Cycling Ulster County at Autumn Peak

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My arthroscopic knee surgery is scheduled for this Thursday, 25 October, so I figured that this was my last chance to get in my favorite ride of the year, cycling through Ulster County during the peak of the autumn colors. Luckily, those pesky pieces of my meniscus, torn during one twisting step running downhill on a New Zealand mountain trail last May, don't interfere with my cycling stroke. But, I'll be off the bike for at least a month following the procedure, so yesterday was my shot at seeing the brilliant reds and vibrant yellows on a cool fall day in the hills just to the west of the Hudson River.

This is my favorite cycling road in this part of the world, heading south on Martin Swendish Road, about three miles southwest of Rosendale. Never any traffic, new smooth blacktop put down three years ago, and on peak day the closest one can come without artificial substances to visual hallucinations.

And, as an added bonus, this ride also includes the finest climb along the Hudson River, up Mountain Rest Road (County Highway 6) that goes from New Paltz up, up, up to the entrance of the famous Mohonk Mountain House

This was a long ride... 73.26 miles in just under five hours and about 5,000 feet in vertical climbing. The day was even longer, since I'd taken the 7:50 am train from Grand Central Station to Beacon to start riding at 9:30 am. I caught the 3:33 train from Poughkeepsie back to Manhattan, only getting home at about 5:30 pm.

The plan was to ride about sixty miles, but when turning north on Highway 2 just past Highway 209, I should have turned right on Pine Bush Road. However, I wasn't riding with my GPS since I was sure I knew this route so well there was no way that I would get lost. Then, way up Highway 2 in Krumville, very lost and about eight miles out of my way, I turned east and ended up going northeast, away from Poughkeepsie, over to Highway 213, which eventually took me southeast down towards Stone Ridge and then Rosendale, but not after some extra miles and "heaps" of hills. The unplanned miles, although more than I had figured for, were stunning and I'll add this new route as an alternative to my usual trip through the hills south of Ashokan Reservoir.

Two final shots, this one of the brilliant red of a maple along Mountain Rest Road and the second, of a barn, while descending the back side of the Shawangunk Ridge beyond Mohonk, heading towards Accord south of 209.