Let’s go to town!
Hopewell Jctn >> NYC | 131km | 845m | 5h54m
August 30, 2024 | 23ºC, partly cloudy
The hills are not done yet!
When we got up this morning it was hard to believe that we only had one day worth of riding to do before reaching our first major milestone of that trip! But until then, we still had quite some climbing to do. And it started basically right after we left our AirBnB property which we left only with some coffee in our stomachs. Before breakfast, we had to conquer 500 meters of elevation gain just over the first 30 kilometers. For those of you familiar with Ottawa’s cycling routes – that’s basically a trip to the Champlain Lookout, just with fully loaded travel bikes. And overall much steeper inclines, too.
To be fair: this section was a bit of a shortcut compared what the original Empire State Trail recommended. Instead of going around the mountains, adding 25km of distance, we decided to go through the mountains, adding a couple hundred meters of elevation instaed.
Both of us like riding uphill, though, so this first section was quite fun. Pushing yourself and your bike up a steep slope and seeing the elevation count going up on your headunit gives you a good feeling of accomplishment and it lets time pass by much quicker; plus, you’re rewarded with the downhills, of course.
After 80% of today’s climbing was already done at only 20% of today’s overall distance we treated ourselves with some good breakfast at the Freight House Cafe that we found pretty close to the official trail. It was one of those rituals that you develop on a trip like that: enjoying breakfast 1-2 hours into the day, while looking at the route ahead (and planning for lunch).
We were pretty relaxed by now, knowing that the rest of the route would be mostly negative elevation, all the way into New York City. And those paths were very enjoyable to ride; at least in that very direction. The grey paved, yellow-lined bikepaths, cutting through green bushes and trees were visually not all too spectacular, but that steady 1-2% downhill grade made cycling very easy. Once in a while the path would annoyingly cut across a street, forcing cyclists to stop, and we’d pass through smaller towns not really getting a sense of moving closer and closer towards a city of 8 million people. At this point, the only thought that kept crossing my mind was, “in three days from now, you’ll have to ride that same monotonous path, but uphill…”
Into the town
And then, suddenly, we were in the middle of an urban environment – realizing that this was the very northern end of town; the Kingsbridge neighborhood, just north of the Harlem River. I entered the city with mixed feelings. Happily overwhelmed that we made it here, but also slightly anxious about what we’d have to expect on the 20 kilometers that were still left to ride around Manhattan before reaching a hopefully welcoming hotel in the middle of the island.
Technically, the entire remaining route would follow one or another form of bike path. That didn’t really have to mean much, though. And it wouldn’t take too long until we saw that sign that you don’t want to see in a place like this: “Bike path closed”. We had to detour and decided to follow the suggestions that were given on the sign, not knowing how much time or how much risk to our lives it would add. And let’s put it this way: cycling on Broadway during rush hour on a Friday afternoon, on surprisingly hilly terrain among impatient drivers of all kinds of vehicles is not even Fun Type II anymore.
Fortunately that whole detour ended up being just a few kilometers and soon enough we were back on the paths that I was hoping to be on for entire route across town. Cycling here was actually pretty efficient: in many parts, cyclists and pedestrians were separated, and New Yorkers on their bicycles were so adjusted to their environment that suddenly I felt like an obstacle myself. Even most of the tourists on their rental bikes were moving reasonable quickly and the only things interrupting a good flow were way too frequent red lights – that only we German-Canadians seem to be taking seriously, while probably being laughed at by the locals.
When we reached the southern end of Manhattan, which for me marked the end of the south-bound Empire State Trail, all the pain and stress was forgotten and we took a while to seize the moment, taking way too many pictures, and soaking in all the impressions; views, noises, smells.
But it wasn’t until we reached our hotel in Midtown East when we finally were able to unwind, have a drink, and realize how far we just travelled on a bicycle during the past 8 days. From Niagara Falls in Canada all the way to New York City. The following two rest days were well deserved.
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South-bound: Day 01 | Day 02 | Day 03 | Day 04 | Day 05 | Day 06 | Day 07 | Day 08
North-bound: Day 09 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15