January 7, 2021 - Danbury, CT, to New York, NY

Start: Danbury, CT
End: New York, NY
Miles: 62.1
Feet climbing per mile: 73
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/61174670

When I departed from my hotel at 9:00 it was 29 and sunny. To help keep my extremities warm I had put petroleum jelly on my hands and feet and plastic bags over my socks. I don't know to what extent either the petroleum jelly or the plastic bags helped.

Thirty minutes into my ride, as I came to the place where I had walked two days earlier, I yelled "Who goes up gets to come down!" as I enjoyed a descent as fast as 30 miles per hour.

The air had warmed only one degree and my toes were numb when I reached the Starbucks in Ridgefield just one hour into my ride. I rubbed my toes to warm them as I waited for my hot chocolate and brownie. My toes were still numb when my order was ready and the manager reminded me that there was no indoor dining. This Starbucks, like most I've encountered while riding, has bathrooms large enough for wheelchairs and therefore for bikes. By the time I came out of the bathroom I had consumed my snack and could feel my toes.

On my ride to Danbury two days earlier I had thought that the scenery was just ok, but on my return trip I saw that it was beautiful. I think my earlier experience had been affected by the diminished color due to the lack of sun. This day was sunny and would stay that way until sunset.

After the Starbucks in Ridgefield my next planned stop was not until the Starbucks in White Plains 32 miles later. Just 17 miles after Ridgefield I was pleased to see that La Rocca's Country Market was open. I bought a package of cheddar cheese slices which made a perfect snack to eat throughout the day.

I encountered a climb as steep as 13% at about mile 30.5 which required me to walk a tenth of a mile. Immediately afterwards I came to the other end of the roadblock I had encountered two days earlier which had added three miles to my journey. This time a police officer told me I could go through provided I walk my bike past the construction.

Early in the ride the cable for charging my phone became unreliable so I replaced it with the cable I had bought just a few weeks ago. This is the first trip on which I carried an extra cable for the phone, and from now on I will always do so. Redundancy is good.

At mile 34, when the grade went up to 15%, I walked a tenth of a mile. Two miles later, when the grade went up to 13%, I walked a quarter of a mile. After mile 36 I saw the horse I had seen two days earlier, again wearing a blanket. I wondered whether he recognized me. I also wonder how much better my climbing would have been if I were to weigh 150, as I did when I completed my 4,500-mile trip in 2019, rather than my current 168.

Forty miles into my trip I stopped to pee alongside the road because I knew that I would soon be coming to suburban neighborhoods. When I got back on my bike I notice that I was accelerating while ascending a gentle grade without pedaling. I think that was the clearest feeling I've ever had of being pushed by a tailwind.

Because of the cheddar cheese on which I had been snacking all day I forwent (isn't that a better word than "skipped"?) stopping at Starbucks in White Plains, but four miles later I stopped to rest in Scarsdale, where I noticed a Starbucks of which I had not been aware. I will add that location to my routes between New York and Danbury. The temperature was now 40 and I was no longer cold.

I entered the South County Trailway at mile 52.4. As I had been told by members of two Facebook biking groups, the surface was excellent for the entire five miles I rode it. I was glad to avoid the traffic I would have encountered if I had followed the route I had taken on my way to Danbury. At mile 57, while still on the Trailway, I saw a raft of ducks on Van Cortlandt Lake.

As I wrote in Gear Update: Saddle, seat post, and cassette, in late December I changed my cassette from (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, 28) to (12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24, 28). Throughout this trip I enjoyed smooth shifting between the 24-tooth and 28-tooth cogs which was substantially better than between 23-tooth and 28-tooth. There is still a problem while on the big chainring and the 24-tooth cog that backpedalling sometimes causes the chain to jump to the 21-tooth cog or onto the small chainring. I think I will be able to eliminate that problem by making some small changes in the sizes of the spacers on my rear axle.

In my post about my ride to Danbury I neglected to mention that at Dyckman Street at the south end of Inwood Hill Park I had seen a bollard out of its base just as I had on June 25th, 2018, on my ride to Norwalk, CT. On that day my front tire hit the base and had a blow out. I was lucky that that was the extent of the damage, for I could have had a serious, perhaps fatal, crash. Almost every time I've gone past that bollard I've found it lying in the grass, with its base in the sidewalk ready to harm some unsuspecting pedestrian or cyclist. This day, on my return home, I saw another pair of bollards out of their bases, both of these on the ramp just south of Dyckman. As I stopped to replace the bollards I saw a runner trip on one of the bases. I will find the appropriate government agency and have them deal with this problem. I find it crazy that a city agency installs bollards in order to prevent cars and trucks from driving on the path, and then city workers in wide vehicles don't replace the bollards after removing them so they can pass.

Bases of the bollards

The bollards replaced

As I was crossing the Henry Hudson Bridge at 3:40, with an hour remaining until sunset, I had considered riding all the way home rather catching a subway in Washington Heights. Twenty minutes later I felt my exhaustion and decided to forgo riding an additional ten miles. I arrived at the subway station shortly after 4:00, having been on the road for seven hours.

When I got to the subway station I had a strong need to pee and there was no bathroom available in the station (how civilized). In the elevator on my ride to the platform I slipped one of my water bottles into my tights. When I reached the platform the content of my bladder was now in the water bottle still in my tights. I doubt that either of the elderly women who were waiting to enter the elevator noticed anything out of the ordinary.

I arrived at the 34th Street station about 5:00 and was home after a ride of a half mile.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I had been surprised to be able to take a multi-day trip in December and even more surprised to be able to take one in January. On this trip the temperature ranged from 30 to 40, staying mostly in the low to mid 30s. My toes and fingers had been cold, but that could have been reduced by wearing warmer shoes and gloves. With this trip I've established the feasibility of a multi-day trip in the 30s provided there is no snow or rain. I was fortunate to not have any flats, which are rare for me, but if I'm going to continue taking multi-day trips in the 30s I ought to practice changing a tube while wearing gloves. I think that's possible, although I've never done it. Once again I don't expect to take another multi-day trip until the spring, but I will start to plan one so that I'm ready if conditions become conducive.

My post from the previous day: January 6, 2021 - Around Candlewood Lake