I love the trails on both sides of the Walkway Over the Hudson.
So we bet wrong on the weather.
Rain – thunderstorms – were in the forecast for this afternoon. And we had a 12:45 pm reservation at one of the Culinary Institute restaurants in Hyde Park. If we could get seated early, we thought, maybe we could beat the storm.
Hah!
Continue reading “Empire State Trail bike ride day 3: New Paltz to Poughkeepsie and the Culinary Institute”Hills, more road than trail … and the lunch stop you must go to.
What a change from our first day! Oh still ridiculously hot for June, but more road, more shade… and more hills. If you have any thoughts of a leisurely ride with the Hudson River in sight, let me kill that fantasy now. This was definitely more challenging.
Continue reading “Empire State Trail bike ride day 2: Hudson to New Paltz”The big surprise: a new 36-mile trail.
The first surprise of our journey along about 200 miles of the Empire State Trail: the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail. Is it really brand new, built thanks to the $200 million budgeted to develop the Empire State Trail?
Just call it amazing. Or as the Brit said, it could be in Canada (we biked just a little bit of the Route Verte a few years ago and loved it).
Continue reading “Empire State Trail bike ride day 1: Albany to Hudson”Suggest some must-eat restaurants and cool historical sites along the Empire State Trail.
New York State has opened the 750-mile Empire State Trail — along the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo plus a route from New York City to the Canadian border. Admittedly it’s not all trail, separated from traffic, but 75% of it is. It’s stunning what was done in four years: taking plans that were just on paper and building 180 miles of new trail that closed many gaps.
I’m ready to test out part of it. And since Amtrak has become a bit more bike-friendly, we’ve decided to take the train to Albany and pedal to New York City next month.
Continue reading “I’m planning a bike ride from Albany to New York City along the Empire State Trail — got any tips?”Sometimes you just suck it up.
Sometimes you just have to suck it up and ride hills.
We had decided we wanted to ride Bike New York’s annual Discover Hudson Valley Ride. And while we came to our senses and opted out of the 75-miler (with 4,000+ feet of climbing!), the 55-mile route still came advertised with 2,900 feet of climbing.
Time to try something other than our usual. Continue reading “Hills and more hills with Bike New York’s Discover the Hudson Valley bike ride”
Exploring by bicycle 