29T10:04:00.000-04:00

It has been a whirlwind of a trip. The Wheels of Love ride was pretty good. More details later. I'm in Bait Vgan for shabbat on my host's PC.
Anyone reading who hasn't already donated please do so on this link for US

Storm King Widdershins

2010-10-18T01:36:00.002-04:00

Great ride over Storm King on Sunday 10/10. 9W was indeed a steep climb but the view from the overlook was excellent. Despite the narrow shoulder, the cars didn't give us any trouble. I missed the turn for Mine Rd. from 293 somehow but we ended up on US6 AKA Long Mtn Pkwy and went through Harriman, climbing 7 Lakes and Gate Hill. The fall colors in Harriman were at peak.

The only negative was that as we were riding down Gate Hill, someone in a black SUV tossed a bottle at me. It missed, sailing over the handlebars as I rode -- and I was holding my line to the right of the road, not interfering with traffic. I don't know if it was deliberate or just stupidity. Considering that a suspiciously similar black SUV on Saddle River Rd. pulled out from behind me to pass me and then cut me off and quickly stop to make a left turn, I think it was deliberate.

Routes to the GWB

2010-10-05T22:31:00.001-04:00

There are a number of ways to get from northern Bergen county to the George Washington Bridge. While there are minor variations, there are also some broad groupings. I used the ridewithgps website to generate a few different routes from the intersection of County Road and Closter Dock Road to the GWB.

First I considered the straightforward route: straight up Closter Dock Road to 9W. This is 9.3 miles and 567 feet of climbing. It's a climb of 2 miles to 9W of 406 feet and that's it for climbing, the rest is modest rolling hills.

The next route option is
Piermont Road - Walnut - Pershing, which is a distance of 9.3 miles with elevation gain of 508 ft.

At about mile 5.2, one starts climbing the Palisades ridge for 1 mile gaining 300 feet. That's an average grade of 5.8% though there's a .1 mile steep section.

Churchill Road in Englewood Cliffs is a well-known NYC area climb. I considered aroute including it as well. It is 9.2 miles and 469 feet of climbing.

Over 1.1 miles about 260 feet elevation gain. So it's not as hard as it seems climbing Churchill.

The shortest route is lesser-known. At 8.4 miles and 437 feet of climbing, the route via Myrtle Ave is an example of how numbers can be deceptive: coming off Oak Trail road is a left turn and immediate climb up the hill on Myrtle.

The good part is that you coast down the other side of that hill and then a small rise is just enough to kill your momentum and let you roll to a stop at the intersection with US 9W.

Going up Van Nostrand to Jones Road is the least climbing with 420 feet gained over 9.3 miles.

Bike MS NY

2010-10-02T21:34:00.000-04:00

I'm riding as a sweep marshal on the 100 mile route of the Bike MS NY tour tomorrow. It should be quite a workout. I''m going to carry various tools and spare tubes and first aid kit plus lunch so it's perhaps 5 or 6 pounds extra weight on the bike. After all the eating on all the holidays recently, the workout will help get me back to trim.

Bike MS 100 NYC
Find more Bike Rides in ,

Valley Forge Day 1 (part 2)

2010-09-27T01:06:00.000-04:00

David climbs the last hill of the first day of our trip. We had a lot of climbing, mostly along suburban or country roads as we crossed Chester and Lancaster counties and into our destination: Intercourse, PA.

Marty climbs the same last hill as automobile traffic patiently follows. Overall, we had reasonable and courteous behavior from the drivers in Chester and Lancaster counties (we had very little on-road in Philadelphia other than Manayunk, which is a very bicycle-friendly community).

Valley Forge and beyond: Pennsylvania Road trip day 1 (part 1)

2010-09-27T00:49:00.000-04:00

The Schuylkill River path resumes on the towpath, paved with gravel, of the Manayunk Canal after on-street connections through Manayunk.

Marty rides down Lock Street in Manayunk, a neighborhood of Philadelphia. We had stopped at the bike shop seen in the background before continuing our journey. I bought a map of the trail and a couple of Hammer gels to try out before climbing some hills after Valley Forge.

We made it the entire length of the towpath and some distance further on the regular paved trail before the skies opened up and drenched us in rain. That got Jesse's copy of the cue sheet rather soggy too. As we neared Valley Forge, the rain passed us. As you can see from the puddles, the rain had passed Valley Forge. We ate our lunch as we dried out thinking we had seen the last of the rain for the day.

River Road workout

2010-08-21T22:31:00.002-04:00

Last week I had to get a new front tire so I couldn't do any club rides or anything so I just did River Road. I wasn't climbing Alpine fast enough but I think I'm making progress.

Ashokan Reservoir July 18th

2010-08-21T22:13:00.001-04:00

Pennsylvania Dutch Country Roads Adventure update

2010-08-20T17:44:00.000-04:00

Everything is ready for the big trip. If anyone wanted to sign up last minute there is still room at the motel.
I've got the routes all planned and plotted for the Garmin. We'll take a more meandering route outbound since our rooms await us.

Monday we'll have a great tour of southwest Lancaster county and the eastern portion of York county including crossing two bridges over the Susquehanna. For lunch on Monday we'll picnic at the Indian Steps Museum. It's closed Mondays but there are picnic tables on the grounds and taking Indian Steps Road avoids us coming down a hill and having to make a 270 degree turn to continue on. Dinner on Monday we will partake of the kosher dining facility at Franklin and Marshall College; hopefully we'll get there early enough to see a little of the campus. It's a little over 12 miles further to our hotel and sunset is 7:45 PM, so we'll eat a little earlier to minimize riding in dusk or dark.

Tuesday we'll take Pennsylvania Bicycle Route S back until we are near Valley Forge, where it heads north to far out of our way to Washington Crossing. The least hilly (one can't avoid hills at all but one can try to minimize climbing) route across Pawling is slightly longer: straight down Valley Forge Road is shorter but adds a fairly steep though short (120 feet or so) climb. Once we get across the river, the Schuylkill trail is a rail trail so it's moderately rolling at most.

Big Indian

2010-07-26T23:45:00.043-04:00

With a forecast of another sweltering hot day in New York City blaring from the radio, I put my rental car in gear and drove off to the Catskill Mountains in search of cooler temperatures with lower humidity and long climbs up country roads on which to ride my bike. Lacking a bike rack, I had managed to load my bike into the trunk by putting the back seat down and taking off its front wheel. I had found a cue sheet in the library of the New York Cycle Club; the listing of regional hill grades for Slide Mountain (Rt. 47) looked promising and so did the terrain map of the area on Google maps.

This statue of Winnisook, the namesake Big Indian, stands at the entrance of Indian Park.

By 7:30 AM I had arrived at Gruenbaum's in Riverdale to eat breakfast and get a sandwich to take with me for lunch. Around 8 AM, with the Bronx temperature noticeably warmer under mostly sunny skies than when I arrived, I was on the road again. After a stop for gas, a I finally arrived at my destination round 11 am: Indian Park on NY Route 28 in the town of Shandaken, Ulster County where I found no water and that the only toilet is a port-a-potty.

The climb up CR-47 was nice. I noted but didn't visit the convenience store on the east side near the bottom. The road was reasonably quiet though there were cars it's the only way through to the valley on the other side as well as the Frost Valley YMCA with it's various camps and activities 14 miles ahead. After a short mild climb the road leveled out around 2 miles in for a half-mile. Deceptive, one thinks the ascent is a series of rolling hills and might 'attack', pushing speed up to full cruising. This is not a good idea as one soon hits a 10% grade that gets steeper then becomes less steep only to become even steeper. After about 4 miles of this, the slope again decreases to almost level (after you've been on 10+ % grade, 5% is practically flat). This is another recovery interval, because in a half mile it gets steeper than before and stays that way until the top. The entire route is tree-lined; even at mid-day, there were plenty of patches of light shade.

When I reached the top in the hamlet of Oliverea, I stopped to take some photos.

My GPS reading at the top of the climb up CR-47 on Slide Mountain

The view ahead from the top of the ascent up Slide Mountain on CR-47. The end of the road seen here is the drop-off, a steep descent to Frost Valley.

This lake belongs to Camp Winnisook, a private club. This lake has the highest elevation in the Catskills and is the source of the Esopus Creek.

Pennsylvania Dutch Country Roads Adventure update

2010-07-21T17:45:00.001-04:00

Due to underwhelming response, I've canceled the reservation on the house in Intercourse PA and dropped plans to have a cook prepare meals for us. Instead, we are now staying in a motel Intercourse and will make do with whatever we bring in and whatever we can buy locally. The trip price is accordingly now $285.including the "continental plus" breakfast provided by the motel.

Unfortunately, lacking a group taking 9 or more rooms I can't get a discount on the rooms.

I've got a nice route out up the Schuylkill River trail then across the Delwarea to Valley Forge. We'll explore some of Valley Forge on the way. The plan is to climb Forge Mountain and then take Horshoe Trail across and have a nice descent. We'll see. Continuing west to Intercourse, we'll stop at another park for a pit stop.

On Monday we'll have a good day of riding. I plan to climb Welch Mountain and then head out and do a route with some covered bridges and other scenery. A swing by Strasbourg for a peek at the railroad is good too.

Our ride home Tuesday will mostly follow Pennsylvania Bike Route S with a detour to French Creek Park and Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site then back to Route S until we cross the Delaware River. We'll take the follow some back roads to our dinner stop in Elkins Park then we ride to Philadelphia or if we're ambitious and early (!) we can ride 20+ miles to Trenton. If we're tired we can take SEPTA to 30th St. station.

Choices in the Gunks

2010-07-19T00:48:00.002-04:00

Irv riding across the Walkway over the Hudson.
Photo by Jorge Warman

Our group of intrepid riders at the Minnewaska scenic overlook. Photo courtesy Jorge Warman.

Queens to Sagamore Hill by dhudes at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-07-05T21:00:00.000-04:00

Queens to Sagamore Hill by dhudes at Garmin Connect - Details

Pennsylvania Dutch Country Roads Adventure: a bike trip

2010-06-29T23:27:00.017-04:00

This is a nice 3 day bike trip to Pennsylvania and Maryland I will lead August 22-24 to Valley Forge National Historic Park and then across Pennsylvania to a house in the town of Intercourse, in the heart of bicycle riding and Amish country. On Monday, we will spend a day riding around Lancaster and points north without our luggage. On Tuesday, we will ride back across Pennsylvania to Philadelphia and the train home, stopping for a look at French Creek State Park (a famous mountain-biking destination and campground) and the adjacent Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site before we continue on to
dinner in the Elkin Park section of Philadelphia. After dinner, it's on to 30th St. station and the train home.

