Pandemic Roubaix to Brew: OEC revisited

One of the things that I like about where I live is that my gravel/mixed terrain rides can start on a dirt road as close as a quarter of mile away. Today's ride hit First Dirt on Tamarac Road.

The goal of today's ride was to explore Stiles Road that used to connect Southbury to Woodbury.  Ride up the Trolley Bed to Tuttle Road and then check out Old East West road that runs through the middle of the Whittemore Sanctuary. Ride the Middlebury Trolley Trail, to Hop Brook Park, get on the portion of the old Railroad bed through there and then take the Larkin Bridle Trail down to OEC Brewing. Lastly ride the top part of Nelson Road.

Quadbury Gravel Grinder

I set off Saturday, June 27th, to ride what I call the Tr-bury Gravel Grinder which consists of the Larkin Bridle Trail, Middlebury Trolley Trail and the Woodbury Trolley Trail (the last two are the same road bed, just different towns) only I went about it in reverse and I wanted to scope out the route for a ride that I would be leading next day for the LOF Adaptive Waterskiing group.

I headed up Purchase Brook to get in some gravel on Peach Orchard and then head down West Flag Swamp.  I really love riding these two roads and like to ride them in both directions now.

West Flag Swamp is just a gravel road with nothing on it.  There are no houses but there could be some trails coming off it but it's a great gravel road and the decent after Mallory is insane.

After riding the section of road that I would be leading the ride on I headed over to Middle Quarter Road in Woodbury to ride up the Woodbury Trolley Trail only to find the entrance really overgrown and lots of poison ivy everywhere.  I blasted through and then stopped further in and sprayed water on my legs just in case.  

It would appear that this trail isn't seeing much use and that's too bad because it's cool to ride a piece of history, in which passenger and freight trolleys moved up and down this line over a hundred years ago.

This right of way is truly a diamond in the rough. 

After the climb, the bed turns to the north at the old Woodbury Reservoir but there are quite a few trees down along the way.

I got on Rt 64 and passed by the sign.  

That had to have been a hard name to grow up with.

Riding through Middlebury, I basically stayed off the trolley trail except to get around the traffic light at Rt 188 because there were too many walkers on the trail and eventually I got on the Larkin Bridle Trail.  There, too, were a lot of walkers, runners and few bikers.  At one point there was a runner in the middle of the trail and gave warning that I was coming from behind but she had earbuds on and couldn't hear me.  It was hard getting past her and she was surprised when I passed but if you are going to tune out the world on a public trail don't be surprised if something like that happens again!

The wet part at Towantic Road is still pretty awful but what a lot of people down't realize is that if just ride down the center of the trail you will avoid the mud.  There's no way avoiding the water but the middle of the trail is the hardest and you won't sink.

Thinking that I was short on time because my daughter said she wanted to go hiking in the afternoon once I hit Rt 67 I by passed the rest of the trail and rode straight home.

Upon arrival, turns out she was still sleeping have not slept at her sleepover from the night before so I got to enjoy my 8 Barrel IPA from Chatham Brewing.  It was well worth the wait!

Woodbury Trolley Trail

The second leg of my Veteran's Day Monster Cross Adventure was riding the Woodbury Trolley Trail.  I rode it once with Katie on the Tandem this summer but didn't have a real chance to explore some of the side trails that have been puzzling me as I look over the maps.  Like the East West Road in Flanders the Trolley trail is perfect for a Gravel Grinder but this type of surface I still wouldn't try to bomb on my 700x42c tires.

On the descent there were some wet areas that I tried to avoid but found the sides mushy so I found it was better to ride right through it.  Towards the bottom it seems some Boy Scout or the Town felt it was necessary to lay woodchips on the bed, making it even more soft and hard to ride.  Still, this is a unique place to ride especially if you are a train buff.

On the way back I took some time to check out the Woodbury Reservoir.

I noticed quite a few trails coming off the bed, one even appeared to be a mountain bike trail.  

Panorama for the trolley bed

From the branch in the trail (about where the S is on the map below) till the curve at the end of the pond, the trolley bed is on top of a viaduct that was built up with soil and rocks from somewhere.

The one thing I can't find online is the actual track map or at least some representation of it in an atlas or something but I did do a little exploring to satisfy my curiosity on these two side trails.  I saw the first one while riding with Katie and it looks like an old road that goes around the reservoir.  The other one, however, from the look of the contour lines looks like it could have either been some sort of siding or maybe it was intended to be an earlier attempt to get around the reservoir rather than building the viaduct that is there now.

It looks like a road.  If it were a track siding it wouldn't have this dip right here.  My guess is that it's just an old road from yesteryear.