Macedonia Brook State Park

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.

Pawling Gravel Ride (AKA Kathy’s Birthday Ride) – Nov 1

This ride is over, but we’ve got two more scheduled: Nov 8 and Nov 15! Check them out on the group’s Strava page.

Ride Report for Pawling (AKA Kathy’s Birthday Ride): Great ride with a fantastic group! We had such perfect fall weather, traveled excellent dirt roads, and had a fun post-ride hangout at the pub (including lots of amazing baked goods courtesy of Kathy). Below this post, we’ve added a few photos. You can find Steve’s activity on Strava, here: https://www.strava.com/activities/16324750642

ORIGINAL POST: In honor of Kathy’s birthday, join us for a beautiful ride on the dirt roads and trails of Litchfield County, CT! We’ll be starting from Pawling, NY so folks can join us by train if they choose. This is always a great route.

RSVP Link on Strava: https://www.strava.com/clubs/513005/group_events/3414051696942464518

QUESTIONS? You can email Steve at track.smart@gmail.com, but be sure to read all of the information in the Strava post and the group information on the GrNY.org website first.

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DISCLAIMER: This is totally 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. This is not a supported event. 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 all riders to have signed the club’s waiver form before the ride. We also expect that all riders will abide by the group’s guidelines.

PHOTOS FROM THIS COMPLETED RIDE! What a great time!

Group photo at the ride start (missing some riders as always!)

The view at Mud Pond.

Part of the Medium Distance crew at a regrouping spot.

Some of the Long Distance group cruising the dirt roads of Litchfield County, CT.

Aug 19, 2023: Dutchess Dirt

On Saturday, August 7 the GrNY group returned to Dover Plains after a three-month absence. As expected, it was worth the drive or train ride! We had three pace/distance groups (long, medium, short) who traversed the picturesque dirt roads of Dutchess County. We were fortunate to get absolutely perfect weather, too! After the ride, everyone celebrated with food, drinks and/or ice cream at Kelly’s Creamery and Kelly’s Husband’s Food Truck.

The medium-distance group did our less-intense variant of the classic Dover Plains Dirt loop (i.e. this route: ridewithgps.com/routes/36062828). This medium-distance variant (link further down) is possibly the best version. It skips the two steepest climbs in favor of other great dirt road riding. It also adds more civilization, including better food options in Amenia, NY and Sharon, CT. It uses a spur of the Harlem Valley bike trail to connect it all together and adds some new (flatter) dirt/gravel roads make up for any lost dirt, including the always lovely (and well-graded) climb up Deep Hollow Road.

The short-distance group did the same route, but stayed on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail at the midway point. This made for a shorter but also extremely pleasant ride back to the start. Finally, the long-distance group did a very different route that cut westward and traversed the area around the Wassaic Multiple Use Area (a lovely forested area).

ROUTES

LONG (64 mi, >5000 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42740503
MEDIUM (57 mi, >3800 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42747652
SHORT (43 mi, >2700 ft): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42740494

Macedonia Brook State Park

Medium-distance group on the road

Boardwalk through a beautiful wetland (only traversed on the short-distance route).

Macedonia Gravel Grinder* – Winter Edition

Yesterday, members of the GrNY group did this ride for the first time. I’ve had a couple of requests for the RidewithGPS route, hence this ride report. For those who don’t know, Strava events (and their routes) disappear from the group page once they are over.

MAIN ROUTE: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38187873
~80 miles and 8,000 ft climbing

SHORTER VERSION: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38188236
~65 miles and 6,000 ft climbing

Our actual ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/6395687673

From my Strava feed:
“It was an awesome day on the bike with some excellent company (most of whom woke up before 5am so we could get to the ride start before NYC traffic started!). There was much excellent dirt and plenty of climbing. Those of us who are more road/gravel oriented got several hundred extra feet of climbing by taking the paved way down Skiff Mountain. Those with better mountain bike skills chose the dare-devil, gravel descent (steep, winding, narrow, loose gravel, with potential uphill jeep/ATV traffic).
Thanks to Mark L for the spectacular route that he created in 2015 — and his advice for further improving it prior to our ride today!”

NOTES:
1) There were a couple of places with road work/closures, but on bikes, we were able to pass through.
2) Make sure you are well-stocked with food and water (e.g. in Kent) before starting the upper loop. You won’t find any places to refuel up there.
3) The route above takes the paved way down Skiff mountain (safer), but choose your own adventure (at your own risk).

* This route has no affiliation with the official Macedonia Gravel Grinder event, which will be happening for the first time this summer. I have no idea which roads that event will take, aside for obviously traveling through the lovely Macedonia Brook State Park.

Hill on dirt road — Up up up… There was plenty of climbing on the day (>8,000 ft according to most of our bike computers)

Wingdale To Wassaic – Rain Remix (with routes)

This past Saturday, we dragged ourselves out of bed early so we could ride before a predicted afternoon storm. We enjoyed some excellent dirt riding through forests and across ridges with stunning views. And we managed to complete the entire ride before some nasty weather rolled in.

Our original route would have been 77 miles (see notes for the Brewster to Wassaic ride earlier this year), but we shortened it to 47 miles in light of the weather. We also moved the start location to Wingdale, which is near the center of this “figure 8” shaped ride, so we could easily bail if the storm arrived early. Thankfully, we completed this beautiful ride before the skies opened up with pouring rain, heavy winds, and even hail in some places.

I’ve pasted our shortened route below, because sometimes folks are looking for rides that don’t require an entire day to complete.

Route from Saturday
47 miler: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38001180

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Longer variants:
61 miler: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38001292

77 miler: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36622714
(the original route from earlier this year)