Tom,
I went on a few NYC region AYH trips in the '60s. The
typical trip for me was to take the train up to Quebec province
and ride from there into New England and then back to New York
State. (Not all the way to NYC - you'd catch a train back to
the city from the Poughkeepsie area.) The length of the trip
determined the route through New England, but I remember the
hostels in Vermont really well, having been to some of them
several times - Putney, Waterbury and Burlington. (Burlington
may actually have been an old hotel with bathrooms off the
hallways.) One of my trips also went into New Hampshire but I
can't remember where the hostel(s) were located.
I suspect there must have been a similar trip that went
through Massachusetts. I can't say for sure,though, because
all my touring through that area was done on my own.
Anyway, for certain, there was a similar trip to Novia
Scotia, which came back into the USA via a ferry to one of the
ports in Maine. I don't know the details - my friends took
that tour while I always was enamored with Quebec city,
Montreal and smaller places like Iberville.
There was a great century ride to Bear Mountain and back.
This was where we saw all the cool European touring bikes that
were truly rare sites anywhere else at that time. (At least in
the NYC area.) It was on the Bear Mountain ride - and once in
a while at the hostels - that we saw bikes with triple
cranksets, nicely integrated racks, etc.
For more mellow riding, there were day trips where they took
you out to the Hamptons via the Long Island Railroad and had a
few loops of different lengths marked out. On those, you'd
start out on the longer loops with your racer and ultra-tourist
friends. But invariably you'd meet some girls doing one of the
the easier loops, and that would dictate a change in plans.
After all, it wasn't often that you met girls who found tight
cycling clothing and funny caps to be appropriate garb for
prospective boyfriends. (Remember, we're talking about the mid
1960s here. In my neighborhood, real boyfriend material was a
guy with access to a Pontiac convertable. Having both a road
and track bike wasn't that impressive unless you were some sort
of medalist. That's why ten years later we all related so
strongly to "Breaking Away".)
A trip that was great fun - but not much of a cycle touring
adventure - was the one where they took our bikes up to the
Newpork Folk Music Festival in Rhode Island. (By bus, IIRC...)
Most of the riding was simply between the hostel and the
festival grounds, although I recall doing at least one longish
ride along the coastal roads. Were bicycles optional on that
trip? I seem to recall other people doing a lot of
hitchhiking...
Cheers,
Fred Rednor - still trying to impress the
ladies in Arlington, Virginia (USA) :-)
> Front page of the Village Voice, January 4th, 1956:
> "Taking with them skiis, woolies, and high hopes for snow, a
> group of bo
> ys and girls from the Metropolitan New York Council for
> American Youth H
> ostels, 14 West 8th Street, board buses on a week-end trip
> [photo]. Hiki
> ng, canoeing, and the first favorite, biking, are among other
> activities
> of AYH members. Last wednesday, the 21st birthday of the
> national organ
> ization was observed at a reunion dinner at One Fifth Avenue
> with about
> 200 hostelers from all parts of the country present".
> Just thought that was neat about "the first favorite".
> Other front page news in the Village that day: "French
> Painter Who Shock
> ed America Becomes U.S. Citizen"--that would be Marcel
> Duchamp. "Leading
> Novelist To Write A Column for 'The Voice' " refers to
> Norman Mailer, a
> uthor of only three novels at that time....
> Any ex-AYH cyclists of the '50s/'60s in the New York City
> region (or an
> y region) recollect where the rides went?
>
> Tom Ward, fan of Britains' CTC Gazette of say 45 years ago,
> writing from
> a rainy Greenwich Village / NYC
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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