In order to make it more flexible for people outside of NYC and Long Island, the price of the trip doesn't include transportation.

On Sunday August 22, I'll take the 7:14 AM Trenton train from NY Penn station, change for the SEPTA train to 30th St. station Philadelphia arriving 9:45 AM. Anyone not coming from NY Penn with me will meet up in the main level of the station at the north arcade waiting room. From the station we'll ride with our panniers on our bikes at a 16 mph pace out and over the Schuylkill River Trail to Valley Forge as the first leg of our trip. After we ride around the Valley Forge site, we'll continue west across Pennsylvania with a quick stop at Marsh Creek park.

The trip price includes two nights lodging and two days worth of expertly prepared freshly cooked delicious and nutritious meals by Sharron The Kitchen Maven : Sunday dinner, Monday breakfast/lunch/dinner and Tuesday breakfast and lunch. All meals are glatt kosher / cholov yisroel / pas yisroel. The restaurant in Elkin Park is glatt kosher.

Of course cue sheets and Garmin routes are provided.. I've also arranged for a car service on demand to come get anyone, at their expense, who cannot continue but doesn't need emergency medical attention and take them wherever -- back to the hotel, a bike shop etc. .

Day	Miles	Cruising speed - mph	terrain
Sunday	70	16+	Flat to rolling
Monday	60-80	17	Mostly hilly, some climbs
Tuesday	82	16+	Rolling to flat

Before the ride
Make sure your bike is in GOOD working order. Pump up tires to the pressure specified on the sidewall. Bring essentials: helmet, 2 spare tubes, a pump, patch kit, 2 water bottles or a hydration pack of at least 50 oz., pocket food, ID, money, credit card, and if you are using Metro North or LIRR to get to/from NY Penn station you need a train pass. Eat a good breakfast consisting of carbohydrates and proteins before you leave home. Bicycle helmets are required head attire for all rides on this trip, and "ipod"-like devices are not allowed.

Lodging:
There are 3 available bedrooms.
Bedroom 1: 1 King bed and a TV, $500
Bedroom 2: 1 Queen bed and a TV $500
Bedroom 3: 2 Queen beds and a TV: each bed, $375
Bedroom 4: Women only (sharing room with Sharron) no TV, 2 beds available $300 ea.
Bring your spouse for Bedrrom 1 or 2:: $225

Deadlines:
Paying by check: $175 deposit before July 21st. Receipt of full payment is required by August 1st. Your registration is transferable but non-refundable after July 21st. The above prices expire July 21st; after July 21st, add $150. No registration possible after August 19th.

To pay by credit card, use this Active.com event.

All prices include PA tax.

Please note: there is absolutely no smoking permitted on this trip.

Bagels Storm King and Beacon 6/27/2010

2010-06-22T01:00:00.001-04:00

A long hilly ride on a long summer day, with several featured climbs including: Little Tor; Seven Lakes; Perkins, and Mine Hill. Adapted from an NYCC cue sheet for the A-SIG.

We'll stop at a kosher bagel shop in Monsey after Little Tor. After Mine Hill we'll have a long ride with scenic views from Storm King and the banks of the Hudson River as we head to the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge to catch Metro North home.

Our goal is to take the 5:57 PM train home from Beacon but do it at Cold Spring. We might well bail at Beacon.

Bring:
- front and rear lights for night return when you get back to the city.
- lunch or buy something at the bagel shop (dairy only)...or both.
- the usual: spare tubes; tire tools; pump/inflator; water.

Planned route

Pizza and 7 lakes

2010-06-09T21:42:00.000-04:00

A route for 7 Lakes from Sloatsburg with a stop for pizza in Monsey.. This has a lunch stop at mile 32 of 86.8 -- with 26.7 to the top of Perkins after lunch. The route to Perkins and Storm King with a bagel shop stop but no Little Tor is "only" 83 miles. The route I put in is 89.9

google maps with bike route is fun. Now if I could only get that into my garmin with every turn and get an elevation profile from google maps...

Storm King

2010-06-01T20:06:00.000-04:00

June 27th is a long day. That makes it more practical to take a long hilly ride. While we won't have all the fall colors, the Hudson Valley and Harriman Park are pleasant in summer as well. Since we have all this daylight and need to really work up an appetite before Bubba's Bagels, we'll climb Little Tor first. That puts the bagel shop at mile 40 of 90. A bit early for lunch but the opportunity for carbs and caffeine before the rest of the climbing will help get us up the hills.

Alyn 2010

2010-06-01T11:02:00.000-04:00

They've published the routes, and included an elevation profile. The Challenge is always difficult but this year the end of day 1 is an incredible climb. It's hard to say exactly the distance from the graph. but the elevation change of 354.7 meters is quite clear. Oh sure, there's a short recovery after 177.4 meters of climbing followed by more steep climbing. Looks like the whole climb is over perhaps 6 Km distance. That only computes to a 6% grade but the catch is that downhill on the elevation chart. One thinks one could just hit 72 kph and roll up at least part of the way, but the route makes it quite clear: you're riding down the crater wall, then turning around and climbing right back up. The day is "only" 51 miles, and I suppose I could bail and take the bus back up the wall. For sure at this moment I'm not in shape to handle this but I've got 4 months to get in shape.

Get Bent

2010-05-27T22:11:00.000-04:00

In the course of looking at various websites to recommend to my daughter Shira to help her with her electronics project for science class and understanding electricity, I found an interesting hypertext book of basic physics (I don't know the highschool physics curriculum but it looks like the material covered when I took Physics I, II, and III). It turns out that the the author, Glenn Elert, is not only a highschool science teach but a cyclist who did a cross-country bike tour on a recumbent bike which he documented. It looks quite nice. The Physics hypertextbook is interesting but in terms of electricity there are other interesting sites as well.

Euro bicycling

2010-05-24T13:52:00.000-04:00

Rush hour in Utrecht, Netherlands. They're not zooming quite a fast as it appears, the video is running at a higher-than-normal frame rate (look how fast the few pedestrians scurry). Notably, nobody is wearing a helmet.

Crossing the Susquehanna

2010-05-24T01:08:00.001-04:00

In plotting the route for the "Capitol Invasion" leg from Philadelphia, the problem is that there's no way for bicycles to ride across any of the southeastern bridges: the Conowingo Dam road has a very narrow shoulder and Google Maps bicycling mode won't route you across and looking at the satellite images on Google Maps and Earth, I agree; US 95 is out of the question; no bicycles are allowed on US 40 Hatem bridge. The bridges across from Lancaster don't look too great but are less traveled; the problem is that is over 40 miles out of the way though great bicycling on either side of the river. The solution seems to not ride across but to utilize the bike transport services of Biller's Bikes between Perryville and Havre de Grace MD. This service is officially part of the East Coast Greenway. By 24 hour advance appointment, $10/bike will get up to 8 bikes and riders across in one trip.

My route from Philadelphia via the Wall still needs a hotel in the Pikesville area.

TheManayunk Wall

2010-05-23T20:05:00.000-04:00

I consider riding up the Wall an important part of a bike trip to/through Philadelphia even though I'm not a racer nor do I particularly follow bicycle racing.

In bicycling terminology, a "wall" is a relatively steep incline. The "Manayunk Wall," part of the course for the USPRO championship race, refers to two streets along the race's course in the northwest section of Philadelphia, Levering Street and Lyceum Avenue. The bottom of the "wall" begins at Main Street and Levering Street in the neighborhood of Manayunk, proceeds shortly on the well-worn cobblestone Cresson Street under the elevated railway, then proceeds back onto Levering Street. S... most of the Wall is part of Levering Street, but suddenly becomes Lyceum Avenue at Tower Street. The steepest section, a 17-percent grade, commences just after the slight left turn (when going up) at the intersection with Tower Street, and ends at the intersection with Fleming street. It becomes slightly less steep on the stretch with "O'Brien's" as it crosses Manayunk Avenue. It nearly flattens out and is considered to end at Pechin Street in Roxborough..... The right turn off Lyceum Avenue onto Pechin Street begins "The Fall from the Wall."

(adapted from Wikipedia article about the bike race that finishes on the Wall).

Capitol Invasion leg 2 plan

2010-05-23T13:53:00.000-04:00

No way can we get to Pikesville MD from Philadelphia in a day. We should not only see the Wall in the Philadelphia area but also take the NCR trail from York PA to Ashland MD. That's over 156 miles after having done 95 the day before.

I'll have to find a way to break this up into two segments. That makes this trip into a 4 day / 3 night one with Wednesday return.

Nowhere to stop for lunch either, just dinner from the kosher food place at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster area which supposedly can sell you food without a park admission.

Pkesville area has a number of kosher restaurants and there are hotel options in the area as well.

Washington trip leg 1: Philadelphia

2010-05-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

Newark to Philadelphia is the first leg of the "Capital Invasion" bike trip I'm planning for August 22nd. I found a lovely B&B in the Elkins Park area but over $300/night is way out of our budget. I found a few hotels in downtown Philadelphia for under $130/night as listed and the hope that priceline will get us an even better rate. This leg runs 92.3 miles.

The restaurant, Max and Davids, in Elkins Park sounds much better than either option for dinner in Philadelphia itself -- I've eaten at Maccabeam, it's OK --, but it means 12 miles after dinner to the hotel though it gives us an opportunity to ride through Valley Forge. This variant is 96.9 miles.

There is a hotel in Chestnut Hill but it's expensive and out of the way. At least in downtown Philadelphia, breakfast options exist.

Cherry Hill super century

2010-05-17T10:41:00.002-04:00

A fabulous day on the bike yesterday. We started with four riders and myself. Before we reached 20 miles, we had one flat tire. After fixing the flat, that rider dropped off the ride at Long Branch station. The rest of us continued on to enjoy a ride along the ocean, including a stretch on a boardwalk -- which changed from wood planks to stone along the way. We saw lots of nice homes and stopped for lunch in Deal at Jerusalem II Pizza. We stopped for a look at the famous Sea Girt Lighthouse. Pretty, but surprisingly low tower. After Sea Girt, we turned westward toward Lakewood and, as planned in advance, bid farewell to another rider who stayed to explore the beach communities further before taking the train home.

