Hyde Park Double Century

Having had to abort my Hyde Park double century a little over a week ago due to my little bike accident, I was looking forward to this ride more than ever.  I left my house loaded for bear and carried with me enough food and equipment necessary to get me through the day.  Basically I had with me:

• 2 x 24oz water bottles filled with 600 calories of Hammer Nutrition Heed each.
• 1 x 2 liter Camelbak filled with water
• 3 x 6 serving gel flasks filled with Huckleberry Montana Hammer Gel
• 1 baggie filled with Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes, Endurance Amino and Excedrin
• 3 spare tubes, 1 pump, tire levers and patch kit
• Electronics  – Cell phone, spare batteries, GPS
• Lighting – 2 head lamps, 3 safety lights, plus 1 reflective vest
• Arm warmers, plus a long sleeve shell I purchased along the way

I think all the gear, food and water I had with me more than doubled the weight of the bike.  I figured though that it could only help me in the long run as I struggled up the steepest hills I could find.

For a change of pace, I headed to the George Washington Bridge following the route I usually take to commute to work, then through Central Park and up Riverside Drive.  I was tired of the time it took to navigate up the West Side Greenway and the slow going as you reached the end of the path.  I wanted to get out of the city in a hurry to make sure I got in all the mileage and hills I had planned for the day.

Things went pretty well until I reached the end of River Road in NJ.  This is when my Polar G3 GPS receiver started to give me grief.  This device frustrates me to no end, but I insist on carrying it so I can memorialize the route I took.  I wasted so much time over the next 20 miles trying to get it to work properly.  I am jealous of my friend who has the latest Garmin unit.  Not only does it never give him any trouble, it gives him information such as Average Moving Speed and Average Cumulative Speed.  Both are important to me when trying to figure out if I am moving fast enough to make a 48 hour cutoff in the Furnace Creek 508.

Eventually I got the thing to work correctly, but this was not before I had already climbed one of the steepest hills of the day.  I am referring to Clausland Mountain Road, which starts off so steep, that my front wheel never fails to start leaving the ground when I first start out on it.  After this hill, I have some moderate rollers until I get myself into Nyack.  I usually take my first break of the day here, which happens to be the 40 mile mark.  This day I stopped at the Runcible Spoon and had a lovely bowl of warm oatmeal with raisins and honey.  It was just the ticket as I was feeling a bit hungry and cold.

Feeling a bit cold was my theme throughout the day.  I guess I’ve gotten used to riding around in 90+ degree temperatures over the summer.   The temperature this days was in the mid-80s but for some reason I was still feeling cold.  I had a pair of arm warmers with me, but I didn’t think they would be enough for when the night riding arrived.  I decided to stop a Toga bike shop just after Nyack, but I arrived 15 minutes before they opened.  I really didn’t feel like waiting around for them to open and I couldn’t convince them to let me in a little early.  Oh well, they lost a customer.  I knew of a bike shop in Cornwall, which was quite a distance away at this point, but I decided I was better off hitting the road now and hoping the Cornwall shop has something I could purchase.  I hoped I didn’t regret my decision.

I continued on my merry way and headed up 9W to Route 304.  It is off that road that I am able to get to a steep climb called Little Tor/County Route 33.  It is always a bit of an effort to climb Little Tor and my plan for today was to climb it when I started to head home.  That was not to be this day, but more on that later.  Route 33 took me to Route 94 which cuts into 98.  At some point over the last few weeks, they put down loose gravel on 94, which made riding on it very treacherous.  I almost went down a couple of times and hoped that they didn’t do the same thing on 98. 

Fortunately, 98 was untouched, and I began my climb towards the junction of 106 and the climb into Harriman State Park.  This is a significant climb that I really like to do the downhill way.  Going downhill I can reach speeds greater than 50 mph, but uphill, the best I could muster was no more than 10 mph.  I cut left on 106 to the Church in the Wilderness so I could get onto Lake Welch Drive for the descent to Tiorati Brook Road.  That was another significant climb and would take me to Lake Tiorati, where I planned to take a quick bathroom break.

I left Lake Tiorati and head onto Seven Lakes Drive towards Bear Mountain/Perkins Drive.  I did my usual climb and ate a Hammer Bar once I reached the top.  I spoke to a motorcyclist for a while and we compared notes about riding.  I asked why so many people with motorcycles like to climb Perkins Drive to which he replied that motorcycles like the long and winding roads.  I wish they would go someplace else, because it can be disconcerting to have 50 motorcycles roar past you when you are struggling up the climb.

