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.