The three of us remaining rode on at a very brisk pace down the Edgar Felix bikeway and on country roads and residential streets into downtown Lakewood for a snack stop. From then on, it was a long hard fast push to Cherry Hill. Construction on Highway 70 / Marlton Pike West that eliminated the nice wide shoulder we had enjoyed as well as one lane of traffic, forcin us off the direct route to dinner and through more back roads. We reached dinner shortly before 8PM.

The roads of south NJ were quite pleasant overall.

Cherry Hill super century by dhudes at Garmin Connect - Details

Cherry Hill Adventure

2010-05-10T07:26:00.000-04:00

It's a narrow window in time after weather warms up and before the summer season begins on the Jersey Shore. I've plotted a route for a fast, flat ride for May 16th instead of doing Montauk again. The route takes us along the shore through many of the beach communities and past the Sea Girt Lighthouse before it turns inland through Lakewood and the Lebanon / Brendan Byrne Forest, using several paved greenways along the way as shortcuts. It's a long day, but the route from the start at Newark PATH to dinner at Cherry Grill should prove quite nice after Elizabeth. It's 125 miles to dinner so we've got to keep moving at a 17 mph cruising speed to maintain a 14 mph moving average. Lunch in Lakewood is a definitely needed stop around mile 70 at Bagel Nosh.

Return transportation is on NJ Transit from Cherry Hill station on the Atlantic City line, only 2.7 miles down the Marlton Pike from dinner. Service to Trenton via Philadelphia is fairly quick: one gets back to NY Penn station about 3 hours 30 minutes after boarding in Cherry Hill. We have to ride fast and keep stops to a minimum such that we finish dinner to reach the station for the 6:59 PM; next train is 8:53 PM. We change trains for NJ Transit in Philadelphia. Amtrak doesn't allow bikes on board Northeast Corridor trains.

Wednedsday night River Road

2010-05-05T23:53:00.002-04:00

As the shadows lengthened early this evening, I clipped in and rode down to the West Side Greenway headed for the GWB and Palisades Park for an evening ride. I noticed that the connecting section of Greenway at 84th st. is looking pretty good but the gates are still closed; hopefully, this summer it will open at last. As I spun up the hill from the path by the river's edge to the promenade in Riverside Park, someone passed me. I took this as a sign that I was going too slow, not pushing hard enough -- so I up-shifted one gear and pushed myself for as fast a standing climb as I could manage under conditions (it's not just the slope, it's the pedestrians in both directions and the occasional oncoming cyclist). I continued pushing fast and hard up on the promenade and couldn't quite close the gap completely. I lost track of the faster cyclist while dodging pedestrians.

Back down on the Greenway at 96th St., I shifted to my 3rd (biggest) chain ring and and pretty small gear. I know I was doing about 20 mph for a while. The hill up to the hill to Riverside Drive was tough. I remember glancing down and seeing about 11% there but Training Center claims only 9%; similarly, I thought the steep section of the switchback was 18% but TC says 11%.

The ride from Edgewater down was lovely. The climb up to Alpine was great, I pushed as hard as I could -- even standing for some sections, which I seem to have improved at somewhat. It's been a busy stressful time at work and this sure helped blow off steam.

Stony Point results

2010-05-02T19:40:00.003-04:00

Shimon and I met up with Karen on the NJ side of the GWB and headed off up US-9W. As we rode through Alpine, Shimon suddenly found that he couldn't downshift his chain ring: he was stuck on the big ring. We all pulled into the Palisades Park HQ and had a look to see what was wrong. While there, we met up with Yehuda, one of my fellow Challenge riders from the 2009 Wheels of Love. He also looked but didn't find anything wrong either -- cable had tension and everything looked right. Yehuda suggested we take Shimon to either Piermont Bicycle Connection or further up on 9W to Toga Nyack.

I felt Shimon would have great trouble with the hills on 9W beyond Piermont and the best thing was to head for Piermont. So much for my carefully planned ride.

Shimon's problem was quickly resolved when we got to the store. That left me with the problem of us several miles east of our route, not to mention on the wrong side of a very steep ridge. I rerouted us on-the-fly to proceed north on the route I'd planned for our return. We went through Piermont and the towns north of it and into South Nyack Beach Park to pick up the bikeway through the park.

After exiting the park, we followed NYS Bicycle Route 9 the rest of the way to the turn for Stony Point Park. When we arrived at the park gate at about 12:40 PM, we found a sign "site closed. No restrooms available". We decided we were hungry and sat on some rocks near the gate overlooking a small pond and wetlands to eat our lunch.

Everyone was hot and tired. We took 9W back through Stony Point, stopped at a store and got cold drinks then continued on south. As we progressed, I saw that Shimon and Karen were not keeping up and having difficulty climbing. I changed our route from hauling down 9W to veer inland -- and downhill -- to take Piermont Road back through to Tenafly. It's a much less hilly route until of course the end when you have to get back up across the ridge. We stayed on CR-501 the whole way and climbed up Palisades Ave. . At the top of Palisades, Karen and I sat on a bench for a while to wait for Shimon, then headed on to the GWB and home.

Stony Point try 2

2010-05-02T00:20:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow morning we're off to attempt Stony Point. I listed it as an NYC B16 ride. If the rain comes or we're not going fast enough, we'll turn around at the C-Mart in Central Nyack 19 miles from the GWB and take Piermont Road back instead of 9W. I hope we can push on to do Little Tor Road, then hook down and pick up the regular return route.

Rained out again

2010-04-30T01:09:00.003-04:00

The weather forecast for New Paltz is getting worse every day. The rain in the afternoon is enough, and then add thunderstorms from 1 PM on.

The forecast for the lower Hudson valley looks promising. At least the morning is clear so an 8 AM start should get the ride up past Tweed at the least. If we get caught in the rain coming down Riverside Drive it's very different than getting caught in the rain on Clove Road in Ulster County (or coming down US44 from Minnewaska in the rain...).

Biathlon ride

2010-04-28T12:12:00.001-04:00

The ride on April 18th went off pretty well, though we had a small group. My co-leader Erica and I left Central Park Boathouse with Lori and Carolina; after a nice ride through the south Bronx we were joined by Scott at the west end of Pelham Parkway. The pace was slower than anticipated and we had more and longer stops than I'd planned but we still got to our destination, Life The Place To Be, at around 1:15 or so. I had some trouble reaching the pizzeria to place our order for delivery: called three times with no answer. On the last leg of the South County Trailway I zoomed ahead to our exit from the trailway, and placed a successful call to get our food which came in 45 minutes.

The timing of our food delivery worked out just right: the girls went "rock" climbing right after we arrived. I tried it, but the route I was on was too cramped and my shoes too stiff so I quit about three-quarters of the way up and rappelled down. After pizza, it was time for arcade games. I played many rounds of "Time Crisis". Carolina and Lori danced away on "Dance, Dance Revolution". After our hour of play time was up, we headed back down to the Bronx. Everyone was fed and happy and picked up the pace considerably -- cruising chatting with Erica on the southern leg from Redmond Park, I noticed that Carolina and Lori had zipped off ahead so I sprinted to pass them with Erica hot on my rear wheel.

A great time was had by all.

Erica climbs

Erica, Lori and Carolina climb the wall at Life

Erica and Lori rappel down after reaching the top

Lori dances away on DDR

Meet the Gunks

2010-04-26T21:55:00.007-04:00

This Sunday I'm off to the Shawangunks ("Gunks") to do some more climbing and escape the crowds descending on NYC for the 5 Borough Bicycle Tour. I'm changing the route a little this year to use the Walkway over the Hudson instead of the Mid-Hudson Bridge and to go through some residential New Paltz streets to get to the historic section of Hugenot St. . This year we're leaving an hour earlier: we'll meet 7:30 AM at Grand Central Terminal for the train to Poughkeepsie. I hope this provides enough time to climb to the top of Minnewaska State Park. The carriageways are always getting hit with storm damage in the winter but the road to the top itself is at least nominally paved. If it's not accessible, we'll stop at the shores of Lake Minnewaska for a photo op and potty break before we climb back up to the state roads home.

4/29/2010 updated the link to the route so that it actually works

Stony Point

2010-04-11T15:06:00.001-04:00

I looked at the route outbound more closely with terrain on. Fine-tuned route. Now it's a nice day and I've done my errands so let's see how fast I can get out to Clausland. Hmm....think I'll bring my bike light for the return just in case.

Biathlon ride

2010-04-09T18:03:00.002-04:00

The link is to the Manhattan/Bronx portion of the ride, to/from the trailway entrance.
From there it's straight up to Ardsley.

Scouting this, I really didn't care much for riding on McLean Ave. -- slow, crowded. Still, no time to ride up north and then go over to Ardsley.

The better way is to take the Moshulu Greenway over to Van Cortlandt Park and get on the "Old Put" trail -- but that's dirt with railroad tracks etc., and not improved dirt like the rail trail up in Orangeburg. I did it once on my touring/cyclocross bike but wasn't too happy about it. If we have a week of dry warm weather, it's a possibility but if there's any rain between tomorrow and April 18th forget it: too muddy, take the roads around VCP.

Manhattan - Bronx scouting

2010-04-04T16:02:00.003-04:00

I took a couple of hours today to scout the possibility of taking my April 18th ride to the Bronx via Wards Island and Randall's Island. My route was Central Park East Drive - E. 90th St - 1st Ave - E. 102nd St. - Wards Island - across Wards Island to Randall's Island to the walkway to the Bronx. The hope was to have better cycling for the 25 or so blocks difference by using the Greenway on Ward's Island rather than slogging up 7th Ave. to 125th St.

The reality was somewhat mixed. E. 90th street needs repaving, particularly as it crosses 2nd Avenue and the entire section to 1st. While 1st Ave has a bike lane the pavement isn't in good shape there either.

The best approach is up through Central Park then over to the East Side Greenway and over Wards Island Bridge.

from the Boathouse to the South County Trailway

Stony Point scouting

2010-04-04T10:15:00.004-04:00

The smooth asphalt of the Joseph Clarke rail trail in Orangetown made for a fast ride on a glorious spring day this past Friday. I had taken the day off from work to clear my mind and reduce stress. I have a ride to Stony Point on April 25th and I'm not in shape to ride it at the speed I listed -- particularly my climbing is relatively weak and it's a hilly and long ride.

