Gravel: The answer to life, the universe, and everything!

 

I reached out to my brother-in-law Will and a few others to see if they wanted to ride Westchester Dirt Roads on Sunday. David and Will (pictured above) accepted, as well as a few others but then they bailed at the last second. I picked this route mainly for the distance, not wanting to go too far, since the last time I rode real gravel was in October.

The Dirty Bunny Roubaix

 

Will contacted me last week and wanted to know if I wanted to ride Westchester Dirt Roads. His wife had the car for the weekend and he suggested we meet somewhere along the train line.  Since Easter is no longer a big celebration at my house I suggested that we ride on Sunday since the weather was supposed to be a little warmer than Saturday.

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.

Dirty Apple Reprise

Since Will and his wife were having dinner with us at my wife's parents' house Will and I decided to ride some gravel before hand.  Since he was taking the train I suggested we ride the dirt roads in Westchester County and I planned a route very similar to the Dirty Apple which I rode a couple of weeks ago. Only this route had a tweaks that I wanted to explore.

The Dirty Apple: Rotten to the Core

I got to Golden's Bridge around 8 AM and it was a mad house.  It was impossible to find the check in line because they put the signs in front of the tables instead of behind and in view.  I recognized a former work colleague from my days at IBM, Gail Blumenfeld, that I said hello to, but she was crazed and couldn't spare any time.