PatrickGrehan said:

Will rode 25s or 28s a few years back without difficulty 

eloy said:

mugwump said:

eloy said:

This is my revised route from 2020, it is the same posted above but connects thru some gravel roads back to Garrison. 

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34505187

https://www.strava.com/activities/4243757477/

I should be good to join you all on Sunday 3/20

I think I did pretty much all of the gravel segments, save the four-miler that starts 24 miles in, on my road bike last year.  I wasn't railing the descents, but they were doable.  And the climbs possibly because it was wet, weren't an issue at all.

What tires do you recommend?

Would recommend 30 mm or close at least. Like you state it is possible to ride most these roads with normal road tires, caveats for winter. The challenge is keeping up on the dirt downhills if everyone else is on 35mm or larger and able to bomb some of of them.

I remember Will had to take it easy on some descents at the beginning on the ride only

@mugwump
you have a cross bike , that works also 

Join us for a ride on the dirt/gravel roads near Garrison NY this Sunday the 20th! The temperatures will be in the 50s and the good times will be plentiful. The intent is to start riding at 9am. There are several people (mark T., Patrick, Eloy?, others?) driving up so post on the forum if you are in the need of a ride. Meet at the Garrison train station so we can ride at 9. The train to Garrison arrives at 8:05 or 9:05. If taking the later train let us know and we will wait for you. The course will follow's Eloy's 2020 variation on the original ROAM course. Load this route to your computer: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34505187 https://www.strava.com/activities/4243757477/ While you'll be most comfortable on a Gravel or Cyclocross bike, as noted above you can join with a road bike with wide tires. There will be opportunities of grab food and refill your water bottles. Respond to this post on the Group Ride thread so we have an idea of who is going.

PatrickGrehan said:

Meet at the Garrison train station so we can ride at 9. The train to Garrison arrives at 8:05 or 9:05. If taking the later train let us know and we will wait for you. 

@PatrickGrehan

Why not move the ride start to 9:06-9:10.  That way we can be sure that those on the later train can make it.

If anyone announces they are taking the train then we will do so

In prior years no one showed up by train

Roam ride was awesome,  Eloy,Tom ,Patrick and myself headed out in overcast sky’s ,lots of hills
the gravel extension Eloy tagged on to get us back to Garrison made the route complete 

It was a good day out for sure!

eloy said:

It was a good day out for sure!

This looks really fun. Makes me want to get another bike

TomWasko said:

eloy said:

It was a good day out for sure!

This looks really fun. Makes me want to get another bike

do it today

eloy said:

TomWasko said:

eloy said:

It was a good day out for sure!

This looks really fun. Makes me want to get another bike

do it today

I put an email into Ilya regarding the 3T Exploro rival 2x AXS

Does anybody want my registration  for the Toad Strangler.

 Sunday, April 3rd for our first annual Toad Strangler Gravel ride.   We have a super fun challenging route. 

Route-

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38179027

The route is great for a new or the experienced gravel rider looking to build  fitness for events later in the year, like Farmer's Daughter.    39.2 miles with 3,172 feet of vert.   (no off road/trail sections) 95% of the roads  used differ from Farmer's Daughter. There will be an aid station at mile 18.4 at Sabba Vineyards.

Saturday 3/26, did the Barry-Roubaix Killer Dirt Road Race in Hasting MI.
Michigan has a series of Gravel 'races' and this was the second of the season.

62 miles, 4400 ft elevation, 31 degrees, was snowing from midnight until an hour in. 
Anthony Ott and Brittlee Bowman raced too. 
Rode with Anthony (he was on a single speed) and his crew most of the way, and managed to finish only a minute down on him.

A highlight was the cx vibe of the spectators - local high school marching bands, a gaggle of bagpipers, all standing out in the cold cheering, banana, stroupwaffel, and beer hand-ups.

Fitness is coming along nicely despite the cold snowy weather in MI the past 3 weeks, and cold weather kit is dialed in.