I did Stony Point last year but I want to change the route. I tried out the new Google maps bicycle route feature and it suggested using the Joseph Clarke Rail Trail then the Raymond Esposito Rail trail continuation (Russell Nelson's rail trail sitemap lists it all as the Joesph Clarke though the signage on the route clearly changes the name of this rail trail of the old Northern Railroad of New Jersey route), offering an interesting possibility of a long distance of car-free cycling from Oak Tree Road into Nyack (or vice-versa).

The trail started out really nice. Then the asphalt ends and the trail continues as single track with some crushed gravel and dirt. A fork in the road offers Blauvelt to the left and Piermont and Nyack to the right. I continued on the right fork, which quickly crossed CR 340 at the intersection of CR303 with US 9W crossing a block or so away. After crossing 340, the trail opens up to a wider dirt road -- no gravel. Conditions weren't too great but passable and I continued on. When the trail turns into the Esposito trail it gets gravel and hardpack, much better. Further on one has a choice as the trail forks slightly left and uphill. I continued ahead into Hader County Park which had pretty decent conditions. Lots of debris from the storms but mostly cleared -- a big branch across the route had an opening cut through it.

Overall, not bad but I have a cyclocross frame with 28mm Continental Gatorskins (kevlar belt) tires; my Brooks B-17 stretched leather saddle worked well when I kept my "sit bones" back at the rear of the saddle. The short dirt segment from the paved section to exit onto 340 is acceptable to get us out on 340 to head for Tweed and thence onto Bradley and head for Little Tor Rd. (though taking Orangeburg Rd. around to get to climb Clausland's 11% grade to Tweed and Bradley is good...). For the return route, when we get off the Hook Mountain we just get on Piermont Ave. and follow it back around to the rail trail back to Oak Tree then over to Piermont Rd and back to Englewood Cliffs where of course there is more climbing to finish the day :-)

The route out has to bypass the entrance to Palisades Malls. That's an ok thing if you're headed east but not west since there are cars entering and exiting. Of course, bypassing means more climbing. The current route looks real nice and pretty different from the route that Steve Sakson's crew will take the day before. Climbing Tweed is a nice prelude workout to what we'll do in Mountainview.

The climbing and turning gets us onto CR33 for miles and miles (about 9.6) even as it changes names.

The route home is easier and takes us through Hook Mountain then along the river.

Upcoming rides

2010-03-23T10:40:00.005-04:00

Besides the April 18th ride, I'm once again doing Stony Point this year on April 25th. The plan is to colead with Ken Williams again. It's an NYCC listed ride. It is supposed to also have 5BBC listing but apparently Ed RAvin edited my ride description and that revised description caused outrage amongst the leaders ofthe ride the day before and Ed Ravin then withdrew the listing instead of sticking with my original succinct description.

I've got a plan for a new route this year. Makes it less of a "classic 9W" ride but rail trails can make for faster cycling. Also, on the way home we should take the opportunity to enjoy the late afternoon Hudson River views.

Google bicycling maps:
The outbound route my way which not only uses rail trails but the nice hilly and quiet Tweed and Bradley.

return route along the river. Of course we still climb Churchill Rd on the way home.

It will be a long day if we don't keep up the pace.

Scouting

2010-03-23T10:26:00.002-04:00

This past Sunday, Erica Jacobs and I scouted the route for our April 18th NYCC "Biathlon" ride. I found that the route originally planned was too long for an urban group ride. Rather than take the scenic way up through Yonkers on Bronx River Rd., we've got to head over on McLean to the South County Trailway. Well, that was my thinking at the time. Slogging along McLean was not fast -- riding on Webster and Bronx River is much better cycling. Still, once you get on the South County Trailway the speed picks up.

I liked riding through Soundview Park greenway. Riding up Zerega Ave. we had quite a lot of cross wind.

I did well on pace on the greenways and other long cycling stretches. I was doing 18-20 at times. It helps when you're on the Greenway: everything's marked, no need to look for the next turn.

Polar Pancakes

2010-03-23T10:24:00.000-04:00

Been very busy with work. Some catching up. I tend to put more short updates on Facebook.

Jan 1st ride went off this year as an NYCC-only ride. Ed Defreitas co-lead with me again. A good time was had by all in our small group and pancakes at Garden of Eatin. The weather was reasonably cooperative. I used my new silk base layer (silk glove liners, silk sock liners, silk long underwear). With my GoreTex jacket to stop the wind and provide some insulation, the Perl Izumi Winter Slice jersey and my regular uninsulated long sleeve jersey kept my upper body warm. I used my Cannondale Carbon lE bib tights and wool socks in my Answer Kashmir winter cycling boots. With a set of knit (Perl Izumi) glove liners, the Perl Izumi AmFib gloves were ok.

The scene at Coney Island was quite entertaining. I got out on the beach and took some photos of the folks in the water. There was a wide diversity of people.

Catching up Polar Pancakes 2010

2010-03-23T10:08:00.003-04:00

At the June 21st meeting of the 5BBC, Moshe Reitman and I are going to deliver a travelogue presentation about the Alyn Wheels of Love ride. We'll also talk about the 2011 ride, for which I've already got my plane tickets. Cathy Lanyard, Executive Director of the North American Friends of Alyn, will join us as well. The 5BBC will have kosher pizza and Israeli wine.

The meeting is at the American Youth Hostel on Amsterdam Ave. at 103rd St. in Manhattan. It starts at 6:30 PM. Until presumably July it's listed on the 5BBC meetings page; after that it should appear in their 2010 archive page.

Polar Pancakes

2009-12-25T00:20:00.002-05:00

This Jan. 1st, once again I will have the Polar Pancakes ride.
I hope the weather isn't as bitterly cold as last year. I had held off scheduling this because I thought I would spend time with my wife and daughters but they opted for Momma-daughter time; my wife forbade attempting to coax the kids into a nice winter bike ride so I'll go out with the NYCC.

Last year's Polar Pancakes ride was fun for the group but I ended up having to go home sick after brunch (and ended up in the hospital saturday night). Hopefully this year will go better.

Meanwhile, the ride for this Friday looks like it will have reasonably good weather. Not clear but not raining -- and not as cold as it is sometimes with a high near 40 F.

3rd annual Teaneck Lunch Ride

2009-12-20T23:03:00.002-05:00

This Friday, Dec. 25th, Jim Zisfein and I are leading our 3rd annual Xmas day lunch ride to the Persian Grill in Teaneck. It's a great route with the fun downhill of East Clinton Ave / CR 70 into Tenafly and on the way back avoids as much of the Bergen ridge as possible on the return to the George Washington Bridge.

One has one's choices coming back to the GWB. Coming up through Englewood is hard; the hardest way is a direct approach up Fort Lee Road -- not only for the climb but the traffic. Since this isn't a training ride, just to get out and have fun with friends, we'll take it the easiest way we can. With only 17 miles to lunch and 13 back to our start point at W72nd St and Riverside, it's quite feasible -- but to make sure we have time on Friday to get to and eat lunch and return well before sundown, I am starting out at 9:30 AM instead of my more usual 10:30 AM.

The Persian Grill is a cozy place with reasonable prices and tasty food. If the weather is really nice, we may have a large crowd and need to punt to Dougie's BBQ which has more seating capacity. Still, the Persian Grill can seat about 40-ish people: I took the group on my spring training ride to "West Englewood" there for lunch last March and we were quite a few people.

Some of my pals from the Wheels of Love may turn up. Depends on weather. Riding in the rain is something we're quite familiar with but sleet is a bit trickier; certainly the combination of freezing temperatures and precipitation gives one pause. At least I'll have dressed for the weather on this ride. No booties, though -- go straight for the Answer Kashmir winter cycling boots. I do need waterproof gloves. My SCUBA gloves aren't all that warm -- if you think 7 mm of neoprene is enough insulation in freezing temperatures you're wrong; now, if I had dry-suit gloves that might work but I only have wet suit. If it doesn't actually rain (the forecast at this time is 60% chance of precipitation) the Pearl Izumi AmFib gloves with glove liners should suffice even in single digit temperatures.

My Canondale carbon LE bib tights will suffice I am sure; last year I had the somewhat lighter Pearl Izumi insulated bib tights. Definitely the Pearl Izumi Winter Slice jersey; probably will need the extra layer of the long sleeve jersey and of course my GoreTex cycling jacket. The Psolar balaclava is of course a must; this year, rain or shine in cold weather I'm going to wear my new Illuminite helmet cover to keep some of the warmth in my head. One of the reasons extremities get cold is that blood gets pulled from them to keep the core, and especially the head, warm.
You still need some insulation -- those metal brake levers get COLD -- but its not quite as critical.

First pictures from Israel

2009-10-31T17:25:00.002-04:00

Jerusalem seen from Alyn on my arrival
"Golani" breakfast is served at "Wind in the Mountain"At the "Nimrod Lookout" in historic old Rosh Pinna

Snow and ice

2009-10-20T11:00:00.002-04:00

Alas, the forecast for the Amenia NY area this past Sunday had snow, albeit .2", until 11AM -- alternating with rain. That alone wouldn't have scared me off completely, since we would only have reached somewhere on Main St. in Millerton by 11 AM with the climb up Mt. Washington not until after 12pm, but the wind chill of 31F with 10-12 mph wind raised the possibility of ice in shaded areas at least. That's just too much, so I stayed home and did some spinning on my trainer while watching part of Mel Brooks' incredibly funny "Blazing Saddles". Eventually, my daughter Hannah came home and I had to stop the movie (it's rated R) but I got a good hour of spinning in overall.

Bicycle travel

2009-10-20T10:37:00.002-04:00

Interesting article in today's NY Times about bicycling while on business travel.

Bear Mountain

2009-10-13T23:26:00.003-04:00

Leading from the pack has its definite issues, I thought to myself as the front 2/3 of my riders disappeared into the distance.
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Time for bib tights already

2009-10-11T21:16:00.003-04:00

Today was very pleasant weather here in Manhattan. I had hopes for more of the same for tomorrow's ride to Bear Mountain and Storm King. The forecast for NYC is 47 degrees F at our 8 AM departure. I expect we'll get to the top of Bear Mountain around 1 PM, at which time the NWS forecast is 50 degrees F; when we reach Beacon for the train home, NWS forecast is for 53 deg. F.

