heckler

The week of the 18th i will be camping in the south western Catskills (between denning and livingston manor). I will be bringing both my road bike and mountain bike. Does anyone have any good rides around there? Or at least which roads are crappy to ride on? I don't mind traveling a bit to get in a good ride. Some days the fiancé will come so some easier suggestions welcome too. It doesn't seem like there are actually that many roads inside the park area.

I know a "certain" member from chester NY who might know something about the area.

ShadowGray

Do you need your cat skills to ride in the catskills?

TheKillerPenguin

I lived in Windham for 7 years and still am around the area. SW Catskills- around Big Indian and Fleischmanns?

heckler

looks to be about 30 min south of Big Indian, and I certianly hope i don't need cat skills to ride in the catskills. I am just looking for some moderate hills (since thre are none where i live in South Jersey) and little traffic.

atbman

Dead mouse skins?

TheKillerPenguin

Ahh, I ride through there sometimes on my longer rides.

Moderate I can't help you with. I can point you towards big ones though.

Slide mountain will be right near you. Climbing up that is pretty epic. It starts out gradual, but the last few K are very steep. I'd recommend that just so you can say you did it.

On the other side there's a gradual descent through a valley, but if you do that on a loop any ride you do is going to be pretty long. On the other side, you can get to Sugarloaf Rd which is 3-4 miles at 8% or so, Glade Hill, which is 2mi @ 14%, some other road that goes down the other side of the hill glade climbs up that avg's 9.5% for 2 miles.

If you take 28 east, it'll take you to Phoenicia. If you take 214 up that, there's a nice gradual 10 mile climb that avg's 2% or so. Pretty area. That'll take you up into Hunter where there's lots of smaller climbs. If you take a left onto 23A, you can eventually loop back down to 28 via rt42 in Lexington. There's a decent sized climb that you have to go up, but its not all that challenging.

On the mountaintop in Hunter, you've got many options. take a left on 23A and you can go to rt296. That has some nice rolling climbs. If you take a right, you can go to Tannersville. Note that most of the roads that branch left (example, scribner hollow road) are nice sized climbs that go up to 23C, which is basically a road that consists entirely of rollers and decent sized climbs. In Tannersville, you can go left at the traffic light and you'll wind up climbing to 23C that way. Its a pretty view at the top, a nice stone church is there and there's a good view of the valley.

Back to Rt 28- if you take rt28 past phoenicia and go towards woodstock, you can get to a few killer climbs. Devil's kitchen can be found by taking some back roads...its the hardest climb I've ever done. Worth it just to say you've done it. By taking back roads you can find your way to Palenville (the way escapes me, but you should be able to figure it out on a map). Palenville is at the base of a climb on Rt23A that is, IIRC, 3mi at 7.5% or so. Its a beautiful climb, cliffs on one side, a ridiculous waterfall to take pictures of, etc. Taking this climb will take you up onto the mountaintop where Hunter and Tannersville are. In other words, if you're feeling adventurous you can take this way to get to 23C, or you can just ride 23A into Hunter and take a L on 214 to get back to phoenicia and ultimately to 28.

Once again, if you take Rt28 east, you can bear right on 28A, which you can take to get to Peekamoose. Its a gradual climb for the most part, but the last 3/4 of a mile avg's 16%. After going over it, its a nice gradual descent on a badly paved road, which will take you to the base of Sugarloaf, which you can then go up and eventually find your way over to the gradual side of Slide Mountain. The descent down the steep side is a hell of a lot of fun!


There's some more I can point you towards if you'd like. Hopefully this helps you out.

heckler

thanks KP

kring

One of the nicest road rides you can go on in all of the Catskills is just down the road from Livingston Manor. I did it this weekend and try and get in around 10 runs a summer. it's a ride around the Pepactic resivoir. Here's a link to my ride at MB so you can see the route. it's 35 miles around the resivoir with about 2600ft of climb, and for the 20 miles on Route 30a I would be shocked if more then 2 cars passed you. As you can see on the elevation chart, if you start at 30a in Downsville you get 3 fantastic climbs then have rolling flats the whole return and then about a 3 mile downhill return where you can fly (40+mph) Road conditions are fantastic, just paved this year on 1/2 and last year on the other 1/2. Depending how long you want to go for, you could either do it twice or while on the backside there are all sorts of alternate routes to go on. If you started in Roscoe you could go to Downsville, around the resivour and back to Roscoe for approx 60miles. Or right from Livingston Manor it's probably 70ish.. All great rides. The ride from Roscoe to Downsville does have some sweet climbs.

Oh and while at Roscoe stop at a place called Buffalo Zack's on the corder by Orvis... fantastic food.



Link to MB Ride:
https://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6482686