WSKB

Hi there,

I've searched the forums and it seems people ride the north & south county trailways through westchester county.

My quick question is, are these good paved roads for road bikes? i.e. is the surface quality of good enough to rocket down on a road bike. I'm thinking of going from NYC up into Connecticut this weekend and these seem like the ideal routes.

Thanks!

Papa Tom

I'd say they are good enough to "rocket down;" however, if the weather is good, you will probably mow down several innocent little children on tricycles and a few elderly folks, as well. Do everyone a favor and stick to the roads. These paths are made for leisurely riders!

Lightingguy

Ditto Papa's comments

Go early enough and you tend to avoid the families, but it's not a time trial route. The road surface can also be bumpy (it's paved all the way) with frost heaves, etc... so you do have to watch the surface.

Still, it IS a great way to get north without dealing with lot's of roads you may not be familar with. Straight shot from Tuckahoe Rd/Touissant Ave in Yonkers to Elmsford (7.5 miles) , witha detour on 9A in Elmsford to Warehouse Lane (1 mile), then 31.5 miles to Carmel, all off road - 40 miles one way.

Just be patient with runners, dog walkers, walkers in general, and families when they show up, which is more on weekends in any case.

Steve B.

LongIslandTom

Even better, Putnam County is making good progress extending the northern end of the trail. It now goes past Carmel (the original trail end at Lake Glenida) all the way to Old Mine Road.

Putnam County will be finishing the trail all the way to the Metro-North station at Brewster by 2012.

Now if Dutchess County would hurry the heck up and finish extending the Harlem Valley Rail Trail (8 years behind schedule!).

Lightingguy

Tom, that's good news and it extends the Putnam trail by another 2 miles.

Curious, did they re-build the railroad overpass/trestle over Rt 6, just east of Carmel, or is it a street crossing ?.

Also curious as to how far south the Harlem Valley trail will go, as part of the rail line is still used north of Brewster as far as Wassaiic, so I'm curious if the 2 trails will ever connect.

Steve B

AdamDZ

Exactly.

LongIslandTom

Gotta love riding on a brand-new section of trail, with freshly-paved asphalt. So smooth.

They built a new overpass to carry the trail over Route 6 just east of Carmel, and when it crosses Route 6 again further east, it's an underpass.

As far as the Harlem Valley Rail Trail goes, they've been planning to extend it north of Millerton for ages, but nothing has ever been done. The last "update" posted on the Dutchess County website was dated April 2009 and apparently that stretch of the old railway right-of-way was tied up in red tape with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, NYS Department of Parks, NYS Department of Transportation, and the Army Corps of Engineers. It was supposed to have been finished years ago. Grr.

According to the Millerton News, NYS also received a $200,000 grant as part of the Federal stimulus funding to extend the trail from the Wassaic train station 1 mile south into the town of Wassaic itself. That's still in the planning stages though.

Currently, the Harlem Valley Rail Trail starts right at the Wassaic Metro-North station (at the station's parking lot entranceway as a matter of fact) and ends at Millerton 10.2 miles to the north. Beautiful place to ride during peak foliage season in autumn.

When they finally finish the Putnam County Trail to Brewster, I figure I'll ride that to Brewster, then another 30 miles north on Route 22 (which has a nice wide shoulder) to Wassaic and do the HVRT. A potential Century ride there.

Lightingguy

"When they finally finish the Putnam County Trail to Brewster"

Yeah, but the million dollar question is HOW do they put in a Rails-to Trail trail when the railroad is still using it ?. Unless MetroNorth is planning on ending service north of Brewster, it means building the trail adjacent to the rail road bed (or someplace else entirely. Not to be pessimistic, but I see all kinds of issues with that.

SB

LongIslandTom

I think you got it confused a bit..

The Putnam County Trail uses the defunct no-longer-in-use "Old Put" (Putnam Division) railbed..

The active tracks at Brewster is the Metro North Harlem Division.. The Old Put used to intersect with the Harlem Division tracks at a former rail junction there (where the Metro North station at Brewster is currently located).

They are just going to build the Putnam Trail along the old Put railbed all the way to the Brewster Station.

rumrunn6

they clean up the wind damage from this past late winter wind storms? any trees blocking the paths?

Lightingguy

Yes, I misread your post and thought you were talking about the HV Trail extending south of Wassaic to Brewster.

That would be a hell of a great run, but I doubt MetroNorth wants to give up the RoW.

SB

zacster

Metro North rebuilt the line up to Wassaic about 10 years ago, they are not closing down the line anytime soon. The few times I've taken the train to Wassaic its been full, but these were holiday weekends up to the Berkshires.

As for the connection of the HVRT between Millerton and Copake, there is a side road that takes you from one piece to the next that is a nice ride in itself. It runs parallel to Rt 22 alongside the ridge. I forget the route number, but from Millerton there's a traffic light on Rt 44 in town and that's the road.

LongIslandTom

Yup, Rudd Pond Road. I rode that once.. It was a bit scary because there was no shoulder along many stretches of that road, and cars tend to fly down that road at 40-50MPH.. After that one time I rode Rudd Pond, I decided to use Route 22 instead, nice wide shoulder all the way from Millerton to Undermountain Road (where the northern segment of the HVRT starts). Route 22 is a NYS-designated bike route too, which was why it has those nice wide shoulders.

zacster

Rt 22 always had wide shoulders. It is only recently that it was designated as a bike route. I don't like riding on Rt 22 as that's my driving route. There isn't much to see once you've driven on it a few hundred times or so. There isn't any shade either.

As for Rudd Pond Road, the day I rode it last there was hardly a car in sight. Its one of those roads where I always feel OK to ride as there is so little traffic in the first place.