I have tried getting away with just leg warmers on my May 3rd ride in the Shawangunks and I was unhappy, though that was partly due to the rain while tomorrow is calm and no rain. I think I'll wear my Pearl Izumi insulated bib tights and a regular long sleeve jersey. Autumn is here, and it's not Indian Summer yet (if we get one). NYC will go to 56 degrees in the evening, which is a nice comfortable temperature for a hard ride -- if I have anything left I can try to play keep-up-with-the-cars going up 6th Avenue but it's more like dodgem.

Trainer

2009-10-06T22:29:00.001-04:00

I found the L-bolt for my trainer and now it is all set up properly. Still no sign of my missing pliers *sigh*. I hooked up the trainer, upped the tension and rode for over an hour with a 5 minute break after 30-some minutes.

First half hour, watched 1st episode of "Yes, Minister" (old BBC series from 1979). Very funny. Since I work in the (NYC) civil service, perhaps I get the jokes even more. The rest of the time I watched the first part of "Ice Pirates". I was forced to stop when my wife came home. My daughters objected to the bit they lifted from "Alien", with a creature hatching from a large egg. I tried to continue anyway but got massive flack/grief. Sure, I'm 'the boss' but the girls (and that includes my wife) can inflict sufficient mental anguish....

"Yes, Minister" was funnier than "Ice Pirates".

Bikes as transportation

2009-10-06T16:34:00.003-04:00

A Wired article talks about an overhead mount for your surfboard on your bike. If you look at the photo for a moment you notice several things:

No sign of a lock or chain so where's this surfer dude going to park his bike and does he really expect to still have it when he gets back from surfing if he just leaves it on the boardwalk or even on the beach?
No helmet -- but he's wearing sunglasses.
Where's his towel, wetsuit, etc. supposed to go or does he put his street clothes back on over his wet bathing suit? I suppose he could have a 'wet' bag strapped to the board but he doesn't in this photo. I'm not a surfer, but my brother Ken does and he always wears a 3 mil shortie wetsuit.

Trainer vs. riding outdoors

2009-10-01T13:01:00.002-04:00

My daughters took a pillow and put it on the top tube then used a chair to each take a turn climbing atop the pillow and pedaling my bike on the trainer. I put the bike in the easiest gear and they pushed it through a few revolutions. More than I've gotten to do so far.

One key difference between riding out in, e.g., Central Park vs. trying to use the trainer: when you're out on the bike in the Park, your family can't come up with priority requests for assistance with their projects etc. etc. -- once you're out the door, you're more-or-less free (esp. if you turn off your cell phone :-) ). I think the thing to do is get up very early, slip out the bedroom door and spin. Admittedly, part of the interference issues come from parking this contraption in the family room where everyone is coming and going etc.; if I clean out my office and get the file cabinet put back I might have a chance at the "out of sight, out of mind" effect.

Mind you, most of what was asked of me was important -- the trouble comes from lack of pre-planning on the part of the requester (or her teacher). Perhaps that's an overly-cynical system sort of administrator perspective.

I had to start work extra early this morning for a system migration test (which failed due to ineptness of various other departments who are notorious for things like hard-coding IP addresses into configuration and source code) so I get to leave at 5PM instead of 6PM (I already did my overtime this morning . Of course, that still gets me home well after my daughters get home from school -- and even if I do get in some spinning, they will subject me to much loud complaining if I dare to put on a TV show/movie of which they do not approve (not on moral grounds, mind you -- it's not the 'mature audiences' thing, it's Daddy's taste for things like "Enter the Dragon", "Golden Voyage of Sinbad", "Fistful of Dollars" etc.).

NYC to Bear Mtn and Storm King Oct. 12th

2009-09-29T23:24:00.003-04:00

My next NYCC ride leaves from Eleanor Roosevelt statue, 72nd St and Riverside Drive at 8 AM.
It is 80 miles and a 'B18' meaning moderate difficulty with an 18 mph cruising speed on level ground: faster downhill, slower up hill.

This hilly Columbus Day ride with a rotating single paceline will take us up Seven Lakes to Bear Mountain with a stop at a kosher bagel shop in Monsey along the way. After we climb Perkins and picnic there for lunch, it's on to Storm King After Storm King, we'll head to Beacon to catch Metro North home. In case of need, there is an option to bail via Harriman Station instead of pushing on to Beacon.

We will try to make the 5:18 PM train home from Beacon. Next trains depart 5:57pm and 6:57PM.

Bring:
- your paceline skills
- front and rear lights for night return when you get back to the city.
- consider bringing layers (jacket etc.) as the weather may be cool in the morning and evening.
- lunch or buy something at the bagel shop (dairy only)...or both.

RSVP via e-mail: limited to 15 riders.

Trainer

2009-09-29T23:15:00.002-04:00

I setup the the Cycle Ops Fluid 2 trainer tonight. My 'road' bike is mounted on the trainer, in the living room. I now need to find where I put my heart rate monitor and I need to go back to J&R to get the cadence sensor replaced (of course, I've lost the magnet). I thought initially perhaps it was the battery but since it registers the speed sensor magnet but doesn't peer with the Edge 750 via ANT wireless, the sensor is obviously defective. I'm guessing I will get a run-around from J&R which means I will have to find my receipt and send the thing back to Garmin (not the GPS, which since it peered with the heart rate sensor when I had used it, is working as an ANT network node just fine).

Move on up to 'A'

2009-09-23T00:27:00.006-04:00

"Slow it back to 19!" I called out to the rider in the lead as we zoomed along the East Drive in Central Park at 22 mph earlier this evening. I was on my first NYCC A19 training ride. Doug Moreira runs a "Tuesday Night Training Ride" series for NYCC. At the start, Doug went over the procedures: we were to take 20-second pulls; keep to the 19 MPH speed (on level ground -- faster downhill, slower uphill) and that on the Harlem Hill we would split up and everyone climb at their own pace but that we would regroup on the other side. Doug would ride alongside us as our coach, not in the pack. That means Doug works harder than those of us in the pack.

This ride was a very different experience than Linda's early-morning rides. The conditions were more challenging with many others on the road: pedicabs, sometimes two or three abreast; horse-drawn carriages; the occasional police or Parks vehicle; joggers (though they stayed in the recreation lane this became an issue when we had to use that lane because of obstructions). The riders were a mixed group: despite that A riders are supposed to have paceline skills, this wasn't the case for all (I'm no great expert but I know what to do from having done Linda Wintner's early-morning paceline clinic rides for several weeks whereas it seems two of the riders didn't have any such practice). After the ride, Doug reminded me to make minor steering adjustments by leaning -- use my hips rather than arms. I noticed myself that I had to remember to keep my right arm not only flexed but relaxed.

All issues notwithstanding, I had fun and I pushed myself. I don't think I've ever ridden up Harlem Hill that fast much less on 2 consecutive laps. I need to work on stamina and climbing ability: the third lap up Harlem Hill I just couldn't push so hard anymore: I down-shifted and spun up the hill at about 10 mph instead of trying to do 13. After riding out the downhill, I dropped my pace to just under 15 mph as I rode down the West Drive back to the Tavern on the Green start point. By the time I got there, I had recovered and could breathe normally.

I think its time I setup and used the trainer I bought. Tomorrow night...meanwhile, Doug invited me back for next Tuesday night.

Shorts

2009-09-17T18:26:00.000-04:00

Riding many miles over the streets of Brooklyn , Queens and the Bronx this past Sunday was pretty hard on my butt despite wearing Pearl Izumi P.R.O shorts. It wasn't just vibration but also the burning of perspiration rolling down from my lower back. I have three pairs of road shorts: one off-brand from Bike Nashbar was my first pair of shorts and was certainly a big difference over riding in regular clothes. As I started doing higher mileage and harder rides, I bought a pair of Pearl Izumi Slice Ultrasensor shorts and indeed they were considerably better than the Nashbar house brand.

While there are substantive differences one can see between the P.R.O and the Slice shorts, such as the grippers on the legs, I haven't felt significant difference in comfort of the P.R.O. over the Slice.

I also own two sets of insulated winter bib tights with built-in chamois: the Pearl Izumi Slice thermafleece and the Cannondale LE Carbon all-weather bib tights. The Pearl Izumi bib tights are theoritecially the same chamois as the shorts but it seems bigger and thicker to me. It is my very subjective opionion that both pairs of bib tights are more comfortable with better padding than the road shorts. The trouble is that in winter temperatures I don't go out and ride 80-100 miles a day though I do get some rough roads.

With the winter bib tights in mind along with the description of bib shorts as for "high mileage" cyclists, I ordered two pairs from Performance Bike recently: the Pearl Izumi Slice UltraSensor Bib Short and, because it was out of stock and to try the house brand which got good reviews, Performance Ultra II bib short. I'll post my initial impression after I've received them and had a chance to give them a try.

Bicycle Access to buildings in NYC

2009-09-17T18:16:00.002-04:00

This past August 13th, Mayor Bloomberg signed Intro 871a into law. This law requires buildings with freight elevators to allow bicycles in. It takes effect 120 days after signing. Another useful law signed the same day is the bicycle parking law Intro 780-A which requires parking garages of over 100 spaces to include bicycle parking as well as that for automobiles. It takes effect 90 days after signing.

I inquired at work about any plans for these laws. None is contemplated despite that our building has freight elevators and contains a parking garage for over 100 vehicles. I'm pushing on them just a little now; we'll see how that goes. The facilities director had never heard of either of these measures despite NY Times coverage but when I requested him to do so, he made inquiries.

104+ miles through the City

2009-09-16T23:09:00.003-04:00

"Enjoy your jog" said my friend Marty; "I won't be riding the NYC Century, it's much too slow; I did ". As I pedaled along the Shore Greenway in Brooklyn at just over 20 mph, I recalled what Marty said. I grinned and dodged another small group of much slower cyclists while calling out greetings: "How y'all doing this fine morning?" I said though by the time most folks responded I was already out of earshot.

I had gotten a bit of a late start, leaving Central Park at 8 AM. As a result, I had to work my way past many 15 and 35 mile riders. It was great to see so many riders on the Brooklyn Bridge enjoying their ride. Once we got into Brooklyn, I was able to get past many riders. Climbing the hills of Park Slope in a harder gear made for a better workout and gave me more power to get past other riders.

