Empire State Tour 2021 - Day 7 - Mahopac to Battery Park

 We have completed the Empire State Trail.

That's the Statue of Liberty next to proud Max's cheek. We are in Battery Park, at the end of the trail.

It was a really nice day today, 55 miles, almost all bike path. There was about 3 miles on roads in the Bronx and in the north tip of Manhattan. It's all rail trail in Westchester County, and there is a bike path the entire length of Manhattan along the Hudson River. It was a terrific day to end the tour. (For Max, it ends the tour. I'm riding the rest of the way home.)

The Budget Motor Inn of Mahopac does not have spurious fripperies like coffee machines in the room. Or in the lobby. In fact, it does not even have a lobby. So we had to get going early to get some breakfast, which was at The Bagel Emporium seven miles down the trail in Yorktown Heights. The bagels were excellent.

I was surprised to find a Rita's in Yorktown Heights! I thought Rita's is a local Maryland thing.

I was pretty sure we were on a rail trail since Brewster, but the trail does a lot of twisting around and going up and down for a rail trail. But yeah, I guess it's a rail trail.

Here is where we entered New York City from Yonkers. This is Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx. The trail continues for another mile or so in the park.

We stopped for lunch at a nice Italian place in the Bronx.

Max is annoyed that I keep taking his picture when he is eating. Or maybe it's the New Yorkers constantly blowing their horns in traffic. "I've heard more people blowing their horns today than in the last year at home." Welcome to New York, Max.

The trail goes along the entire west side of Manhattan. It's right next to the river most of the way. It's fantastic. 

The picture above is just below the George Washington Bridge.

"Hey Max, wanna see where Mama lived when she was your age?"

Debra's parents lived in the corner apartment on the 13th floor at the far end of the building. This is on West 70th St. near Freedom Place.

Back when we were dating, Debra lived with her father here for awhile after her mother died. I would drive up to visit, and park on Freedom Place, which was basically the edge of the street grid. It actually hung over an abandoned rail yard next to the river a couple hundred feet below. I was always afraid I would go out the next day and find my car gone because it was swallowed up by one of the massive potholes on Freedom Place, which looked like it was going to collapse at any minute.

That was then. Now, there is a massive new residential development there, and Riverside Drive has been extended south a block west of Freedom Place, and the waterfront has a linear park with the bike trail and waterfront dining. It's really shocking to see for the first time. Manhattan is just a Disney-fied playground for billionaires now, I swear.

The next photo-worthy site is the Intrepid Museum. 

This shows the rarely documented deployment of an SR-71 Blackbird on an aircraft carrier.

Max didn't know about the SR-71, so I told him what the Blackbird was and why this is a ludicrous scene.

Here's the Freedom Tower coming into view, at Pier 41. Back in the day, we used to go on the Circle Line Blues Cruise from here. This is another area that is totally unrecognizable now. You wouldn't know it from this particular picture, but the bike trail is extremely popular in the southern half of Manhattan. Riding your bike on a crowded Manhattan bike trail is disconcertingly similar to driving in New York City traffic.

Eventually the bike trail goes right next to the Freedom Tower and the memorial park where the World Trade Center was.

We got in at 3:00. Debra told us we were not to arrive before 3:00, because he had an important work call until then. In fact she would not even tell us the what room we were in at the hotel until the call was over. So we hung out in Battery Park eating ice cream.

We are staying at the innovative Sonder Hotel, across from Battery Park. They have a brilliant new approach to reinventing the lodging industry, where you can get a room and check in and everything without any interaction whatsoever with another human being. (Debra: "I figured this way there would no issue with you bringing your bikes in the room.")

This is clearly a case where some guys wrote an amazing proposal and business plan, and got a ton of funding, and then reached the limits of their competency. Because this is what we found when we arrived in our room:

It seems that Debra didn't arrive until 1:00 AM the night before, and was too tired to deal with the disassembled bed and then she slept on the couch. Then she was in nonstop work calls all day until we arrived.

