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Long Training Rides in the Northeast?
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I am training for IMTX in April and need to get in a few 6+ hour outdoor rides in the next 11 weeks.. the problem is, I live in NYC and have worn out 9W and central park to death and frankly can't get quality miles in on either of them at the moment.

If you could drive anywhere in a 3-4 hour radius of NYC, what would be your best bet for some quality, low traffic, country roads? My wife and I can drive almost anywhere and make a weekend out of it. I am exhausted looking up routes online, too and couldn't find much on a search here.

I would ideally be looking for 120+ miles of uninterrupted, flat-ish roads that emulate a course I would see in Texas... but willing to climb a little bit too if I must.

I know it's cold outside so just ignore weather - I can bundle up.

Thanks

Strava
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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I love searching for routes using ridewithgps.com.

I'm sure you could find something to your liking there.

Here's a Century right in NYC with not a lot of elevation - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/723082
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Hammonton, NJ area (flatter), or Bucks County, PA (hillier, but a cute area for a weekend with the wife).
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [vjohn] [ In reply to ]
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Marmora,NJ

I can ride 50 miles out and back with wide shoulders and only cross 4 traffic lights each ways. Better then riding on a trainer

Yellowfin Endurance Coaching and Bike Fits
USAT Level 1, USAC Level 3
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Drive to New Paltz, from town go north or west for as far as you want, turn aroud and ride back to New Paltz.

Or, Drive to Woodstock, ride any direction but east for as long as you want, then ride back. From Woodstock you will find the best cycling roads anywhere; great road surface, very low traffic, no traffic lights, big hills to climb and 50 mph downhills. There is one traffic light in Woodstock, one traffic light in Hunter and one in Margaretteville, that's it for the whole area. Come on up and ride.

Ride up Platte Clove Rd (Devil's Kitchen) is you've got the legs. Never go down!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Another vote for Bucks County although there are some steep but short climbs.
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Williamstown MA has great, great riding. It's true beauty includes big to medium scale climbs (Greylock and Petersburg pass), but it's great riding and a cool town. You could venture from there on Rt 2 all the way to Troy/Brunswick NY area (hilly, see strava) and back, and then down to where jiminy peak is (south of williamstown) via Routes 43 and 7. Route 346 in VT north of there is a divine strip of asphalt too, you can hit 3 states if you like. Greylock is a great epic climb if you wanna toss that in there. Highest point in MA. Climb from south is longer and less steep, the time I did it I climbed it from north and descended to the south, and I was very pleased with that. Not sure if road is restricted in winter months, it very well could be so look into that.

Get food and drink at purple pub in williamstown after the ride.
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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Funny, I lived in New Paltz for 2 years but that was more than 10 years ago and I wasn't into triathlons.. I do like going up there but didn't know much about the cycling scene there.

Thanks everyone for the responses! This gives me a great starting point for planning out a few weekend trips in the upcoming months, weather permitting!

Strava
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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Sweeney wrote:
Drive to New Paltz, from town go north or west for as far as you want, turn aroud and ride back to New Paltz.

Or, Drive to Woodstock, ride any direction but east for as long as you want, then ride back. From Woodstock you will find the best cycling roads anywhere; great road surface, very low traffic, no traffic lights, big hills to climb and 50 mph downhills. There is one traffic light in Woodstock, one traffic light in Hunter and one in Margaretteville, that's it for the whole area. Come on up and ride.

Ride up Platte Clove Rd (Devil's Kitchen) is you've got the legs. Never go down!

Suggesting new paltz as relatively flat. Isn’t American zofingen in new paltz????
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [B.McMaster] [ In reply to ]
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B.McMaster wrote:

Suggesting new paltz as relatively flat. Isn’t American zofingen in new paltz????

I didn't notice that he wanted flat, never mind!

Still the best riding anywhere!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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I would prefer riding one of the hillier locations others have suggested, but if you want flat, you could go ride the Eagleman/IM Maryland course on the Maryland Eastern Shore.
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Sorry, I didn't notice that you wanted flat.

OK, Jersey Shore, along the ocean between FT Hancock in Sandy Hook and Sea Girt. Drive to Sandy Hook, park in the first parking area and ride to the end at Ft Hancock. Stay along the ocean all the way to Sea Girt. You'll have to make a few corrections to stay along the ocean in Long Branch, Asbury and Ocean Grove, but this is a great ride. It might be two laps or 1 1/2 laps.

If you want advice on how this route works just ask. I'll be happy to explain it.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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No worries - actually, I generally like the climbs but I would prefer to keep it on the flatter side for these particular rides to mimic the race course. The biggest priorities would be to minimize traffic, stoplights/signs and then have roads that aren't completely torn up due to winter weather... I realize I can't have everything but willing to try a few of these options - thanks all!

