2022 Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder

Judy Behrens & John Blye on Fred Snow Road

The Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder, or F2G2, is back after a 3 year break due to obvious reasons and you couldn't have asked for a better day for this ride. Will's wife dropped him off at the start point as she was heading up to Boston.  Originally, Will and I were going to ride with John and Judy (pictured above) but they headed off at 8 AM. Will and I left the Tyringham Fire Department at 8:30 AM.

Rough Road Ahead: Tighten your bra strap and remove your dentures (F2G2)

If you rode F2G2 last year then any threat of rain would probably make you a bit nervous. I think the first time I did the ride in 2014 it rained in the morning but that was nothing compared to what it was like last year (2018 post: I got lei'd at F2G2). This time around there was some rain in the forecast today but it was a 20% chance starting around 2 PM. Otherwise, the weather at the start of the ride was your typical fall day in New England, overcast and in the mid 40s.

This year's ride had a big change in that it wasn't starting from the Cantebury Farm, rather the Tyringham Fire Dept pavilion and the route mirrored the 2015 route.  I have a Google Map of all the routes:  Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder Routes. I spent the night before at Will's place in Spencertown, NY and the drive over to Tyringham only took 25 minutes.

I got lei'd at F2G2

Having missed last year's Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder due to breaking my ankle I wasn't going to miss this year's event. In fact, as soon as I heard that it was on again I was the first one to sign up! Even the weather wasn't going to be a deterrent, and that wasn't looking so good when I checked the forecast earlier in the week. 

Photo Cred: William Mansfield

Leaving Will's place near Chatham, Saturday morning it was raining. It rained the whole time we drove to Becket and it was raining when we mounted our bikes and started climbing Fred Snow Road.  Will and I left about 45 minutes before the official start and it was raining. We were joined buy a guy from New Haven by the name of Dwight. What I noticed about Dwight's bike was that he was carrying 4 water bottles! Apparently, he was training for the Dirty Kanza and he planned to drink all of those bottles during this ride.

F2G2: I climbed Schemerhorn Hill, again!

I wasn't sure if 2016 F2G2 was going to happen because at the Geylock Century, they were saying that it was iffy whether they were going to do it this year. When I saw someone I follow on Strava doing F2G2 Route Recon that is when I knew the event was on, however, it was really, really late.

I left Cantebury Farm a half an hour early before the official start.  At my usual pace I figured I would get to the first rest stop at opening time. The temperature today was interesting.  It was one of those dreary mornings in the upper 40s/lower 50s that made it difficult to choose whether to wear tights or shorts.  I went with the tights. Two years ago I froze and last year was chilly enough that I could have worn better shoes. 

The climb up Fred Snow Road was good because I warmed up quickly but then descending down Johnson Road is when I thought I probably should have had a wind vest.  We weren't the only ones who left early as there were two guys who left before us, one on a mountain bike, and we caught up to them on Johnson Road and never saw them again.

2015 F2G2: Mo Gravel, Mo Gravel, Mo Gravel!

Two weeks prior to F2G2 there was an urgent message put out by Berkshire Cycling Association looking for more people to sign up and of course I lent my hand in getting the word out, too. It appears to have paid off.  I ran into Brad Herder and he said they were well over the required registrants they needed.  

One thing I noticed between last year and this year is that there seemed to be a lot less mountain bikes and more gravel specific bikes.  Quite a few steel bikes were present.  Wish I had gotten a picture of it but the person parked next to me had a Steel Soma with a single ring in the front sporting a 32 tooth chainring and an 11 speed cassette in the rear, sporting one of those mega 42t cogs!  With that kind of gearing he should have no problem climbing Viets Road!

Will and I started a little before 9 AM and the temperature was around 42 degrees but after 40 minutes of riding, the temperature actually dropped a few degrees.  I am glad that I decided to put on my Lake 303s and wear my cycling gloves with removable overmits because last year I froze.  Better to be too warm than cold. 

