Road Cycling - nyc/westchester: the saturday gimballs training ride?

can you tell me anything about this ride?

some guys i was riding with were discussing it, but i didn't have the time to get specific directions.

apparantly it leaves saturday morning from a mall parking lot 12 miles north of nyc, goes about 100 miles, splitting into 1/2/3 and 4/5 groups at some point, and gets pretty huge sometimes.

any details?

Any info on this ride?

...only a proctologist could dig up a one-post thread three years old...

Bloody hell, Jimbo messaged me saying there was a gimballs ride tomorrow and that there were tons of threads about it...

I have to say, even though I used to live about two miles from there...I never did Gimballs. I think it is an 8 AM start out of the Cross County Shoping Center, and about a hundred or so riders show up. I think it goes up Central Ave. to Rte. 22 and then some route around Westchester. It does break up at certain points (climbs) so there's lots of company if you see the fast rroup leaving you in the dust.

There was a write up on it in Bicycling a few months back on something about the best group rides in America and they featured it pretty well...you may find it on their website.

Nearest Metro North stops are probably Mt. Vernon and Bronxville on the Mt. Vernon line. I am pulling most of this from deep memory as I moved to DC in 1999.

its sat and sun days. Leaves at 125 and madison at 8:30 am, for the city guys and then ride to westchester for the main start. Never gone before and have heard from someone who has that it does indeed get pretty intense. I'm going on sun.

You said there were like 4 threads!

BTW, since you're racing next weekend, how about the one after that, the 15th.

okey dokey........

get in shape by then, will ya!?

I'm gonna show up with like, front and rear disc wheels, I don't need to be in shape.

Definitely a hard-core group of riders; while I've never ridden with them, I've seen them on occasion and they do look impressive. From what I've heard, they like to yell 'Hold your line!' at you in foreign accents. Two links that you may find useful:
http://www.velogogo.com/GimbelsRide/HomePage
http://www.routeslip.com/routes/15549

wish i could help, bu george h. w. bush was president the last time i did gimbels.

What the hell Jimbo, this ride is 50 miles with 2000ft of climbing, you said it was tougher than the ride to bear mountain, which is 120 and 12000ft...

Come to BM with us, we'll all draft behind you.

Yeah it can be pretty massive and of course it has its reputation for being all over the place. I've come upon them in a car before and it is sometimes quite a site. Although, I know a few people who do it occasionally and they don't mind it too much. It's been around a long time, as pointed out, so it has something going for it.

EDIT- In reference to Gimbels. I saw it got dug once, didn't realize it was twice.

I never said tougher.....at least not in my right state of mind. I did say it would be a nice, fun ride, and will vary up your rides. It would get lame to do Bear Mountain every week.


Actually, come to think of it, it is quite a ride, as one would have to ride to the start point. That has to be at least another solid 50 miles. Also, this ride is paced a bit above your Saturday cruise pace(at least that it was it seemed like to me :p).

I never said tougher.....at least not in my right state of mind. I did say it would be a nice, fun ride, and will vary up your rides. It would get lame to do Bear Mountain every week.


Actually, come to think of it, it is quite a ride, as one would have to ride to the start point. That has to be at least another solid 50 miles. Also, this ride is paced a bit above your Saturday cruise pace(at least that it was it seemed like to me :p).

We would've gone a little faster but you were in the back the whole time. :p

I think we're going up to BM around the back side this time, at least according to Alex, he'll have to lead the way. Besides you don't even know how to get to the start of the gimbels ride. This is gonna be one of your get lost and molested rides.

The Gimbles starts at Macys at Yonkers. It heads up Rt 100./ Central Avenue, then onto Rt 22. It is at this point that the ride starts to split into 3 different routes/ rides. The first which is unofficially called ****'s ride, or the short ride, turns off first, followed by the Regular ride. The Gimbles Long continues along 22 and onto 172 and back again onto 22.

****'s ride is a slow and fairly short ride with 1 major hill as you break off from the rest. It rolls nicely through mostly flat areas with some fairly older folks.

The Regular which is possibly the most dangerous ride as most people are just fast enough to hold on goes through mostly the same route as the Long except that it misses alot of the climbing. It still goes through fairly rolling terrain but is really hairy.

The Long covers 3 extra climbs. They are not particularly long but are fairly fast. There is also a cut-off at the end of Rt 172 at Chestnut Ridge if you get dropped or don't think you have the legs to climb Rt 22.

For the Regular and the Long, there are 2 sprint points so you gotta be ready for these. If you are a fairly fast Cat 4 and above you will be able to hang with the Long. Most cat 5s and some 4s go Regular, just as a guide for you first timers. The ride ends at either Bagel Zone (****'s and regular) or a convenient store just before (Long). After the ride/ muffins/ drinks, there will be groups rolling back towards White Plains or the Bronx.

Reagan was in office when I did the Gimbles ride! I remember it was fast. I finished in the front but one of my contact lenses blew out on a fast descent towards the end ... I also used to ride with some of those guys every Tuesday and Thursday on their SUNY Purchase training rides. Serious bunch. Ancient history for me. (I must be old) I could never make it down to Gimbles so early in the morning as a beer addled college student. At the time I had no other wheels besides my bike so the ride to and from the start point added 35 miles to the ride. The route went by the dam and resevoir & was very scenic if you had a second to look around.

I also used to ride with some of those guys every Tuesday and Thursday on their SUNY Purchase training rides.

Haha, you were probably apart of the reason they installed the cobbles on the campus loop. I think they even tried to install bike speed limit signs, at one point, because they didn't like the groups of guys who were sprinting down the rollers at 45mph.

The Gimbels ride is the Nyack Ride for wussy.

Actually from all reports the two rides are fairly similar, Cat 4 and above you should be able to hang on unless you're having a hard time going uphill on that particular day. The Nyack ride has no 'B' route. It's suck a wheel or be shelled like a dog. Interesting to hear that there are bailouts routes on Gimbels. I did not know that. There are a couple of guys on Nyack that sort of do that (take shortcuts) but it's not organized, just 1-3 guys taking an easier route or shortcut to stay on the ride. But in the last 20 miles or so that's not possible, so it's every weenie for himself.

The oxygen masks drop @ about mile 25:

http://www.humorgazette.com/images/air-air.jpg

These rides vary in ability from very strong Cat 2's to idiots like Pcad, so how tough it is on any given Sunday depends on who's driving the train. Like if Cypress is there and he's had his EPO booster that morning, be prepared for 30+mph pacelines into the brisk Northerly headwind. Some days I sit in the cheap seats with the other peloton dogs thinking 'who IS that guy up there?'. Other days I'm on the front doing some of the work. So it can be quite variable.

It's cleansing. I started doing Nyack in 1989. I've never done Gimbels. Why drive that far to be tortured when it's conveniently available on my side of the Hudson River?