There is a “Critical Mass” bicycle ride planned for 7:00 p.m., Friday, August 31, starting at Downing Park’s Shelter House cafe in Newburgh. A friend from my days in New York City, George Bliss, who helped me deliver my cycling magazine (by cargo bicycle, of course) is credited with being the first to use… Read More
Category Archives: Transit
Bike Your Park a Success! Bonus Slide Show: Suckerfish Falls
Yesterday was a sunny Sunday, and my son Mack and I took advantage of the newly re-opened Denning’s Point bridge to bike the Beacon Loop Trail for the first time since the repair construction started. One of our favorite spots is Suckerfish Falls, just upstream of the South Avenue bridge and the old hat… Read More
Bike Your Park Day in Beacon!
This Saturday, September 30, is Bike Your Park Day, a day when lots of folks around the world will ride their bicycles to a park. Here in Beacon, Wigwam will host a ride that visits not one, not two, but four parks. And all in the space of a leisurely 5 or 6 miles,… Read More
Newburgh Beacon Bridge Walkway Closed Today (Wednesday)
Sorry for the late notice. The walkway was closed most of the day Tuesday as well. If you cross before 8am and return after about 4:30, you should be okay. The bridge authority has had signs up for a few days, though the wind blew them down on Tuesday. They also sent us a press… Read More
Bridge Closed Today & Other April Updates
“Я вижу Землю . Это так красиво.” (“I see Earth. It is so beautiful.”) Yuri Gagarin, April 12th, 1961 April 1. This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three-hundred and sixty-four. Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. Sweet April Showers/ Do Spring May Flowers Thomas Tusser, 1597, A Hundred… Read More
Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Closed Without Warning
The Newburgh-Beacon Bridge was closed one day this past December with no warning. It was 8:30 on a foggy Monday morning, and I was transporting my son to his bus stop, then heading to work. But when I arrived at the bridge, the gate was locked. The only possible explanation for the cyclist/pedestrian crossing being… Read More
Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Work
Complete By Mid-November
At least that’s what one of the workers told me recently as I crossed over on my way to work last week. “If they keep pushing it, we should make it,” he told me. It looks like the crews are working on a few final cement roadway sections as well as taking out and… Read More
Beacon Bike People:
Right-Sized and Matching Colorways!
Bike Friday Post An ongoing series in which we profile Beacon’s bicycle riders and cover all aspects of bicycling in our town, from the best practices for riding on our roads to equipment choices and more. Perhaps you’ve seen this deep magenta two-wheeled machine flash by on Main Street recently. Its owner is Courtney… Read More
Beacon Bike Fridays!
Hey, prime cycling weather is here, and Wigwam is adding a feature for all you Beacon Bicyclists, present and future! Every Friday we’ll do a bicycle-related post. Topics will include how to choose and equip a bicycle for riding about town, tips for riding in our local traffic and road conditions, options for riding… Read More
Newburgh Beacon Bridge
Re-Opens To Commuters
There are 3 or 4 posts in the drafting box, but I wanted to share my first day of spring! It’s been a rough winter, but it ended decisively today, with temperatures rising into the 50s. The warming trend the past several days allowed much of the remaining snow and ice on the approaches to… Read More
Why Bicycling in the Winter Sucks
There are not many circumstances that can put me off bicycling. This winter is one of those rare instances. But it’s not for the reasons most would think. The biting cold? Once you know how to dress, it’s preventing overheating that can be the problem—with the possible exception of feet. But my commute is right… Read More
Beacon Loop Trail on Christmas Day
I particularly enjoy going for a bike ride on the “indoor” holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. One of the few bike blogs I read with anything approaching regularity recently had a well-wrought description of this phenomenon: I’ve always had mixed feelings about Christmas celebrations. But the one thing I like about this time of… Read More
One Foggy Christmas Eve
I don’t know the words to many songs, but this one would take a frontal lobotomy to remove. Many have covered it, but Dean Martin’s version from 1959 is extra special. Happy Birthday, Rudolph! (Although 75 is positively ancient for a reindeer, he’s a babe in the woods compared to another famous savior, Jesus,… Read More
Hudson River Interlude
Since late August I’ve been commuting from Beacon to Newburgh for work. It’s given me a renewed appreciation for the mighty body of water currently known as the Hudson River. Some days I have a camera with me. I was drawn to the combination of water and expansive skies and how they relate to the… Read More
Bicycle Traffic Skills 101
The Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council, in partnership with the New York Bicycling Coalition, is pleased to bring a Bicycle Traffic Skills 101 course to Dutchess County. The course will be held October 3-4 in Poughkeepsie, near Route 55/Noxon Road and the WRS Dutchess Rail Trail. Do you feel confident and safe riding a bike… Read More
JV Forrestal To Send Kids Walking
Emily Dozier is the senior planner for the Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council. She sent out a note regarding National Walk to School Day. One of the goals of the new county-wide Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan, Walk Bike Dutchess, is to support more local involvement in Walk to School Day. Online registration is open for this… Read More
$4,000 Sidewalk Madness on Herbert Street
Herbert Street residents facing sidewalk bills of $3000 to $4,000 dollars descended on city hall this evening to express their opinions on the matter. All the residents were unhappy that they were not notified by mail of the construction, or given an estimate of what their portion of the cost might be. Most were also… Read More
The Bridge Back To Beacon
This is a follow-up to my last post, about my ferry commute to Newburgh on Tuesday morning. Because the ferry runs in the evening don’t start until 6pm, I decided to take a chance and see if the bridge bike path was open. It was. Next week I’ll probably start taking the bridge in the… Read More
An Intermodal Beacon Newburgh Ferry Ride
I started a new job this week across the river in Newburgh. I don’t have a car, so I’ll be doing the 7-mile commute by bicycle, which is about 30-35 minutes each way at commuting pace. Because the work on the bike/pedestrian path on the Newburgh Beacon Bridge is undergoing repairs, I will be taking… Read More
A Sailing Opportunity
The Vermont Sail Project is alive and well, and looking for two sailors. Harvest Sailing Ceres and her crew completed a second voyage down the Hudson earlier this summer, stopping in Mechanicville, Waterford, Troy, Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival in Croton-on-Hudson, and Nyack, among other ports. Now we’re looking ahead to next weekend’s Tugboat Roundup… Read More
Peoples Bicycle Opens On Main Street
Peoples Bicycle has been around in Beacon since 2009, first at a small space on South Chestnut, and more recently at an expansive warehouse location on Maple Street. After one and a half years of planning and engineering and structural repairs and build-out, this past Second Saturday marked the establishment’s arrival on Main Street proper,… Read More
Newburgh-Beacon Bridge To Close For A Month
The Newburgh-Beacon Bridge will be closed for at least a month to non-motorized traffic, starting today. Walkers, runners, and cyclists, already inconvenienced by the 93-million dollar road bed replacement that has been using their lane as a staging area, are now being turned back and told the bridge will be closed to non-auto traffic… Read More
Bike in Beacon Day
May is National Bike Month, and today is Bike to Work Day. Unfortunately, even after accounting for the persons hunched over laptops for hours at a time and presumably earning money that increasingly populate our cafes and coffee shops, there are still not many Beaconites working local jobs. There are, however, lots of people… Read More
Beacon Bicycle People: K*
We saw K* pull up to Beacon Natural Market to do some grocery shopping and asked her a few questions before she rode away with her bounty. How long have you been in Beacon? Almost two years. Before this I was in New Haven. How long have you been riding? My whole life. Well, since… Read More