Tag: Pawling NY

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

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

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

Misty/foggy morning start
This is what it looked like in the morning at the ride start. The sun hadn’t fought its way through the mist yet.
Two bikes leaning against a white fence
It turned into a beautiful day. At least until the storms rolled in later! We finished at the right time.

Brewster To Wassaic Gravel Ride

This event was on July 5, 2021: Overall, it was a challenging, but very rewarding ride to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend. The route included paved sections, gravel sections, a short section of forest trail (around mile 22), and several challenging climbs followed by memorable descents.

All riders started together in Brewster, tackled the wild Penny Lane forest trail, then continued to our lunch stop in Wingdale. We picked up an additional rider who took the same train to Brewster and was using our route as a jumping-off point for his bike trip to the Berkshires. Cousins Bakery/Pizzeria was closed for the holiday, so we had to make do with the deli/Dunkin Donuts/Mobile Station just down the road. Normally, Cousins provides some nice baked goods for bringing up the blood sugar! Around mile 28/29 our “extra” rider continued on his route, a second rider headed back towards Brewster to complete the 50 mile loop (and get home a bit earlier), while the rest of the group committed to the full 77 mile route.

RidewithGPS estimated the route at 6000’, but all of our devices registered well over 7000’ of total climbing on the day. Those climbs earned us some beautiful views and fun, roaring descents. Everybody survived the route, though some suffered a bit more than others on the climbs.

For future riders of this route: There are no stores of any kind from mile 26 to mile 69 (43 miles total), so we tried to fuel up during our pitstop in Wingdale. We used my portable water filter to top-off our water bottles around Macedonia Brook State Park, since it was a hot day. Come prepared with everything you need for that stretch of the ride!

MAIN ROUTE (77 miles, >7000’): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36622714
SOUTHERN LOOP (50 miles, 5000’): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32953734

[FYI: Strava removes all “events” from our feed once they have passed. I sometimes post “ride reports” so GrNY members can learn about past rides and hopefully try those routes themselves.]

-Steve