I was in the area to complete a bicycle transaction in the neighborhood of Astoria in Queens, and was excited to see the famous Silvercup Studios neon sign, which was destroyed in the dramatic climax of Highlander, as I crossed over the East River on the Ed Koch (Queensborough) Bridge. Regular readers known that I am somewhat fanatical about finding toll-free routes, and this bridge was no exception. The more "convenient" through route, using the RFK and Kosciuszko Bridges, would normally involved an additional $19.00, and that just wasn't going to happen!
With traffic being relatively light on Easter Monday, I returned via the Ed Koch and drove up FDR and Harlem River Drives to meet I-95 and crossed over the George Washington Bridge to reach the start of my cycling trip in Fort Lee, NJ. That left the day's total tolls at only $16, when I used the Lincoln Tunnel to arrive in Manhattan!
Sue and I did a route very similar to the one I rode yesterday (read about it here), though we weren't so impressed by the Old Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park, so I instead rode along the very nice bike lane up Broadway, along the west side of the park to reach Yonkers. I then cut across the neighborhood of Park Hill - VERY appropriately named - to arrive at the South County Trailway.
I've ridden this trail several times, most recently during a May 1999 trip along the full length of this former New York Central Railroad line, so I wasn't surprised by a poor section of trail south of the town of Elmsford. There were a lot of uprooted cracks, sinkholes, and some of the asphalt seemed to have been laid directly over the old railroad ties and was now suffering from many winters of upheaval!
There was plenty of neon marking spray all over the pavement, so perhaps the trail is due for some maintenance in the near future.
On the other side of Main Street in Elmsford, the path becomes the North County Trailway, and I followed it for about five more miles until its intersection with Route 117, near Graham Hills Park. I turned west and hooked up with Sleepy Hollow Road, riding slightly downhill for about four miles through gently rolling terrain that reminded me a lot of the Valley Forge area.
The connection with the OCA (Old Croton Aqueduct) here is strangely hidden behind Sleepy Hollow High School. I'm not going to rehash the whole ride, because I covered it all in the previous article, but it was quite a different experience riding among the bare trees. For one, the cool stiff breeze sweeping down the Hudson gave me a good push all the way back. The lack of foliage also afforded nice river views as I pedaled south toward Yonkers.
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| The new Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (Tappan Zee) near Tarrytown |
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| The Palisades across the river from Hastings-On-Hudson |
I simplified my return route from the one Sue and I followed, heading down the east side of Van Cortlandt Park on Jerome Avenue to meet the Grand Concourse. I thought it would be fitting to return to Manhattan via the High Bridge, since it was part of the Croton Aqueduct system, so I made my way to University Avenue to meet that iconic structure.
From there it was a fairly simple linking of bike paths back to the GWB. I was somewhat shocked later to find the route contained over 3300 feet of climbing, when the (seemingly?) tough Tro-Bro Brandywine trip was only 2700!
Back in the shop, the repair business has really picked up, but I still had the opportunity to finish up Brendan's Peugeot PY-10FC. There was a minor complication to find a broken part for his Mavic rear derailleur, but that was just a matter of patience (and stretching it a bit with one particular seller). I had to find a pair of replacement Modolo hoods, some yellow brake cable housing and Benotto cello tape to match, and it was ready to go.
I'll close this article with photos of the bicycle:
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