Kool for Momz N Dadz

If you live in new New York City or Westchester County, you have to spend a few hours biking, jogging, roller blading or just plain walking, the North County Trailway. It runs mainly uninterrupted from Elmsford, north to the town of Somers, in Westchester County (in New York).

The trail was once a rail road that carried New Yorkers to summer cottages around the many lakes in Westchester and Putnam Counties. Today you can enjoy more than 20 miles of paved fitness and bicycle trail. More than 40 miles, if you include the South County Trailway.

The railway was abandoned for many years, then paved, marked and is now well maintained by Westchester County. Wikipedia has a detailed description of the now defunct New York and Putnam Railroad.

If you don’t have a bike, rent one. Closest to me, in Yorktown, is Yorktown Cycles @ (914) 245-5504. They service, sell, and rent bikes. Besides having a very thorough website, they carry just about all the bicycle gear you’ll need.

Here are some great bicycle route and biking trail map resources to get you started…

New York City Bike Maps. Nice because they use Google Maps to show you convenient access points to the biking trails.
Bikely. This site also uses Google Maps and is interactive.
Westchester.gov Maps The “official” source of the North County Trailway bicycling maps (PDF).