I pointed out to her that the bed is actually broken and not usable (note twisted support crossbars) and she needs to call the (virtual) hotel staff to have this addressed.

So she calls the hotel number, and waits on hold for 20 minutes with the repeating message about how "your call is very important to us". Eventually someone picks up, and Debra proceeds to demonstrate her complete lack of Karen skills by saying how the disassembled bed was OK last night because she just slept on the couch, but now her husband was here and she thought I would be able to put the bed together, but I said the bed was actually broken because some 600 lb guy jumped up and down on it, and it wasn't her because she is a very small person, but I made her call them to get this problem fixed and....

At this point I jumped in and said it is completely unacceptable to arrive at a hotel room to find the bed broken and disassembled and you will put us in a new room immediately. And what kind of COVID room cleaning protocols are you following when somehow it goes without notice that THE BED IS IN PIECES AND UNUSABLE?

So the nice man on the other end of the call puts us on hold for another 20 minutes and says he has found a new room for us, and he is mailing us the key code for the new room. Which fails to arrive for another half hour, after repeated attempts on his part to send it.

So at last, we are in a new room, with an actual bed that is assembled and available to sleep on. There are still portents and omens of doom in the new room. Which is actually a suite now, instead of a studio. "A significant upgrade" said the virtual hotel staff guy on the phone.

Why is there a bare sprinkler and the smoke detector hanging from the ceiling by wires?

Sure enough, after a couple hours, the smoke detector in the other room starts the dead battery chirp. I climb up on a chest of drawers to investigate. This smoke detector is also wired, but for some reason has batteries as well, and a button that says to push once a week to test and reset. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU PUT A SMOKE DETECTOR LIKE THIS IN A HOTEL ROOM?

I pushed the button to reset it, and it stopped beeping. Until the middle of the night.

This is the stupidest, worst executed "hotel" in the universe. We were much better off at the Budget Motor Inn in Mahopac. Even if it doesn't have coffee. I'm expecting the building to catch fire and burn down at any moment because the frustrated guests have disabled all the smoke detectors.

Here is what the hotel looks like, in case they try to trick you in to staying in it by changing the name:

It's the ugly modern glass building stuck on the side of the attractive old buildings.

OK, enough ranting about this horror show of a hotel.

One cool thing is our room has a nice view of the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.

This is a great example of how infrastructure in New York is much grander and monumental than is necessary. This building houses the ventilation fans for the tunnel. It could be utilitarian, like similar ventilation fan buildings at every other tunnel everywhere. But it's clad in granite. It has a giant clock. It has cool art deco ornamentation above the clock. It's a really neat building.

I looked it up on Wikipedia to learn more about it. It seems that it was designed and approved in the late 1930s, but it did not open until 1950 due to construction delays caused by WW2. There is also a picture of this building from the early 70s, with no clock and ornamentation above the clock. The mystery deepens. Wikipedia also says this was the Men In Black headquarters from the movie series.

I am also wondering how it is that NYC can have a beautiful cool building to house tunnel ventilation fans, and nonetheless allow a butt-ugly glass wall with a mish-mash of room shades to be plastered on the side of historic buildings across the street. WTF.

We went out to dinner with our friends Wendy and Joe a few blocks over at a nice waterfront seafood restaurant. I got this great picture of the Statue of Liberty on the walk there. 

Here is the Strava Track.

Empire State Tour 2021 - Day 6 - Poughkeepsie to Mahopac

Mahopac is pronounced Mayo Pack, like a single serving package of Mayonnaise. I just need to get that right out there first.

It was a pretty short (47 miles), easy (1300 feet of climb) day with perfect conditions. It was almost entirely rail trail.

It was basically an easy, steady climb from Poughkeepsie to near Pawling, then down to Brewster, than up again to Mayo Pack. What's neat is we crossed the Appalachian Trail at the high point near Pawling.

