Hartford, CT to Newburgh, NY dirt roads route?

[Camelstache]

Hey folks. I'm trying to tie together a route of about 100 miles starting in Hartford and ending at the I-84 bridge at Newburgh. Any good DIRT/GRAVEL roads along the way that I should seek out?

FYI: I'm not doing this until spring, but I'm starting to scout out routes now. So Western CT people please speak up. I'm looking for mostly dirt and secondary roads: think D2R2.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!

[Peter P.]

Is it necessary for the ride to be point to point?

If not, I know of 2 loops with incredible amounts of dirt and fun.

One is the Litchfield Rapha route. I've ridden it a bunch of times. I think it's 106 miles.

Another is a 70 mile variation of the above.

Let me know if you need more details. Otherwise, I don't think you're going to be able to connect Hartford and Newburgh with much, if any, dirt sections.

[Camelstache]

Ha! That Litchfield route was put together by my good friend who grew up out there and went to Hotchkiss. It's pretty sweet, and he's an awesome guy and cyclist.

But the ride must be point to point. I'm riding out to a race in Newburgh, and I want to physically ride to the race.

Do you think I would have more luck staying North for the most part?

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll visit the Rapha archives.

[verticaldoug]

This is a bit like walking up to an all you can eat buffet with an empty stomach- Your eyes may be bigger than your legs.

There are plenty of really nice roads between Newburgh and Hartford.
The question is do you want to ride 100, 120 or 150 miles. When you start throwing in zig zags, the distance and elevation change balloons quickly. I'd
start by finding a nice semi-direct point to point route on ridewithgps. After I have a basic route, I'd use the google streetview in the app to find dirt roads. The people driving the google streetview car don't like dirt roads so much. When you use streetview to survey the route, look for nearby roads without a streetview. Generally, those are dirt, really narrow or really beat..

You can also just look up seasonal access roads in the counties you will pass through. Seasonal roads are usually either dirt, really steep or both.

[nooneline]

The area between the Taconic in Duchess County and, like, Rt 7 in CT is filled with dirt roads. I've done a bunch of riding in the Milbrook/Washington/Shunpike/44 area, and, yeah, there are some amazing dirt climbs and descents (the best one I've been on is Deep Hollow Road from Wassaic to 44. Parallel ones include Tower Hill Road and Butts Hollow Road).

[fiamme red]

I believe the Hagstrom map of Litchfield County shows dirt roads by dashed lines.

[ERK55]

Litchfield County Connecticut is a long way from Newburgh, N.Y. The further west you get, the less likely I think you'll find unpaved roads. I've lived in the Newburgh area for a long time. The bigger issue is to find paved roads reasonable for cycling.

[Likes2ridefar]

Litchfield County Connecticut is a long way from Newburgh, N.Y. The further west you get, the less likely I think you'll find unpaved roads. I've lived in the Newburgh area for a long time. The bigger issue is to find paved roads reasonable for cycling.

yes it is but from hartford you pretty much have to go through it to get to newburgh.

there are tons of dirt roads in NW CT but none are straight and you'll probably end up adding a bunch of miles that generally have lots of climbing.

the only dirt road i've found in western CT that's actually flat for a nice period of time is walker brook rd. but from east to west it actually does ascend slightly most the way.

to the OP, if you can get yourself to NW CT (think around new preston/washington, CT) from hartford I can get you to Cold Springs, NY, which is very close to newburgh, on very rural roads on a nice route that will have some dirt.

[Camelstache]

to the OP, if you can get yourself to NW CT (think around new preston/washington, CT) from hartford I can get you to Cold Springs, NY, which is very close to newburgh, on very rural roads on a nice route that will have some dirt.[/QUOTE]

I'd love to see a GPS of that route if possible.

[Likes2ridefar]

just tossed this one together to give you an idea. i can fine tune it later if you want some more help. make it more direct, etc. or harder/longer.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3947812

[Camelstache]

This looks really good; thanks for your help!

[verticaldoug]

just tossed this one together to give you an idea. i can fine tune it later if you want some more help. make it more direct, etc. or harder/longer.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3947812

If he wants to add dirt at the end, off 301 hang a left on Dennytown to Horton Hollow to Sprout Brook to Old Albany Post.

Old Albany is one of the oldest dirt roads in the U.S.
Or cut it a bit short and take Indian Brook down to Old Albany.


If he wants to suffer on some climbs, can go turn right off 301 and take Miller Hill rd to Hortontown to E Mountain Road. E Mountain has some nice dirt and is a slog.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3487497
301 runs the middle of this loop. Blue segments are gravel.

[Camelstache]

For those who care, my friend and I are trying to come up with a better route. You can read about his last attempt in 2012 here:

http://agilefahrrad.blogspot.com/2012/04/riding-out-to-southern-ny-for-ssap.html

It's entertaining...and he's a certified bad *ss.

[the bottle ride]

For those who care, my friend and I are trying to come up with a better route. You can read about his last attempt in 2012 here:

http://agilefahrrad.blogspot.com/2012/04/riding-out-to-southern-ny-for-ssap.html

It's entertaining...and he's a certified bad *ss.

When I saw your post I immediately thought of Doug. That cat is straight up murder- and a heck of nice guy.
The picture is from the 2nd annual SSAP

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3182/4551964078_80fa15b733_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67486719@N00/4551964078/)

[Camelstache]

Great photo! That year was so brutal and muddy...circa '08-'09?

Yeah...Doug rips.

[the bottle ride]

I think it was 2010- the first year it was dry.... The 2nd year not so much.
The winner that year.

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4069/4551171507_7b6588b943_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67486719@N00/4551171507/)
Looking forward to it this year.