roninguy

I was thinking of riding the metro north to Brewster NY than biking back home to Manhattan. Has anyone ever done this via the north county tail way? is it OK for a road bike or should I find another route

Homebrew01

You could also post in the "Regional" forum, in case anyone looks there.

https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/

Steve B.

Fine on a road bike. The NCT and SCT may be a bit beat up with frost heaves, so maybe watch your speed.

The NCT in Brewster is a mile west of the Metro North station. Head left on Rt 6 and up the hill, watch for Putnam Ave. on your right, the path is at the junction of Rt 6 and Putnam.

Some slight on road stuff in Mahopac, easy to follow. Then another on road (rt 100) south of Millwood, but it's all marked.

At the southern end of the NCT in Elmsford, head east 1/4 mile on Warehouse Lane to a right on 9A. Then south for 3/4 miles on a busy 9A to Rt 119, a right and the SCT is immediately on the left. South for 11.8 miles to Van Cortland Park,, then another 1.6 on the dirt to the VCP golf course lot. I measured the Brewster station to VCP golf course as 53 miles, one way

Is the VCP dirt doable on 23mm tires ?. Sketchy if it's just rained. 28mm's or bigger are better.

CbadRider

Moved from general Cycling to Northeast regional.

roninguy

Steve B thanks for the response. I did the Vancortland portion on a road bike thinking it was going to get better as I went. On the return went through Yonkers surface street too bad they dont fix the Van Cortland portion of the trail.
So the North County is paved like the south County, I will keep an Eye on the weather and try this ride soon. Just looking for new stuff outside of crossing the GWB and doing 9w

trek330

From my house in Inwood at 212th st. and Broadway its 100 miles r/t.Mostly flat and just lovely the whole length.Enjoy!I've done the full route,twice.

Steve B.

If you choose to skip Van Cortland, then the first/last access point to local streets To get on/off the SCT in Yonkers is at Alan Shepard Pl.


And, yes all the NCT & SCT is paved.


The county SCT map is here, there's also one for the NCT


https://parks.westchestergov.com/imag...dfs/sctmap.pdf


As well and be aware that the trail is called the Putnam Trailway in Putnam County, so at Tomahawk St in Baldwin Place, the trail becomes the NCT (it's the Putnam - Westchester border).

rfomenko

I did it on road bike once but now ride on my cross with 32 mm tires. Much more comfortable this way & just as fast.

roninguy

I have done a little of the trail and it was nice. The yonkers surface street getting to the start though is some serious hills.

zacster

I've done the ride from Brewster to Brooklyn a few times on my 700x23 tires. When you start in Brewster it is slightly uphill for a while, and then it is slightly downhill the rest of the way, or so it seems. Someone once posted the profile and it isn't quite like that. I know after a certain point I go flying. The VCP section is rough. There is a movement to get it paved, but even as a cyclist I think they should leave it as it is. There are very few spots in NYC like that.

dendawg

Paved all the way through to the bronx, then unpaved through Van Cortland park but you can switch to local streets

zacster

There is no exit at the city line though when you hit VCP, you have to get off it in Yonkers.

Steve B.

"If you choose to skip Van Cortland, then the first/last access point to local streets to get on/off the SCT in Yonkers is at Alan Shepard Pl. "