Three dirt sectors on this ride:
1. Campbell’s Run Road. This is the classic “Do Not Enter” road, but don’t be fooled. The first third is essentially a false flat on dirt through the woods. The first 200 meters of the road has a few houses, but they disappear pretty quickly. The middle section (beyond the barriers which you can ride past) is fairly steep, and probably just about at the limit of what I can ride reasonably with 25mm road tires. The road sees no traffic, so the top layer of gravel is thick and rather loose. Lots of sharp looking rocks, too, but thanks to the low speed they are easy to avoid. The last third is more false flat. It’s hard to believe you are a stone’s throw away from Harmarville on this road, given how isolated it feels.
2. Old Mill Road. This stretch, probably about a mile or so long, is in good condition, but thanks to the gentle descent and dirt covered by ball bearing gravel, it can get pretty sketchy very quickly (hey look, I’m actually drifting in this corner that overlooks a big pond!). Also note it is guarded by a dirt hairpin. Still, it’s pretty sweet to hit 25 or 30 mph on a road bike on dirt.
3. McClellan Road. I had tried this last year, but it looked like it just led to a construction site, so I turned around. The first half is a wide false flat that passes under Route 910. Beware the knobby rocks here. I flatted here, though it should be noted that when I was replacing the tube on my front wheel, I noticed the lack of rubber and casing on my rear, and was shocked that didn’t flat. The second half is a steep-ish climb on lots of loose, thick gravel. Don’t get caught out of gear here.
Good stuff. It would be pretty easy to add a bit more dirt by taking Eisel from Mill Dam, or simply to ratchet up the pain by climbing Mill Dam, looping back to Eisel, then perhaps even zipping down to Schaeffer.
Posted on 16 May 2009