Monday, February 17, 2020

Do you know the way to Mianus?

I finally found a buyer for my Tandem and since they were going to the trouble of renting a van, they live in Brooklyn, I decided to meet them half way.  The deal went down at the commuter lot at Exit 4 off of I-684 in Bedford Hills.  After the new owners left the with the bike I got ready for a little gravel ride that I planned out which combined new dirt roads I learned on Dirty Apple plus roads that I have often ridden on the the Dirty Martha.

 

It was pretty warm and I probably could have gotten away with my regular riding shoes with covers but all I brought were my Lake303s. I figured a lighter outer layer would be sufficient and fortunately, I also had my rain jacket in the handlebar bag if I got cold. I hit first dirt on Fox Lane. This road is a little hidden gem I discovered a few years back. I have never ridden it from this direction though.




The goal of this ride was to see what Mianus River Road was like since part of it was dirt.  That's why I started from where I did. There is a lot of hard ball between Fox Lane and Mianus, but there was nothing else that was dirty between the two to break it up. I was surprised to see quite a few people out walking or jogging on this road.


While climbing Millertown Road a fat biker was coming the other direction.  I wondered if he was coming back from Ward Pound Ridge Reservation and when I got to Honey Hollow I looked for his egress point but couldn't find any discernible.


One thing that made riding these roads a little tougher than normal was all the 1/2 to 1 inch gravel that was laid down on parts of these roads. My guess is that since its been so wet these sections have probably gotten really muddy and this is how the local highway department solves the problem.  Probably in a couple of weeks it will be smoothed in more.


I stopped at the dam


Then I rode through Katonah


Then I worked my way on the dirt roads between Rt 22 and I-684 to finish the ride.

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