So I have a birthday / camping thing to go to the weekend of Sept. 1st and since we have quite a few cars going, I'm thinking it might be fun to dump my baggage into someone else's car and try riding out there. Google maps driving directions show the distance being ~130 miles.
It looks like much of the distance can be covered by getting on Route 17 in Jersey and taking that most of the way up. I haven't driven up 17 in years and don't remember it much. Does anyone know if it's decent for cycling on? Google directions suggest route 23, so any info on that would be welcome as well.
The distance itself shouldn't be a problem, but would imagine this route would include quite a bit of climbing. Does anyone know roughly how much we're taking here?
I have about a week and a half to prepare and am very, VERY open to route suggestions, among anything else that could prove useful.
I'm guessing that if I leave relatively early in the morning I should have no trouble getting there with plenty of sunshine left so lighting and finding the way in the dark shouldn't be a problem. Planning to pack very lightly with just water and some gels / Clif bars; maybe stopping for lunch somewhere mid-way, as well as water refills. While sight-seeing is nice, I'd really be aiming for speed here so I'd prefer to use the most direct way in (Coming back may be a different story).
Lucky07
08-21-07, 06:55 PM
Mazaev,
I haven't done much riding on that side of the river, but I know NY State has designated Route 17 it as a 'bike friendly' ride. You can check out the DOT site for maps & the Roberts site for a hill index.
Most of Route 17 is definitely not decent for cycling on.
NY Bike 17 is not Route 17.
Mazaev
08-22-07, 01:42 AM
Looking at the map, bike route 17 pretty much straddles the state line, which is quite a bit out of the way. I noticed there are several routes that are alternatively labeled "Old Route 17" mostly parallel to the regular one. Are those usable at all?
Having spent quite a bit of time googling around for maps and such, seems that this may be a more difficult project then originally thought. Guess I've been somewhat spoiled by how nice 9w is. Easy when the route dictates destination; apparently not so the other way around.
EDIT: The actual route suggested to drive there is Palisades, to Route 6, to Route 17. Route 6 seems to start right at Bear Mountain. Ironically, I'd have to turn off 6 to 17 right at the point where bike 17 begins.
So basically, getting to Bear Mountain is easy and familiar. From there on is where I am completely unfamiliar with the road conditions. I'm guessing route 6 shouldn't be too bad as it does, further west, actually contain the state bike route.
zowie / anyone: Are you by any chance familiar with route 17 specifically between exits 125 (Goshen) and 94 (Roscoe)?
dendawg
08-22-07, 05:26 AM
EDIT: The actual route suggested to drive there is Palisades, to Route 6, to Route 17. Route 6 seems to start right at Bear Mountain. Ironically, I'd have to turn off 6 to 17 right at the point where bike 17 begins.
?
Rt 6 Between Bear Mtn and Harriman is a 2 lane high speed highway. I'm not sure what the shoulder is like as I have only driven it. I just built a rough profile in Topo and it looks like about 7 miles of uphill followed by 2 miles of downhill to rt 17.. The first section from the bridge to the traffic circle I always thought of as being part of the Palisades Parkway as it is 4 lanes divided in that section. You might want to consider a route to Rt 17 in Suffern and taking 17 from there. 17 in NJ is anything but bike friendly. 4 lanes of heavy traffic for all the malls.
I have ridden the rail trail from Monroe to Goshen, and driven that section of the Quickway, and for the most part it looks like the old rt 6 is a service road for the highway so that should be rideable, but I don't know if or where any breaks in it might be.
Mazaev
08-22-07, 02:11 PM
Thank for the replies so far. While riding in Prospect Park, someone who apparently has ridden to the Catskills before suggested that route 52 is very bike able. Taking 9W about 15 miles past Bear Mountain connects to it and it leads almost all the way to Roscoe, where local routes shouldn't be a problem. Trip comes out to about 150 miles which should be quite doable as long as I get some sleep beforehand and carb load a bit. Supposedly, aside from a couple big climbs, the elevation is not that bad either (although I've learned quite well from the bikeforums dictionary regarding the literal interpretation of such statements).
I've put together a rough route over at Gmap-pedometer here (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1252274). If anyone's bored or interested enough to take a look, or is familiar with these roads (I've only gone up 9w to Bear, not further) I'd certainly appreciate suggestions or other info on this route. Thanks.
zowie
08-22-07, 03:11 PM
zowie / anyone: Are you by any chance familiar with route 17 specifically between exits 125 (Goshen) and 94 (Roscoe)?
It's a highway. Don't know that it's even legal to ride on it for most of that section. There are some big hills too.
The pieces of Old Route 17 I've been on were local roads.
I never thought about taking 52. The bits of it I recall were rideable, but I don't know one way or the other about the majority of it. Let us know how it goes if you use it, I might want to try it sometime. I was going to suggest riding west to Port Jervis and then finding your way north from there.
Mazaev
09-03-07, 06:38 PM
Well, this turned out to be an awesome ride. I went up considering coming back by bike as well, depending on how I felt, and was in surprisingly good shape the next day, despite some knee pain due to switching pedals at the last minute. Missed a turn at one point and went up the wrong mountain, losing an hour and a half, but other then that, everything went quite well.
Those last 40 miles were kinda tough, but the last 10 were brutal. Dunno what grade these things were, but I had trouble keeping my front wheel on the ground when mashing hard. Was all worth it for the ride back though. What on Saturday seemed like killer rollers, today were a seemingly never ending series of 40mph descents. The ride home was quite a bit easier in the climbing department (elevation profile below).
Only real issue I had, aside from my bottom bracket starting to make a knocking sound 130 miles into the ride was a nasty sidewall puncture in the rear that kept resulting in some dramatic blowouts, one during a 50 mph descent. I tried dollar bills and tape but it would blow every 40 / 50 miles on the way back until I ran out of tubes. Bike shops were all closed, but when I pulled into Nyack, some friendly cyclists at the Runcible spoon gave me a tube to calm my nerves as I really didn't wanna hitchhike the last leg of the ride.
Some people also asked me about road conditions. There were some newly paved sections on 9w north of Bear Mountain, as well as 52, where I was told previously was quite the mess. I found the whole route quite conductive to riding, save for a stretch of 9w around Westpoint where you're climbing a big-ass hill in 60mph traffic where the shoulder is more of a gutter then anything resembling a road. Here's the route I took, and below is the elevation profile.
Hey Eddy, David here (guy on the red Eddy Merckx).
Road conditions from Newburgh to Kingston on 9W this weekend: not bad, though I almost got hit by a car leaving Newburgh... The West Point hills were by far the longest of the ride I did; there was some road work under way around Marlboro (sp?), but nothing too special. There was also road work happening in Port Ewen (right before 9W reaches Kingston), but in a residential area.
I took Route 28 to 375 to Woodstock (I guess I was in a hurry; it's not the prettiest way, but I just wanted to be done!). Woodstock itself was a zoo, but I did some short recovery rides Sunday and yesterday around the Ashokan reservoir, which I'd rate as a highly recommended.
Congratulations on a tough ride, and thanks for posting it - looks a great one.