zacster

I was up in the Berkshires this weekend with the family and the bike. After doing a nice ride on Saturday with some climbing that ended up a bit shorter than I wanted, and then being lazy on Sunday and doing things with everybody, I came up with the idea of riding the N/S county trails back to Brooklyn.

I was dropped off on Rt 22 by the Red Rooster (best roadside food in the state). I rode over to the trail head in Brewster, which had a little up and down, and then the first part of the trail was uphill. Once on the North County trail proper, it is what I expected, slight up and down (railroads don't like big hills), some original crossings on the bridges, some that take you down to street level and then back up. There were a lot of families with kids on the trail, but not so many that you couldn't ride fast most of the time. I did the N. County at about 22mph average since it seemed more downhill than up.

At three points along the trail you have to go out onto the streets/highways. This was the biggest problem as they aren't marked. At all. At the first you go along a highway that eventually points you back to the trail, and this wasn't so bad. Then you get to the Coke/Fedex/UPS facilities and there were no signs at all, and the trail head was partially hidden. The last one was the worst. You would never find your way back on without a map. There is no direct route, you end up on residential streets.

Another downside is that the curbs at the street crossings aren't level. And there were a lot of crossings in some parts. There were some root heaves so the surface wasn't always smooth, but not terrible.

The scenery is good in places, not so great in others. It was a railroad after all, with factories, warehouses, transfer stations along the way. There is also the high-tension power line that parallels it, and the highway that is visible in places.

When you are done with 45 miles of riding from the start in Brewster, you hit the dirt in the Bronx. The Van Cortlandt Park section is not paved, but there is no way off the trail at that point. I know the way from there and crossed into Manhattan on Broadway and took the West Side Bikeway. This was another mess as it was Labor Day with lots of Bar-B-Qs going and kids.

My total for the day was 75 miles of mostly flat, mostly peaceful riding. It is worth checking out even if it isn't your style of riding.

Papa Tom

Some of my best rides ever were on the N&S County Trails. 'Wish I had time to link them up with trails into Manhattan. Thanks for the report!

bktourer1

The westchester county site has the maps. One day they will connect the two trails

Lightingguy

I started to type a long reply but can sum it up by recommending that next time you bring a map.

This one is really good and took 2 seconds to find on Google.

https://www.nycbikemaps.com/maps/nort...ways-bike-map/

SB

zacster

I had a map. It was a warning that you need one. I generally ride without any kind of map, but I knew about these detours, and I knew they weren't marked by my first experience on the trail about 4 months ago when I couldn't get any further than Yonkers because of it.

Lightingguy

I think my tone was from a surprise at how negative your ride report read.

I have never had anything but a lot of fun riding the assorted paths, as they are indeed the South County, North County and Putnam Rail Trail. They are still a work in progress and a certain amount of detours are to be expected.

You also have to understand that some sections, such as between Briarcliff and Millwood are unfortunately also Rt 100, a result of the state highway planners deciding 50 years ago that the rail right-of-way was a good location to place the improved section of Rt 100. Nobody had heard of Rails-To-trails back then, so we are stuck with a 3 or 4 mile section of road to ride on, with it's attending "rules" as to what side of the road you need to be on. It's a decent road to be on though, with a good shoulder.

As well, the horrendous 9A section between the NCT and SCT in Elmsford is a work in progress and who knows if the county will successfully get assorted businesses off the RoW north of Rt 117 and there's a LOT of buildings and crap to re-locate !. Thus a BAD detour currently, but the map shows that.

And as to the comment "the scenery is not great in others", my thought was, better to see the back of a warehouse from a bike path, then the front from a congested highway.

And to look at the bright side of things, you rode 45 or so miles without having to deal with traffic lights (mostly), cars, trucks, exhaust fumes, endless turns on assorted roads, etc... It probably cut a 1/2 hr. off any route you would have pieced together on the road network and was far easier to follow.

SB

Lamabb

I just hate the van cortlandt park dirt path.... I just rode from the start in brewster down to times square and then back up! I took the N/S trailway to the paths in van cortlandt park to the west side greenway.

Is there an alternative to the van cortlandt part? I took my touring bike, but I'd love to do the same route with my Caad9

LongIslandTom

You can get off the trail at Alan B. Shepard Place (just before where it becomes dirt), and find your way west to Broadway (via McLean and Caryl Avenues) and ride that down into Manhattan.

Lightingguy

Anyone have any info as to when Westchester County is going to complete the section south of Tuckahoe Rd to Redmond Park ?. I rode the Mile Square Rd - Cook Ave. detour today, that's one hard little climb up from Tuckahoe Rd to this LI boy.

It seemed that there's no real infrastructure needed except clear it our, gravel and asphalt.

Also any idea if NYC is paving any of the Old Put RoW thru Van Cortlandt ?

Curious,

Steve B.
Cur

zacster

My guess on the VC park part is that it won't get paved. It is one of the wild areas of the park and they would like to keep it that way. I rode it on my carbon fiber road bike twice now. The first time it was muddy, with puddles in places, the next time it was dry.