Ride/Scouting Reports

Cold Spring Gravel: Forests, Dirt Roads, and Climbs!

Ride report from September 19, 2026. This was a great ride with a great crew! We had three pace groups on the road (short, medium, and long) who tackled three challenging routes of different distances. All of them involved a lot of dirt and a lot of climbing! Fortunately, we had perfect weather for the occasion. It was nice and cool.

After the ride, many riders stuck around for well-deserved cold drinks and food by the river. Thanks everyone for helping to make it an awesome day!

Steve’s Activity on Strava (more photos): https://www.strava.com/activities/20244722059

ROUTES:
-Long (59 mi >6500 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841999
-Medium (46 mi >4700 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841992
-Short (40 mi >4100 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841987

Quick warning: Sunken Mine Rd is rougher than usual (ruts, washouts, etc). We recommend traveling single file once you cross through the gates. This will allow riders to choose a good line through the rougher sections.

ABOVE: Group photo taken with panorama mode, so the perspective is a little bit odd. BELOW: A few more photos from the ride.

Views from up high.

Medium group by the pond on Sunken Mine Rd.

Riders celebrating over food and drinks by the Hudson River after the ride (at Foundry Dock Park in Cold Spring).

Ride Report: GrNY – G R I N D (Gravel in Dutchess) Century Ride

Sept 12, 2026: This was a “bonus ride” that was sent out to regulars of our Long Distance crew, rather than one of our usual three-speeds rides. A big thanks to Doug who crafted our route and instigated this event. The goal was to start further west than our usual Dutchess County rides, so we could cover many of the great dirt roads that we don’t usually reach.

It was a fantastic ride with a fun crew. We covered 100+ miles of premium Dutchess County dirt and paved roads. The ride started and ended at the Slow Fox Farm Brewery, which was a great spot for cold beer and hot pizza when we returned. Both were well deserved! And they tasted even better after our efforts on the bike.

ROUTE: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/57328359

Note: We started at Slow Fox Farm, but we had obtained permission to park (and purchased drinks and food after the ride). Others might choose to start at Drayton Park, which is marked with a “P” for parking logo on the map.

Some pastoral views from the ride.

Part of the group zipping through a quiet, forested road.

NJ Dirt from Natirar Park

Kathy chose today’s routes and she made an excellent selection! It was a gorgeous ride with open pastoral views, deeply shaded climbs through the woods, and rural roads along streams. Most groups tackled the rugged climb through the Teetertown Ravine Nature Preserve, which was beautiful and challenging. I think these are the first routes that we’ve repeated so far this season and they were absolutely worthy of a revisit!

We were fortunate to have an excellent group of riders today (really four groups) who made it a really fun day. Three of the four speed groups finished the ride within seconds of each other – and the fourth was not many minutes off. You guys were making us look good with your near-perfect coordination!

Many riders stayed after the ride to celebrate over cold drinks and food in the park. It was a fantastic picnic spot with perfect weather.

We hope to see many of you in two weeks for our Cold Spring ride!

Some of the Long group on the dirt.

Short group enjoying the ride.

One of the great views from the route.

Lake Waramaug Gravel Ride

A great ride with some excellent company! We enjoyed some of the most scenic roads in Litchfield County, mixed in a few climbs, and enjoyed hanging out at the Housatonic River Brewery at the end for food and drinks. We got lucky with the weather, too. Relatively cool compared to some past weekends, though I won’t mind when we get to some actually cool fall weather!

We look forward to riding with everyone again next Saturday! We’ll be starting from Natirar Park in Far Hills, NJ.

Great dirt roads!

Medium group riding around Lake Waramaug

Lake Waramaug

Ride Report: The Golden Russet Gravel Ride (8/15)

Fun ride! We had a fast-moving crew for the long-distance group (68 mi). There were two additional pace groups tackling 58 mi and 46 mi versions of the route (“medium” and “short”, respectively). These routes have nice dirt climbs (almost all of them pretty reasonably graded – no 20% killers), ripping dirt descents, beautiful forested roads, scenic pastoral views, and a nice stop at the Golden Russet general store to refuel. Skies were clear enough to see the Catskills from the top of Tower Hill Rd (see photo). Oh, and we had relatively cool weather, considering it is summer, which was wonderful. Many folks stayed to celebrate over burgers, ice cream, and cold drinks at Kelly’s Creamery and Food Truck. Thanks everyone for joining us today and making it a blast!

Note: The long route is based on a past version of MHBC’s Clinton Roubaix Route. The first time GrNY rode this (2023), it was an MHBC-GrNY collaboration.

Part of the Long Distance group on the dirt.

Beautiful pastoral views along the route.

Views of the Catskills from the top of Tower Hill Rd.

Ride Report: Katonah Gravel (8/1)

We finally got to ride our first Spring Gravel Series routes from Katonah! Turnout for our first SGS ride was too large for the small businesses where we usually refuel, so we swapped to different routes that day. Yesterday’s ride returned to those original routes. Our ride included beautiful dirt roads, reservoirs, a couple of trails for some spice, and a zillion little hills that always add up by the end of the ride! We were feeling the summer heat near the end of the ride, but everyone still had a blast. Many riders celebrated over well-deserved cold drinks and food at Paulie’s Deli (rechristened Edgar’s Deli).

