Tandem Trail-a-Biking the North County Trail Way

Another great day to be out on two wheels, or in this case three wheels.  Took my sons over to the North County Trail Way just outside of Yorktown Heights to go riding with my father.  We tried riding here a couple of years ago with my daughter but ran into problems with her stamina and ended up not riding very far.  Too bad I never tried the Trail-a-Bike Train until the following year.

with our new, Tandem Trail-a-bike, I can expand our range and ride longer and further like on Sunday.  We ended up riding from Rt 35 in Amawalk to Mahopac, 6.5 miles in one direction.  With the exception near the Amawalk Reservoir the ride is a steady climb up hill but you barely feel it except in one or two places.

The North County Trail Way ends in Bladwin Place, which neighbors Mahopac.  Nice place to take a break and carb up to tackle the climb up to Mahopac. 

After taking our little break, dropping a few crackers on the ground, and a photo opportunity, we were off to Mahopac largely because my father has never been past this point.  Katie and I tandemed down to this point over the summer.

At Mahopac Station, we checked out the lake and climbed the fence.  There is a nice cafe in the old station but not a place where my two sons would be happy.  

This is the kind of profile I look for on a rail trail, nice and smooth but for some reason the GPS always starts out a little higher and ends a little lower.

It's Friendly's or nothing, and that is the beauty of Yorktown Heights, just a few miles down the road from where we parked, they have a Friendly's and a really nice park for the kids to play at, because that is important, too.  In some respects, the boys are just along for the ride, their reward is the Park, but deep down they like being out with their father.  Service at the Yorktown Heights Friendly's was painfully slow and it put at the park at 4 PM.  Then we needed a break so Brodie could use the facilities at the local KMart.  Then it was back to park till it got dark.

Next week, we are off to do the Monroe Rail Trail and go to Wolfe Park.

Tandeming Old Put

Found out earlier this morning that it was OK to ride after my Colonoscopy on Friday so I took my daughter Katie with me to ride the Tandem on the Old Put, or the Putnam County Trailway which is the old railroad right of way for the New York and Putnam Line. A couple of weeks ago I rode 20 klicks round trip on the trailway with my fixed gear pulling my son Brodie on the Trail-a-Bike but today's goal was to do the entire section, which is Brewster Heights to Baldwin Place and the boarder with Westchester County and the North County Trailway.

I forgot to bring water bottles so on the way over to the trail head, Katie and I shared a 32 oz bottle of Melon Powerade and then she got thirsty around 7 miles in so we stopped for a hydration brake.

There were quite a few cyclists on the trailway and I would say that 3/4s of the people we passed were wearing helmets the like the couple of above. Most people were riding either mountain or comfort bikes. There were one or two overpriced carbon fiber jobbie and a few guys riding old crappy ten speeds. None-the-less, it's great to see people riding.

This trunk bag that I bought last year with the insulation in it really comes in handy for these kinds of rides. The Strawberry Lemonade Powerade was ice cold along with the apple and orange I brought along for a snack later down the trail.

Around the 9.5 mile mark, the Old Put ended and the North County (Westchester) Trailway started. Reading the wiki article is very enlightening if you are into trains because I learned there was a branch line that went north from here to a place called Mahopac Mines. The only other branch line I knew of went from Mahopac over to Golden's Bridge. It would be cool if that section were opened up as an additional trailway.

By looking at the profile you are actually climbing up to Mahopac from Brewster and then it starts to descend towards Westchester. I would like to try riding from Brewster Heights to Yonkers some time, which I think would be around 100 miles round trip. That would have to be on the Monster Cross and I am thinking a ride like that would require quite a bit of water and snacks.

On the way back it was time for Tandem antics. I have found that Katie likes to ride without holding the handlebars. I don't mind most the time except when we are climbing.

At Lake Mahopac we stopped to take a few pictures.

The old station

Here is what you see at Lake Carmel

End of the line. Apparently the State of New York is going to extend this to the Southeast/Brewster North Station and it is rumored that it's going to run along side the Maybrook Line all the way into Danbury, CT!

Still haven't picked up a Tandem Carrier for the roof so instead I shove the bike into my car and it fits nicely, as long as the rear wheel is sitting on the center console.

20 Clicks on the North Putnam Line

I got an email the other day from EveryTrail.com of someone that lives near me and shares my passion for riding rail trails. Brodie had been bugging me all week for a trail-a-bike ride so I thought I would make it up to him and he would ride this section of the Putnam Country Rail Trail. Paved Railtrails and Fixed Gears are a match made in heaven.

This is a busy rail trail with many cyclists and walkers, even a few roller bladers, too. I didn't know roller blading was still en vogue. We passed this Father and Son duo about a mile back from this point but you-know-who needed to pee so they caught up to us. We passed them again shortly afterwards.

At the 10 Km point, we stopped for a light snack, a little apple juice and some photo opportunities. We hit the 10K point in 30 minutes.

There are straight stretches of the trail that are a mile long.

Funny how you only see old guys on recumbents. I think it was the rage twenty years ago and they never got rid of them but you only see old guys on them.

Back at the car it was time for liquids and having fun in the back of the car while I got things loaded.

Having not made it all the way to Mahopac my guess is that it's one gradual climb and then basically downhill to Yonkers.

The first peak in the profile below is the section that goes through Carmel. It seems that the original grade was changed making it a much higher climb to get over Route 6 than what the original bed did. There are quite a few sections along what we rode that were this way as well. Still, it was cool to be riding a piece of history.

I might try to do the three sections next month, which would make it my first 100 miler. Not sure I was to try that fixed, though. Probably use the Qball for that ride since I have slicks on it now.