Highly Anticipated...

Yes, indeed, it's the highly anticipated "blog about the bike ride to Piermont" blog. Or is that too many blogs? Hmm...anyway, it is true, that on Saturday I undertook a fantastically long bike ride...and sadly, did not finish it due to a minor injury. So, it ended up just being a somewhat long bike ride. I blame my equipment (as any true amateur has a right to) -- a recently installed rear rack to my bicycle which had the added disadvantage of rear weighting my bike so significantly as to induce strain into my lower quadricep muscle. This is perhaps incorrect as a diagnosis, but it's the best I can do on such short notice. In any case, without further ado...Piermont.

The road to Piermont from Brooklyn is quite a distance. It starts with a jaunt across the Brooklyn Bridge, across Chambers Street (bumpy, bumpy....paving seems to be optional in parts of lower Manhattan) to the West Side greenway. Up the west side greenway (quickly, quickly...I do so like the west side greenway's ease of use) all the way to a cross-over ramp/bridge above 181st St. It should be noted that there is one of the shortest, steepest inclines in a greenway before this ramp and it was probably here that I ended up straining my knee, trying to make a mad dash up the hill with an untested rear weight (no, not my ass!). In any case, across the ped/bike bridge, up a hill (another long-ish hill) and then follow the signs to the George Washington bridge bike path. It was quite cool on this particular day (another bad condition for knees, I hear...yes, this is all about my poor knees), but we made it across there...and that's when the road traveling starts in earnest.

9W is one of those deceptive roadways -- kind of like biking on the side of the freeway. Cars zoom by, but seem accustomed to the packs of cyclists that zip on the shoulder as well, so they tend to leave a wide berth. There is a stretch, though, that is under construction and the thought of hitting potholes or uneven pavement and sprawling out in front of a car going 50 did cross my mind, repeatedly. This, thankfully, didn't happen, although I did run into a orange pylon on the return trip (whoops! Sorry NJTransit...). 9W splits onto Sylvan Road which then branches off onto another road (which I can't remember the name of) that features a monstrously long hill and then a not as monstrously long hill. On the return trip, I was forced to run up the taller hill in order to prevent my knees from falling off. Kind of like a triathlon...in any case, be forewarned, it's quite a hill, if you're not used to hills (or, unlucky enough to strain a muscle). I passed through the quaint village of Tenafly and then took Piermont road out of there the whole way to the quaint town of Piermont. There seem to be an abundance of quaint towns.
Before Piermont (which is in NY, while Tenafly is in NJ), there is a small creek bed that runs behind a number of bucolic little cottage-houses. Picturesque, to say the least. I could imagine living in such lovely summer splendor...for about five minutes, before the sheer boredom and overwhelming upkeep on the house (not to mention the chance of eternal flooding) would send me screaming for the hills. Or some city with a good levee.

Piermont has a number of nice little shops, but sadly (for some odd reason) this particular August Saturday was freezing! So, I remained outside, trying to remain warm and had a yogurt and granola with my riding partner. And then, it was back on the bike and struggling to make it all the way home without causing irreparable harm. Unfortunately, I was only able to make it to 72nd Street before common sense kicked in and I hopped on a subway train (I love that you can take your bike on the subway here...) and made it home. I believe Piermont is 10 or 15 miles over the border and approximately 30 from Brooklyn. My measurements are always a little awry, so maybe it's only 7 miles over the border, and 15 round trip. In any case, it's not that far, and I hope to heal up and be in healthy enough shape to revisit it. Perhaps on a warmer day.