At the Prospect Park rest stop, I saw some of my riding buddies from the 5BBC including Ken Williams who was marshaling the 55 mile route.

After Prospect Park, I was able to cruise at 18 mph as we made our way to the Greenway. As we went through Coney Island, a section of Emmons Ave. was wide open and I pushed myself as hard as possible for a couple of minutes. I reached 24.8 mph on that level stretch of road then eased back down to 18 mph again.

This year we had a new section of route through the Rockaways after the Marine Park rest stop, on the 75/100 miler route. It was a breezy day and we saw fabulous kites in the sky over the beach as we rode along the boardwalk. I passed a few riders and most told me they were doing the 75 mile route; one told me he was planning to do 55 so I told him he'd made a wrong turn and was well on his way along the 75 mile route. I encouraged him to give it a try as we had plenty of time left in the day and moved on.

When I got onto the Gil Hodges bridge as we headed north , I started asking riders what distance they planned on riding as I passed them.. Most answered 75, which was very appropriate. A few, rolling along at about 11 mph, said they were trying for the 100. I informed them I was the sweep on the 100 and urged them to pick up the pace and to consider their options at Astoria. I never saw them again.

The pace through the Greenway in Queens after Kissena was mostly slower as it wound its way through Cunningham Park, though that route segment included both some climbing and fast descents as we crossed the Harbor Hill Morraine. Along the Joe Michaels Mile, I cruised around 16 mph; I was getting a bit tired after pushing hard for over 50 miles (one of the benefits I missed of group riding with a rotating paceline). Still, the weather held and I arrived at Astoria Park rest stop shortly after 4PM where I found Bob Ross, the sweep captain, and Paulis from Poughkeepsie, the other remaining sweep team member.

Shortly after 4:30PM, we set forth at a moderate pace to sweep the 100 miler portion of the route. Once we got to the Bronix, we encountered a few riders going too slow and warned them that they were now on their own. One trio we encountered as we rode near the Bronx Zoo was an 8-year-old boy on a mountain bike with his Mom and Dad riding their bikes. He confirmed he was doing the 100 mile; when we told his Mom that we were the sweeps, she decided they should turn back to the subway at 180th St. That they got as far as they did is absolutely amazing (and probably a bit much for an 8 year old).

A few riders awaited us at Van Cortlandt Park Rest stop, which was next to the entrance to the "Old Put" trail. As we left, a few more riders straggled in. Some of them caught up to us as we entered Manhattan and we formed a peloton with Bob on point and I brought up the rear (Paulis had gone on ahead). It was getting dark and I had the only headlight; Bob had put on his rear flashers. We reached Central Park shortly before 7:30PM.

A long day on the roads of NYC but a lot of fun.

Clausland Mountain

2009-09-07T10:47:00.001-04:00

The climb up Clausland Mountain Road felt longer than the .3 miles listed in the NYCC regional hill guide. The park didn't in fact have the advertised picnic area but given that there's no other option we stopped there, ate our lunch and took this photo.

The day started with a much larger group. I announced our route and plan for the day to the assembled riders. I specifically mentioned that we'd go up 155th St. and make our way to the GWB from there as well as the 18 mph cruising speed and that we'd go via River Road in NJ. A group of riders nonetheless proceeded up Riverside Drive to 165th St., hammering a 20 mph pace. I felt I had to follow them though I refused to match their pace lest I leave the rest of the riders behind.

The lead riders did stop after crossing the bridge to wait for me but as soon as I arrived they proceeded to head north on Hudson Terrace despite my loudly calling to them that they were going the wrong way. That left me with four riders to follow me to Palisades Park. We opined that we were better off without impetuous hammerheads who wouldn't stay with the group and headed for River Road.

At the traffic circle for the Edgewater boat basin, Eliot split off. He was just ahead of me by a second or two and I called out loudly to him that he was going the wrong way but he ignored me. The rest of us figured he'd catch up to us at Alpine and continued. We never saw or heard from Eliot again. With the park full of cyclists, police and motorists we weren't worried about Eliot's safety.

Our group formed up in a paceline on 9W and headed north. We had a great time and the paceline went fairly well. I managed to hold my line fairly well. As the miles went by, we got better at keeping a consistent pace. I had no trouble communicating turns (I didn't prepare/distribute a cue sheet, I just programmed my GPS and in so doing studied the map; I'm familiar with the overall area from other trips up the lower Hudson Valley) to the lead rider even from the back of the line.

Here's the
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for this trip

My constraint for the day was that I had to get back by 2PM to get ready for the trip to New City. We got back at 2:22 PM but it worked out in the end: by the time I got myself showered and dressed, my wife still was almost ready and I didn't have to wait long.

NYC Century

2009-09-04T16:42:00.004-04:00

The Transportation Alternatives NYC Century Bike Tour rolls on Sept. 13th from Central Park with 5 route options: 15 mile (escorted); 35 mile; 55 mile; 75 mile and 100 mile. I'm riding sweep on the 100 mile route. If you're riding one of the shorter routes, I may see you on the road somewhere before the 55 mile mark. I hope that all of you folks reading this who ride more than 55 miles are sufficiently far ahead that you reach the finish before my fellow sweep marshals and myself.

If you haven't signed up yet, I recommend you do so. It's a great way to see NYC.
Per the NYC Century website, if you register by September 11th and you will be entered win a mixed case of Brooklyn Brewery beers.

A ride for Sunday

2009-09-02T21:05:00.006-04:00

I've got to keep the training going. Paceline practice in Central Park is great for bike handling skill but the climbs are not so steep and not so long. In a paceline, I can't just put my bike in a harder gear: I need to maintain a steady cadence and maintain position; on the major climbs in Israel, we'll all separate and climb at our own abilities since paceline doesn't help below 15 mph.

Regardless, I need to get as many of the NYC area WOL Challenge riders together as possible at least twice before the trips. With the NYC Century and 3 weeks of Yom Tov on Sunday I'm running out of Sundays. Therefore I'm going to put in an NYCC ride up the lower Hudson Valley via River Road leaving from the Eleanor Roosevelt statue at 8:30 AM and aim to return back 2PM. I intend to run a single rotating paceline (except on the return down Riverside Drive we'll run a double if we've enough people) where practical. It's a 55 mile route with hills. I'll list it as an NYCC B18 ride meaning we keep a 18 mph cruising speed on level ground (I personally intend to zoom down River Road from Edgewater at 30+ mph...no point to a rotating paceline on River Road, there's precious little level ground on the road from Edgewater to Alpine).

The route is a combination of the "Nyack Classic" and "Nyack with Hills" rides from NYCC library. The key difference is that I'm not taking the group into downtown Piermont or Nyack. Instead, we'll do hills. Specifically, the NYCC listed climb of Clausland Mountain Rd., an 11% grade for .31 miles. We'll stop at Tackamack Park North, which has a picnic area, for lunch. After that we'll continue up and around on Tweed and Bradley and back onto 303 to 340 and home (with the additional climb of Churchill Rd.). finishing this ride in 5 hours is a real challenge only possible if we get a paceline. If short on time and stamina, we'll have to bypass the Tweed climb.

I tried to put the complete route into Bikeroutetoaster but it drove me crazy.
Here's a google map:

View Larger Map

We might punt on coming down Piermont Ave and stay on 9W, substituting a climb on 9W for the climb on Churchill. Coming down Piermont is somewhat safer but there's more traffic lights.

Paceline continues

2009-09-02T18:30:00.002-04:00

I've managed to get up for Linda's paceline clinic 3x now. Sunrise is getting later just as the weather is cooling off to the point where I considered wearing my jacket Tuesday morning but am glad I decided not to.

I have less trouble holding my line in solo practice but when it comes to that first lap or two around Central Park I still have some trouble. Practice, practice, practice.

The Challenge route group for WOL looks like a mixed bag. One veteran rider, Steve N., told me that on the first day, the organizers will move (or ask to voluntarily accept transfer) of the weakest riders down to the regular on-road group. Steve says the strongest riders ride very fast in a strong paceline and some even race each other.
Steve doesn't sound like too strong a rider when he said he was hoping to stay on my rear wheel. I don't intend to pull for hundreds of miles! I can't do anything about those not in the NYC area but I've got to try to get as many of these Challenge riders together and make sure they understand rotating paceline. Of course, I don't want to have an 18 mph paceline slow to a 15mph paceline when some weaker rider gets rotated up front.
That's OK in a practice session and it's not terrible on a day ride back here in the US but when we have 81 miles to cover and the police are holding the road closed we have a deadline -- not to mention the 11,000 feet of climbing.

Ashokan Reservoir trip

2009-08-31T21:20:00.002-04:00

The view from the ride down Minnewaska west yesterday was spectacular with clear blue skies and puffy white clouds. The descent the rest of the way to Rt. 209 was fast. The full route is on
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Dana's Ashokan Reservoir trip.

On the outbound leg, I had our group of four riders practice a rotating paceline. Not bad considering two of four riders had no experience pacelining. We held the line together most of the trip into New Paltz at a nice pace.

Our group had two experienced cyclists on road bikes, David and msyelf, and one relative newcomer, Marty, on a road bike. Our fourth rider, Scott, was intermediate in experience but countered this advantage by riding a Dahon folding bike with only one chain ring and a seven speed cassette.

Our original route called for us to return home via the climb up Mohonk west, from Kerhonkson. By the time we reached the top of Minnewaska, it was clear to me that this wasn't going to happen. Fortunately, I'd preplanned a route home down Springtown Road across the Rosendale Plain.

The views at Ashokan Reservoir, former site of Olive City and Olivebridge, were gorgeous. Slide Mountain and the Catskills formed a fabulous backdrop as we ate our lunch.

We crossed the Reservoir on a long level road that passed through some woods. It was smooth asphalt pavement and closed to motor traffic. We went around the east end of the reservoir led by one of our number, David G., a local from Kingston who cycles in the area frequently.

David took us on a detour that saved some hills although there was no way to escape the rise into the town of Tillson. We'd passed through the hamlet of High Falls, it looked quaint.

All in all a good day on the bike. Scott managed to get through the day; the 8-odd miles of mostly level riding down Springtown Road at a moderate pace, where David and I pacelined as I practiced keeping my sight line out an appropriate distance and maintaining a steady cadence, gave him additional recovery time he badly needed. I don't know that I would have survived such a day on that Dahon. Marty was on a ride with me in June and has improved quite a lot since then; he's also an Alyn WOL 2009 rider and considering moving up to the Challenge route from the regular On-Road.