It was great riding with everybody! We hope to see you in a couple of weeks for our next ride, the Golden Russet, which will start from Dover Plains, NY.

One of many peaceful dirt roads along our ride.

Part of the Long Distance crew on the dirt.

Ride Report: NEW Jersey Dirt! (7/25/2026)

This past Saturday, we rode a NEW set of routes in the Bedminster area of NJ. We traversed a beautiful area that was full of farms, woods, and streams. There was considerably less climbing than our Tunnel ride, though we still got our fair share of hills. After the ride, we had a picnic at Burnt Mills Park, where we celebrated over cold drinks and food. This was a great ride with a fun group!

We hope to see everyone for next week’s ride from Katonah, NY. That ride should provide good train options for those coming up from the city.

Check out our ride calendar for a glimpse into upcoming rides this season.

The beautiful climb up Boulder Hill Rd.

Zipping along the dirt of Bedminster, NJ.

Ride Report: The Tunnel Ride (July 11, 2026)

Today we tackled one of our most beautiful, rugged, and challenging routes. You’d be forgiven for thinking the goal was to put every steep hill on this ride! It surely seemed that way, but that’s where all of these great dirt roads point! Either steeply up or steeply down. For those who weren’t there, we traveled through forests, wetlands, and along streams – and through the tunnel in Steep Rock Preserve. We even saw a young bear, among other wildlife.

It was a hot day, but fortunately, most of our ride was under tree cover which made a huge difference. A few sections of the ride were tougher than usual, given some storm damage from the prior weekend. There were loose rocks, ruts, and holes in some of the dirt roads – usually whenever things were at their steepest! But everyone did a fantastic job and tackled all of it. The cold drinks and snacks at the end were well-deserved. We had a great little picnic next to the river.

We hope to see everyone in two weeks for the next ride (currently planned for Bedminster area of NJ). You can see the ride calendar, here: https://grny.org/2026-07/2026-ride-calendar

The Tunnel Ride was characterized by steep climbs and descents.

Riders exiting the tunnel in Steep Rock Preserve

We traveled many beautiful roads through quiet natural areas.

Ride Report: Dutchess Gravel Grinder (June 27, 2026)

This was an awesome ride with a fun group! We traversed some of the best dirt roads in Dutchess County. Forests, streams, pastoral views, and glimpses of the Catskill Mountains in the distance from the top of Tower Hill Road. Many people stayed after the ride to socialize at Kelly’s Creamery and Food Truck, which never disappoints (ice cream, food, drinks).

We had four different pace groups and associated routes (short, medium, medium+, and long). You can find these, and many other routes, on RidewithGPS.

The main image (above) is the view from Tower Hill Road. See below for additional ride photos. More photos can bee found on Steve’s Strava activity, here.

We hope to see everyone soon for the Tunnel Ride, which is one of our favorites! Check the group page on Strava for details: https://www.strava.com/clubs/513005

Some of today’s riders at the start.

Riding country roads.

Pastoral views.

Final Spring Gravel Series Ride: Pawling, NY (6/13)

This ride is over. A big thanks to everyone who joined us and made it fun! It was an adventure from the start, given the storm-related destruction in the vicinity of Pawling. It was also a fitting end to our Spring Gravel Series, now that summer is knocking on the door! We traversed many great dirt roads through the woods, along rivers, past ponds, and over rolling hills. There were a few good climbs to keep things interesting. Many riders stayed for a fun hangout at the pub over much deserved food and cold drinks.

You can find some photos from the ride at the bottom of this post.

** We hope to see you in two weeks for our next GrNY ride. We’ll start from Dover Plains on our Dutchess Roubaix routes. It should be a beautiful day of riding! **

ORIGINAL POST: GrNY’s final Spring Gravel Series ride starts on SATURDAY in Pawling, NY. We skipped this ride earlier due weather, but it’s too good to miss! We will spend much of the ride in Litchfield County, CT. This part of the NY/CT border has some of the nicest gravel riding in our region.

You can find details on the group’s Strava page and can RSVP via Strava:
https://www.strava.com/clubs/513005/group_events/3498519342074914412

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Disclaimer: GrNY rides are completely informal. You ride at your own risk and are responsible for your own safety. You are expected to be self-sufficient. We cannot guarantee the condition or safety of roads and trails. Nor can we control the behavior of other riders. Our rides are not supported events. We expect everyone to be an experienced cyclist who can repair a flat, carry appropriate food and hydration, and navigate independently if they lose the group. We expect everyone to follow the group’s guidelines, which are listed at https://grny.org/guidelines.
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PHOTOS FROM THE RIDE (below)

Group photo

Medium riders by Mud Pond.

Long Distance (faster) group speeding along the Housatonic River.