A 60 mi. route that is challenging, scenic, and, maybe best of all, very lightly traffcked.

Here is the route sheet of my weekly ride during pleasant weather. Richard's Route (PDF) The distances on it are not nearly precise but they are close to correct. The route sheet further differs from a cue sheet in that, with my commentaries, it's as much editorial as it is cue sheet.

River Road (Henry Hudson Drive) is the second most beautiful road I've ridden in the U.S., after only Hgwy. 1, the coastal road from Pebble Beach through the Big Sur in California. If you ride in New York City, you must ride it. It starts only eight miles from Central Park! It is 7.5 miles long, starts under the George Washington Bridge, and traces the Hudson River's edge on one side of the road and the Palisade cliffs on the other. There are wild flowers, waterfalls, and a cathedral effect of overhead trees. There are climbs throughout it. It ends with a .75 mile uphill (1.3 mi. if you go down to the water before turning around and going up to the PIPC HQ).

I've described the route as scenic. There are many gorgeous photos of cycling on River Road. I leave beauty to others. But see here for yourself the work of a naturalist who beautified the wooded climb that is Bradley. (My political prejudice is such that I strongly suspect this is the work of a man who rants about cutting back government. Question for him: Hey, schmuck! Yeah, I'm talkin' to you! Who do you think is going to dispose of your trash, you lazy, dirty, inconsiderate slob, other than the government's trash removal/sanitation department?)

April 17, 2001. Is this naturalist the same putz in a pick-up a short distance away
who, when I  motioned to him to slow down (without using my middle finger),
thoughtfully replied, "Fuck you!"? Nah, I think he is a different putz.

Since the general tone of this Website is constructive bitching, l cite a profoundly stupid placement of an important warning sign on Tweed Rd., around the 32 mile mark. Tweed is a terrific road: it parallels the Hudson above Piermont with views of the river from on high; it has very little traffic; and it is wonderfully shaded. However, if you're riding it from north to south, as my route does, it ends in irresponsible road engineering. You're riding 22-23-24MPH. All of a sudden it ends with a 90º turn into a short, 16% downhill that dumps into 9W with its oncoming traffic and the drivers won't see you.

Below is the so-called warning sign of the turn. You're a scant, fifteen yards from that sharp turn onto the steep downgrade, and this is what you...uh...saw....

See the sign warning of the 90º turn onto the 16% downgrade?
Good, visible placement of the sign, isn't it? Answer: No.

The obvious, common sense solution is to put the sign on the other side of the road where drivers and cyclists are far more likely to see it in time for it to register. If Orangetown has enough money in its budget for a bit more paint, adding the grade is a very steep 16% would also be useful.

Aha! But look what didn't bloom in the Spring, 2011: the public servants chopped the bushes.

April 17, 2011. They're gone! The view obstructing bushes are completely gone!! 

Further proof, my riding buds, if you will bestir yourselves to
engage your civil servants civilly you, yes, YOU can produce changes.

May 7, 2011. Oops. It's baaaaack! Nature will do that to you, won't she?
O.K., it's (past) time to move the sign to the other side of the road.
And while you're at it, Orangetown, by all means, please help yourself to my sign design.

The last climb on my route is Eisenhower (13-14%%) or Speer (same). (See map below). Gear your bike for the ride mindful of this.

Eisenhower is in a development called Rio Vista. The homes just off 9W are shrines to excess and alters to bad taste. Example:

Proof that class is not synonymous with wealth. 

(I've written only two witty things about cycling. One is: Did you ever hear two men at the top of a climb
comparing the sizes of their cogs? Only in this smaller is better. Damn! Just when I found something I was big at!)

(I hasten to add, while I'm an enthusiastic uphiller, lest this hilly route suggest I'm also a competent one—I'm not. I'm bad. Very bad. Really bad. Terrible. Surpassingly awful. Rotten. I stink. In the extreme. I simply cannot ride a bicycle uphill. It must be a congenital defect. Coming out of potholes are daunting uphills for me. Bounding up over curbs are daunting uphills for me. I have to blood dope to get up driveways. Nevertheless, having said all this—unfortunately without so much as a single syllable of false modesty—climbing is the most fun I have on a bike. The real meaning for you in all this is...if you're riding with me, alas,
you're also waiting for me. Atop the climbs. Please do so with compassion for geriatrics.)

Click on the link of the Google map, below, to enlarge it and read the route directions.