Kinderhook Ramble

November 2003, Ken:

Sharon and I rode the whole route on two different misty-drizzly days -- and it was beautiful and delightful anyway.

We rode the Rt 21 section on a Sunday morning in late October as part of the Rip Van Winkle to Albany loop.  Then we rode the remaining roads together with John as a variation on the Wandering Northwest Columbia route.

We enjoyed the wide spaces, each individual farm, the village of Kinderhook, the quietness, and the gentle riding.

September 2003, Richard:

Well, we had an excellent weekend, and did two rides, of 30 miles each, based on your 'Kinderhook Ramble' ride.

It's a really great area to ride in: good roads, light traffic, few hills, and beautiful countryside.

We enjoyed the 'Kinderhook Ramble' route very much.

The dirt road portion of Dahlgren proved to be well-packed stone, easy to ride on. The worst road surface was the portion of County Route 21 closest to Kinderhook, which had some broken up pavement and roughly patched areas - but it was not too bad. The turn from Route 9 to Herrick Road was a little nasty: we hit it at about 4:30 on Friday afternoon, and the traffic was fairly heavy, with no inclination to allow us to make the left turn. There's a light there, but with no 'left turn arrow' cycle. If traffic is light, it would be OK. With heavy traffic, probably better to make a right turn, reverse direction, and wait for the light to change.

We made this a 30-mile ride by adding a loop (suggested by our B&B) down to the river.

From Eichybush we turned left onto Hollow Road (adds some hills):
Then left onto Gibbons (not on your map, but Hollow ends there, not at Rte. 9J). That took us to 26A:
Right on 26A to 9J (a designated cycling route, with nice views of the river).
Turn right onto 9J (we actually took a little detour here, down the hill to the river and then back up: there's a boat landing and a small cafe - we didn't stop at the cafe, so can't comment on it)
Right again on Gibbons, then left after a very short distance to Hollow, back to Eichybush, and continue the cued ride.

Another good alternate was Schoolhouse Road (left off of County 21), then left on 9J, down to 26A. Left on 26A, then a left on Rte 9, and back to Kinderhook.

Both of these probably add up to a little less than 30 miles, after you deduct a couple of out-and-back diversions we took.

We did these alternate rides without benefit of a map, so there were some slight glitches, but we can recommend the rides we did, and I think 9J looks like a good road for bikes - we considered continuing up 9J to Renselaer County Route 2 (Schodack Landing), and coming back down 21 to Kinderhook, but weren't sure we had the time - had to get to a wedding.

All in all, a great weekend, with a couple of very nice rides which would not have happened without your cue sheets and maps!

July 2003, Bob Salzman:

Thanks for the wonderful Kinderhook route. Its beautiful and you did a nice job of putting it together.

There is still the dirt section on Dalgren but its short and manageable.  

What makes it appealing is that its a loop that takes me back to my car and 17 miles is good early AM distance.