We are in the Budget Motor Inn, which is very old, cheap, no frills whatsoever, and well maintained. It wins the Red Dot of Quality for sure. (It is an Indian-owned "Patel Motel").

RDOQ motels like this are my go-to when bike touring. I don't need any fancy stuff, just a place to sleep. This is the first one I've come across this trip, and I am very worried that these motels have not survived the pandemic. All hotels like this are either out of business, or housing the nearly homeless. The hotels that are left are all much, much more expensive. Which also pushes up the price point for AirBnB. 

Another nice thing about old motels, is they are typically right next to a restaraunt. This one is just a short walk from the Olympic Diner, which is a classic Greek diner. Huge menu with 1000 items, food is edible but not great. This one made good margaritas, so I'm happy.

I really like how they made the outdoor pandemic seating festive with strings of colorful plastic flags.

Now we have to get going early, because there is no coffee. Not in our room, not in the lobby. I can barely write this.

Here is the Strava Track.

Empire State Tour 2021 - Day 5 - Hudson to Poughkeepsie

One thing that uniquely characterizes New York, is the transportation infrastructure is monumental. Why build a utilitarian bridge, when you can build a huge, spectacular edifice of iron beams with a sense of occasion? This is most obvious in New York City, where even highway overpasses are more cool and interesting than is strictly necessary. But even as you go upstate, it's evident.

Today was bridge day. 

First, we crossed the Hudson going west over the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge. I figured the spot where the "No Stopping For Any Reason Whatsoever" sign was a good spot to stop and take a picture. 

We had lunch in Kingston at Savona's Trattoria, a fabulous Italian restaurant down by the waterfront. 

It was a perfect day, so dining with our friend Al was a delight.

Then we had a monster climb up out of the valley to the west, were we picked up the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail (which is part of the Empire State Route). So would an obscure rural New York railroad from the 1800s have a spectacular bridge? You bet!

It also has lots of ruins, especially of furnaces. I believe these were used for making cement.

We got off the Wallkill Valley trail at New Paltz, a small town that is best known as an exit on the New York State Thruway. And rightfully so.

Then there is another climb and you get to the gloriously smooth, wide, and flat Hudson Valley Trail, which leads to the spectacular Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, which is now a walkway!

That's Poughkeepsie down there. This bridge is the bike tourist's dream. The rail trail continues on the other side, so you cross the Hudson without going up or down any hills!

There were many people enjoying the beautiful day by just hanging out on the walkway. It is very popular.

So today was a perfect day of bike touring. Sunny, beautiful, temperature in the low 70s, no real wind. We mostly stuck to the Empire State Route, except for about 8 miles in the morning where we missed the sign and accidentally took a shorter, flatter route with no traffic instead. We were on rural roads for the first half of the day until Kingston, except for a stretch through a wildlife reserve (steep hill!!) and Bard College.

(Are you thinking WTF? I'm thinking WTF.)

(I went onto Wikipedia to figure out what this building is, and it's a concert hall, the Fisher Center for Performing Arts. Designed by Frank Gehry)

(On Wikipedia, I also learned that Walter Becker and Donald Fagan of Steely Dan went to Bard, as did Adam Yauch "MCA" of the Beastie Boys!)

I have my own story of Bard College. Around 1983, The Minutemen played a concert there, and I went to the show. Or I tried to anyway. I never figured out where it was. I drove around looking for Bard College all night with no success. I eventually gave up and went back to Troy. Now, at last, I have found Bard College.

Here's the Strava Track for today.

Empire State Tour 2021 - Day 4 - Troy to Hudson

 A huge storm front with heavy rain and massive thunder and lightning came through last night. It knocked the temperature down 30 degrees. It rained all morning, so we hid in our room at the Troy Best Western until nearly 11:00. By then, the rain was very light. Temperature was in the low 60s.

Originally I wanted to push 75 miles today to Kingston, but I realized the hotel options were all expensive and located next to Walmart. So I shortened the ride to only going 47 miles to Hudson, where we have a super cool but pricey AirBnB right off the gorgeous historic main street. Hudson is a magnificent example of historic preservation.

