A road ride and mtn bike ride

The first warm day of riding.......

Once again, our rides diverged. Hank and Scott opted for a mtn bike ride; their pictures are above. I went with a road ride. Given recent snowmelt, I was fearful of very muddy dirt roads and trails, and damaging both trails and bike in the process. Plus a road ride on the first warm day of the year was enticing.

Four riding buddies invited me to go with them (Seb, Neil, Shari, Terri) but I (rightly it turns out from Seb's comment to me on Facebook) thought they would hammer and I'd be unable to hold on.

I did a one-way 78-mile road ride to Cold Spring via 9W, Tweed/Bradley ridgeline, Hook Mtn, South Mtn, the nearly 1'000 vertical Gate Hill climb and the highlight of the day: Bear Mtn summit via Perkins. This is a special time for riding up Perkins, given that it's closed to auto and motorcycle traffic till April 1. Just a few hikers up there, and I had the spectacular view to myself.

One interesting note on the train back - the conductor/announcer had a rhyme for every station stop like "there's no comparison to bein' in Garrison', 'ring-a-ding-ding, it's Ossining', and 'don't go bonkers, it's only Yonkers'.

Scott and Hank made me feel jealous, though, since their ride was great as well. Here's Hank's comment:

One fine ride: Manitou, S Mtn Pass trail to Garrison /w stop at White Rock, Snake Hill Rd, Philpse Brook Rd, S Highland Rd, Chimney Rock Trail /w stop at Chimney Rock, Dennytown Rd, 301 to Stillwater Pond via Lower & Upper Pasture Loop, 301 to Cold Spring.

Maybe I'll do a mtn bike ride tomorrow, depending on what I hear about the trails.....

Graham Hills Mtn. Bike.

I needed to pay a visit to family in CT, but decided to leave early and take my mtn bike. I rode the trails of Graham Hills near Pleasantville, NY for a couple of hours. Actually the trails were fantastic - generally snow, ice, and mud-free. The trails were hard and fast.

But on one descent while turning at a switchback, I hit a small ice patch and the bike skidded under me and I went down. Just a minor elbow scrape. It was not worth bringing studs, though. No camera, so no pics.

Hank and John's Adventure -2/28/09

Pictures above are from Hank and John's exploration of the Schagticoke and Skiff Mountain areas near Kent, CT. A lot more ice than expected.