Bike Tour Plans

On Sunday I'm flying up to Albany, New York, the departure point for the Great Hudson Valley Pedal, a six-day bike tour along the Hudson River valley to New York City. We will pedal into Manhattan on the following Sunday, August 19, 2007.

The tour is being organized by the advocacy organization "Parks & Trails New York". Ironically, we'll be camping in fields at high schools and colleges for five of the six nights and only one night in an actual park. We will have hot showers every night and P&TNY is providing all meals (except for one night) and snacks. All this for the princely sum of $475.

I have lived in Albany, Woodstock and NYC, so I'm pretty familiar with the area. It's very beautiful in August (they complain of the heat, but I'll be a little chilly in the evenings). The weather is dreadfully cold in January.

I don't know the exact path we'll take yet, but they claim that it is 200 miles, 40 to 50 miles per day, well within my abilities. I don't believe that the hills will be any worse than what we have here around Austin. I put together some paths using Google Maps and only came up with about 140 miles, so I imagine that there will be some diversions along the way. The maps I came up with are largely ignorant of traffic issues, but I anticipate that the actual route will divert to avoid motor traffic and provide better scenery (although the scenery is very good even from the NYS Thruway).

A cycling teammate loaned me an airline bike bag for my bike. (Southwest and JetBlue will be charging me $50 each way for the bike.) I own several bikes, but I'll be bringing along the heaviest in the stable, a Fuji Touring bike, designed for carrying a heavy load in panniers. All gear will actually travel from point to point in a truck, so I'm bringing the heavy bike mostly because it will slow me down a bit to help me stay at a more social pace. It will also allow me to have a "trunk" on the rear rack for a camera (tripod?) and wet weather gear.

At night while sleeping I require a CPAP to allow me to breathe effectively. I can live without it, but I don't sleep very well without it. The CPAP accepts a 12-volt connector, so I'll be bringing along a battery (Coleman Jumpstart) that I'm hoping I can charge each afternoon at each destination. It's a lead-acid battery, so I can't bring it on the plane (either as checked or carry-on baggage), so I'll buy one in Albany and donate it to someone in NYC. (Do you know anyone that can put me up in NYC on the 19th that could use a portable battery?)

I'm flying back on Monday, August 20th from JFK via JetBlue non-stop to Austin.

Overnights:

• Mon, Aug 13: Sage College, Albany
• Tue, Aug 14: Columbia-Greene Community College, Hudson
• Wed, Aug 15: Regina Coeli Catholic School, Hyde Park
• Thu, Aug 16: Regina Coeli Catholic School, Hyde Park
• Fri, Aug 17: James I. O'Neill High School, Fort Montgomery
• Sat, Aug 18: Nyack Beach State Park, Nyack
• Sun, Aug 19: ? (Your home in East Brooklyn or South Queens? :-) )