Pictures from the ride, mine and eventually Marty's, will come in a later post.

Ramapo Rally

2009-08-16T23:14:00.004-04:00

The Ramapo Rally route went through various sections of Bergen County.

Much of NJ was industrial at one time thanks to first the Delaware and Raritan Canal and then the railroads. Former mill buildings like this one are sometimes converted to other uses. At left is one I saw which is divided up into multiple stores and other businesses.

The better residential sections had some nice houses, but even the largest and most elaborate were more modest than those seen on the Bloomin Metric in CT. I did see several horse farms on both rides.

My day started much later than planned and I didn't attempt even the 100 mile route, choosing rather the moderately hilly 50 mile route. The temperature hit 98 degrees. I had filled my Camelbak at the start location, Campgaw Mountain Ski Area, with as near to its full 70oz capacity of water as I could manage and left shortly after 11AM to start my ride. When I reached the first rest stop, Kinnelon Boro Hall, I found that it was closed-- no sign that any rest stop was ever there. I found a shady spot, ate one sandwich and went on. I reached the second rest stop and it, too was gone -- and so was my water. Fortunately, Pyramid Mountain Preserve was across the way and it's air conditioned visitor center provided a superior alternative with a real bathroom and running water. I ate my second sandwich, refilled my water and off I went.

On my return route I skipped going back to Campgaw and went back to the Ramsey NJ Transit railroad station.

Lemonade and cookies

2009-08-16T22:22:00.004-04:00

With kitchen help from my wife, our two daughters Shira and Hannah with their friend Rachel ran a lemonade and cookies stand from which they donated $13.80 for a donation to Alyn to sponsor me in the Wheels of Love 2009.

While I was out cycling and baking on the roads of northwest Bergen County in the Ramapo Rally, the girls were running a stand for about an hour and a half selling the homemade lemonade and cookies which they made this morning. They placed their stand in front of our apartment building, which is diagonally across the the Eleanor Roosevelt statue in Riverside Park.

Their stand and big sign advertising fresh cold lemonade and fresh baked cookies, all of which they made entirely on their own with minimal supervision from my wife Golda (who bought all the raw ingredients and the pitcher for them last night) with (a portion of) the proceeds going to "a children's hospital" (i.e., the charity for which I'm raising money this year: Alyn Children's Hospital in Jerusalem) were quite visible to hot and thirsty cyclists coming down Riverside Drive and up from the West Side Greenway.

Hannah told me that four cyclists bought numerous cups of lemonade -- so many that one of the girls had to run back upstairs to frantically mix up another pitcher which promptly sold out. I believe they sold out something like ten pitchers worth of lemonade and Shira told me that their cookies were also a huge hit: they sold eighty of them in all.

The girls were very pleased to donate $13.80 to sponsor me in the 2009 Wheels of Love from today's enterprise. I am very proud of them. They plan to do this again next Sunday if it's hot.

Ramapo Rally

2009-08-14T12:43:00.002-04:00

This Sunday is the Ramapo Rally. I'm planning on riding the 125 mile course with a fellow NYCC cyclist. Mordecai says he going to ride his fixed gear bike to make it more interesting and that we will cruise at 19-20 mph on the flats. He did clarify that we will go slower up the hills and Schooley Mountain. I hope I can keep up or at least catch up on the downhills where, since I am riding my touring bike which has gears and a freewheel, I am not limited by how fast my legs can spin.

We are taking NJ Transit at 6:13 AM out of Penn station to Ramsey NJ which is 3 miles from the start at Campgaw Mountain Reserve. It's an hour on the train (plus travel time to Penn Station and from Ramsey to Campgaw) but if I had a car with a bike rack I could get there in 40 minutes door to door. Oh well. It's not worth a hundred dollars to rent a car for the day. I won't get any sleep on the train I'm sure, lots of other cyclists with whom to socialize. Or maybe we'll all sleep.

Paceline

2009-08-13T09:52:00.003-04:00

I've heard that (at least some of) the riders on the WOL Challenge route ride in a paceline. This is also a big thing in NYCC, where their faster and more challenging rides ("A" rides) require paceline skills and even some of the faster B rides say they are using a rotating paceline. Having no experience with riding in a paceline, just lots of group riding, I got up early this morning to meet NYCC's Linda Wintner for her early morning paceline clinic at 5:45 AM.

We did four laps around Central Park (24.2 miles) in a double rotating paceline (that's two side-by-side pacelines). I had some trouble with consistent cadence and with holding my line tightly though by the end of four laps I had made some progress. I still need more practice at pacelining before I'm ready to try it on the open road (though Central Park at 7 AM gets fairly busy with cyclists, regular automobile traffic isn't allowed until 8 AM; before 7AM I don't believe we saw even any park maintenance vehicles). Linda gave me lots of patient good advice and I have to practice cadence consistency and holding my line. On the half-lap home to the West 72nd st. exit from our finish at the Engineer's Gate (90th and Fifth) I practiced following the center white line even downhill. I managed to stay pretty close but I need more practice.

I find the NYCC is good. I can lead rides and take a trip with a group of riders at my level of ability to a destination of my choice on the route of my choice and have folks who are more skillful cyclists and willing to share their expertise to help me raise my level of ability.

Wheels of Love

2009-08-10T23:53:00.001-04:00

Dear readers:

This year I have made a commitment to donate my time and energy to raising funds for the physically challenged children of ALYN Hospital Jerusalem. I will bicycle the 326 mile Challenge route in the 10th Anniversary Wheels of Love International 5-day Charity Bike Ride in Israel from Rosh Pinna up Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights, down across the Galilee and then up to Jerusalem beginning this November 1st.

ALYN Hospital, a not-for-profit private center which receives no automatic government funding, is one of the world’s leading centers for the active and intensive rehabilitation of children who are afflicted with a broad range of physical disabilities from everything from congenital defects to fires and car accidents. The ultimate aim of ALYN is to rehabilitate the youngsters in its care and to return them to their families and to the community as quickly as possible having provided each child with the skills to function as independently as possible within their limitations.

Donations from the Wheels of Love help to fund the vital care which every child in ALYN receives regardless of their ability to pay or the amount of health insurance reimbursement. I therefore ask you to join me in helping these children by making as generous a donation as possible to sponsor me for this important fund-raising effort. Each rider is committed to raising a minimum of US $2,000.00 to help cover the $3 million dollar difference between the cost of care of the children each year and the payments received from health insurance . Your support is deeply appreciated by myself and the children of ALYN.

Please find full instructions for making a donation on the Wheels of Love donation page. Remember to to sponsor me by filling in my name on the appropriate form.

Lincoln Tunnel Ride

2009-08-09T12:00:00.001-04:00

Last night, a group of some thirty cyclists led by Alfredo Garcia with Jesse Brown and Rodney Millard bringing up the rear set forth from Chelsea Piers in Manhattan on Alfredo's 21st annual Lincon Tunnel ride. We rode up the West Side Greenway, then through Riverside Park and onto Riverside drive then eventually up and over the GWB just before it closed at midnight.

We met up with our PA Police escort and went through the tunnel. Jesse Brown, riding sweep, was last out of the tunnel.

One of the riders shot a few video clips on her iPhone.

Mamaroneck and City Island

2009-08-09T11:55:00.008-04:00

The mere threat of rain possibly at some point late in the day despite clear blue skies at 8 AM was enough for the leaders of this NYCC B18 ride on July 26th to cancel. I had no idea that they'd canceled but didn't care: I was out on my bike for the day and had an advance copy of the cue sheet so I tried to follow it. Despite some missed (and missing) turns and slight errors on the cue sheet I largely followed the route.

I ate lunch at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck, overlooking the harbor as seen in the photo at left and watching the boats come and go. There were no working water fountains in the park, though there were working bathrooms, possibly because there were several vending machines selling bottled water and other drinks. After lunch, I cycled up into town and found a store where I bought a 24 oz bottle of water to top off my camelbak.

I followed the cue sheet for awhile. When I came to Pelham Rd., I diverted onto the Pelham Rd. greenway and followed that to another greenway to City Island and over the City Island Bridge as seen in the photo at left.

City Island's main street, seen in the photo at left, leads to the Long Island Sound

The parking lots for the fast food tourist trap resturants at the bottom of the road afforded some nice views of Long Island Sound.

From the same vantage point one can see the Throgs Neck Bridge in the distance.

The ride home through the Bronx on the rest of the Pelham Greenway was reasonably pleasant. The views from a drawbridge I came to showed the dichotomy of cycling this route. On my right, in the photo at left, a view of the tall apartment buildings of Co-Op City. The next photo, below, shows the bucolic view to my right of grassy knolls in undisturbed waters.

I made it home around 4:30 PM. The rains did eventually come shortly after 6PM. It took me extra time because I periodically had to stop and check my location against the map (via GPS) and the cue sheet. With a leader to show the way, I would have kept a faster steadier pace but it was still a good day out on the bike if humid.

Thunder and lightnining

2009-08-02T12:56:00.002-04:00

I had to cancel today's Ashokan Reservoir ride. The New Paltz area was due to get lots of rain along with thunder and lightning. The weather satellite images showed solid cloud cover with rain over the entire region. I checked the weather forecast again later this morning and found that the weather was worse than expected with severe thunderstorms at noon until 2pm with no relief afterward, just as I expected from the forecast.

I called those folks for whom I had phone #s and emailed the others. I had two riders who were supposed to meet me at GCT at 7:30AM but one I had no cell phone or home phone # so I emailed him and the other one I could not reach so at 7:20 AM I headed out on my bike to GCT to inform them in person (and perhaps grab a muffin from Zaro's Breadbakset). As I cycled down Fifth Ave., I got a call from the fellow whose cell phone I had repeatedly called (but whose cell phone voicemail greeting says "I do not use this voicemail" and says to call his office voicemail, which I did but which seemed rather futile). He said he was all alone at GCT and I told him the ride was canceled.

Having canceled the ride I took my next right over to Sixth Ave. and went up and into Central Park to do some laps. As I neared the top of the East Drive, the rain came. I pedaled harder. I managed to get up Harlem Hill at 10 mph as the rain intensified and continued down to the 72nd st ramp and headed home.

