Sometimes all you need is a couple of miles.
A couple of miles along a bike trail close to your home.
Tarrytown Lakes Park is near our house, and we are regular visitors. Once we arrive, we unload the bikes and ride a pretty stretch of the connecting North County Trail Way. We pedal through a peaceful corridor, with the lake on one side and trees on the other. The drone of road traffic is distant for those two sweet miles. We yield to deer or chipmunks as they cross this section. It’s quiet, and it smells like fresh water.
Other parts of this trail are too close to the highway. We tried riding in both directions, North and South, and while it was good exercise, it was loud. Admittedly, we are spoiled. We have ridden on a lot of trails throughout the MidAtlantic, Northeast, and South. These trails have always followed water- rivers, canals, salt marshes, even oceans. These trails have woods and wildlife, farms, fields, backyards, parks, campuses, and backstreets in small towns. We are used to carefully crossing intersections at four way stops or roads where the speed limit is between 35 -45 mph, so yes, we are street savvy. But it is disconcerting to be up on a ledge, on a skinny trail, with semi trucks whizzing beneath you at 70 mph. The height, noise, and the lack of space made me feel woozy and claustrophobic.
I hope, as we discover more about our new area, that we find more quiet places to ride. In a future post, I will highlight the Aqueduct Trail, which we have yet to fully explore. We know parts of this trail do have the qualities we look for and more. We’ve walked on it for a bit, and the old growth trees along the Aqueduct are beautiful. Until then, we will pedal from one end of Tarrytown Lake to the other, and back again, enjoying those sweet couple of miles.
