Ride/Scouting Reports

Kathy’s Birthday Ride (Fall Foliage Routes) – Oct 17, 2026

Yesterday, we celebrated one of our medium group ride leaders, Kathy, with a scenic fall foliage ride in Dutchess County. What a gorgeous ride! Fall colors were popping everywhere. It was worth adding an extra layer or two, to stay warm in the chilly air, for a ride with this much scenic beauty! In the afternoon, dreary skies gave way to sunshine mixed with dramatic clouds. Views of the Hudson Valley and Catskills from Tower Hill Rd couldn’t have been better, given the backdrop of autumn leaves and those aforementioned clouds.

We celebrated over hot food, cold beers (or hot drinks!), and some amazing dark chocolate hazelnut brownies baked by Kathy.

Thanks everyone who came out to ride today and celebrate – despite the sharp drop in temperatures! Folks who made the journey were well rewarded for their efforts.

Steve’s activity on Strava (and more photos): https://www.strava.com/activities/20625429441

ROUTES FOR THIS WEEK:
Long (63 mi, >5000 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841887
Medium+ (57 mi, >4600 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841884
Medium (52 mi, >4100 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841878
Short (41 mi, >3400 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841875

Photo at the top of this post (above) = View of the Hudson Valley with the Catskills in the distance from the top of Tower Hill Rd.

More photos from the ride:

Part of the medium group (Kathy taking the photo from behind the camera).

Fall colors were at their peak in Dutchess County.

There were so many well-graded, dirt climbs followed by fun, zippy descents, like this one along Buttes Hollow Rd. The scenery was far more beautiful than the road name!

Many (but not all) of today’s riders at the Dover Plains Train Station where we gathered in the morning.

Wolves of Waccabuc Gravel Ride (Oct 3, 2026)

Did you know there are wolves in Westchester? They are safely housed at the Wolf Conservation Center. We didn’t visit any of the Ambassador Wolves during this bike ride, but we named the route in their honor! The first part of this route was similar to our route from April, but the second half contained a lot of new roads. We had a large group (four pace groups, actually) who came ready to explore some new dirt and revisit some old favorites!

Overall, it was a beautiful route on a spectacular day. I don’t think we could have ordered more perfect riding weather. The leaves were starting to turn color, which added to the charm. The Mountain Lakes climb was as bumpy and enjoyable as we remembered – either the highlight or lowlight of the ride depending on who you ask today!

Thanks everyone, from all of the pace groups, for joining us today! It was a fun day out. Many of us stayed after the ride to celebrate over food and cold drinks.

Steve’s Activity on Strava (and more photos): https://www.strava.com/activities/20437150700

ROUTES:
Short: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841801
Medium: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841804
Medium+: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/57343617
Long: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55841812

We look forward to seeing everyone in two weeks for *Kathy’s Birthday Ride*! We’ll be riding our Fall Foliage routes from Dover Plains. You won’t want to miss it.

Photos from the ride:

Golden leaves and smooth dirt roads.

Long Distance crew.

Medium crew.

Riders climbing. We tackled many hills!

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.