From the start I was having issues with my Cadence and Speed sensor.  Two weeks prior, I got a stick in the spokes which bent my hanger and I took the Surly into the shop to get it fixed.  It wasn't until Tuesday of the week before F2G2 that I got it back and didn't have a chance to test things out.  I should have because with the wheel in a new spot, my sensor was all messed up.

Photo Cred:  Brad Herder

Just south of Otis Brad Herder came by and asked if we needed anything.  I asked if he had a small screw driver so I could fix my sensor.  While doing so, he got this wonderful picture of me.  Once I got the sensor arm repositioned it started working correctly and I was much happier.

Further down the road we met up with the Jan from Middletown, CT.  It's kind of ironic in that this was the second gravel grinder in which I meet someone from Germany.  He was checking out all the bikes because he was in the market for a Gravel Grinder bike.  He was more interested in Will's aluminum Cannondale than my steel Surly Cross Check. 

Someone has a sense of humor

Up until this point, the riding was really pleasant.  No killer climbs of the D2R2 caliber, nice dirt roads and very little traffic. Then came Viets Road!  To say this is a road is a huge overstatement but it wasn't a trail, either.  It reminded me of what the Poly Brody Forest Road at Upper Paugussett State Forest would be if it were washed out.  

 

It was a tough ride to the Smiley Face but even tougher after that.  I made it up a quarter of the way before I had to walk and Will didn't fare any better.  I think a lot of people walked this section.

Photo Cred; Will Mansfield

Dodd Road turns into a jeep trail half way through but it's much more navigable.

Eventually we came to the first Rest Stop at York Lake.  

They had pickles and I was happy!

Some of the Pittsfield High School Track Team cheering us on as we departed the first rest stop.

We stopped off at this eclectic, Berkshire version of Stonehenge off of the Monterey/New Marlboro Road, which looks out towards Connecticut.  We stopped here last year, 

The second rest stop was on Brett Road in Beartown State Forest and it was well stocked!

And of course there were more pickles!

Brett road turns into more dual track and there were two newly built bridges on the trail.

Will is riding over the bigger of the two.

And of course we did the same section as last year in which the Appalachian Trail uses for a bit.  Just like last year there were some really we sections that I just rode through.

Every Gravel Grinder needs a signature climb and on F2G2 its George Cannon Road.

 

Photo Cred:  Will Mansfield

It's the kind of hill that just keeps giving and giving you pain!

The last rest stop was on Goose Pond Road and they were serving pickles!

The last 12 miles felt like it was all up hill.  The climb up Rt 8/20 was hard and then turning onto Jacobs Ladder, there was still more climbing.  At the turn onto Fred Snow, it's down hill to the end!

Another great Gravel Grinder in the books!

F2G2 2014: Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder

You could not ask for a better day to be riding the Gravle in the Berkshires!  Will and I got to the Cantebury Farm in Becket and it was around 38 degrees but the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky!  I felt it was still cold enough of bib shorts and I went went two layers under my jersey but my feet and fingers were cold for the first 10 miles, otherwise it was outstanding!

The field was limited to 200 riders due to the amount of parking at the Cantebury Farm and the smaller amount of riders made this event more colloquial and friendly.  For Will and I, this ride was to be our second attempt at Schermerhorn Hill.  

We tried to ride it previously in July but the Park Rangers recommended against it and directed us to ride New Lenox Road and Whitney Place Road (red track below) which turned out to be the Gravel Grinder from Hell because it was more of a mountain bike/motocross trail and the bugs were horrendous!

Today's ride had us on some Gravle that we were originally supposed to ride last July but didn't due to time constraints and somewhere we had to be.  Each of the Rest Stops were being run by the Pittsfield High School Cross Country Teams and each one had a theme that we had to vote on at the end of the ride.  

The team with the best theme would win a pizza party courtesy of Berkshire Cycling Association.  I ended up voting for the second team because they seemed to have the most enthusiasm, strawberry shortcake shots, and these little moon pies with butterscotch filling that was so delicious I think I had a couple of them.  All the teams were great and it was hard to choose just one.

Will and I rode the bonus loop, which was an additional 8 miles through Beartown State Forest, and it was basically all climbing.  One section was a dual track trail but the Surly Cross Check handled it fine. 

