This is all about long rides from GWB. That’s the George Washington Bridge, the iconic structure that connects the mainland United States to Manhattan Island. It’s the way New York City Cyclists most typically escape the water-surrounded Manhattan Island for long wheeled adventures
If you like riding long, now is a good time to explore new roads, new routes, and find new favorites.
Some think summer is the time to explore. I see the logic, but now, as the weather is getting colder, riding hard is trickier, and the cold air reduces the likelihood of taking the KoM on a Strava segement. So, December is a great time to bundle up, fill your pockets with food, plug a new route into your head unit, and wander some place different. Explore and experiment now, so you have new roads mastered by the time it starts warming up again, and you can once again focus on speed.
Bergen and Beyond.
Bergen County, which these rides go through, is both fairly confusing and decently organized. No road ever seems straight for long. There are lots of twists and turns. THere are lots of trees, so sight lines rarely seem good. And road names often change. But Bergen does some good things. The long roads are county roads and are numbered, with north-south roads odd numbers and east-west roads even. Bergen also has extensive signage pointing you to towns near and far, so if you get to a major intersection, you can quickly find out what the next town over is, and what the farther towns as well. If you know what town you’re heading to, these signs are gold. Finally, thanks to the end of the last ice age, most of the steep hills you encounter are are east-west roads, while the valleys generally run north-south. This also holds true for Rockland and Passaic counties, which you can also easily ride to.
“Wormhole” is a designation a friend once bestowed on one of these rides, as we did a three-hour ride without venturing on to 9W, or passing through, Nyack, Piermont, or River Road, the essential roads that too many city cyclists ride too many miles on.
Long Rides From GWB
All the above rides have been bundled together along with all the Westchester rides into a Wormhole Bundle.
Wormhole Bundle. Great for adventure, exploration, & training.
