{"id":449,"date":"2022-09-08T20:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T03:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/?p=449"},"modified":"2023-08-03T15:18:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T22:18:19","slug":"day-1-jersey-city-to-mahopac-ny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/day-1-jersey-city-to-mahopac-ny\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 1 – Jersey City to Mahopac, NY"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Date:
Distance:<\/strong>
Elevation gain:<\/strong>
Average speed:<\/strong>
Time on the road:<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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9\/8\/2022\u00a0
58.5 miles\u00a0
1643 feet\u00a0
8.4 mph\u00a0
6 hours 55 minutes\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The maps show the approximate route we took and our daily destinations. Adjust map size and position to see the entire route.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Special Note:<\/strong><\/span> Throughout the blog you will see thumbnails of Len’s drawings and notes. These are a very special recording of our experience. You can enlarge them by clicking on the drawing<\/strong>. Press the Esc key to return to the blog.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We started the day with a visit to Starbucks on the quay next to the Hyatt Regency. Strictly in store service so we sat on a bench outside and enjoyed the view of the New York City skyline and the comings and goings of cross-river ferries and their passengers. Particularly entertaining was a young black man, about 30 talking on his cell phone. He had lots of wires dangling from various parts of his head and clothing. Len had the impression that this was where he conducted his daily business though he wasn\u2019t doing anything but talking on the phone. It was a most entertaining and personal conversation. Not what you\u2019d expect on a public corner where anyone passing by could overhear the conversation. While Jim was retrieving something from his bike, he overheard the most outrageous description of the man\u2019s encounters with women. The details shall remain unspoken, the private knowledge of Jim and Len. As we were departing, the conversation seemed to come to the point: the man was looking for $20 from his friend which he promised to pay back at the end of the week when he expected to have $97 and change on hand.<\/p>

\"Drawing<\/a>We rode down the quay to catch the 7:45 ferry ($.50 discount for us seniors, but $1.50 for each bike) to Brookfield Place in the Battery Park. There, we encountered our first problem: how to find the Greenway where we would begin the trip. We stopped to ask directions but were given only vague, \u201cI think it\u2019s over there\u201d instructions in Spanish. A block or two further in from the Hudson River we found our starting point. The amount of bicycle and scooter (the kind you stand on that has small wheels and a steering column) traffic was mind boggling! The speed of travel was equally impressive. In short order, we got the hang of the traffic flow and blended in relatively well but\u00a0not seamlessly given the presence of paniers that made the bikes much wider than normal. By the time we reached somewhere around 55th<\/sup> St, the traffic on the Greenway began to thin out. The scooters were gone and only bicycles, joggers and walkers remained. At one point, we were directed off the bike path and up a VERY steep grade. At the top of the grade were a couple of guys, smelling strongly of weed, who enquired of Len, \u201cwhat\u2019s he (referring to Jim) got in those bags, weights!? Is he working out?\u201d Sure felt that way to me. This was a great distracting bit of mirth for Len and me after a short but brutal<\/strong> climb.<\/p>

As happens so often in cities, in our experience, directions from riding apps aren\u2019t always the best. In fairness to RideWithGPS, our app of choice, Jim hadn\u2019t yet figured out how to use the app in an optimal manner. For those who might be interested, it is essential that the \u201ccue sheet\u201d instructions be turned on and that the screen setting for the phone is \u201calways on.\u201d We reached the end of the idyllic greenway bike trail with the Hudson River on our left and found our way to Broadway around 200th Street.\u00a0 The question became how do we reconnect with the Empire Bike Trail?\u00a0 A few questions of locals including a street crossing guard didn’t yield clear directions.\u00a0 So, we are relying again on Jim’s trusty GPS program that takes us up Broadway and a wild urban ride featuring double parked cars, trucks, buses, and elevated subway clanking above.\u00a0 Potholes that could swallow our front wheels, demanded attention as well.\u00a0 We cross, Sputyen Duyvil Creek, (“In spite of the Devil” in Dutch.” The creek runs into the Harlem River.)\u00a0 No one intended for bikes to be on this bridge!\u00a0 After a rush through cross traffic (no car is going to yield here) we reach Van Cortland Park and the bike trail.<\/p>

Lunch provided another source of entertainment. We ate at a place run by a couple of Hispanic guys advertising \u201cBeer Soda Hot and Cold Wedges.\u201d It was next to the bike path and despite the pile driver up the street, seemed like our best option for lunch. First question, what\u2019s a Wedge? In this part of the country, a Wedge is a submarine sandwich. Who knew? We split an Italian Wedge and were on our way to Mahopac.\u00a0 The counter man and the sandwich man looked like an old set of twins\u2026been making meatball sandwiches for 50 years.<\/p>

We progressed without incident on a beautiful rail trail to Mahopac where Jim\u2019s lack of familiarity with the RideWithGPS app proved problematic. We ended up 2+ miles further down the path than the turn off for our night\u2019s lodging, the Budget Motel. No problem. It was all downhill on the way back to the hotel and we got a preview of the beginning of the next day\u2019s ride. As you might guess from the name of the place we were staying, it was a little sketchy but clean and the beds were ok. The problem was that they didn\u2019t have the reservation, made by Jim using Expedia (more on that later).<\/p>

Dinner at the Olympic featured a friendly and talkative waitress and way more than we should have eaten. It’s open 24 hours a day so we were back for breakfast.\u00a0 As we peruse the menu, Len remembers French fries and gravy as an East coast specialty.\u00a0 There it is on the menu!\u00a0 Hangover food for dinner.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Len's notes for Day 1<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Drawing<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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\"Day<\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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9\/8\/2022\u00a058.5 miles\u00a01643 feet\u00a08.4 mph\u00a06 hours 55 minutes\u00a0 The maps show the approximate route we took and our daily destinations. Adjust map size and position to see the entire route. Special Note: Throughout the blog you will see thumbnails of Len’s drawings and notes. These are a very special recording of our experience. You can enlarge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nyc-to-canada","category-nyc-to-canada-ride-notes"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":29,"label":"NYC to Canada"},{"value":2,"label":"NYC to Canada Ride Notes"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/20220907_140312-1024x461.jpg",800,360,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"djlawrie","author_link":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/author\/djlawrie\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":29,"name":"NYC to Canada","slug":"nyc-to-canada","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29,"taxonomy":"category","description":"2022 NYC to Canada bike tour with Jim and Len","parent":11,"count":13,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":29,"category_count":13,"category_description":"2022 NYC to Canada bike tour with Jim and Len","cat_name":"NYC to Canada","category_nicename":"nyc-to-canada","category_parent":11},{"term_id":2,"name":"NYC to Canada Ride Notes","slug":"nyc-to-canada-ride-notes","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":29,"count":13,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":13,"category_description":"","cat_name":"NYC to Canada Ride Notes","category_nicename":"nyc-to-canada-ride-notes","category_parent":29}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":95,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1074,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions\/1074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawrie68.us\/OnTheRoad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}