Bike Trails: From Brewster, NY to Manhattan!

It was only after our failed attempt to “finally go to the end” of the South County Trailway that I’ve now done the research to fully map out the trails. Because these trailways are separately maintained and there has been continuous construction updating them, the most frustrating aspect is finding up-to-date and complete information about them so hopefully this blog will help you in that endeavor.

The Putnam and Westchester and rails-to-trail system is actually comprised of 3 trails on the former right-of-way of the New York and Putnam Railroad as follows (north to south):

Putnam Trailway – the northern most 12 mile stretch through the towns of Mahopac and Carmel with plans to extend it north to Brewster. The highlight is the views of the reservoir north of Carmel.

North County Trailway – runs for 21.2 miles from Northern Westchester County south through the towns of Yorktown Heights, Briarcliff Manor, and Mount Pleasant. The path traverses an old railroad bridge that has spectacular views of the New Croton Reservoir at Kitchawan. There are 2 breaks in the trail when you do need to ride on the road. The shoulder is very wide, although the traffic is a 4 lane fast moving road with some on and off ramps to highways that require caution.

South County Trailway – runs for 14.1 miles in Southern Westchester County from Eastview through Elmsford, Ardsley, Hastings on Hudson, south into Yonkers, to the New York City border. There is a break in the path at Elmsford (be sure to look at one of the maps for the best way to avoid a very busy road with no shoulder – we only discovered it on our return). The V. Everit Macy Park is a nice park along a large pond and short but robust waterfall just south of Elmsford. I believe there is a break in the path in Yonkers, although I’ve heard they are completing it – and we have yet to make it this far to check it out for ourselves.

The paved path ends at the entrance of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx but there is a dirt bike path through the park (apparently it can get muddy after rainy weather). You can pick up the subway (the 1 or 4 lines) here (bikes are permitted on subways) or go over the Broadway bridge and take some streets over to the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway trail on the West Side. It would be about a 15 mile ride from Van Cortlandt Park down to the lower west side of Manhattan (I map quested it to my office on Hudson Street).

The best end-to-end map of the Putnam and Westchester trails that I’ve found is this one, which also points out the Metro North stations along the way for those who want to take their bikes on the train. The site indicates that the Pleasantville, NY train station is the closest station – 1 mile - to the path: http://www.nycbikemaps.com/maps/north-and-south-county-trailways-bike-map/

This site also has brochures with maps for the Westchester trailways: http://parks.westchestergov.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1846&Itemid=4528

The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a 32-mile long walking and bicycling path around the island of Manhattan. The majority of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is physically separated from auto traffic, although there are several sections that require using city streets with motor traffic. This is a great site for New York City bike routes and paths: http://www.nycbikemaps.com/

So, you could actually ride from Brewster, NY to Manhattan – approximately a 60 mile ride - mostly on bike paths. I have now just added a new item to my bucket list!

A Fabulous Fall Foliage Fifty (Despite some lessons learned)

I can recall years past when my last bike ride of the season was the first weekend of October – often the MS ride in Manhattan. Once frost hit, I was done. There was a time when fall was my favorite season, but now I’m grown up enough to know that I dislike what comes after fall so fall and I had fallen out of love. After yesterday’s late October 60 degree, sunshine, fall foliage ride, I may just falling back in love.

We are fortunate to have a wonderful string of paved bike trails that span Putnam and Westchester counties, part of the rails-to-trails system, a 30 minute drive from our CT house. It is so expansive that we have yet to experience the entire trail system after 5 years of trying. Yesterday, we set out to “finally go to the end” of the southern route on a fabulous fall day. We still weren’t successful in our intended endeavor, although I did set a new milestone, not to mention reinforce some lessons learned.

We picked up the Northern Westchester County trail near Yorktown Heights and went south. “Let’s finally go to the end,” I declared. For once, we didn’t have any commitments containing our ride. About 10 miles into the ride, I realized I had forgotten to remove the granola bars from the box in the car and put them into my bike bag. No big deal, I thought – we can just pick up some food in route. About 15 miles into the ride, Mike informed me he had left his wallet in the car. Oh. Lesson #1: Always carry nutrients – and money.

We passed the southern point we had ridden to in past rides and at 18 miles came to what we thought could be the end of the trail. We were in an industrial section of a town and there no signs directing us. Strange. As Mike searched, I quizzed three riders who appeared from some undetermined direction. They gave us directions to go through town to pick up the path less than a mile away. We found ourselves on a busy 4 lane road with no shoulder and drivers turning in front of us into various stores – not my idea of fun and safe biking. Lesson #2: Consult a map.