After about an hour we got to a pizza place in Hampton Manor, just before East Greenbush. The rain had picked up a bit, so we dawdled inside over our pizza until it slacked off again, which was just after 1:00. The big challenge here was keeping from getting a chill in our damp clothes until it was time to go. We were still actually pretty cold when we left, but we warmed right up when we started pedaling. It would have been smart to bring a warmer layer.

We did the Empire State Trail all day. Even though we had reservations about it from earlier, I researched the map and it appeared to mostly follow the right of way of the Albany and Hudson Railroad, which was an electric interurban line. This turned out to be a winner, because after pizza, it was all rail trail, either paved or crushed stone in very good condition. And even better, it went at a slight upgrade to the high point between East Schodack and Nassau, and from there it was all flat or slightly downhill to Hudson. 

There was a lot of wildlife along this trail! We saw a fox, deer, rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, wild turkeys, and many songbirds, including indigo buntings, goldfinches, catbirds, and a brown thrasher. There are horse farms and many cows.

This was great. We actually rode the whole way from the pizza place without a break because the riding was so easy, and we got into Hudson feeling really good. And we were in by 4:30, which is pretty amazing considering the amount of time we spent sitting around waiting for the rain to stop.

Here I am looking all chipper in our cool AirBnB, with Chinese lions.

Max was happy too, and especially delighted to discover our place has a sleeping loft, which he immediately claimed.

This place also has a washer and dryer, so all our clothes are now clean and dry.

There are many really great restaurants right by our lodging in Hudson, and they are all closed on Tuesdays. So instead we went to American Glory, a BBQ joint, wait sorry, an "American Gastro-Que Pub" is what they call themselves. It was not so great. But it got the job done.

Here is the Strava track.

Empire State Tour 2021 - Day 3 - Whitehall to Troy

 There were no real hills today. However, it was still a very tough day, but for entirely different reasons.

It was 90 degrees out, almost all day, and humid. The heat index was upper 90s. There was no shade. And there was a 15-20 mph headwind the whole time. It was just brutal. We took many stops to cool off in convenience stores. It took 9 1/2 hours clock time to go 67 miles. But we adapted, adjusted, persevered, and finished no problem.

One thing we realized today is New York State Bike Route 9 and the Empire State Trail are actually two different things. They often overlap. They did most of the first two days.

But today, we followed the Empire State Trail, thinking it would be the easiest and most efficient route. This is not true. The Empire State Trail is one of these Greenway type projects where they are happy to have you meander around and go up and down hills and on unpaved gravel roads for an hour so you can get to a mile of very special and expensive paved trail through scenic woods that is part of the Greenway project. This was not good for touring, and Max really hates unpaved roads. We no longer trust the Empire State Trail.

So for most of the day, we stuck to Bike Route 9, which was mostly the very rideable shoulder of Route 4. We did ride about 10 miles along "Towpath Road", which is neither the Empire State Trail nor Bike Route 9, because it was flat and along the historical Champlain Canal. It was also unpaved, which irritated Max a lot, but not so bad. Max has less objection to hills, and I have less objection to unpaved roads.

Our stopping point for the day, is Troy, NY, where I went to college at Rennselaer. Troy is much nicer now than when I was in college. 

RPI is up on the hill. That stone structure in the middle is "The Approach" which is a grand stairway connecting campus with downtown. When I was a student it was a ruin.

I play euchre online many nights with friends from RPI (just like we did in school 40 years ago). A couple guys from our euchre game still live in the Troy area, so we got together for dinner. We sent this picture out to our Euchre Facebook chat with the caption "Need one for euchre."

Not much was open on Monday, so Dale (on left) picked a place randomly that was walking distance from our motel downtown. It was "Rucks", and it features many craft beers and burgers. I never heard of it, it's way after my time.

