Kaaterskill Questing

1/2/2021

Sometimes, the genesis for a ride is the search to answer the question of what’s feasible given certain parameters. For this one, I wanted to see if I could ride to the Catskills and hike up one of their high peaks. The past few winters, I’ve been making it a habit to use bikepacking as a way to access trailheads but this year’s challenge was to skip out on trains entirely and to instead ride from my apt in NYC and back over the course of two days, just shy of 300mi and 12k’ of elevation gain. Everything was as frictionless as it could get and there’s not much to report but I’m making it more of a habit to write these days.

When the day began, I stumbled out of bed a few minutes before my alarm goes off, take down a caffeine pill, and put in the contacts I had placed the night before by the bathroom mirror. Breakfast was an everything bagel dipped in water, toasted whole, sliced in half, and fried face down on a slice of cheddar to be eaten over the kitchen sink. I filled a 3L bladder with hot water so it won’t freeze later. My overshoes were beaten to shreds and not really usable - I’ve recently been slipping my socked feet into packaging bubbles that I use as a vapor barrier layer. I contemplated putting tape on my face to keep it from drying out but the weather report doesn’t show much sun or wind this weekend.

I like to think of all these actions as taking care of my future self. I marked off all the tasks from a checklist on my phone while waiting for my GI to wake up and do its business. I was behind schedule and hit the road a few minutes after 4am. It was a cold start but my hardshell was soon shed by the time I pass through Greenpoint. I regreted this by mile 15 when I’m blasted by a rooster comb of road spray a speeding car left in its wake. My body temp dropped 20° and I spent the next hour trying to warm my body up enough to dry my wet clothes. Screaming barfies are no fun but I didn’t want to change into my backup gloves so soon into the trip. My earphones had been in since I left the apartment but I hadn’t sent anything piping through yet. Sometimes, it’s nice to soak in the silence of a city still asleep.

By the time I hit the South County rail trail and what I expected to be the start of a very tedious day, I fired up an audiobook. I was hoping to finish off Erica Lee’s The Making Of Asian America but I switched into A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court for a bit more levity. I really don’t remember much from this part of the day. There were a few rollers after I exited the South/North Country trail system and before I hopped onto the Dutchess rail trail. Here in the northeast, these trails can feel uncomortably unvaried - imagine a tunnel of trees with no climbing or descending. It all blends together.

I did spot the gate and fresh pavement for the Maybrook railtrail. I made a note to vist on my way back.

CONAN THAI

Kaaterskill Questing