Once back on the path, it seemed silly to just go a couple miles after all that effort so I said let’s go to 25 miles. I was also still hoping perhaps we would “finally get to the end.” Mike zoomed ahead of me as I began to realize I really needed calories. By the time he turned around, I could tell the return ride was going to be difficult. When we got back into the town, I seriously thought about begging for a free piece of bread in one of the restaurants. The thought also crossed my mind that perhaps the Sam’s Club would have free samples, but of course you need a membership to even get in the door.

“Only 20 miles to go,” Mike declared as I searched the woods for any sort of edible berry. At this point I was hallucinating that Power Bars were growing on the fall foliage and that the beautiful NY reservoirs were stocked with lemon lime Gatorade. Oh how I wished the couple with the flat tire was in need of my spare tube in exchange for fuel, but they were well prepared and mechanically inclined.

With 10 miles to go, I made my way onto the last stretch of the path only to have my eye turn dry and my contact fall out. Lesson #3: Always pack an extra set of lenses (we learned this when I had to bail out Mike on his century attempt with a contact lens). Fortunately, I caught it and reinserted it.

With 5 miles to go, I was seriously almost out of gas. My thighs were in pain and I gave myself a 5 minute break and tried to stretch and replenish whatever energy I could. I was never so happy to see the car at the conclusion of our 4 hour, almost non-stop ride.

I’m excited that I broke a record for mileage in one day, going 50 miles (technically I think I was about a tenth of a mile or so short and normally would have ridden a little extra just to be sure…but this time I’ll take a rounding up). Our long rides on Martha’s Vineyard to the other side of the Island and back are 42 miles and this year I felt my best ever completing them with all the training I’ve been doing so I didn’t anticipate 50 miles feeling so challenging. Of course, now I’ve learned what it feels like “to bonk” (aka hit the wall). This from Wikipedia:
Intense cycling or running can easily consume 600-800 or more kcal per hour. Unless glycogen stores are replenished during exercise, glycogen stores in such an individual will be depleted after less than 2 hours of continuous cycling or 15 miles (24 km) of running. Training and carbohydrate loading can raise these reserves as high as 880 g (3600 kcal), correspondingly raising the potential for uninterrupted exercise.

Despite all this, I enjoyed the ride and have been researching the trail system to plan our next ride – I’m still determined to ride to the end. Actually, I’m now fascinated at the idea of riding all the way to Manhattan (see my next blog on more information on the trail systems and bike routes). But for now, I must ignore the sore muscles and do a fall cleanup in the lawn. Oh yeah, the other adult reason why I fell out of love with fall.

A "Christopher" Weekend

My husband Mike and I have a term for when we stumble onto something unexpected but truly delightful - it's called a "Christopher". In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue -- we did the same this past weekend and were completely delighted by the Indian summer we discovered. Upon arriving on Martha's Vineyard, we found the natives busy preparing for the 22nd annual Columbus Day 5K road race. "Why not?" we (Mike, our friend Charlie, and I) all said as I proposed the idea. I'm missing racing already now that the tri season is quiet.

We stopped by the registration the day before and it appeared they were in need of some racers since we were numbers 53, 54, and 55. Our $15 got us a t-shirt, our registration, a bottle of spring water, and a snack bag clip (sometimes you gotta wonder how they come up with athletes' swag bag!).

Unlike my previous serious race endeavors, we did everything wrong the night before. Nothing like a greasy cheeseburger to sit in your stomach and plenty of alcohol to dehydrate us. And, the next morning while we at least thought to eat a bagel, the coffee only added to the dehydration.

There were no fancy timing chips for this race. All 191 of us (fortunately for the race organizers more people registered) gathered round, trying to jockey our way close to the front and we were off. I was surprised how quickly I felt out of breath -- I think by the time I got to the running in my tris, I was more warmed up. And then there was the issue of the jalapeño cheddar ground beef swirling in my stomach. Finally, there was the mid-day heat - a surprising mid-eighty degrees that along with the wrong beverage choices left me parched.

While there was one moment around mile two that my body was telling me to walk, I pressed on and crossed the finish line at 27:52 and placed 9/25 in my division - at 8:58 per mile it was faster than any of my tris and my normal treadmill pace. My husband, who is a natural athlete and works out every day but rarely runs, was 4 minutes faster than me. In fact, his running shoes are so old, he had to cut off a piece of flapping rubber!

