Seven days and 300 miles of pedal pushing:
We rode north to the start of the Cycling the Hudson Valley ride in (wait for it) Hudson, rode south while crossing the Hudson six times, then I rode north from Da Bronx while the other 100 riders proceeded south to the tip of Manhattan and the finish line in Brooklyn. Mary, alas, drove the last few days to avoid aggravating a tender tendon.
While everybody else had a touristing day in Hyde Park, we slept in our own beds for two nights.
Everything you need to know about modern bicycle touring:
The straight line along the right side of the map, from just below the New Croton Reservoir to Hopewell Junction, represents data loss from riding in a valley, plus knocking the coaxial power plug out of the battery pack where the South County Trail becomes one with Rt 100 / Saw Mill River Road for a few miles.
That last day had plenty of hillclimbing, even on the rail trail, but with a rewarding section of Rt 52 that drops 500 feet in a mile; I hit 41 mph while passing under I-84.
A good time was had by all!
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
9 responses to “Cycling the Hudson Valley: 2014”
The ride looks like great fun. But what really is impressive is that you did not miss a single daily blog post while on the road. Wow!
WordPress can schedule posts, so I queued two week of notes and then went offline during most of the trip, doing just a few comments when we passed through town in mid-ride.
I generally have a few posts in the queue to let me review them before they go live; there being nothing like reading a post a few days later to reveal (most of) the typos!
So, yeah, it’s a cheat…
41 mph, wow that’s cookin’ A couple of years ago I was riding down a steep hill which was somewhat damp and was very dark due to shade from trees. I felt uncomfortable letting it all hang out so I was riding the brakes pretty hard but was still going pretty fast. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill the rear tire blew out. After I wrestled the bike to a stop I got off to access the damage and my fingers were practically burned when I touched the still red hot rear rim. I guess the lesson of the story is to stay off the brakes and keep your insurance paid up.
I hit 47 mph once; never again. My next bike will have disk brakes, for sure: those cute little rubber blocks are so 19th century.
The road through Palisades Interstate Park was sufficiently wet and mossy that the back tire spun if I didn’t pay attention on the uphills. Didn’t seem to bother anybody else, but I crept downslope.
Falling over at zero mph has a lot to recommend it versus hitting the road at speed, although I heard Fast Freddy Markham (scary video) say that you haven’t lived until you’ve dropped a (full aero hardshell) ‘bent at 70 mph.
There is a certain wisdom to “never ride any faster than you want to crash”…
My buddy dBm observes that you should always stop the bike before dismounting!
[…] didn’t bring the HDR-AS30V camera along on the Hudson River ride, simply because each battery lasts about 1.5 hr in 1920×1080 @ 60 fps mode and I wasn’t […]
[…] saw those during the Cycling the Hudson Valley tour: riding during the day, camping and touristing in the […]
[…] took a river cruise from Hudson NY on the first day of the Cycling the Hudson Valley ride and, being that type of guy, I spotted this redecorated rail car on the east shore of the […]