A Little Hell, A Lot of Heaven

Oh Wow.


I set out to find the South County Trail again.
I keep hearing that the Putnam Trail is in fact paved and passable on a road bike, but considering the mini - disaster that was my last attempt through Van Cortland Park, I decided to give up on that for the moment. I skipped riding through the park entirely and stayed on Broadway heading north.
I think I can honestly say that the stretch through Yonkers is the most miserable I've been on a bicycle, without actually falling over. The traffic is terrible on Rt 9. It's all buses and potholes and cobbles and exhaust and then - hills. Hills, and hills and more hills.
I think I've mentioned that I hate hills. I'm not a triathlete. I'm not in training for the tour de Georgia (don't even get me started on that name). I ride for fun and because it's a great way to explore my surroundings. Ok, I mean there is a great deal of personal satisfaction in achieving goals and feeling healthy and strong, but I don't go looking for things to climb over.
Up and down, up and down, the wind whipping into my face off the Hudson. In the words of the inimitable Bob Roll, I was "Doing the PaperBoy".
I forget who he was describing when he said that, but unlike me, I think that rider bonked while climbing an alp.
I thought about bailing out, but I knew I'd just be pissed the whole way home.
Long story short, I found the entrance to the South County Trail at Barney Street in either Yonkers or Hastings - on - Hudson. It runs right between the Saw Mill Parkway and Saw Mill River Road - and it is heavenly.
Paved, shaded, tree-lined, smooth, picturesque and a complete and total surprise to me. In classic Bike Dummy form, I used to live about a third of a mile away from this path when I got out of college - and Friday was the first time I ever saw it.
I felt like I could go forever.
Unfortunately, I got a late start, so I started to lose the light around New Castle. I had just enough sun left to take a slight detour around part of the Croton Reservoir, dive down to the Mount Kisco Metro-North train station, and head home.

view across the reservoir to the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Research Center at Kitchawan

If anyone knows of a more pleasant way to get to the trail head from NYC, I'd appreciate hearing about it. I'm not even sure where it starts on the southern end.
To see my route, click on the map to go to bikely.com.

The Tour de France Makes Me Cry

Who thinks Al Trautwig is an idiot? Raise your hand.
I can't even watch the "expanded" edition of the Tour on Versus for fear that Al Trautwig's inane commentary will make me gouge out my own eyeballs. I wouldn't be upset about it except that it means I'm not getting my Bobke fix. You'd think that someone over at VS would have noticed by now that they've paired the comedy relief with the weather girl to anchor the evening news. Maybe now that it's not the Only Lance Network anymore they just don't even bother to watch their own coverage.
I finally got myself a DVR just so that I can record the live coverage with Phil and Paul and watch it while the prime-time show is going on. This kills two birds with one stone: One - no more Al, Two - I can fast forward through the six commercials they run every five minutes during their tour coverage. To add insult to injury, they're the same six commercials they ran last year during the tour. What is this, the quantity beats quality argument? Will I somehow become more disposed to like a product because I've seen the same commercial for it every five minutes for three straight weeks - for two full years? Could they only find five companies that thought it worthwhile to advertise during the Tour? (One company actually bothers to run two different spots - hats off to them) I've been considering writing one or two of the sponsors to ask them if THEY bother to watch the tour on VS - but my guess is 'no' to that as well.
I love the Tour Day France (as Bob Roll calls it). The majesty of it. The athleticism. The no guts, no glory, take no prisoners, no gifts, no free lunch, no excuses, single greatest epic sporting event 'epic - ness' - of it. Alexandre Vinokourov's seesaw ride back and forth between victory and despair may have me biting my nails this year, but it's the crappiness of the coverage that's making me cry.