We managed to get all 3 sports in this 3 day weekend - 2 bike rides and 2 ocean swims in addition to our 5K. The water was cold but manageable - swimming in the ocean on October 10 sets a personal record. It was a true "Christopher" weekend!

Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

It was a beautiful Pennsylvania Fall Weekend here and despite a cold, I was longing to ride my road bike.  Bella had her knee surgery Wednesday and she was recuperating, and on strict activity restriction.  So I spent the first part of the day running errands with her in her car seat, getting out for a few short walks.  I was tired from my cold, but still decided to go off on a long ride late in the day.  "What time will it get dark?" I asked my husband.  "Oh you should have light until 6:30, plenty of time," was the reply.  It's been a while since I took this route and I couldn't remember how long it took me before, but an hour seemed like enough time.  You can see where this is going again.

Hurry Home!

I started off my ride thinking that farms and biking don't mix, after a tractor blew hay and dirt in my eyes and left hay sticking to my chapstick for a couple miles.  After that, a field of damp hay waiting to be bailed gave me a sneezing attack.  Then I recalled a bumper sticker I saw that had made me laugh which read:  "No Farms, No Beer" and forgave the farmer, the tractor, and the hay.  As I pedaled along, it was such beautiful farm and countryside scenery that I easily lost track of time.  But I was slightly aware that the sun was gradually setting and picked up the pace.  These cows were so funny, they came running over to me like they had never seen a biker in spandex before.  I love this route because it takes me on some very familiar back roads where some of my high school friends used to live.  A large man in a tiny Prius drove by, and I figured out how the country could single handedly solve both the obesity epidemic and fossil fuel dependency... by creating a car that runs on the driver's body fat.  As I got back on the main road to go home, I noticed the sun was hovering just over the horizon and I had the feeling I wasn't going to make it.  I have picked up my husband at least a half a dozen times on his bike.  One time he got 2 flat tires and only had 1 tube, maybe he went farther than he intended or got lost, or ran out of fluids, or all of the above.  For the first time, I had to call him for a rescue!
The sun went down, it was getting darker and cars coming towards me had their lights on, not a good sign.  I relented and dialed the phone, he seemed excited that it was his turn to play support vehicle.  So we agreed on a meeting place and I turned around and rode fast to Royal Road.  We got there at the same time, and I had averaged over 14 mph and completed about 12 miles which was a decent ride.  I was saying to my husband that I must be considered a "real rider" now that he had to come and rescue me for a change.  Just then, my left clip got stuck!  I usually dismount to the left, and even though my right foot was out, I had already shifted my weight to the left.  I toppled over, crashing to the ground and making a noise like "waghghghgh"!  I'm sure some passers by got a good laugh, and we did too.  Yep I'm a real biker all right; after 40 you don't bounce as well.  But other than a sore ankle, I was fine.
Note to Self:  Get Dave the Bike Mechanic:  check my left pedal clip before next ride.     

My Next BHAG

Remember my previous blog about BHAGs - big hairy audacious goals? Now that I've completed 3 sprint triathlons and the season is pretty much over unless I would be willing to travel with gear via airplane to a warmer destination, it's time to set new goals. A month ago, I told my swim coach that my next goal would be to swim 1 mile non-stop freestyle by the end of the year. That would allow me to assess if I could do an Olympic distance race next year. I had visions of completing it exactly one year from the late December 2010 date I had my first swimming lesson with Matt.

So, within 2 weeks of setting the goal, he had me swim a mile worth of sets during one hour-long workout. The next week we did the same thing and in a subsequent swim I did 1100 yards non-stop freestyle in 30 minutes. Then, on Oct. 6, I decided I was ready to give it a try - I took it at a leisurely pace and completed at least 1800 yards (slightly more than 1 mile) in 51:22!

This isn't the first time I've set what I thought was a BHAG only to discover it wasn't so big, hairy, and audacious after all. NOW WHAT???? As visions of a Half Iron Man danced in my head, I had to remind myself that an Olympic triathlon will require me to dedicate 6-9 hours / week of training and that I have yet to run a 10K.

And so, the journey continues as I set out on my next goal for next season - an Olympic distance triathlon which will consist of a mile swim, 24 mile bike, and 10K run. It's a goal - whether or not it's BHAG enough is up for debate!