After the climb up Perkins, I headed towards Cornwall.  I made it there without incident and found the bike shop I had heard about.  It’s called Bryans Bikes and the people inside were very friendly and the shop was well equipped.  I found the perfect jacket/shell that I could wear later that evening.  The people working in the store looked at me a little funny when I told them I was a bit cold.  It was after all in the 80’s and they inquired as to whether I was feeling well.  I assured them I felt fine and told them the problem was mostly on the down hills.  The sun wasn’t shining and the lack of its rays on my skin kept me from warming up.  I decided to put my arm warmers on at this point and to pack the jacket for later.  I got back on the road and then headed for points north. 

I soon passed the Beacon-Newburgh Bridge, which henceforth set a Personal Record for how far north I traveled with each additional roll of the wheels.  It was at this point that I began to feel anxious about the ride.  I was now on unfamiliar territory and with each pedal stroke I was heading further and further away from home with an undetermined distance still ahead of me before I reached my turnaround point.  It was already pretty late in the day and I began to wonder if I would be able to make it back to the George Washington Bridge before it closed down to pedestrians for the night.  I contemplated alternatives to the GWB to make it back home, which included riding on the east side of the Hudson back into Manhattan.  I decided I could make that decision when I reached the Bear Mountain Bridge later on.

I continued to travel north until I made it to the Walkway Over the Hudson which is just north of the Mid-Hudson Bridge.  The bridge and area was quite bucolic and there were pedestrians and cyclist alike enjoying the crossing over the Hudson.  I stopped to take a couple of pictures and then made my way over it.  Once on the other side I inquired about how much further away was the FDR Mansion.  I debated just starting to head home from here, but was told that the mansion was only about another 5 miles away.  Having come this far, I couldn’t exactly just start heading home. 

I snapped a few photos in front of the FDR Mansion and then got to the business of pedaling my ass back home.  There was no clear cut way for bikes to head south, as route 9 became cars only after a few short miles.  I used my sense of direction and proceeded in a southerly direction.  After about 20 miles or so, I really wasn’t sure where I was and I couldn’t get a handle on it by using my GPS.  I was in a really poor neighborhood, but took a chance on asking someone for directions.  The person I asked knew the area very well and got me moving again in the right direction.  His directions were spot on and I soon found myself in Wappinger Falls and on Route 9D, which is familiar territory. 

I took 9D down to the Bear Mountain Bridge and decided to cross it to the west side of the Hudson and take my chances making it to the GWB in time.  I stopped at the entrance to Bear Mountain Park and called a friend to ask his advice as to which way I should go home and how much more I should do.  We decided that I had time for one more ascent of Bear Mountain, but not enough time to go back to Harriman State Park to do the Lake Welch Climb, nor the climb up Little Tor.  I was disappointed with that assessment, but I wanted to play it safe, rather than sorry. 

As I began the climb towards Perkins Drive, I saw some poor slob had spun his car off the road into a ditch on the side of the road.  It was a brand new car and I should have taken a picture of the scene, but it was really getting late.  I made my climb, had a PB&J and then made with the business of getting home.  First though I put on my lights, the jacket I bought and a reflective vest.  It would be getting dark very soon and I didn’t want to take a chance or stop to do so later on.

Fortunately, the ride down south on 9W was uneventful.  I didn’t encounter anyone too obnoxious on the road and for the most part drivers gave me a wide berth and didn’t buzz to close to me.  I just kept my head down, my eyes on the road and pedaled as fast as I could towards the GWB.  I only made one stop along the way to get some water at a gas station with a food mart.  The clerk behind the counter mumbled something about me not being allowed to bring my bike inside, to which I ignored so much that he probably thought I didn’t hear him.  In any event, he was going to have to physically throw me out of the store if he gave me anymore shit about my bike.

After refueling, I didn’t need to make anymore stops and hammered south.  I made it to the GWB with a half hour to spare, arriving at 10:30pm.  The bridge supposedly closed at 11pm, but I wasn’t sure if it actually did.  I asked a security guard on the bridge and was told it actually closes at midnight.  I groaned a little bit, because this meant that I actually had time to do the extra hills I wanted to do, but perhaps that was a good thing.  I could have gotten a flat or other major mechanical breakdown and then I would have been screwed.

I didn’t get home until around 11:45pm.  Fortunately, my brother-in-law was over my house earlier and had picked up a roasted chicken with accoutrements for me to eat.  I devoured the chicken and also drank a Hammer Nutrition protein shake.  Right after that it was off to bed, as I had another long ride scheduled for the next day… But that is another story.