However, when Max and I walk in, I immediately recognize that "Rucks" is Sutters, the college dive beer bar that I want to many, many times when I was at RPI. I haven't been to Sutters in 35 years, and I have been annoyed that I could no longer remember exactly where it was. There pretty much has been no interior remodeling since it was Sutters except to update all the beer signs on the walls with current craft brews. 

So my friends and I are sitting at the exact same table in the back of the bar where we used to sit. And, of course, I had to get wings for dinner, same as ever.

Here is the Strava track for today.

Empire State Tour 2021 - Day 2 - Westport to Whitehall

 It was another tough day, shorter than yesterday, but with more climbing. 52 miles and 3200 feet of climb. Including an insane 13% grade up to the center of Port Henry, and many 8% grades on 9N during the first half of the day. Max didn't bat an eye at the 13% climb. I told him it was nearly as bad as Gun Road, which he is now willing to try. We ride down Gun Road all the time, but he's never gone up.

We are in better shape than yesterday, especially Max.

I've noticed there is a heirarchy of communication with Max the teenage boy, based on how tired he is, and how early in the morning he is.

1. Moaning

2. Non-linguistic utterances/grunting

3. Monosyllabic words (usually in response to a question, but often not responsive to the question)

4. Simple sentences (typically complaints about the conditions or physical ailments)

5. Snarky remarks about local inhabitants and setting (typically Trump-related)

6. Pleasant observations about scenery and wildlife

7. Discussion about future activities (often involving food)

He went through the full range this morning. It was hard to get him going. He didn't reach level 7 until lunch time.

Here is a farewell picture of our hotel in Westport.

The lady who runs it has two shops on the first floor. One is used books, and one is herbs and crystals and knick-knacks. We had a nice talk about gardening. She showed me some dried mugwort she has for sale and said it has medicinal properties. I told her I pull mugwort up from my garden by the fistful, it is a noxious invasive, and nearly impossible to eradicate because it spreads via underground rhizomes.

We saw six osprey nests today, all on utility poles. What could possibly go wrong? 

The ospreys seems happy, regardless. The ospreys brought Max up to level 6 of the communication hierarchy.

Lunch today was at "The Pub" in Ticonderoga. I forgot to take a picture. It had good food and was a nice place, despite the blue line "support the police" banner, and a restroom toilet paper holder made from an old revolver. 

Our Whitehall lodging is an AirBnB apartment over a tavern. I chose this because of the convenience of dinner in the tavern, even though it's pretty expensive.

And it turns out the tavern is closed, because it's Sunday. But the Internet did tell us there was a restaurant called Champs a short walk away, and obviously we had to go there to honor Joe Biden's German Shepherd dog Champ who died yesterday. Also, everywhere else was closed.

So we set forth walking to Champs, along the old canal in front of our AirBnb lodging.

We walk along, past a decaying marina and metal shed for storing boats. And we get to a run-down RV park, mostly vacant. It seems Champs is in the back of the RV Park.

Turns out Champs is named after Champie the Lake Champlain Sea Monster. Cousin to Chessie and the Loch Ness Monster. Nothing to do with Joe Biden's dog at all!

So we get in, and after a long, long wait, our server guy comes with menus and asks for our drink order. They have beer in bottles and cans, and wine. I order a local craft brew. The waiter, uncertainly, asks if I would like a glass with my beer.

Despite the spectacularly slow service, the food turns out to be really good. I think the lady who runs this place is making a valiant effort to make a nice restaurant against all odds. 

Here is the Strava track.

Empire State Tour 2021 - Day 1 - Rouses Point to Westport

 It was a long, tough ride for the first day. I think this will be the hardest day of the trip. 

Max refused to have his picture taken. It was 69 miles and 2700 feet of climb. 2000 feet of the climb was in the last half, which included climbing over a 1000 foot ridge, and an unexpected 11% grade 12 miles from the end.

Max was bonked and laying on the ground motionless with 13 miles to go and making pitiful moaning noises. But he recovered magnificently (I convinced him to have a Cliff Shot) and he finished strong. It was a great display of toughness and perseverance.

