Ken Roberts and Sharon Marsh Roberts
   

what's here

• Routes for bicycling

• Bridge-to-Bridge routes, with the Bear Mountain bridge

• other people's routes

• Bike shops 

• Taxi services 

• more

see also

• Reports on riding in Orange county | north-south traverses

• Map -- overview of routes 

• West side routes -- other counties on the West side of the Hudson River

• main Routes page for Bike Hudson Valley

• routes by Difficulty category

Routes for bicycling

• Seven Lakes to the River -- 27 miles (or more), very hilly.  Three (optionally four or five) fine descents in Harriman and Bear Mountain state parks.  2800 vertical feet, hill index 6.7 (or 3700 feet in 32 miles with the climb Bear Mountain option). [ Description | Map ]
   

• NYC to Bear Mountain Adventure -- 101 miles, hilly.  The great (non-train-supported) bicycling adventure from Manhattan -- lakes with islands, river views, classic descents.  But some vehicle traffic situations requiring advanced traffic-handling skills.  One section on dirt.  Start points Manhattan and Fort Lee NJ; also Allendale NJ, Bear Mountain and Harriman State Parks, Stony Point, Nyack.  6400 vertical feet, hill index 4.2. [ Details | Map | GPS | Cue sheet ] 
   

• Orange Heritage Rail Trail -- 9 or more miles one-way (or more than 18 miles on pavement with return).  Gentle.  Pleasant riding on a paved path, mostly off-road.  A good place to ride for families with children.  400 to 550 vertical feet of hills in round trip, hill index 1.6.  Start points Monroe, Chester, or Goshen. [ more Details ] 
   

see also

• more Climbs up the Hills

• reports on traveling between Hudson valley + New Jersey

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River Routes -- Bridge to Bridge

Orange County has two bridges across the Hudson River with beautiful views -- the Bear Mountain and the Newburgh-Beacon -- and both are very ridable.  A great route is to cross both of them in a great loop route on both sides of the river.  Or you can combine them in routes with other bridges.

• Bear Mountain Bridge to Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, loop on both sides of the Hudson river -- 42 miles, hilly.  Spectacular views of the Hudson River, from every angle.  Rocks, trees, castles, two great bridge crossings, and West Point.  2700 vertical feet, hill index 4.0.  Start points Beacon or Cold Spring Metro North train stations, Bear Mountain State Park, Newburgh. [ Description | Map | GPS ] 
   

• Newburgh-Beacon Bridge to Mid-Hudson Bridge, loop on both sides of the Hudson river -- 40 miles, hilly.  Some fine views over the orchards on the West side, and of the Hudson river.  2800 vertical feet (feels like 3200 feet, hill index 4.4).  Start points Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Highland, Newburgh. [ Description | Map ] 
   

• GWB to Bear Mountain Bridge Loop, on both sides of the Hudson river -- 92 miles (or 83 miles), hilly.  A great accomplishment, several pretty views of the River, and a great variety of riding.  Lots of motor vehicle traffic, requiring advanced traffic-handling skills.  At least two sections on dirt.  7200 vertical feet, hill index over 5.0. [ Description | Map | Photos ] 
   

back to Top | Map | West side routes

Other People's routes

Our routes for Orange county are mostly in the northeast area near the Hudson river.

For routes in the rest of the county, we suggest checking the "Cue Sheets" page on the Orange County Bicycling Club website. 

In June 2002 we got to ride in the Country Roads event.  We did the full 62-mile route.  The Orange County Bicycling Club did an excellent job of organizing it.  The food stops were the most interesting we've seen -- famous for real camels and other themes.  We were impressed with how much of the route they were able to keep on quieter roads (for the 62-mile route, also hilly roads -- though some of that was in Sullivan county).  We had a good time, and came away thinking that that event is a good way to ride the roads of Orange County.

But since then the club chose a completely different starting point and routes. A route that contains most of what we rode that day (but avoids the big hill climbs crossing into Sullivan county) is the 44-mile route under "Country Roads 1998-2002" on the Cue Sheets page on the club website.

For some other ideas about riding central + western Orange county, see the Reports, including the connect north-south reports.

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Bike shops 

Here's some bicycle shops we found in phone directories around 2003:

• Wheel and Heel -- Newburgh, NY

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:

Newburgh, Highland Falls, Goshen, Monroe, Walden, Middletown, Port Jervis  (all in New York state)

Here's some taxi services we found in phone directories around 2003:

Newburgh area

• Tony's Taxi - - Newburgh, NY

• Taxi II Victors - - Newburgh, NY

• Lamaquina Star Taxi - - Newburgh, NY

• JR's Taxi - - Newburgh, NY

• C & G's Taxi - - Newburgh, NY

• Bob's Taxi of Newburgh - - Newburgh, NY

• All City Taxi - - Newburgh, NY

West Point / Bear Mountain

• Bosch's Taxi, Highland Falls, NY

central + western areas

• ASAP Taxi :: Goshen, NY

• Hambletonian Taxi :: Goshen, NY

• GD Taxi :: Monroe, NY

• Monroe Taxi :: Monroe, NY

• Village Taxi :: Monroe, NY

• B & D Taxi :: Walden, NY

• D & K Taxi :: Middletown, NY

• Robin's Taxi :: Middletown, NY

• Syndicate Eight Three Hundred Taxi :: Middletown, NY

• City Taxi :: Port Jervis, NY

• J L Dispatching Taxi :: Port Jervis, NY

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more . . . 

• Orange County Bicycling Club 
   
• Orange County Tourism 
   
• Orange County Parks 
   

back to Top | Map | West side routes