Strava
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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I too was tired of riding the same up and down 9W but then I started riding with people a few years ago who showed me that there are so many great cycling routes beyond 9W. There is no need to go 3+ hours away. Have you gone through bradley and tweed, ridden to the orchards, or to bear mountain? at the most, you could go one hour on metro north in many different directions with great cycling. you could go up to garisson or thereabouts, beautiful riding from there north on either side of the hudson (cross bear mountain bridge or beacon bridge). Connecticut has excellent roads as well - I've ridden from White Plains up to Bethel CT then down to Norwalk CT and metro north home from there. Jersey also has some good routes, I've ridden out to Upper Saddle River then northeast toward haverstraw. Check out NYCC, it's $30 per year and there's an enormous ride library. If you do want to make a weekend trip, catskills has great cycling, I go every summer near Hunter Mountain and there are great uninterrupted roads with minimal traffic.
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [wahoowatri] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the recommendations - I was actually just looking at CT starting in White Plains and noticed how there look to be a ton of good routes if you just start riding north. I'll look into some of the recommended routes/roads on NYCC as well and going further north past Bear Mountain.

This past weekend I rode up to Bear Mountain from the GWB for a 90 mile round trip - I do enjoy the ride but it is very slow going with all of the traffic, stop signs, etc and the roads were kind of beat up from the winter (but that will probably be the case everywhere). Just to give you a metric, my ride VI was 1.11 which means there is a lot of hard riding, but also a lot of stopping/coasting. I guess the main reason I posted is because I am looking for a route where I can spend the majority of my time in the 70-75% range with as few interruptions as possible.

Strava
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Quabbin Reservoir in MA:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/13255654
100km loop around it.
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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sch340 wrote:
I am training for IMTX in April and need to get in a few 6+ hour outdoor rides in the next 11 weeks.. the problem is, I live in NYC and have worn out 9W and central park to death and frankly can't get quality miles in on either of them at the moment.

If you could drive anywhere in a 3-4 hour radius of NYC, what would be your best bet for some quality, low traffic, country roads? My wife and I can drive almost anywhere and make a weekend out of it. I am exhausted looking up routes online, too and couldn't find much on a search here.

I would ideally be looking for 120+ miles of uninterrupted, flat-ish roads that emulate a course I would see in Texas... but willing to climb a little bit too if I must.

I know it's cold outside so just ignore weather - I can bundle up.

Thanks

I'd be ecstatic to have 9W a short distance from me. The year that Sandy hit, I did 60 miles of 9W by shuttling between Lamont and Fort Lee. Nice, wide shoulders really help.

Not all places have 9W style wide shoulders, so that's something to keep in mind.

My vote would be for western NJ (Hunterdon and Somerset counties) or New Paltz/Kingston as suggested above. I've done the latter myself; yes, there are some hard climbs, but those can be avoided; and the roads have decently wide shoulders
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [echappist] [ In reply to ]
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Lots of times I drive up to Herriman and ride from there, heading west towards Greenwood lake etc.. lots of good roads and routs out that way and only a 45 minute drive from the city.

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http://www.instagram.com/cyclewise
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [trener1] [ In reply to ]
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I forgot about that. You are absolutely right.

They have wide shoulders on 7 Lake Drive, to boot.

I used to ride across the GWB, take 9W up to Haverstraw, and cut West. Easily 100 miles when all said and done. Only sketch part is the section btwn Haverstraw and 7 Lake, but that's a lightly traveled road
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [trener1] [ In reply to ]
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trener1 wrote:
Lots of times I drive up to Herriman and ride from there, heading west towards Greenwood lake etc.. lots of good roads and routs out that way and only a 45 minute drive from the city.

Harriman has it all, easy to do a hondo there and have as much or as little vert as you want-just don't tell anyone about it...
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [pots4] [ In reply to ]
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Feel free to drop me a PM if you want some ridewithgps files.
I have a few 60 - 70 mile loops that you can risky riff off to get to 100.
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Up into CT there is super nice, but not the flattest. My wife is in exactly the same boat, looking for long outdoor rides for IMTX and we're looking out at the Hamptons/ Montauk. When you get out towards Easthampton, really past Shirley, it's pretty ideal for what you need. You can basically use Old Country Rd, Montauk highway all the way out to the lighthouse. In the summer it can be full of angry finance types in Tahoes, but this time of year should be quite enough to get a good ride in.
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [echappist] [ In reply to ]
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On the Harriman St Park website is says that most of the side roads are closed for the winter (everything except for 7 Lakes Dr, it seems). Is that true for bikes as well? Otherwise would have to come in from the North or South ends.

Strava
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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You can go from the CT border in Southwick, Ma up through Westfield, Northampton, and jump onto rt 5 all the way deep into Vermont and back. Mostly follows CT River so good training ride and aero time for NE riders training for Florida and Texas.

Steveo
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Re: Long Training Rides in the Northeast? [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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Monmouth County, NJ, especially western Monmouth County, has a lot of good and relatively flat roads. The Central Jersey bike club puts on a bike ride each year called the Farmlands Flat. I couldn't find a link to the 100 mile route but here's the metric century route to give you an idea. Good luck! http://www.mapmyride.com/...ntury-route-33690054
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