More Bear Mountain Training Rides

So having only recently discovered the pleasures of a Bear Mountain training ride, it's fast becoming one of my favorites. It combines scenic and low-traffic roads with distance (70 miles or so) and climbs (4,500+ cumulative feet) that are both pretty darn challenging. Significantly, the effort and accomplishment of the ride also leaves me feeling virtuous enough upon its completion that a craft beer at the Peekskill Brewery, before boarding a Metro North train back to 125th street, feels well-earned and guilt-free. And the thought of that cold beer waiting afterwards is also a very good carrot for getting through the final climb to the tower at Bear Mountain.

One of the views from the top of Bear Mountain

Thus, upon returning from my 5-day Cape Cod ride, I decided to revisit Bear Mountain on August 27th. But I learned (or, more accurately, was reminded) from the Cape Cod ride that I really enjoy covering new routes -- as opposed to repeating old territory. So I went to what I think is the best route planning site in the business -- www.ridewithgps.com -- and searched for Bear Mountain routes posted by others. And found a bunch.

Now, in case you're wondering, if you want a good ride experience this process is not quite as simple as selecting one of the search results and going with it. There's a fair amount of diligence involved -- you open the route and scan it a closer zoom level to check out the roads selected. You check to see how many are on what Google Maps consider bike friendly roads (you click a tab and bike paths and bike-friendly roads show up respectively as solid and dotted green lines -- not fool proof, but pretty darn good). You might switch to a Google Earth view to see if the road is narrow or wide, surrounded by trees, or has a decent shoulder. And, although Google Earth represents a particular snapshot in time, it can also give you a sense of whether it's a road with a lot of traffic. You might also check out who posted the route, and have they posted a lot of others (kind of like checking out the other reviews of an Amazon reviewer to see if they're a one-off shill or nut). And then you finally settle on one and adopt and, if necessary, tweak it as your own.

So that's what I did (with a tip of the hat to a route posted by Busschops), and came up with a route that, like my first foray to Bear Mountain, avoided 9W (the most typical and direct way to go, but not so interesting scenically, and, although it has an excellent shoulder most of the way, is a fast road with a lot of traffic) and headed inland into New Jersey, away from the Hudson.

And it was great! Empty, well-paved roads. Vistas ranging from farmlands to amazing mega-mansions on Saddle River Road. And a well-placed deli (Elmer's!) at the 30 mile mark for replenishing fluids and chowing down some more carbs.

The only hairy part of the route is after crossing the Bear Mountain bridge, at the end of the ride, and heading South on Route 202 to Peekskill. There's no way around taking this road, and it's two way, heavily-trafficked and, for the first-mile ascends at about a 6% grade, non-stop, and has no shoulder. Not for the inexperienced or traffic-averse rider. But it didn't stop me from taking these photos:

A freight training passing on the tracks on the Palisades side of the Hudson.

A barge carrying a beam down the Hudson for the new Tappan Zee Bridge.

And, of course, the day's route: