Originally Posted by
dendawg
9W is nice most of the way to Sparkill. There is a section through Englewood Cliffs from Palisades Ave to E Clinton with no shoulder, and its pretty wide from there. At Sparkill you need to turn right on Rockland Road to take the road along the river up to Nyack where you can make a left on Old Mtn Rd to get back to 9W. Heading north you want to follow Bike Route 9. 9W is narrow and has no shoulders between the Sparkill Viaduct and Nyack. There are also no shoulders between Haverstraw and Stoney Point, where the bike route again takes you down along the river.
People like 9W and Bike Route 9 because they have some challenging climbs, but other than the camaraderie that comes with being with tons of other cyclists, there's honestly nothing too special in the route until you get in northern Rockland County and close to the Bear Mountain Bridge. Personally, I think the best way to tackle that route is to start at Harriman State Park near the Reeves Meadow area and climb up from there. The climbs are steep in some cases (about 10 percent), but they average about half that and the lower part of Seven Lakes Drive was just resurfaced last year, so it's still in great shape. Using this route, you don't have to worry about commercial truck traffic and traffic in general's pretty light.