Last Day: The City & The (Veritable) Jungle

The fifth, and last, day of the Ride the Hudson Valley Tour promised to be eventful — featuring a route the length of Manhattan Island from the Bronx. What I didn’t expect was a series of blowdowns blocking the trail early in the morning. I also didn’t expect Summer Streets NYC — when Broadway is shut down to traffic from Dyckman Street in the Bronx all the way downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge. A forty-mile ride in all with the 8.5 mile ride back to Moynihan Station to catch the train back home to Boston.

The previous night, Friday, I stayed in Dobb’s Ferry, mostly because I desperately needed to do laundry, take a decent shower, and most importantly catch up on sleep. It just so happened that a violent storm moved through the area packed with high winds, rain, and in some places hail. I was glad to be indoors in that case.

I was off to an early 6am start hoping to beat the most severe heat and humidity forecast for the day. Little did I know that multiple obstructions would bar my way. 

I was able to negotiate my way through the first blowdown blocking the trail, this was easy enough to move aside on my own.

But the toppled trees became more and more massive as I made my way down toward Van Cortlandt Park. I’d yet to encounter anyone headed in the opposite direction from these blowdowns.

Until I met a runner headed in the opposite direction who called out “good luck!” And then I saw what he meant — obviously this would get progressively more challenging.

At this point I tried to reroute myself out of the parkway onto surface streets, but a mile later I realized the options for bicycling through the area to Brooklyn were more challenging (read: dangerous traffic) and asked Google Maps to reroute me toward the Empire State Trail — all reroutes, including my query on Ride with GPS, had me returning the way I’d come: back the way I’d left and into Van Cortlandt Park. 

By the time I arrived back at the blowdown I saw some joggers trying to navigate it — but this center route was too difficult as it required going over the trunk and under some very large branches. Shortly after this picture the woman in the lead took a hard fall.

I’d have to tamp down one of the sides of the blowdown — about fifty feet off the trail. Soon I saw where . . . 

. . . this man was tamping down the west side (top of the tree side) of the obstruction. And another cyclist followed him.

My challenge was that my bike was in “fully tour-loaded mode” with mini-panniers on the fork and gravel panniers on my rear rack. Instead of making multiple trips and taking the panniers off the bike, I hoisted the bike up to hip level and tramped off into the trail the other two cyclist had tamped down. It was rough going navigating the brambles and poison ivy and thick underbrush around the downed tree.

No worse the wear, but quite itchy from the nettles and poison ivy — but not the end of the blowdowns either. They became easier to navigate through, but there were five major blowdowns in total. The previous night’s weather hit the area hard.

The entrance to Van Cortlandt Park was a quiescent contrast to the tempest-tossed jungle just a mile away.

Finally free of Van Cortlandt Park and onto the concrete jungle and clean streets of the Bronx.

As I had stayed in town (Dobb’s Ferry) the night before and not returned to camp for breakfast I was starved — and lucky — to find this farmers market opened early in the Inwood, NYC neighborhood. 

A lemon poppyseed loaf hit the spot, as the poison ivy itchiness kicked into high gear.

At Dyckman Street I had a choice to make: follow the mapped route via the Empire State Trail on the west side by the Hudson River, or do something novel and ride the entirety of Summer Streets all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge to Red Hook, Brooklyn — our finish line.

As you regular readers may remember I already did that section of the Empire State Trail earlier this year as I was completing my Key West, Florida to Maine ride, and with the heat moving in and copious amount of water breaks, food and rest stops on the Summer Streets route — I opted for the novelty of riding the entirety of the 14 miles of car-free Broadway. Only pedestrians and bicyclists allowed. No brainer!

All the way through to midtown . . .

… into the financial district in lower Manhattan …

… and onto the Brooklyn Bridge.

Somewhere along the route PTNY ran out of the dayglo pink paint they use to mark the route we follow…

… and fittingly opted for the blood-red paint on hand. It was hard to see this color on the dark street surface, and I wondered if anyone missed them and got turned around. Luckily, we were provided cue sheets to follow and had digital maps too.

Brooklyn Bridge Park was such a respite from the crowds, din, and general madness (a good sorta’ crazy) of Summer Streets.

The financial district as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park, and…

… off in the distance the Statue of Liberty …

… it’s getting hot, muggy, steamy and “stewy” and I’m so glad this is almost over at this point.

A fellow PTNY bicyclist finishing the 240-mile tour at Stong Rope Brewery in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Lots going on in this revivified light industrial area of Red Hook…

… especially as it is our finishing line. We’re done!

Yay! 

No more mid-to-late summer extended rides for me — after three Erie Canal Rides (2023-2025) and this Ride the Hudson Valley Ride — I’m done with the oppressive heat, humidity, wildfire smoke, tornadic winds, and general round the clock discomfort. 

Climate change is here and gaining force and I don’t need another bout of acute renal failure or emergency room visits. I’m a credit card bike tourist in the dead of summer from here on out — a light bikepacking setup, nightly showers and air conditioning in July and August for me. 

I’ve nothing left to prove in exchange for the extreme midsummer discomfort.

But I’ll enjoy this moment for all it’s worth. Albany to NYC in the books. At some point in an upcoming fall or spring I’ll finish the entire 750-mile Empire State Trail by biking the 200 miles from Albany to the Canadian border.

A fitting backdrop for a “Finish Line” across the sound.

Now I have to bike the 8.5 miles back to Manhattan and Moynihan train station for the 2:04 train back to Boston.

Back across the Brooklyn Bridge where I meet my fellow PTNY bicyclists on their way to finish the ride. Yay, hooray for all. We made it!

Now I’m really close to finishing…

… closer …

… and I’m done! At Moynihan Train Station. 

Day 5:
Start: Dobb’s Ferry, NY
Finish: Red Hook, Brooklyn, & Moynihan, NYC
Miles: 41.51

What I’m Reading:

I strapped my KN95 mask over my ears, ready to brave the grocery store.
Then I turned and saw myself in the grocery window, a tall and spindly
apparition with a beak. I was not man but moa, a large flightless bird
hunted to extinction, mounted in a glass case at the natural history
museum. I was ready to peck on the window…

— Martin Espada / “Love Song of the Moa” / Jailbreak of Sparrows