what's here
see also
- VO2 VELO
-- riding around the northern tip of the
Shawangunk Ridge and New Paltz in Ulster County NY.
- Mid-Hudson
Bicycle Club -- riding around Dutchess and Ulster Counties. Some members
live elsewhere but show up on weekends to join in the great road riding in the
Mid-Hudson area.
List of maps for New Paltz - Wallkill
Valley region
Map of Gentler Places for bicycling
around New Paltz
- Farms and Orchards around New Paltz -- 49 miles, gentle-to-moderate
hills (with shorter variations). Beautiful farms and
orchards, a covered bridge, sweeping views of the Wallkill valley and the Shawangunk
ridge. 2100 vertical feet, hill
index 2.6. Start points
New Paltz, Wallkill, Tillson / Rosendale. [
Description | Map ]
- Farms around New Paltz -- South -- 35 miles, gentle-to-moderate
hills. Beautiful farms and orchards, with a
big horse farm. Sweeping views of the Wallkill valley and the Shawangunk
ridge. 1400 vertical feet, hill
index 2.2. Start points
New Paltz, Wallkill. [ Description
| Map
]
- New Paltz to Kingston Waterfront -- 44 miles. Moderate
hilliness.
Also a 31 mile variation. Variety of
interesting settings -- beautiful farm
country, three towns with shops and food, into the woods, and the
Rondout waterfront. 2400 vertical feet, hill
index 3.7. Start points
New Paltz, Kingston, Port Ewen, Rosendale. [
Description | Map ]
- New Paltz to Ashokan Reservoir -- 58 miles, big hills.
Several great descents and climbs with sweeping views over three major watersheds (Wallkill, Rondout,
Esopus), lots of quiet back roads and fun little downhills -- and the biggest cliffs, the largest lake,
and the highest summits in the Hudson
Valley. 5200 vertical feet, hill
index 6.9. Start points
New Paltz, Kerhonkson, Ashokan Reservoir, Stone Ridge. [
Description | Map
| Photos ]
- Lloyd - Highland Rail Trail -- about 5 miles on pavement with
return. Very gentle.
Pleasant off-road riding on a paved path -- additional unpaved section also
open. A good place to ride for families with children. 60 vertical
feet, hill index
0.9. Start point Lloyd (near Highland and Mid-Hudson Bridge). [
Photos ]
- New Paltz North : Trail + Roads -- 15
miles. Half on an unpaved "rail trail" mostly off-road, the
other half on roads.
Mostly flat, except for one hill (not that long or steep -- and avoidable). Start point
New Paltz. [ Description
| Map
]
- New Paltz South : Trail + Roads -- 17 miles. Mostly
flat, except for one hill on the rail trail and one on the roads. Half on an
unpaved "rail
trail" mostly off-road, the other half on quiet roads. Start points
New Paltz or Gardiner. [ Description
| Map
]
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- Ashokan Reservoir Dam -- 2 miles or 5 miles.
Flat, on wide pavement most of which is closed to motor vehicles -- with first
mile out-and-back all car-free. Beautiful views across the largest lake
in the Hudson Valley, and of the highest summits in the Catskill
mountains. Hill index
0.1. Start point Ashokan Reservoir. [ Description
| Map
| Photos ]
- Ashokan Reservoir Views -- 20 miles
(or 29 miles). Gentle-to-moderate hilliness. Beautiful views across the largest lake
in the Hudson Valley, and of the highest summits in the Catskill
mountains. 900 vertical feet, hill
index 2.6. Start point Ashokan Reservoir. [
Description | Map
| Photos ]
- New Paltz to Ashokan Reservoir -- 58 miles, big hills.
Several great descents and climbs with sweeping views over three major watersheds (Wallkill, Rondout,
Esopus), lots of quiet back roads and fun little downhills -- and the biggest cliffs, the largest lake,
and the highest summits in the Hudson
Valley. 5200 vertical feet, hill
index 6.9. Start points
New Paltz, Kerhonkson, Ashokan Reservoir, Stone Ridge. [
Description | Map
| Photos ]
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Ulster County has two bridges across the great Hudson River, and
it's a special thing to ride across one of them. It's even more
special to ride across two of them, and each of these routes makes a
loop on both sides of the river, with two bridges.
- Mid-Hudson Bridge to Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, loop on both sides of the Hudson river -- 54
miles, hilly. Pretty roads in quiet woods, two big Hudson river
bridges, shops and sights at the Rondout waterfront, some quiet riding along
the shore with a picnic park, optional side trips to Rhinebeck or New
Paltz. 3400 vertical feet (feels like 3900 feet) hill
index 4.0 -- also an easier version.
Start points Poughkeepsie, Rhinecliff,
Kingston, Highland. [ Description
| Map
]
- Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Rip Van Winkle
Bridge, loop on both sides of the Hudson river -- 57 miles, moderate, from Rhinecliff to
Saugerties to Catskill, then Germantown and Tivoli. Shaded roads in the
woods, two fine Hudson river bridge crossings, sweeping views of farms with
the Catskill mountains beyond.
Downhill runs and Uphill challenges
Ulster County also some fun descents, including
and (for those who must) some notorious climbs:
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Here's some bicycle shops we found in phone directories around 2003:
Table Rock Tours
+ Bicycles -- Rosendale, NY Broadway Bike Shop -- Kingston, NY Kingston
Cyclery -- Kingston, NY Bike
Brothers -- Kingston, NY Big Wheel Bicycle -- Lake Katrine, NY Performance Pedal -- Ulster Park, NY Overlook Mountain Bikes -- Woodstock, NY
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Taxi services
Calling a taxi services can be very helpful for bicycling:
- when your bicycle gets messed up bad enough so you cannot ride
it -- or weather turns real bad -- and you still need to get home or
back to your car.
- to get to and from train stations.
- to set up one-way tours.
It's usually easier to call a taxi
if you have some phone numbers of taxi services in the area you're riding. A way to get a list is to do a search for "taxi" on a directory of business
phone numbers such as Superpages.com
-- Here's some towns and cities in this county on which might be helpful to
search:
New Paltz, Kingston, Saugerties, Woodstock, Kerhonkson, Wallkill
(all in New York state)
Here's some taxi services we found in phone directories around 2003:
New Paltz Taxi - - New Paltz, NY Discount Taxi of New Paltz - - New Paltz, NY
Taylor's Family Taxi - - Kingston, NY The Royal Taxi - - Kingston, NY New Cabs - - Kingston, NY Kingston Cabs - - Kingston, NY
other
- S & K Car Service :: Saugerties, NY
- Woodstock Transportation :: Woodstock, NY
- Accord-Kerhonkson Taxi-Limousine :: Kerhonkson, NY
- Chuck's Taxi of Plattekill :: Wallkill, NY
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Tourism in Ulster County
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