As a keen cyclist who moved from London to New York at the end of February this year, there were a fair few things on a bike related bucket list which I wanted to tick off over the course of the summer. These ranged all the way from joining a team and getting destroyed in one of the park races, to attempting to not end up as roadkill while commuting to work on a CitiBike. There was however one ride which had eluded me for the whole year, to ride out from New York for a lap of Bear Mountain, so when I woke up one crisp October Sunday morning and unexpectedly found myself without any plans it was obvious, today was the day.

Setting off at a rather leisurely 8:30am I headed out through the park and along the rolls of Riverside up to the George Washington bridge to start off my ride. The route would take me along the 9W for around 40km before hitting the Bear Mountain Park for the main climbs of the day, before heading back down the 9W home. The first 15km of the 9W are overly familiar to any NYC cyclist. Packs steam along on their short sharp blasts to market and back, mixed up with all the other solo riders heading off on their adventures for the day. In classic style I find myself getting caught up with one of the groups before having to remind myself about the day ahead and dropping off the back so I don’t kill myself before the ride has even begun. Once you pass Market, Piermont and Nyack, the conditions change quite considerably; crowds of other cyclists die down and the quality of the road deteriorates considerably for the next 20km, however my mind was distracted from this by the dramatic change in scenery. The route gently undulates along the side of the Hudson and trees half way through their yearly migration from green to their signature reds, oranges and yellows of the New England Autumn line the road.

Having found myself distracted by the views, along with my Spotify wrapped 2020 playlist, for the past two and a half hours, I now found myself at the entrance of Bear Mountain State Park for the main event. The climb itself is well worth the hype it receives, at 7.6km long with a relatively consistent average gradient of 5%, it is enough to make you well aware that you’re climbing a mountain but doesn’t leave you out of breath enough to enjoy your surroundings. The surface is near perfect without a pothole in sight, and every few hundred meters you get a glimpse through the trees to the forest which stretches far out over the horizon. This also gives a nice visual reference of how you are progressing through the climb as you are noticeably higher up every time the view comes into sight.

Half way up the climb you take a turning off to the right onto a quieter, gated road. As others zoom down in the opposite direction having already triumphed over their goal, the kilometers tick down as I grind towards my own. A final little kicker housing the steepest gradient of the whole climb greets you just before you arrive at the peak visitors area where the view is ample reward for the effort just put in. The forest stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction with autumnal colours peppering the rolling hills covering the horizon.

The other reward, of course, is the knowledge that I am now half way through my ride, but with well over half of the climbing done. I set off back down the hill and head further into the state park, a few more rolling hills later I come across a small welcome area at Lake Toirati providing a perfect area for a rest and some lunch. The vending machines provide a meal of champions that I eagerly tuck into while I relax in the early afternoon sun, which is unusually warm for this time of the year I am told.

Before long it’s time to set off again, there’s around another 15km of idyllic riding left in the state park before the 9W welcomes me back onto it for the cruise home. As I carry on the tell tale signs of the city start to return, traffic increasing, questionable road conditions and more packs of cyclists start to appear again, all reminding me that my trip away from the chaos of the city is soon coming to an end.

When all said and done the total distance of my ride was 171km with 2,100m of climbing over its course, my bike for the day was a Canyon Aeroad which never fails to disappoint. Given that this ride was in no means planned, I was very happy with how it turned out. I’m glad that I was told to put it on my bucket list shortly after moving here, and if you haven’t been out to Bear Mountain yet then please take this opportunity now to add it to yours.