Bagels and Little Tor

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

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

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

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

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.