Another Gunks ride

2009-07-21T17:44:00.003-04:00

The next ride I'm leading is from Poughkeepsie to Ashokan Reservoir via New Paltz on August 2nd. The route is adapted from one on the Bike Hudson Valley site.
I need the hill work and I must say the roads are generally in better condition up in Ulster County. The route starts at 58 miles but its another 20 miles round-trip to Poughkeepsie.

Monsey Kosher Pizza ride 6/28/2009

2009-07-08T02:03:00.000-04:00

I ran my Monsey Kosher Pizza ride Sunday June 28th We had a nice tunout. I had posted on the Alyn Wheels of Love forum that I would have some training rides.
One person responded: Marty, on the right in the first photo below with Irv S. who showed me the way through Ulster County across the Gunks for my ride on May 3rd. The climb up Hungry Hollow Rd. didn't feel nearly as steep as the first time I ran the ride, for my first 5BBC ride in July 2008. It's only a 5% or so grade. This year's group handled it no problem. Actually a couple of riders felt the route was insufficiently hilly so on the way home they bid us farewell and continued up the hill on Allendale to head over and down 9W to Alpine and go back to the GW Bridge via River Road.

This year's group opted not to split a few pizzas but everyone found something they liked. We were too many people and the resturant too crowded so we just hung out in back and dined "al fresco". Below is a group photo in back of Chai Pizza and Falafel.

A good time was had by all.

"Old Put Century" 6/14/2009

2009-06-21T23:37:00.002-04:00

My "Old Put Century", (l uploaded my GPS data to Garmin Connect) from the end of the #1 train at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx to Putnam Valley Veterans Memorial Park in Carmel/Kent in Putnam County, started out with a moderate drizzle. Nobody showed up to join me though several had RSVPd: they were deterred by the rain even though the forecast called for the weather to improve by mid-morning. After waiting around to see if anyone would show up I headed out.

The initial leg of the South County Trailway was quite pleasant: a smooth asphalt path through the woods. The side roads in Yonkers for the on-road connector to the next leg weren't in such great shape but that cleared up. I knew from various reports that the Trailway was closed at Odell Ave. but I had checked out the area with Google Earth and was optimistic that I would have a ready exit onto Saw Mill River Rd.

The satellite imagery was misleading because it was out of date: the ready exit had been turned into a construction support site and was fenced off. I had to backtrack and tried to find my way out to Saw Mill River Rd. through the subdivisions behind Toussaint. No joy, despite having a GPS: the map in the GPS clearly showed a road as a through street which was in fact very established as a dead end. Given that I'm using the Garmin City Navigator 2008 maps which are really from 2007, it's possible that the street was changed but it sure looked well-established not 2-3 years old. After almost an hour exploring to find the way out I gave up, took the Trailway back to Toussaint and took Tuckahoe Rd. over to Saw Mill River Rd. and thence up to the Barney St. trail entrance. The rest of the ride was no problem.

By the time I reached the bridge over the Croton Reservoir, the weather had changed dramatically for the better as you can see from the view from the bridge, seen in the photo below, out over the reservoir in the photo at left.

The quality of the pavement decreased after the reservoir crossing. I could not comfortably keep an 18 mph pace, even though much of it was a slight downgrade, due to all the bumps -- presumably tree roots. The pavement improved again somewhat and was pretty good going through Yorktown Heights.

The Yorktown Heights station, seen in the photo below, from the Putnam Valley Line is a Westchester historic site. It's the only intact station left from the "Old Put". The town has a nice little park built up around it and this is the place to take a slight detour across the street for bathroom and refreshments at the gas station. It's a long ride since Barney Ave. and there's no more opportunities to leave the trail for many miles so this is it.

Kosher BBQ Ride 6/7/2009

2009-06-10T22:53:00.003-04:00

On June 7, a group of intrepid NYCC cyclists along with my friends Jim Z. and Ed D. joined me for a ride of some 40 miles from Manhattan through Queens then onto the LIE service road, at which point I picked up the pace a little. After our rest stop, someone asked me to "crank it" so we could make up some time. I did, but at 18 mph cruising I got too far ahead of the group. I stopped and took this photo as they caught up, then we proceeded together at a more moderate pace.

We headed out to my Mom's in Dix Hills where we enjoyed a kosher BBQ of burgers and hot dogs and knishes and more grilled up by my brother Ken. A lovely time was had by all thanks to my Mom and my brother.

After lunch, I took the group back to Hicksville station at a slower pace to keep the group together. At that point, most of the riders got on the LIRR. One NYCC B-SIG graduate, Erica, and I headed up Rt. 107 to the LIE service where we cranked it up to 18 mph until we hit traffic in western Nassau (apparently there was some problem on the LIE so a large number of cars got off onto the service road). We made our way to Queens and then found our way onto the Queens Greenway at Creedmor and eventually to the F train at Hillside and 179th just about a half-hour before sunset.

Bloomin Metric home 5/17/08

2009-05-27T23:01:00.000-04:00

I rode the Bloomin Metric Century for the first time this year. I had a great ride.
I was supposed to ride with some NYCC C SIG graduates both on the ride and then back to NYC afterward. I originally posted a B15 ride, meaning a 15 mph moving average. The C SIGgies were supposedly able to keep up, per their e-mail. When I started out at about 16 mph I ended up losing them. Since the Bloomin is a supported ride, I rode on with the one rider who was able to keep up until he dropped back to ride slow with his friends. I stopped here and there to take photos and they caught up with me a few times.

The scenery was lovely once we left Norwalk.
Waterfall in the woods

There were quite a few cyclists. We passed through some areas with very large homes with low stone walls out front.

After the ride, I met up with several of the riders who had contacted me in advance and we set forth on a route based on the East Coast Greenway's on-road connector route. The idea was to bicycle from Norwalk to New Rochelle, have dinner and continue on. Some of the group weren't too sure about riding all the way back so I had bailout options via Metro North planned.

On our way, we stopped to use the port-a-potties and water fountains at lovely Bruce Park.

We continued on but blew a turn. Recovering took us some time. By the time we reached Mamaroneck, we were all tired and it was getting late so we opted to bail. We boarded Metro North at Mamaroneck Station and had a pleasant train ride back to the city.

Meet the Gunks 5/3/09

2009-05-20T22:42:00.001-04:00

A great ride was had despite the on-and-off drizzle.
The weather did preclude stopping for the scenic overlook after Minnewaska. I've uploaded the GPS data to MotionBased

I managed to make it up Mountain Rest Road at about 5 mph without stopping unlike our scouting trip where I had to get off and walk at Spies Road. Some of the riders barreled ahead on the climb just before Spies Road. I passed them a few moments later around the bend, stopped by the side of the road panting and gulping water.

This is a nice area in which to ride. I think I'll build another trip in the area. I'm thinking of a ride over to Woodridge, starting in Poughkeepsie taking the 7:47 AM rather than 8:47 train.

From Gunks ride: On the road to Minnewaska in a drizzle

Meet the Gunks

2009-04-20T21:12:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I went to Poughkeepsie with my friends Jim Zisfein and Irv Schachter. We had a great ride through New Paltz and up the Shawangunks to Mohonk and to Minnewaska State Park.
This was a scouting trip for my May 3rd 5BBC/NYCC ride.
The climb up to the Mohonk Golf lodge was long and steep. There were other climbs as well.
Looking at the elevation profile, I can't imagine what it thinks is 1500 feet of elevation and a 30+ % grade at the roughly 12 mile mark; that's in the town of New Paltz. Our really serious climbing started where Mountain Rest Road crosses Butterville and Canaan Roads. I did some calculations from the GPS data for the climb up Mountain Rest Road from that point, an elevation of 317 feet and at 13.66 miles into our ride.

At the first bend in the road, its an elevation gain of 152 feet and we'd traveled .38 miles so that's a 7.58% grade.

From there to Spies Road, it's an elevation gain of 268 feet and .74 miles further. That makes it "only"a 6.86% grade.

The whole leg from 1st bend to 2nd bend is 435 feet elevation gain over 1.07 miles: a 7.70% grade.

After that is a deceptive recovery leg to the 3rd bend in the road: 103 feet of elevation gain over .38 miles for a "mere" 5.13% grade.

From the start to the stop at the golf lodge is an elevation gain of 811 feet over 2.12 miles for an overall grade of 7.25%.

Huff. Puff. Repeat.

Jim Zisfein, myself and Irv Schacter at the Minnewaska overlook

View from the Minnewaska scenic overlook

Catching up

2009-04-20T20:47:00.002-04:00

I have had a busy couple of months. A few fun bike rides in there and some scouting and planning.

First off, I have become quite fond of my new Carbondale Max carbon-fiber reinforced bib tights and the silk long underwear from Campmor.

Next, on Feb. 22nd Dennis Griffin led and I rode sweep on a ride through Queens. Very nice, even if it was raining and cold, now I have a solid basis for routes from the Queensborough Bridge to Kew Gardens. From Kew Gardens I can get to wherever I need to go and I'm going to use this as the 1st leg of my June 7th B-15 BBQ ride #1 to Dix Hills.

March 1st was my training ride to Riverdale with Jesse Brown. We had two riders with us due to an uncertain weather forecast but we only had a few snowflakes and plenty of winter sunshine. One was our friend Jim Zisfein and the other was a new NYCC member whose name I don't recall. We had lunch at Skyview kosher Deli in Riverdale. You can check out our route as recorded on my GPS on Motion-Based. We had fun, even with the gratitious hills I added to the route, and those who stayed home missed out on a nice late winter ride.

March 8th was my training ride to Teaneck/West Englewood with my buddy Jim Zisfein riding sweep. Wonderful spring day and we had quite a turnout including my friends Moshe R. and Shimon S. -- in all I think about 16 riders from 5BBC and NYCC. One fellow showed up at the start with no helmet so we sent him off to a local bike shop to get one. He caught up to us in NJ and shortly thereafter got a flat in his front tire. Jim tried to help him even though he hadn't actually signed the signup sheet (we wouldn't allow someone with no helmet to sign in) but he had no spare tube and no tire tools (and no cell phone). Another rider tried to help with his tubes but they blew out because they were the wrong size. Jim phoned me to tell me what was going on and I sent the fellow's riding buddy back to help him. In the end, the poor guy got his front flat fixed but then they found that the rear had a flat. At that point they were out of tubes, called a cab and sent him home in it while his buddy pedaled back to join us at lunch at The Persian Grill. Here's my GPS track at motion-based.