From Beartown State Forest we road down Brace Road, which when you look on all the map engines isn't listed as a road.  The only one that shows it's a road is the USGS Topography Map and I think it's actually part of the Appalachian Trail.  The flat part was puddled and then it led into a steep downhill.

Eventually we came out on Tyringham Road.  When Will and I rode through here in July we did it in the opposite direction which took us all the way to Lee.

Although it's paved the view across the valley was stupendous.  That ridge was what we just rode down.

The next big hill was George Cannon.  In July we came down George Cannon and riding the other way was obviously a lot tougher.  For some reason I thought it was a lot flatter but in this direction it was just climb, climb, climb.  I filmed the descent and loaded it on Vimeo and you can see that we are going to really fast but going down just didn't feel as steep as it does from the other direction.

From the top of George Cannon we road down to Route 20 and through East Lee to the entrance to October Mountain State Forest.  A little ways in from there the road turns to dirt that is this outstanding view of Shermerhorn Hill.

The climb up Shermerhorn Hill was brutal!  Brad Herder, the one responsible for creating this fantastic event actually went out with a leaf blower to clear a path on Shermerhorn Hill otherwise I am not sure it would have been rideable.  If it were dirt it would have been fine but since it was actually paved those rocks would have made it slippery as hell.  Once it's all said and done you come up to Anderson Vista.  From here you can see the Zephyr at Jiminy Peak, the windmills atop Brodie Mountain and you can even see Mount Greylock.

  

Getting to this point was a victory.  Of course there was a food stop here, too, and once again both the quantity and selection was amazing.  The highlight here was the Maple Syrup shots.  It tasted like Sunday morning pancakes without the pancakes!

The highest mountain in Massachusetts is pictured here, Mt Greylock.  I hope to ride it some time.  From here it was just 9 miles back to the Cantebury Farm.  They were serving Brats, Chilli, and soup with plenty of sides.  The beer was from Wandering Star Craft Brewery in Pittsfield and I had the Mild at Heart Porter.  It was just what the cyclist needed!

October Mountain Gravel Grinder: The Flat Part

This section of the ride was from the October Forest Camp Ground to beginning of Schemmerhorn Road which is where the original route was supposed to go but after looking at it up close and seeing that it was washed out we decided to go around.  The dirt starts where our course in the map above makes essentially a U-Turn and up to and a little beyond it's a good ride but then the conditions turn progressively worse until you pop out onto pavement.

The Flat Part from Mark on Vimeo.

October Mountain Gravel Grinder

Will and I decided to drive up early Sunday morning for Parent's Weekend at Camp Chimney Corners in Becket, MA to ride some gravel roads.  Both our daughters go to camp there and our wives were already up for Mom's weekend.  Sunday is when Fathers and the rest of the family can visit and we were supposed to be a the camp around 12 noon.  

Getting there around 8 AM would give us 4 hours of riding a 50 mile Gravel Grinder I planned out with the help of a friend at the Berkshire Cycling Association, who is also putting on a the Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder or F2G2 this fall.  Unfortunately, we arrived around 8:15 am and didn't start riding until 8:40 which meant we needed to cut out some of the original course and trim it down to 40 miles.  The original course is marked in the map below in green and what we rode is in red.

 

When Will came up a few years ago for Parent's weekend he was exploring around and found a gravel road that went all the way to Lee, MA, so when we came out on Route 8 our route turned west just after the Otis Poultry Farm, instead we headed north and picked up Tyringham Road, which was dirt, and then took George Cannon, also dirt, which has a fantastic dirt road descent.

George Cannon from Mark on Vimeo.

The video is a little long, 4 minutes, because we are still climbing but starting at 1 minute 50 seconds we start descending and it's a wild ride!  At the end of this road is where things got really confusing because the Garmin kept trying to re-route us back on to the original course which at this point was the other direction. While this ride was not as long as a Populaire or even close to a true Randoneer, with all the course changes made it almost seem like we were wandering in the Berkshires by bike.  In German this would be called a Radwanderung (pronouced rat - vahnderung).