Cycling in the Catskill Mountains

If someone would ask me why I decided to dive into a difficult overnight cycling trip, especially when I just started using my bicycle for the first time in a decade, I honestly wouldn’t have a concise answer. Looking back as I’m writing this, it was relatively foolish to have done a route that I should’ve known wasn’t going to be completable at the time. However, it conditioned me into planning better for other trips. Here’s a quick run down of that failed trip:

Day 1: Slide Mountain -> Phoenicia, NY // 23 Miles, 704 ft Gain, 2.3k ft Descent

My foolish plan was to cycle 100 miles for this trip. Wow, who did I think I was? Anyway, I drive 2 hours to the Slide Mountain trail head, planning to leave my car overnight and return later the next day. I arrived early, around 8:00AM eastern time. I booked a cottage in advance as that’s where I wanted to stay the night. This was before I had any camping gear. So, immediately I was hit in the face with the reality of this challenge. Immediately the hundreds of feet elevation gain up the main road made me question the whole trip. I had top walk my bike for an hour for a couple of miles just to start the journey. Then, the fun part came, over two thousand feet of descent! I managed a top speed of 35 mph and with no cars on these back roads, I was free to glide down the mountains. In the afternoon, I reached my cottage. I took some time to explore the nearby overlooks and found one of my favorite views of that trip, looking up into the Woodland Valley.

My view of the Woodland Valley in the Catskills.

Day 2: 16 Miles, 723 ft Gain, 705 ft Descent

This day was the troublesome one. I actually felt great and was ready to take on the day. However, I quickly realized I had no real way back to the car. I wasn’t about to go back the route from the day before and climb all 2000 ft of gain that quick. Remember, I was not at all ready for large climbs, I already struggled with 700 ft! I rode around looking for a good way back but nothing really was available. So, I ended up calling a non-emergency number for a police escort back to my car. Not really a satisfying ending, I know, but this whole trip was not anything of planned well. It was a good way to realize the importance of planning on these trips though, and to pick routes with reasonable points to stop and possible exits, which I had neither this time.