Aright gang, the time has come to celebrate one more year of not releasing a beer. If you are coming in Friday the weather is looking dicey but if it clears up we may do a Night Moves. Saturday morning will be the main ride and Saturday evening we will either go roller skating or bowling (we will drive to these). If I know you you are welcome to camp out in my backyard, just DM me.
Parking:
If you are camping out at my house (please DM me and you are welcome to camp out in the back yard) park on Seal St. Otherwise best bet is the train station parking lot. You can also use the Columbia Trail parking lot but it's super busy on weekends. Just don't park on Main St. since it is 2 hour parking only.
Assemblage:
The ride is very informal, the main group will shove off from Scout's Coffee Bar & Mercantile at 10am but feel free to self organize and head out whenever you want. There will be a sign in sign out in the corner of Scout's, please use it so we know everyone that head's out get back safe. Scout's has lots of coffee and breakfast options to load up on.
The Route:
Use the Ride With GPS Event page here to get the most up to date routes. It just has the main route now, but I will add a road only version and an easy version, so if you have other people that you think would want to try but aren't sure about the hills or offroad sections they can still come and have a good time and still roughly follow the main route.
If you do not pay for Ride With GPS premium you can still get live turn by turn directions on your phone if you use the event page.
I'm going to in real in depth on the route, why some of it is significant below, but it's flavor text, it's not super important. Here are a few things that are very important:
1. On the Middle Valley Road decent there is an incredibly sharp turn, when you see the signs that say slow down and 5mph turn SLOW DOWN. It's a full 180 and you can hit speeds of 40mph on that decent.
On the trail after the Solitude House right before you get to the steel mill (green building) there is a 90 degree turn that is very sandy, we've had a few people eat it there bad so use caution.
The route is 40 miles with about 2k ft. of elevation, mainly on two climbs.
We will start out with a 7 miles on the Columbia Trail, a slightly uphill but very chill rail trail. A great opportunity to have some conversations and catch up with old friends or meet new ones. After that we will start to wind our way to the first major climb.
Hollow Brook Rd. is a local institution and is a rutted gravel climb alongside the Teetertown Ravine. The historical signs on the side make a good excuse to take a break and read about the history of the ravine.
The climbing continues for a bit after the pavement starts back up but then comes the Middle Valley Rd decent. As mentioned above let er rip until you see the signs to slow down, then slow the frig down.
At the bottom of the climb you will come to the haggard ass RV we call Leisure Crap. You are contractually obligated to pay homage. Take a selfie, light a candle, observe as you wish but you must observe. It is the first bylaw of Party Size Cycling, LLC.
You will continue back along the Columbia Trail back towards Califon but we will hop onto County Raod 513 for a mile or so. This is a fairly busy county road, but we are only on it for a little while and drivers are used to seeing cyclists on this road. We will stop at Melick's as the rest stop. They have apples, cider donuts, hard cider and a host of other goodies and picnic tables.
After loading up we will descend back down to the River for our first of 3 different River Rd's on the route. Keep an eye out for cool birds along the river. This will lead us to the Ken Lockwood Gorge. The gorge is pretty haggard these days, most will need to hop over their bike a few times to navigate the rocks. It's rough but it's mainly flat so it's not dangerous and you will always be able to stop and hop off before hitting anything too gnarly. This is one of the most beautiful stretches of the ride.
After hitting pavement we are going to hit the second River Rd. and make our way to the Solitude Dam and Solitude House. If you haven't seen The Falls, it's worth going over to the fence to check it out. There is a steep little drop down into the woods towards a stone house. It's manageable but has claimed a few souls over the years so no shame in walking it. Stop and check out the Solitude Annex and Solitude House. This is where they kept William Penn and Benjamin Chew hostage during the revolutionary war.
There will be an unmarked bit dilapidated bit of asphalt to the right of the drive way which is the Steelworkers greenway. There is probably a small tree still down and this is where the sandy turn is to watch out for, but it leads to a cool path through the stock yard for the steel mill and a defunct bridge over the river.
Next will be Arch St. which is where the titular high bridge used to be, but it was filled in and replaced with a bifurcated tunnel which we will ride through. Ring a bell, yoop a yoop.
Onward to Clinton, there is one sketchy section where we have to go over an overpass for the state Highway. Hit it hard and keep an eye on the slip lanes and it's not too bad. Clinton has lots of restaurants and convenience stores/coffee shops so not a bad place to re-fuel. You will pass through town on the way back to High Bridge too.
Landsdown Trail entrance is to the right of Fox Lumber. After that it will take us to a tricky spot on the GPS since it doesn't recognize it as somewhere you can go through but just go around the gate it's open to pedestrian and cyclists.
Enjoy the last bit of flat as we go down the third and final River Rd. and then start the long climb up Spring Hill Rd. At the top of Spring Hill there is a little further to climb up Sydney Rd. Sydney Rd is busy so use caution when crossing and stay on the shoulder.
Bomb down a nice extended descent and keep your eyes peeled for Lower Kingstown Rd. Capoolong Creek trail is unmarked but obvious on the left as soon as you turn onto Lower Kingstown. Capoolong Creek is rooty and rocky flat single track for much of it, but it's gorgeous and a blast to ride. A local favorite.
Unfortunately its pretty much an out and back from here. Merriment to follow back in High Bridge. Circa, Esker Hart Ales and Mrs. Riley's for those that partake. Scout's should still be open. Food options are Polka Dot Cafe for ice cream, Peking Wok for chinese (General Tso's Cauliflower is a personal favorite), Circa for some more upscale food, Carini's Pizza, Mrs. Riley's has bar pies and other bar eats.
As a reminder Party Size Cycling, LLC events are ride and camp at your own risk. You are responsible for your own nutrition, hydration, equipment and safety. We are providing a route, some company and a campsite reservation only. Please make sure you have an extraction plan in the event of mechanical or injury.
That's everything I got. If I missed something reply to this or shoot me a DM on IG.
Here is a map of town, blue is good to park in for the day, yellow please use as last resort since many in that neighborhood rely on street parking. Do not park in red for more than two hours or you will get a ticket.
