Once or twice a week, when the weather is better than 5 degrees, I head out of town on weekdays to ride in the morning before starting work a little late (actually,I get in an hour or two handling stuff in Europe before 6:00 am, so the day is broken up a bit.) But, finishing up the workout and getting back to the city is always a challenge.
However, there is the perfect post-workout train, providing the best ride back into New York City along the Hudson River each morning. The Metro-North 848 leaves Peakskill at 10:12 and then pulls out of Croton-Harmon Station at 10:27 before speeding non-stop all the way to Manhattan, arriving at 11:17, saving huge amounts of time over the usual express trains that stop in Ossining, Tarrytown, Yonkers, etc. So, I often plan my rides so that I can get in the best training ride that would end in Croton-Harmon or Peakskill just in time to make the 848. The penalty for riding slow and missing the connection is a wait for the next train, which is always going to be slower than the 848. Great training incentive!
Last Thursday's ride didn't work out as planned. At about 54 km with 18 km to go and at 9:45 am, I rode up on a "bridge closed" sign. Usually this means that the road is closed for cars, but bikes can get by. Nope.. this road was closed and I wasn't up for swimming with my bike. For almost ten minutes I tried to find my way past while my GPS beeped at me that I was off course, providing no help finding a way past the obstacle. Those ten minutes were crucial. At 9:55, with just thirty minutes to go, there was no way that I was going to do 18 km, even at full effort. The fall back was the slower train at 10:33, but I pulled into Croton-Harmon station at 10:35 and got tossed into the "time-penalty box" (it is Stanley Cup time of the year) and had to wait for the local train that stopped at every station along the Hudson, half an hour later. Arrghh.
Today's ride was much better! After a ferry ride from the west side of Manhattan up to Edgewater, just south of the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey, I had just over three hours to ride 85 km (including 2100 meters of hills) in order to make the 10:12. No sweat!!
At 9:57, I was sitting on the train platform, non-peak one-way ticket home in hand, lazing in the morning sunshine well ahead of the 10:12. By 11:35 I was home in the shower and at half past noon doing the downward-facing dog in yoga class. Hell of a day. I beat the train!
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