Lucky07

Rode up to Piermont this am. That was as bike-crowded as I've ever seen 9W (outside of the 1st nice spring day or the MS Ride). I guess the Marathon shooed everyone over to Jersey.

dendawg

Anyone riding election day?

MrCrassic 

I'm riding to and from work, as usual.

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Jrather

I'm doing 9W on election day after I vote, since I have the day off as a government employee. I may even do Bear Mountain and back, we'll see.

dendawg

I think I might join up with a NYCC ride thats leaving 72nd and Riverside at 9:30am.

project6

How many miles is the ride from 9w from the gw to bear mountain? Me & my friend rode up to the State line and back onto the GW down to Ground zero and back over the GW total of 53 miles. We've only been riding for a month so far. So wanted to get an idea of how far the ride up 9w is.

fatallightning

about 80 miles round trip. its hilly too near the end. nothing like the 53 miles you rode.

project6

Cool thanks. Is the Terrain mostly rolling or are there some tough climbs?

nycphotography

Post 589 has distance and route details. Enjoy.

nycphotography

If you guys turned back at state line, the you really didn't experience any of the tougher climbs on 9W. Try dropping down into Piermont and climbing back out to state line next time. Then you'll start to get a feel for what the rest of 9W is like.

From GWB to Bear Mountain and back you have mostly rolling w/ a handful of "tougher" climbs.

First, is climbing out of Nyack back onto 9W. Thats like a 300-400 ft climb, and fairly steep, like 10%.

Then, it's mostly rolling, but rolling enough to really wear you out. Then you have a 400ft climb before Bear Mountain, then back down to the river to start all over for the 1200ft climb up Perkins.

Coming back, you have the 400ft again, but coming back it's not as steep. Then you have lots of rolling hills, then a steep climb back into Nyack again. Then you have the two climbs coming out of Piermont, the first one (to the state line) bigger but the second one just annoying because you want to be done climbing.

Then it's a smooth cruise back down to the bridge.

This is a pretty tough day, especially for a new rider, and this time of year you have short days, so you can't really sit and rest too much along the way.

(and all the climbs are from memory, so if someone want so to add GPS dimensions, by all means....)

project6

Thanks for the info NYCPHOTOGRAPHY! yea def sounds like a tough ride; but does sound like fun. Might have to tackle that in the spring; and save the winter for training.

davids0507

Having checked out this thread using the search feature, I did the Bear Mountain ride today for the first time (solo), start/finish ~central park, just went up 9W (except near Nyack where I went along Piermont). Ok, so I only got halfway up the mountain -- the last bit of road was closed and covered in gravel and it was getting late (I started at 11AM), so I wasn't too upset about turning around. In terms of distance, it was my longest ride by far, but it's also flatter than northern California so I thought I'd be fine; timewise, it was only ~30 minutes longer than I'd ridden before, but I was working a bit harder here since I was doing all the pulling. It took about 6 hours 10 minutes, including breaks. The roads were clear (except for that one road up to the top, maybe there's a different way?) and the weather was great, I think it was at least a couple degrees above freezing the entire ride, clear skies, almost no wind. I saw several groups heading south from Nyack on my way out, but somehow I only saw one road bike going the same direction as me the entire ride.

The hardest part of the ride for me were the hills on the way back -- I was tired! But the bottom half of Bear Mountain wasn't bad at all, although I'm sure it would be harder to do the whole thing -- but there were several climbs on the route that were significantly steeper. I think the hardest hill was the one just south of Bear Mountain, but so much of the ride is more or less flat that it would definitely be fun in a group.

dendawg

Congratulations. You probably didn't see many cyclists out do to the cold weather and your late start. The road to the top of Bear Mtn. is Perkins drive, and it is officially closed(not maintained) from Nov. 1 to April 1. If there is no snow or ice it should be rideable, but if you have any kind of accident up there you might be on your own as cell service is spotty in the park and you only get the occasional hiker climbing up in the winter. The hill to the top is about a 2 mile climb of around 6% grade.

davids0507

Thanks, I'm definitely glad I didn't try to find a different way up. The road looked like it was covered in pebbles, it wouldn't have been a good idea to try it.

timmhaan

anyone doing any riding lately? i've been MIA most of this winter. haven't even been up and over the GW bridge since last year..urg.

fatallightning

if youre thinking of doing nyack to bear mountain on 9w, the section right by haverstraw, where the rock quarry and such is, had shifted lanes for construction. not much of a shoulder at all any more. contemplate ducking down through haverstraw along the waterfront and back up.

Mazaev

Same here. Busier this winter and my cold tolerance seems to have gone down quite a bit. Hopefully this will change as the weather warms up. I miss doing these rides.

Lucky07

Rode up to Nyack the weekend before last. It was sunny and a good day to ride. But there is still lots of scree and salt on the road. Bike got as dirty as it ever has. I did as well. River Rd. was still closed at the boat basin. It may be clear now. Saw a ton of people flatting. Still it was great to get out and ride.

nycphotography

I'll be up and down 9w all winter / spring... but I'll be on team rides. But I might sneak in a bear mountain day if I get a nice weekend day in march.

dendawg

Rode to Alpine last week. Had to take 9W as River Road is still closed. It was one of those drop dead 60F days we had. Was a bit much though as I hadn't ridden any kind of distance since the beginning of December. Can't wait for some nice weather.

Mazaev

Anyone up for a ride on Sunday morn? Nothing too far or fast.. figure Piermont or Nyack, maybe hit River road.

MrCrassic 

I'm down; what time?

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jeebusaurousrex

How early would the start time be?

Mazaev

Hmm.. how's 9 at the Brooklyn Bridge?

jeebusaurousrex

Dang, I'm out, gotta start earlier. 9AM will be nearly two hours into my morning ride.