Not a fan of Route 9W

So in an effort to get in a ride outside the city, I drove across the GW and up Route 9W, a route that seems to be held in high regard among NYC area riders. After continuing a few miles north through Fort Lee I parked at a school and rode north. In truth, for about 10 miles it is quite nice, there's a very wide shoulder and some good hills, though traffic does still move quite quick and the memorial to a killed cyclist on the roadside was a little troubling.

However, once we crossed a bridge into Sparkill, it became quite dangerous and nearly unridable. Shoulder disappeared, traffic increased dramatically and the road became a mess. The 2 or 3 feet on the side of the road that you would expect to ride on looked more like something that a drunk person with a jackhammer had some fun with.

Eventually when we hit Nyack, after an uncomfortable cruise over 287, we turned around. There are some great hills on the early part of 9W where we got some good work. In reality you could have a great 20 mile loop, up north then back south, but I'd never recommend anyone ride over the GW Bridge, up a very urban Route 9W through Fort Lee to get to a decent stretch of road.

Maybe more experienced riders won't mind the ride as much, but in the more northern stretches of the road I never felt comfortable and couldn't get any kind of ride going. Instead we ended driving farther out into NJ where I knew some better roads.

I'm surprised so many people seem to talk so highly of this stretch of road, though we did see several bikers on the better part of the road. Curious to hear other people's thoughts or suggestions.