Anthony Ott:


This is maybe 20 min in - our bikes are still clean.


100 mile field started 3 hours earlier, made for some great pics: photoset here 

I will not be able to attend Rasputitsa, I should be able to transfer the registration to someone, please let me know if interested.

Else I'll give up the stop to their wait list.

https://rasputitsadirt.com/ 

Decided to do one more gravel race in Michigan, before heading back to NYC.

The Dirty30Gravel Road Race in Saranac, MI. 
30 miles, 1600ft elevation, with a 1/2 mile climb 3 miles from the finish, one section at 14% gradient. 
Started out 37F, warmed up to 39, roads were perfect even though it had snowed the night before.

These gravel road races have replaced pretty much all road racing in MI. There is a state road championship race, but beyond that, these gravel road races are pretty much all the USAC races going.



The nine of us from the chase group starting up 'Ivan the Terrible.' Managed to hold off everyone in this group except for the two women who finished 1 and 2 overall in the women's field. The fat tire racer was 2nd in the fat tire field. I finished 6th in the 50-54 age group.

In case anyone missed out on Eloy's reg transfer, Rasputitsa has opened up a few more spots. Can also change distances through Friday if already registered:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CcNyJ4zO7Th/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://rasputitsadirt.com/

As some of you know, made my way to Lakeville, MA this past Sunday to participate in "The Mix Tape" gravel grinder.

• "The Mix Tape" because mixed terrain
• All gravel events claim the same: mixed terrain, no bike is the right bike... but this event meant it and brought it
• By far the most challenging and technical off road riding of any gravel event I've done.
• Not a whole lot of elevation, but some short crazy steep, super technical off road climbs
• The "race" was fondo style, where segments results added to an overall win
• Full on grass roots, but very very well put together, and specially seriously good branding design, with a big play on 80s Mix Tapes, leaning heavy on Back to the Future, because, well: "Where we are going we don't need roads, Marty"
• I quickly settled with the second or third group, which kept a very sweet and honest pace
• I knew about the segments but did not bother to star them to my hammerhead
• It took me about an hour of riding to understand, duh, why at times the group felt comfy, and at times felt like WTF OMG holding on for dear life
• Segments, duh.
• They were actually very well marked, with back to the future "Go, Marty, go" "ok, relax, Doc" signs that also took me a full hour to realize what they meant... haha 
• Felt a bit under the weather going in, but somehow had good legs
• One super cool food stop at the highest point of the event, after a gnarly technical uphill
• Get there and the racing crew did not even flinch and continued on without stopping, oh, well, see you back at the finish then...
• I could see some in the group had 3 bottles or hydration packs, even wondered if there would be any stops
• In any case, I did stop, which was fine, but meant a slower and much more lonely last 30 km
• The last hour was punctuated by a hardcore headwind, so much ouch
• Got to the finish line around 40ish of the 300+ participants
• That New England, MA crew knows how to ride bike off road
• Hated that it this year this event coincided with Hell of Hunterdon, totally would love to come back with a lot of you in 2023
• A worthy highlight, it started and ended in the grounds of the Ted Williams Baseball Camp. Which I attended 4 summers in a row, back in my teenage baseball playing epoch. It was mindblowing to step in the same places 13 year old Eloy loved hanging out, but now with bikes.
• I honestly seriously missed you.

Let's go race bikes!

Brilliant report Eloy. Don't often see you with the thousand yard stare. Tough parcours! ;^) 

Wow, that sounded like all sorts of awesomeness and suffering

I can defer my entry to Farmers Daughter to anyone interested. I can do it until May 7th I believe. Any taker? 

Hey folks, I had been planning to transfer Eloy's entry for Rasputitsa, but just came down with a head cold.

If anyone's interested in a last minute chance (race is this Saturday) shoot me a DM / text.  I think @PatrickGrehan @David Yang and @James Reeder also have a spare bed available in their AirBnB

  I won't be able to attend Farmer's daughter this year. Let me know if someone wants to go and I will transfer my registration.

