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.

Memorial Day Maybrook Singlespeed Metric

 

There's a new rail trail that essentially connects from the Connecticut State Lane (almost) to Hopewell Junction that is actually a Rail with Trail. We met at the Exit 1 Commuter lot on Memorial Day and headed west on Rt 202 looking for the entrance and we finally found a way using Joe's Hill Road in Brewster. Granted the trail here is still under construction and by the looks of things appears that it's going to go to the State Line.

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.

Veterans' Day Gravel Grinder

Will and I met in Katonah, NY on a very rainy, yet somewhat warm Veterans' Day to ride, once again, the Dirty Martha Gravel Grinder.  This is a route that I found online that needed a few tweeks. In the spring of 2014, nearly 18 months ago, Will and I rode this route but due to some mechanical difficulties on my part, we didn't complete the intended route in it's entirety.   

We delayed almost an hour and got a bagel in the village hoping that the rain would stop but a quick check on the weather app didn't look as promising as certain media outlets had predicted.  We headed out in a light rain.  The last time we rode a gravel grinder in the rain was last year's Foolish Classic and while it wasn't a race we DNF'd due to the cold.  Knowing that we were likely to have the same conditions I was much more prepared.  Starting out, however, it took a few wardrobe readjustments until the right combination of attire was found. 

This year we headed south as opposed to last year's decision to ride north mainly because I didn't have the Gravle Guide to show me where all the good dirt was.  This time around, though, I discovered a new dirt road that re-emphasized that this was indeed the right way to go. 

15 miles into the ride we arrived at Byram Lake and nice a couple walking their dog offered to take a picture of Will and I.  Of course, they thought we were crazy to be out riding dirt roads on a rainy day.  This is a great place to stop for a snack and take in the beauty of the lake.  There is also a haunting tale of this lake where a school bus crashed into the lake and everyone on board drowned and the victims still haunt the lake.   

Last year, we went through Chappaqua to get here because there was one dirt dirt road over by the New Croton Reservoir that I used to tie the route together but there was a lot of pavement in between. Having the Gravle Guide revealed much more dirt between Bedford Hills and Byram Lake which created a much dirty route to follow.  The big surprise was on Wood Road, which was a lot dirty then first recorded.  That's one of the beauties of Google Maps street view and Westchester County, it seems every road in Westchester has been driven with the camera.

The major difference between last's ride and this one was we were coming off a hard winter.

And of course, my bike went through some changes.  The major ones being the removal of bar end shifters that were replaced with Retro Shifts and I ditched the fenders this year because I wasn't using the Cross Check for commuting.  I have also been through a few different frame bags, too, and tried some different combinations of top tube bags and seat packs.

Will made a smart decision to wear rain pants and over shoes.  Without a rear fender, Will developed quite a muddy posterior.  While I made a last minute decision to just wear my Lake 303s and while I probably should have brought my rain pants, I was fine without them.  The one thing that I never took off was my rain jacket.  That kept me pretty warm the whole time and I was grateful that I kept it on. The route was planned to take a dirt road into Ward Pound Ridge Reservation but that turned out to be private so we rode Rt 121 into Cross River.  Heading up through Cross River we hit two steep climbs, one on Old Cross Rover Road that topped out 15% and the other on Holy Branch Road at 19%. 

One change in the route this year over last was the addition of Mountain Lakes Park.  I came across the park map and found that most of the roads in the park were not paved so of course, I had to add that to the route.  The first 3/4s of a mile in it's paved but then you come to a gate and it's all gravel from then on.  It's about two miles of hard riding!  The climb up is biggest on the route with a 600 elevation change from Twin Lakes to the high point on the road in the park.

The route was supposed to take a dirt road called Howe Lane from Rt 121 over to Keeler Lane, which is the steepest climb on the route that tops out at 27% but it's a private, so we had to detour around. During that detour is when we found the Union Hall General Store. We got to Cross River too early for lunch and the next available place would have been up around Peach Lake but it would be nearly 3 PM till we got there so we stopped here for a bite to eat. It's more of an eclectic kind of store with some food offerings that weren't bad but not what I would have expected.   

With the stove out commission we had to settle for Quiche.  It was pretty good but that little egg pie was pretty expensive.  The lime, mint and coconut Kevita was refreshing but I probably should have just gotten the hot chocolate or a cup of coffee, because it too was expensive, too.  After lunch, it was up Keeler Lane and the steepest climb of the route.  The backside is dirt and comes out onto Rt 116 near the CT Line and Ridgefield.  From there its up Vail Road and then hook around back towards Rt 121.

From Keeler Lane we cut across Rt 116 onto Vail Road, which is a substantial climb, too.  It's really pretty up here and the quintessential Westchester County Horse Country.  Not only did we see plenty of riders but there was also quite a few road apples to dodge.  Will took this picture of me climbing to the top of Vail Road.  Wet dirt roads really suck the life out of you.  

From Peach Lake, it's pretty much all downhill.  One great dirt road was Turkey Hill that I had planned on riding last year but due to my pedal breaking we bypassed it.  Definitely worth riding.  From there it was mostly last year's route in reverse.  When we go to Route 35, though, we bagged the last three dirt sections and headed straight for the start point and a cold beer!  Another great ride!

The Dirty Martha Gravel Grinder

In preparation for the Foolish Classic Will and I decided to try a variation of The Westchester Cycling Club's Dirty Apple, which is a Gravel Grinder within Westerchester County.  I found a few routes on this cycling forum called Velocipede Salon.  I never knew there was so many dirt roads in Westchester County!

Coming back down Vail Road after riding into Connecticut we stopped for a few pictures.  We had some trouble with our Garmins because the route comes to a 4 way intersection in which the route crosses over itself and no matter which way we went the Garmin said we were off course.  Since I knew the area I just followed my nose.

We came across quite a few folks on horse back and I paid particular attention to give them a heads up that we were coming through.  Quite a few of them remarked that we were the first cyclists to do so.  Having lived in Newtown, there are a lot of horses and you learn quickly to give them a wide breadth.  

Coming down from here it's a straight shot onto Rt 116 which heads into Ridgefield.  Popping out onto the road is when disaster struck - my right pedal just came off the spindle.  It's an older Crank Brothers Candy Pedal that has seen quite a bit of usage of the years so I wasn't surprised but being 35 miles into 75 mile ride and at least 10 miles away from the cars was a little problematic.  I made a pretty good effort but it sucked because the pedal kept slipping off the spindle if I wasn't paying attention.  We looked up bike shops in the area and it turned out there was one in Katonah so we headed back there.

 

At Van's Cycle Shop I bought a pair of flats and replaced my right, broken pedal with the flat.  We got some lunch and then headed back out to ride some more.  Instead of back tracking to where we left off, I turned the course back on and we followed the route in the opposite direction.

There were some killer climbs and still plenty of dirt!  The temperature stayed pretty constant, around 35 degrees and I stayed pretty warm the whole time.  Despite the cold, I should have drank more liquids because when I stopped off at the Packy on my way home, getting out the car both legs cramped up seriously and it took me 5 minutes to stretch and relax to calm the muscles down.

Here is the route that we did (in blue) and what we missed (red).  In hindsight, when the pedal broke, we should have ridden to Ridgefield and the Ridgefield, Bicycle Company, which would have probably have been a lot quicker and would have enabled us to get back on the course that we had set out to do.  This was a great ride!  We did 72 miles and 7,100 feet of climbing!