Bash Bish Bash is a 2-day, 1-night, self-contained 5BBC weekend bicycle trip to Dutchess and Columbia Counties, New York, and Bash Bish Falls State Park, Massachusetts. Our ride leaders are Jim Zisfein (jzisfein@yahoo.com) and Ed Ravin (eravin@panix.com). We will also be joined by Time's Up leader Richard Brause, who introduced Jim and Ed to this ride.

Information on 5BBC weekend trips, and instructions for signing up for Bash Bish Bash, can be found here.

Trip itinerary and price

On Saturday, June 10, 2006, we will meet at Grand Central Station no later than 7:30AM and take Metro North Railroad to Harlem Valley - Wingdale. (If you would prefer to get on at 125th St. or Fordham Rd., that can be arranged, but please tell the ride leaders in advance.) We then ride our bikes to Copake Falls, a distance of approximately 40 miles on the acclaimed Harlem Valley Rail Trail and low-traffic country roads. In the Copake Falls area there will be optional activities including a 4-mile hike to Bash Bish Falls, a visit to a museum of the industrial history of the region, a bicycle ride up a steep mountain road to a spectacular vantage point, and a refreshing swim in a pond formed from an abandoned iron ore mine. Dinner will be at a nice restaurant. Our overnight accommodations are in a slightly funky but comfortable lodge with indoor bike parking.

On Sunday, we will pedal 50 miles across the width of Columbia and Dutchess counties from the Taconic Mountains in the east to Poughkeepsie on the Hudson River where we will catch the train home. Ten of those miles will be before breakfast. During the day it will seem like we're doing as much eating as riding: a tall stack of pancakes in Ancramdale, pre-lunch dessert (by a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America!) in Stanfordville, late lunch of soup and Belted Galloway hamburger at a veddy British tearoom and gift shop in Clinton Corners, and dinner with the best chili you ever ate on an outdoor deck overlooking the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie. You can expect to get home in the early evening - tired, perhaps, but not hungry.

The trip price of $145 includes accommodations (semi-private room w/communal bath), Saturday night dinner in Copake Falls, Sunday morning breakfast in Ancramdale, and Metro North train fare.

What if it rains?

The short answer is we're screwed. That's an inherent problem with self-contained group rides: you have to ride from place to place, you can't just hop in a van and go to the movies. (On the other hand, this trip is less than half the cost of our van-supported trips.) Speaking of movie theaters, there aren't any - at least none near Copake or along most of our route. The only indoor activities are at the above mentioned museum of iron mining, the restaurants we go to, and hanging out at the lodge (there are card tables downstairs).

The longer answer is that your leaders are capable and experienced foul-weather riders who can take just about anything that Mother Nature can dish out. We're not intimidated by a few raindrops and hope that you won't be either. The trip is "rain or shine". Make sure you bring at least a hooded waterproof raincoat. See below for more packing suggestions. If conditions become extreme, the leaders reserve the right to shorten the ride to 20-25 miles each day from Wassaic to Copake and back; we would forego the segments to Wingdale and Poughkeepsie. If you decide not to show up because of weather, we won't be able to make full refunds (the accommodations are prepaid and nonrefundable) but we might be able to make partial refunds for things we didn't buy, like your meal or train ticket.

How to prepare

Bash Bish Bash will not be strenuous by bicycle touring standards. The hills are fairly gentle (except for that optional mountain in Bash Bish Falls State Park), and the pace will be moderate. However, 100 miles is still 100 miles. This should not be your first ride of the year. We suggest that you get out on some 5BBC day rides if you haven't already done so.

We're going to the mountains, but you don't need to bring a mountain bike. Most of the roads we'll be traveling are better than the roads in NYC (although that's not saying much). The bike you're comfortable with on long distance rides - road bike, hybrid, or touring bike - is the bike to bring on Bash Bish Bash.

Make sure your bike is ready. Do the 2-minute bike check (or have a shop check your bike for roadworthiness). Recheck tire pressure the day before the ride. Remember to bring basic bike repair equipment (at minimum: 2 spare tubes, patch kit, pump, and tire levers) and a water bottle.

Clothing and supplies are best carried in panniers or a rack trunk, although a backpack will suffice. Bring what you need, but don't overpack. Whether it's on your bike or your back, you will be schlepping it for 100 miles.

What clothing to bring will be partly dictated by the weather forecast, but remember that the weather in the Taconic Mountains might be different than the weather in the city. It can get chilly at night, even in June. Pockets of rain can form in the mountains when the forecast is for clear from NYC to Albany.

Unless conditions are extreme, a reasonable selection of clothing (what you wear plus what you pack) would be:

• 2 bike jerseys, 1 short-sleeve, 1 long-sleeve (if hot weather is predicted, make both short-sleeve)
• 2 bike shorts, padded, and 2 pr. socks
• swimsuit for swim in ore pit, towel is optional (dry off with a bike jersey instead)
• soft-soled shoes for hiking if your bike shoes are the hard soled clop clop type
• optional: long pants, if unseasonably cool weather is predicted
• "nice clothing" for Saturday dinner is unnecessary, the restaurant (although a very nice one) doesn't have a dress code
• raincoat - this is not optional - we suggest a coat that is hooded and waterproof
• helmet - also not optional - without it, no ride, no refund

Don't forget your medications, personal care items, sunblock, mobile phone, camera, and money. How much money? Your food expense should be no more than $40 (remember, 2 of your meals are already paid for) but in a worst-case scenario of major mechanical failure or injury you might need cabfare for up to a 30-mile ride to the nearest train station. We suggest you bring a minimum of $150.

This will be fun!

If you can't wait until June 10 and want to try riding this now, here's the cue sheet.

We think you will enjoy this trip. Bash Bish Falls is a gem. Although nobody will confuse it with Niagara or Upper Yosemite Falls, it's in a beautiful setting and so close to home. People travel all the way to Vermont to get the mountain scenery you will see in the Taconics and Berkshires. We will ride the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, one of New York State's best greenways. We will get to watch the strikingly patterned Belted Galloway cattle graze, right before we eat them as beltie-burgers. Most of our riding will be on scenic and low-traffic country roads - bicycling like it oughta be. You will finish this ride wanting more of it, which you can get whenever you want just by taking a Metro North train.