Not Quite Paved

I've ridden up New York 9D the ten miles from the Bear Mountain Bridge toward Cold Spring many hundreds of times. As I ride up, I've often looked to the right to see a gravel road called Manitou Road going up a hill. I'd always wondered just where it went, but I've been reluctant to take my FJ1200 up it. It looked a bit steep and the road surface looked a bit too loose and the map said that it went over the mountain. All of this made me a bit wary of starting out on it. Now don't misunderstand me. I've done more than my share of mile on dirt and gravel roads on the FJ. This usually happened when the road I was riding on suddenly ran out of pavement and I was too stubborn to turn around. This has led more than once to a tense moment or two. I was riding in Virginia heading into West Virginia. The map indicated that there was just a very short (less than a mile) stretch of unpaved road between where I was and where I wanted to be. I thought to myself "How bad can this be?" The answer was "Bad enough." I turned out that this short stretch on the map was one long gravel switch-back road that went down the mountain into West Virginia. The map was right, it didn't make any cross country progress, it just went down, down, down. The bike and I survived with a healthy respect for unpaved roads. I wasn't afraid to ride them when they were between me and where I wanted to be, but they were never my first choice when it came to riding. Back to Manitou Rd.

This time when I came up to Manitou Road, I turned right and headed up. Something was different this time. I was riding a BMW R1100GS. After only having a string of '89 FJ1200s for the last 8 years, I've added a different model to the garage. If you're not familiar with the R1100GS, it looks like something out of a Mad Max movie, something of an urban assault vehicle with hard luggage. It's a BMW with one of the new oil cooled boxer motors and enough suspension travel and ground clearance to survive any pot hole and climb over a Yugo and it's red. I was using the proper tool to explore what lay beyond Manitou Road. This month's route is what I found.

I thought that I knew the area north of the Bear Mountain Bridge between NY 9D and US 9, the paved part. Once I started exploring the dirt roads that run through there I realized that I was missing quite a bit. There are lots of beautiful roads that run along and over the ridges. Now there's more roads to explore without having to go far away from home. None of the roads are impassable on your average street bike. You might wonder what your doing there every so often, but you can get through. Would I take a 916 or like on them? No. I wouldn't ride them if I was concerned about getting by bike dirty. It will get dirty. On the other hand, if you've got a Transalp or other dual purpose bike, you'll have a blast. The route begins at the East end of the Bear Mountain Bridge, that's the Westchester County side, and heads up to Cold Spring. If you go straight up, its about a 10 mile trip. I managed to do it in a little less than 60. 


			Not Quite Paved
			(* = Dirt Road)
	
		Mileage 
		Total  Leg

	0.0	0.0			North on NY 9D from the East end of 
					The Bear Mountain Bridge
	1.3	1.3	RIGHT		Manitou Rd.		*
	1.5	0.2	RIGHT		South Mountain Pass	*

	3.8	2.3	BEAR LEFT	Then LEFT - US 9 North
	5.9	2.1	LEFT		NY 403 - LIGHT
	7.3	1.4	SHARP RIGHT	Old West Point Rd *
	
	8.6	1.3	RIGHT		US 9 South
	8.8	0.2	LEFT		Old West Point Rd. Cont. *
	10.2	1.4	RIGHT		STOP - T  *

	10.7	0.5	LEFT		Join Canopus Hollow Rd
	13.2	2.5	BEAR RIGHT	Join Cimmaron Rd.
	14.0	0.8	STRAIGHT	STOP - Church Rd.

	16.4	2.4	LEFT		LIGHT
	19.5	3.1	RIGHT		Bryant Pond Rd.
	20.7	1.2	LEFT		STOP - Bryant Pond Rd. Cont.

	21.1	0.4	LEFT		Wood St. - Just after Taconic
	22.3	1.2	BEAR RIGHT	Join Bullett Hole Rd.
	23.8	1.5	STRAIGHT	STOP

	24.8	1.0	LEFT		STOP - T - Long Pond Rd.
	26.8	2.0	LEFT		US 6 East - STOP
	32.1	5.3	STRAIGHT	LIGHT - Join NY 52 North - Follow NY 52 North

	37.8	5.7	LEFT		Putnam County 42 - Kent Primary School
	38.1	0.3	BEAR RIGHT	North Horse Pound Rd.
	38.6	0.5	LEFT		STOP - Church Hill Rd.

	38.9	0.3	LEFT		Church Hill Rd. Cont. *
	39.8	0.9	RIGHT		STOP - T - Putnam County 42
	44.1	4.9	RIGHT		NY 301 East

	54.5	9.8	STRAIGHT	Cross US 9 - LIGHT
	57.0	2.5	STRAIGHT	Cross NY 9D into Cold Spring