Originally Posted by
Attilio
Thanks for the suggestions. Was thinking of riding north towards Bear Notch Bridge and attempting a winter century. Yes while it will be my first one I have good clothing have done up to 35 miles in winter without any sign of getting cold as am all geared up. Only water was freezing and I just got some fancy bike compatible size thermos bottles to pour hot coffee into to keep it nice and warm throughout. I have to be careful to stay off certain trails and areas due to West Point as well but looking forward to exploring the woods and lakes region provided the roads are ploughed which by the presence of at last some private residences in the area I would think the roads would be cleaned up eventually should it snow. Will obviously call local authorities to check last minute. Looks like a VERY beautiful area
Do a route if you can on the west side of the Hudson. Crossing the Bear Mt. bridge either has you go north on Rt 9D (not terrible) or south in Rt 202, which is a really bad road to be on till you get to the Rt 9 junction. Its a hilly, slow, winding road, no shoulders and a ton of traffic that will not want to be behind a bike. Just heads up. Theres a rail trail, goes from Harriman to Middletown, 18 miles miles one way. I would drive to Harriman, do the trail, then extend out from Middletown to whatever distance you want. Note that Rt 9W is not bad to Highland Falls, but you cannot bike through West Point and 9W north is a Interstate type road, not a fun bike ride. The countryside west of the Bear Mt. And Harriman State parks has a better road infrastructure and maybe more options.