Here is a farewell shot to our B&B. It was super nice, we had breakfast on the porch overlooking Lake Champlain.

Lunch was 25 flat miles later in Plattsburgh, which is a scenic college town.

We had lunch at the Campus Corner, which was a nice old restaurant serving comfort food. I had a tuna melt, Max had fried chicken.

After lunch, we entered Adirondack Park, which is probably related to why the climbing started and got so much harder. There was this 1000 foot ridge we had to cross It looks like the ridge runs straight across our route and into Lake Champlain, so there is no alternative. 

I'm touring on the T-Bone, which I got in 2002. And it's still amazing. I'm pretty sure only the frame is from 2002, and I have replaced every other part on this bike over the years. I haven't used regular panniers on this bike for years, usually I use a recumbent-specific bag that drapes over the seat. The panniers are good, once I adjusted them to be as far forward as possible. When the weight is to far back, behind the rear axle, the bike is a little squirrely.

This is in Essex, NY, right after the 1000 foot ridge. Max had to lay on the ground and moan for a half hour here, before knocking out the last 13 miles.

Debra celebrated Fathers Day once we got in to our inn in Westport, which is cleverly called the Inn in Westport. She got me a new shirt, which is plaid, with short sleeves and snap buttons, so I look like a bluegrass musician. Then we went out for an excellent dinner at the Westport Yacht Club.

This place has amazing food, and a spectacular view of the lake and the mountains in Vermont on the other side. Also, strawberry-rhubarb margaritas. Why haven't I been making these all spring?

Here is the Strava track. I think this will be the hardest day of the tour.

Empire State 2021 - Day 0 - Rouses Point to Canada

 We have begun another grand bike tour adventure. We are at Rouses Point, NY, the farthest town north on the Lake Champlain Trail. From here, Max and I are going to ride to New York City, and then I will continue on to home.

First thing we had to do today was ride to Canada.

Because if you are going to do the Empire State Trail, you really have to do all of it, not just from where your B&B is. Even if it is only two miles from Canada.

This almost turned into a big disaster, because to get to the Canada sign in the picture, by the Canadian border crossing, you actually have to ride a half mile past the US Border Crossing. Which means on the way back, you have to go through the US Border Crossing. You (and Max) would think this is no big deal, since the Canadian Border Crossing appears to be closed, and the US one too, and there is absolutely no traffic whatsoever on the road to Canada in either direction. But if you think that you would be wrong.

So when we ride through the US crossing, it turns out there is a guy idling around outside the office. I told him we were just riding up to take our picture by the Canada sign, and we didn't go to Canada. Idling guy says we need to talk to the guy in the booth, and hiding in the booth is a real Customs Officer. Who proceeds to give me a wholehearted interrogation, including rejecting my old, not RealID(TM) Maryland Driver's License, and finally confirming that I have a valid passport, which happens to be in my desk at home in Maryland. Then he did the same thing to Max.

I feel lucky he didn't send me to a migrant camp in Texas, and immediately ship Max off to a foster family.

Max, who was all "no big deal" when I was reluctant to ride past the US checkpoint, was chastened. "I didn't think it would be a big deal." I pointed out to him that these guys had probably spent the entire day sitting around doing absolutely nothing, and this was the only chance they had to add value to the Security of Our Nation.

All this hasslement and the Duty Free Shop wasn't even open.

We are staying at a very nice B&B on the waterfront of Lake Champlain.

That's Vermont across the way.

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant a couple blocks away, where I got a yummy custom pepperoni, sausage, and anchovy calzone.

It took about 9 hours to drive up here. Two and a half last night to a Comfort Inn in the middle of New Jersey (off Exit 7), and then another 6 and a half today. Debra is with us, she will be shadowing us for a couple days, then driving back on Sunday.

The upside of stopping in New Jersey is we got a classic New Jersey diner breakfast.

Here is the Strava track.