On Top of Bear Mountain, All Covered with Cheese...

I like to ride my bike to the top of bear mountain once a year. This year's highly photoshopped snap from the top is brought to you by the top of my head and the sweat of my brow:

Trust me, my un-cropped sweaty mug wasn't pretty enough to share. 2 miles of up up up = dorky, happy, exhausted face and lovely pink eyes.

NYC-area bikers, this site is an awesome resource full of maps and potential rides, lots of which connect to Metro North with a little fudging. I basically took the route here (only backwards) but continued to the end of Seven Lakes Parkway and took the train back home from Suffern - about 65 miles with lots of hills. A few miles of really busy roads at the end, but way more fun than zigzagging back to the GW Bridge through suburban Jersey. And I love Harriman state park - the parkways through it are nearly car-free (though highly favored by motorcycles), and gorgeous - woodsy for miles and an hour or so from Manhattan.