2009 Tour de Roxbury (reprise)

The planned 2009 Route

What was I thinking?  My first Gravel Grinder kicked off by riding with a bunch of hard core road riders and I got dropped on the first hill.  

This was the epiphany moment in which I realized that there is a lot more to this type of riding then I originally imagined and it took me 3 more years to figure it out, really to get into shape).  I guess, I was too much of a mountain biker back then to fully appreciate what it takes to get into shape for riding this way.

I had a sneaky suspicion that I would wind up on an unguided adventure through Roxbury and Washington Connecticut so I made sure I was prepared by downloading the route to my Garmin GPS, but I found trying to follow a route on a hand held GPS to be quite daunting and frustrating.

Starting in Southbury, we rode the pave over to Flood Bridge Rd (gravle) and then some pave to Flag Swamp Rd which turns into gravle and it was on that climb that I got my ass handed to me on a silver platter.  The pack of riders found me later on and I was a little lost.

That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy myself.  I love adventuring into the unknown and being on a bike during peak leaf color season made it all the worth while!

At one point in my wanderings I met up with the group on Grassy Hill but I was amazed at how fast they descended the hill on such skinny tires.  I was riding, essentially a mountain bike, and I was scarred to death of getting a flat.  Of course, now a days I think nothing of it and bomb down dirt roads all the time.

While being the slowest of the slow and having no one to show me the way I picked my way slowly north from Grassy Hill (gravle) to Old Roxybury Rd (gravle) to Lower County Rd (gravle & pave) and then onto Upper County Rd (gravle) and Painter Hill (pave).  Eventually I got to Moosehorn Rd (gravle) that has an insanely steep descent and then turned into a Preserve and road singletrack over to Rt 199.

 Riding down Sentry Hill (gravle) and turning onto Judds Bridge (gravle) I rode to another preserve and road the singletrack up to Battle Swamp which turns into gravle at the no winter maintenance sign and it too has big steep descent into the Shepaug River Valley.

From here I rode over the Shepaug River and onto Walker Brook Rd (gravle) and by this point I was actually on course.  If the ascent on Flag Swamp was any indication of how I wasn't prepared for this ride, the steep part of West Church Hill Rd was a reaffirmation of the fact that I really wasn't ready for this.  Never-the-less, I made it up the hill and ironically I have not ridden West Church Hill since that first time.  Instead, when I ride up there, I prefer the steeper and gravle climb of Shinar Mountain Road.

The real treat was finding Steep Rock Reservation with an abandoned bed of the old Shepaug Railroad and a train tunnel that you can ride through!  I have been a Railfan all my life and one of my passions is riding rail trails but what is even more exciting is seeking out and riding abandoned railroad lines, or walking on them if riding is not an option.  However, this abandoned section of the Shepaug Railroad, while not deemed as an official Rail Trail was a beautiful ride into the past.

North portal of the Shepaug Railroad Tunnel

Riding up to the tunnel I was giddy with anticipation and angst of what it would be like to ride through an old railroad tunnel and at the same time be plunged into total darkness and not being able to see my hand in front of my face.  The tunnel has a turn in the middle so as soon as you enter it is pitch black but you can just make out a little light at end of the tunnel!  For a few seconds you are riding in total darkness and it's really cool.  

South portal of the Shepaug Railroad Tunnel

The one thing that I wasn't ready for was the water, the tunnel is wet year round because water seeps out of the rocks from above.  In the winter it can be quite icy and mid summer you can still get some mud here and there.  On this day, back in 2009, it was quite damp but the one saving's grace was after riding through the tunnel there were a lot of bike tracks going in the dirt and I knew I was on the right route.

Author at the end of Tunnel Road

After the tunnel you ride down the rail bed for a mile and then it transitions onto a service road for the powerlines and eventually dumps out onto Tunnel Road (gravle).  From here I road back to Rt 199 on Judd's Bridge (gravle) and then I picked my way back down to Southbury and home! I was able to ride 42 miles and climb 4700 feet, which was the longest ride and most climbing that I have ever done to this point in my life.  From that day onwards, I have been riding through Roxbury and Washington quite regularly to get my gravle fix and train for upcoming gravel grinders and randonnees, while still finding new roads to ride and work in all the hills to climb into different routes to get the most miles and climbing.  It's all about the distance and the climb!