PEPSICO/SUNY PURCHASE

Fast and Fabulous Cycling/Front Runners New York
May 2, 2004

by Bob Nelson

Gerry Oxford, working from some ideas offered by Richard Gottlieb, developed this route over several iterations.  On Nov. 9, 2003, we rode to the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden, on the Pepsico corporate campus in Purchase, N.Y.  This world-acclaimed collection features works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti and Claes Oldenberg, among others.  Sculptures, fountains, ponds and reflecting pools are placed along a path that takes viewers around the perimeter of the campus. Maps are available at the front entrance.  Bicycles are not permitted; we locked ours to trees just outside the security guardhouse. 

The following spring, on May 2, 2004, we cycled to the same corner, but went across the street to Purchase College, part of the State University of New York.  Purchase, an arts college, also houses the Neuberger Museum of Art, up a long driveway to the left as you enter the campus.  The permanent collection, founded in 1969 with a bequest by Roy R. Neuberger, features art by Milton Avery, Romare Bearden, Willem  de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Nancy Graves, Edward Hopper,  Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and many more.  There is an amazing collection of African sculpture, and room for two or three temporary exhibitions, among which at our visit was a series of photographs by George Platt Lynes, including male nudes.  The museum has a website and is really a jewel. 

The ride itself is fairly uncomplicated.  Route 1 can be busy, but you’re only on it for a few miles; otherwise this route has relatively little traffic. 

We stopped both times in Rye for a pick-me-up at Poppy’s Café on Purchase St., where a dour Germanic matron took our orders in front of a sign that said:  “Do you want to speak to the man in charge or to the woman who really knows what’s going on?”  The house specialty, we decided, was the three-cheese sandwich with cheese fries, hold the cheese.  

Key:             R = Right turn                                       L = Left turn

BR = bear right                                     BL = bear left

QR = quick right                                   QL = quick left

GF = Gaily forward!                                X = Cross

x.x = cumulative mileage.

0.0       L          From Loeb Boathouse in Central Park.

1.2       R          Exit Central Park onto 90th St. (Engineers’ Gate)

1.4       L          Madison Ave.

3.3       GF       Take sidewalk ramp onto Madison Bridge; cross bridge onto East 138th St.

3.5       L          Second left should be Grand Concourse.

7.8       R          East 188th St., go one block.

            L          Valentine Ave., again, go one block.

            R          East Fordham Rd. 

8.6       GF       Short downhill through New York Botanical Gardens.

            GF       Pelham Pkwy.  Stay to the right, it’s less than a mile.  Watch exits.

9.1       X         Boston Rd., White Plains Rd.  Under subway, Nos. 2, 5 trains.  Stay

                        to right for Pelham Pkwy. South, which is the service road for Pelham Pkwy.

10.3     X         Eastchester Rd.  Make next left.

10.6     L          Stillwell,  takes you on short ramp onto Pelham Pkwy.  Watch traffic.

10.8     X         Bridge over Hutchinson River Pkwy.  Watch gratings.

12.3     GF       Pelham Pkwy. becomes Pelham Shore Rd.  City Island signs on R.  Cross

unmarked feeder road to bike path; go left on bike path.

12.5     GF       Eastchester Bay Bridge.  Again, watch gratings.

12.7     X         City Island Rd.; may not be marked but there are signs for Orchard Beach and

City Island.  Cross City Island Rd. to east side, then cross Pelham Shore Rd. to

north side, where you will get on a great little bike path for a mile or two.

14.7                 Bike path ends; you are on Park Lane.

15.0     R          Manor Circle.

15.2     R          Pelhamdale Rd.

15.7     L          Shore Rd., becomes Pelham Rd.

16.1     BL       Follow Pelham Rd. past marina on right, becomes Echo St.

17.5     R          Main St., becomes Boston Post Rd., Route 1.

            GF       Follow Route 1 signs through Larchmont and Mamaroneck to Rye.

19.5     GF       Harbor Island Park on right in Mamaroneck.

23.6     BR       Follow Route 1 sign downhill in Rye, several churches on R.

24.8     QL       Purchase St., at light in Rye.  Route 1 bears left, but not as sharply.  Poppy’s

Café is on the left for those who need refreshments from a Germanic matron.

25.2     GF       Under Rt. 95.

25.7     R          Ridge St.

26.8     L          Westchester Ave. (Rt. 120A)

27.2     R          Lincoln Ave. 

28.7     GF       Go under River Pkwy; major hill awaits you on the other side.  Ignore service

entrance for Pepsico, on your right.

29.4     R          Anderson Hill Rd.

29.5     R          Pepsico driveway; guard house is a quarter-mile down the road; lock bikes to trees

near guard house; OR

29.5     L          Purchase College driveway; follow signs to Neuberger Museum; lock bikes to

handrails across courtyard from museum.

Return the same way you arrived; if weather or fatigue make that impossible,

there is a Metro North station where Purchase St. runs under Rt. 95.

-THE END-