Author Archives: Sam Graulty

It’s been a few months since wrapping up the Dirt 251 project. The snow this winter has been marginal: I’ve skied more than I’ve biked, but I’ve BIKED! OUTSIDE! Overall (between grumbling and stressing about this weird winter) I think I’ve had enough time to really look back and reflect on everything. This post willContinue reading “Dirt 251 Final Reflection & Superlatives”

Well, to spoil it: I did it. I finished. However, this entry will be similar to those that preceded it and will consist mainly of me just recounting the ride and sprinkling in a few (okay more than a few) fun facts along the way. I’m planning to do a full write up of theContinue reading “Ride 42: Chelsea, Vershire, West Fairlee, Fairlee, Thetford & Norwich”

Much like Ride 40, the loop for 41 went through many iterations. They’d both been planned for so long, that my skills, goals and knowledge around route planning outpaced them. Originally, the route was going to be a day route, avoiding the large ridge that separates Athens from Westminster and Putney. I then realized IContinue reading “Ride 41: Westminster, Athens & Putney”

This ride had originally been designed as two separate loops. Once I’d made the routes, I realized it wouldn’t be too difficult to link them and the connecting thread would be an epic climb that’s part of the VTXL route. Plus, if I split it into three days, I could basecamp in the Green MountainContinue reading “Ride 40: Dorset, Rupert, Sandgate, Arlington, Sunderland, Stratton, Somerset, Glastenbury, Searsburg, Wilmington, Whitingham, Dover, Wardsboro & Manchester”

There was a much shorter gap between rides 38 and 39 compared to the previous two. Plus the commute was a lot shorter too. These towns and roads and some I’ve ridden a number of times during the course of this project, and constitute some of my favorite local areas to ride. When explaining theContinue reading “Ride 39: Underhill, Cambridge & Fletcher”

Dirt 251 took a while to be revived in 2023 for a few unfortunate reasons. Firstly, I tore my quadricep tendon in January. I did it playing indoor soccer, and while the surgery happened much faster than with my ACL almost exactly 10 years prior, it meant that I would still be out of commissionContinue reading “Ride 38: Brighton, Lewis, Avery’s Gore, Warren Gore, Warner’s Grant, Norton, Averill, Cannan, Lemington, Bloomfield, Brunswick, Maidstone & Ferdinand”

There are precious few rides left in this project (I’m down to just five if everything goes to plan) and the warm riding days are getting fewer and farther between this season. So given those realities, two things recently became clear: Dirt 251 will extend into a fourth and final year and also, I wantedContinue reading “Ride 37: Bennington, Pownal, Stamford, Readsboro, Woodford & Shaftsbury”

Almost a whole month has passed since Ride 35. On that one, I needed to switch to a different route. And between travel and other fun summer plans, it took me a while to get organized to ride what I was originally going to do and head up to the NEK. I still put aContinue reading “Ride 36: Irasburg, Coventry, Newport City, Derby, Holland, Morgan, Charleston, Brownington & Barton”

For this ride, I had originally planned to do a roughly 70 mile route up into the Newport area and so I cast a wide net to search for ride partners. I snagged one in my friend Kristine. She’s a badass rider who’s recently been organizing weekly group rides with the Winooski Bike Gang. Unfortunately,Continue reading “Ride 35: Topsham, Newbury, Bradford & Corinth”