2025 DSTS: Explore Gravel Adventure
Date:
Saturday, March 1, 2025 - 5:30pm
Spots:
100
No advance registration is required to participate in the D-STS series but you must be a NYCC member to participate. Please sign up for individual rides in the Upcoming Rides section of the website.
2025 D-STS: Spring Training Series for Dirt Riders
The D-STS is a new program this year, providing a training series for gravel riders in the club.
For riders who have graduated from the D-SIG and want to continue adventuring and pushing
themselves, we plan to offer 12 rides exploring the best dirt in the area from fast
carriage roads to challenging singletrack, with crushing climbs and dizzying descents. We’ll dig
deep into the NYCC dirt-ride library, exploring segments you’re unlikely to find on any other ride.
Requirements: We require a baseline level of skill and fitness: an ability to ride in a rotating
paceline at an A-18/20 pace, as well as comfort with handling your bike on unpaved surfaces.
We assume that graduates of the D-SIG have these skills; if you’ve come by these skills in a
different way (eg, you did the A-SIG, and then raced CX), you’re welcome as well. If you’re
unsure, please contact the ride leaders. Additionally, you need equipment appropriate to off-
road riding: wide tires, deep gearing, and SPD-style cleats (some of our rides require portaging
your bike). You should bring tools/materials for a variety of field repairs: Allen keys, quick links,
derailleur hangers, zip-ties, etc. At times fueling and water stops will be few and far between.
Plan to bring plenty of pocket food and hydration. For some rides, you may need three water
bottles or a hydration pack.
Approach to Group Riding and Drop Policy: We whole-heartedly embrace the NYCC ethos
of group riding: we ride as a group, who start and finish together, not as individuals. The
stronger riders in a group should look for ways to use their strength to help the group: longer
pulls, pushing the pace on the front when going downhill, checking in with the group on whether
the pace is too high. The less strong riders in a group should preserve their energy to avoid
blow-ups: shorter pulls, staying fresh for challenging climbs, speaking up when the group’s pace
requires an unsustainable effort.
In each ride, we’ll designate certain segments for individual pacing: longer uphills and downhills
and technical bits. We’ll regroup at the end of each of those. On the rest of the paved segments,
we’ll ride in a paceline, and on the rest of the unpaved sections, we’ll keep the group together.
Even more than typical club road rides, gravel group rides are a team effort. We will sometimes
be deep in the woods, miles from a road or town. We depend on each other for safety, support,
and encouragement.
We’ll aim to have two pace groups: an A-18 and an A-20 group. Per NYCC standards, these
numbers designate the pace the group would ride in a paceline on flat pavement with no wind.
For our rides especially, they’re indicators of pedaling effort, with the speeds translated up or
more often down depending on conditions and especially terrain. If we don’t have enough riders
for both pace groups, the whole group will ride at an A-18 effort.
Our rides are no-drop rides, we won’t abandon you in the woods. But we do expect ride
participants to have the required skills and fitness and to make good-faith efforts to follow our
approach above. If the leaders feel like you are not riding with the group appropriately or safely,
they’ll talk it over with you, but ultimately we may ask you to exercise a bail-out option to leave a
ride, if one is available, and/or not to return on subsequent rides. This could happen if you
simply lack the fitness to keep up or if you persist in riding overly selfishly. We do this to provide
a great ride experience for all the other participants.
Not sure whether this approach is for you? Please reach out to the ride leaders; we’re happy to
discuss.
Rides: Like other STS series, the rides on the D-STS are progressively more challenging as the
series goes on. The difficulty of the rides can be divided into three parts: The first four rides will
be about 40 miles, with between 3000 and 4000 feet of climbing, and the unpaved portions will
be relatively tame. The second set of rides (rides 5-8) will be between 50-60 miles, with
between 5000-6000 feet of climbing. The unpaved sections will be longer, the climbs will be
steeper, and the dirt may begin to get more challenging. On the final set of rides, the distances
will be >60 miles, there will be 6000+ feet of climbing, and the unpaved sections are likely to
include challenging trail sections in addition to dirt roads.
Ride Logistics: Most of our rides begin and end at Metro-North Railroad or New Jersey Transit
stations. Ride postings will note this; if you want to drive, please be ready to roll when the train
is scheduled to arrive. Some of our routes can be trimmed and improved with start and end
points that are not train-accessible, and if we have enough car transportation for all participants,
we’ll likely use it to deploy those route modifications, so please let the leaders know if you’re
available to drive and how many others you could transport.
Signups closed for this Event
2025 DSTS: Explore Gravel Adventure
03.01.2025
5:30pm
