Manhattan - Bronx scouting

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

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

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.