Rasputitsa Dirt did not disappoint: perfect weather, perfect roads, great atmosphere, challenging course, and great company. It was an extremely well produced event.

Dave, Pat, and I drove up Friday morning, checked into our AirBnB and had time for a 45 mini shake down ride that managed to pack in nearly 1000ft elevation. My legs and body felt like ... just awful. like, ‘oh shit’ awful.. I was very worried about the next day.

There was a pre-race event that evening with a local vendors market, a kit repair station, nail salon, sins of gravel confession booth, Italian donuts to make you forget all your troubles, and a live AC/DC cover band… Also number pickup.

Morning of, cold as expected in VT but above freezing, 34-35F at the start. We were prepared so no problem.

We did the 100k route with 7500ft elevation. We lined up with Percy Zahl and Eamon, TBD were somewhere. Maghalie Rochette, Ian Boswell, Ted King were racing, too. Rob’s crew plus Brittlee were doing the 70K starting an hour later.

Pace started off brisk but not insane. Dave and Pat were looking good. No idea how I’d do after the awful feels of the day before, so just sat in keep it dialed back for a bit. My legs got better and better and ended up being very good after all on the day. The roads were fantastic, the descents were a blast, and Dave was fearless.

Fueled the whole race on Untapped gels, waffles, and drink mix, plus homemade cookies from one of the feed stations, where maple and bourbon shots were also served.

100% worth the 2 year wait for this race.

Registration for Rasputitsa 2023 opens 16 May: https://www.bikereg.com/rasputitsa

Rasputitsa 2023 registration opened today and is already half full!  James and I signed up for the 100k April 29 2023. Join us!

As some of you know, spent a good chunk of yesterday riding Farmer's Daughter...

• I think 7 kissenistas signed up, but only me ended showing up... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Started close to the front and the ride started hot hot hot
• omg hot hot hot
• rained a little bit before we started, some portions were muddy, but these are the same every year, the rain kinda just patted down the dust, which was appreciated
• 10 km or so in, let that front group go
• was quickly passed by Roger Aspholm and his daughter
• While I missed all of you, was never really alone, rode a bit with old cx friend Sam Fiorino, a bit with some of the TBD crew, Lawrence Siu, Emily Singleton, a good chunk with a very chatty Elsa Garache from NYC Velo, and one last bit with Jon Blyer from Acme... 
• One thing about out of town NYC cyclists: We are one team
• Full awesome!
• every time I either caught up to someone, or someone caught up to me, I would ask if this was the chill out train, or are we going hot hot hot? 
• never found the chill out train
• This remains the hardest ride I do every year I do it, it is hard to describe the level of hard farmer's daughter brings: is hard, and then it gets way way way harder
• also worth note: stupid gorgeous beautiful route and roads
• 394 TSS 3,150 calories 5+ hours
• missed you

so many farmer's daughter pics on the socials! i was crushed I had to skip it last minute after catching that supercold that's going around (not covid).

dang, looks really awesome! I also was crushed to miss, but we welcomed our son to the world about a month ago, and even though we had baked farmer's daughter into the calendar, I concluded it was just too early to disappear for a day, especially once our help cancelled for the day.  Next year!

Congratulations Sam!

Don't miss this event, if you want a challenging route with multiple terrain in the most beautiful scenery and it's only 90 minutes from NYC. I've done it last year and I loved it.
https://www.bikereg.com/french-creek-iron-tour

Endurance CX anyone? on 10/16/22. reg opens 6/8, field limit 300:
https://www.facebook.com/ironcrossrace/posts/5832121820135531
http://outdoorexperience.org/iron-cross/
https://www.tobedetermined.cc/journal/why-iron-cross-is-the-best-event-ever


also this is coming up soon june 11 (but with a $200 entry fee!):
https://www.bikereg.com/grinduro-pennsylvania