When I want to ride and need to escape the Presidents Day crowds, I’ve got a cheat code in my playbook:
HEAD NORTH!
When I found positive confirmation C7 from Tupper Lake to Charlies Inn had been groomed Sunday night, my target was acquired and locked.
Washington Street parking lot, Tupper Lake!
When I saw the empty lot on arrival just after 9:30am, I had already won the day.
All I had to do was seize my prize!
Tupper Lake to Charlies Inn (morning)
Nice riding on C7 all the way through. Just the odd long wave roller to keep me honest.
Northward from Charlies Inn
With the exception of a bit of chop between Charlies Inn and Gabriels, C7 was great pole dancing toward Rainbow Lake.
C7 from Rainbow Lake to Loon Lake was bumpy and rough at times, even some humpback moguls. Picked up a recent groom north of Loon Lake. None of the subsequent riding approached board flat, but ride quality became much better.
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Dogleg to Dannemora
From Fran 6 intersection, ride through C8A/Wolf Pond Road was GORGEOUS to Clinton County line.
From Clinton County line, C8A into Lyon Mountain had wavy bumps and rollers in sections and pretty nice riding in other sections.
Along the way I took the scenic view trail. Hung out at the top for a while to soak in the sun and breathe in the balmy late winter air. Even caught view of a snow angel!
How to get there
After County line, where C8A takes a hard left turn, start looking for a side trail on the right within a half mile. Side trail not marked as “SCENIC VIEW” off C8A. But it will be quite obvious unless it’s been untracked after a big snow.
C8A from Lyon Mountain to Dannemora was AWESOME! Long stretches of time-warping, mind-bending, helmet-whipping booty call.
And the best thing? WAIT FOR IT…. WAIT FOR IT….
I had no choice but to DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN to return from Dannemora. YEAHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Stopped at Iron Ore Market in Lyon Mountain for a quick refuel stop and resumed the ride.
To Malone
Rolled C8A/Wolf Pond Road to Sugarloaf, thence jumped onto C7/Pole trail.
C7 through Mountain View and Owls Head had wavy bumps at times, but was decent overall.
Caught a recent groom north of Owls Head and rolled that into Malone. With the exception of a few short thin/pebbly stretches after Titus Mountain exit ramp, much of the riding looked like this:
C7/S80 through Malone Junction was FAAAST!
S80 around Malone was groomed. Thin in places but easily passable.
Trail to The Pines Tap & Table was a fun rip. When I got there, it was lunch time! Had the big mouth triple patty smash burger with cheddar cheese, bacon and a side of fries.
AWESOME BURGER! I highly recommend eating at this restaurant, ALWAYS great food there.
Back to Tupper Lake
Basking in the sun! Felt like a March ride.
With afternoon temperature approaching 40*F, snow become tacky. 900 ACE Turbo was running a tad warm under the hood. So I dropped the tunnel-mounted ice scratchers to bathe heat exchangers and slide rail cage for the return trip. Sled ran nice & cool after that.
The bumpy and rough section of C7 south of Loon Lake had been groomed, but was only marginally better riding than it was mid-day when I passed through.
Decided on taking S83 exit ramp and roll C7B through Bloomingdale. Experienced stretches of studder-ripple and the bridges had roller bumps. Overall, ride was enjoyable enough.
Look at the STEEP SNOW on this picnic table. WOW!
By far, the best stretch was the last several miles leading to NY-86 crossing.
Stopped here for a while to sunbathe. SIMPLY GORGEOUS!
After NY-86 crossing it was onto C7B/Balls basher. Escaped that to rip Lake Colby and rejoin C7B on the rail trail. Encountered quite a bit of slush on Lake Colby.
C7 from Charlies Inn to Tupper Lake was mostly holding up as a pretty good ride late afternoon, with occasional long wave rollers.
Was smelling the 200-miler at this point! Did a dogleg onto Local 864/Floodwood trail to pad the miles. Nice diversion!
Didn’t feel like riding the plowed road to complete the loop. So I didn’t. Simply doubled back to C7.
After I got back to Tupper Lake, I rolled Local 871/Junction Pass trail to Waterfront park in the final embers of daylight to run up the score a bit more.
After refueling the sled at Hyde Mobil for the next ride, I strolled back to Washington Street parking lot at dusk.
Rolled off 207 miles for the ride. My signature solo mega-miler was complete!
WHAT A DAY! This was my reward for hunkering down at home on those brutal sub-zero cold days.
Ride map
Click here for ride stats, larger map and 3D Flyover
Bottom line
If not for living my dream life in Indian Lake… Boy, I’d consider moving NORTH! Some of the very best riding in New York State is up there.
BONUS: I didn’t encounter throttle jack-off JEBRONIs on this ride. Just mature, responsible couples and some large family groups with kids. Very enjoyable company!
Midweek Outlook
Bringing it back to home, I saw a lot of fresh groom marks from the roadside Monday morning from Indian Lake through Long Lake.
We’ll live on the mild side of CLIMO this week, but we shall live to dance on! Snowpack is a general 1-2 FEET in the central Adirondacks with upwards of 2-3+ FEET in the snow bowls. That’s enough to get by this week. And we may have a couple opportunities for snow prior to the weekend.
We’re pushing into the Back-9 of Winter. No matter how good we’ve had it this winter, it’ll be a bygone memory by April.
And #summersucks is barely more than 4 months away!
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
