West Hill Grinder - Putney VT

I didn’t see this ride on the schedule posted here, but I stumbled across it and did the 2 gap route last weekend.

Posting the info in case someone wants to make note for next year.

The main rides are:

A 4 gap loop - 39 miles with 4,800' of climbing, “The route includes five sections of Class IV roads (unmaintained town roads, otherwise known as Vermont Pave), a 2.9 mile singletrack climb and descent on the Pinnacle hiking trails, with the remainder of the route a mix of dirt roads with 7 miles of paved roads.”

2 gap ride - 34 miles, 3,400’ of climbing. “ 5 sections of Class IV roads (unmaintained town roads, otherwise known as Vermont Pave) mixed wth dirt roads and 3 miles of paved roads. There is one short woods path (with some roots) at mile 1. There is no technical single track on this route. “

There’s also a couple of shorter rides with no class 4 road riding.

I enjoyed the 2 gap ride but it did have much more paved riding than the 3 miles mentioned in the description and there were some trail sections that were definitely a challenge on a gravel bike.

Well organized and attended ride and the food was great. The $45 sign up goes to benefit the good work of a local trail org.

Here’s a link to this year’s ride info:

https://www.bikereg.com/38937

Me and my girlfriend did this event last year, and it was a good time despite some challenges.  First of all, we decided that we didn't want to have to choose between the 4-gap and 2-gap, and made an extra long combo route (https://www.strava.com/activities/1200364292).  I just couldn't pass up seeing the top of the Pinnacle, while also getting in more miles on the mellower 2-gap second half.  Looking back on it, I really wished we skipped the single track, as we aren't that good at it and did not have mountain bikes.  It was also unseasonably hot last year, and they ran out of water at the top of Putney Mountain.  We found some nice people who let us refill our bottles from the spigot outside, really saved us from having to detour into Putney to refuel.  By the time we got back, we were the last car in the lot and the taco bar had closed (dang!).  They felt really bad and gave us a bunch of packed up food to take back, which was really nice.

All in all a very good ride, with most of our troubles brought on by our own decisions.  The course was great, but I would skip the 4-gap if I did it again, unless I was riding a hard tail 29er.  I wouldn't recommend it on a gravel or cx bike unless you are a very proficient technical rider or you don't mind a couple long stretches of walking.  It was an awesome learning experience, and if we lived closer this ride would be an annual event for us.