I am looking to get out this weekend to ride some gravel/hard pack roads in preparation for Battenkill. Does anyone know of some routes on long island NY or within an hour drive of NYC? thanks
I am looking to get out this weekend to ride some gravel/hard pack roads in preparation for Battenkill. Does anyone know of some routes on long island NY or within an hour drive of NYC? thanks
One idea that you can ride out of the city:
Ride north on the pallisades (ie Henry Hudson drive). On the last roundabout before the state police station, you can turn right and there is a flat tight-packed trail. Then climb up past the police station and when you cross the state line you can turn right into the Columbia university. There are some gravel trails in there and some bad roads also that you can go up and down.Then you could try Ruckman Road trail just to the west. It’s quite tame on a mountain bike, but not sure how it would be on a gravel bike, definitely tougher than Battenkill in terms of road conditions.
There may be better options. I’ve done Battenkill on a road bike with 23mm tires, I wouldn’t worry about it too much if you have decent handling skills. There were a few points with dirt climbs where I would lose traction and wish I had better tires but it wasn’t that bad