If mountain biking is about mastering the trail, gravel riding is about seeing where the road goes.

For rider and photographer Andy Gagne, that spirit is at the heart of the Crooked River Rambler, a gravel bike ride scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 11.

“The essence of the Rambler is, ‘Let’s enjoy the ride, let’s enjoy good company, let’s enjoy just going for a bike ride, the fall weather and everyone being together,’” he said.

Gagne and Sarah Kearsley, of Norway, plan to take part in the full experience for the third year, with Gagne hoping to add the optional 10-mile extension to the standard route, which is south of Bethel in the unorganized territory along the Crooked River.

Kearsley calls the Rambler a “Western Maine holiday.” The event is festive, casual and social, she said. She and Gagne like to stop at the aid stations, spaced roughly 10 miles apart, and take their time along the route.

The two regularly ride gravel and back roads around Waterford, Albany Township and Lovell, planning routes that connect dirt roads, paved roads, logging roads and ATV trails. They use GPS to link roads together and, sometimes, to discover where those roads lead.

“It’s an adventure,” Kearsley said.

GRAVEL ROADS, BACK ROADS AND DISCOVERY

Gagne loves western Maine, but said many of the region’s paved roads have become increasingly uncomfortable for cyclists as traffic has increased. Particularly where there are no bike lanes, gravel roads and back roads can offer a safer alternative.

Kearsley, who previously lived in Portland and commuted to work by bicycle with panniers, said she became less interested in riding alongside cars after moving to rural western Maine.

Gravel riding can also be more about endurance and exploration than simply getting from one place to another, she said.

Gagne and Kearsley enjoy piecing together routes from roads and trails that may not appear to be connected. In western Maine, that can require some guesswork.

“A lot of times I have gone out there and I think there’s going to be a road that connects Point A to Point B and there’s nothing,” Gagne said. “Other times I’ll go, and it feels like I’m winning the lottery. It’s this perfect road that I didn’t know existed, and it takes me exactly where I thought it would.”

That unpredictability is part of the appeal.

“In Vermont, you could do a 50-mile ride on perfectly packed-down dirt the whole time,” Gagne said. “That’s what they have there.

“It’s a little spicier here. You have to be willing to go on some bumpier roads here and there.

“I feel like it’s catching on here.”

Gagne said he credits Albany Township residents Jordan Rowell and his wife, Haley Cushing, with doing a good job of creating a ride that fits the region. Another western Maine event, Saddleback’s Northwoods Gravel Grind, was held Sept. 12.

Mahoosuc Land Trust Stewardship Director Spenser Williams notes that, regionally, there are upward of 30 miles of gravel biking opportunities on or through lands conserved by Mahoosuc Land Trust, Western Foothills Land Trust and Greater Lovell Land Trust, including about 1 mile of the Crooked River Rambler.

A RIDE WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR

Rowell, who organizes the Crooked River Rambler with Cushing, was once told that their ride had an excellent “jorts-to-spandex ratio.”

For Rowell, co-host of the event now in its third year, that was a compliment.

“While there’s a time and a place for being serious about your craft or sport, there’s also a time to just have fun with it and be a little goofy,” he said.

That spirit is woven into the Rambler, which Rowell describes simply as “not a race.”

According to a 2023 Cycling Weekly article, the gravel boom, which was reborn in Iowa in the early 2000s, shows no signs of slowing as it has spread across the country. The Union Cycliste Internationale, cycling’s international governing body, defines gravel as a discipline that combines elements of road and mountain-bike cycling and consists primarily of distance riding over unpaved roads.

Rowell discovered cycling as a child, riding trails near his Vermont home. Around 2018, a friend convinced him to get into what he called “the highest endorphins-per-dollar” outdoor activity. He bought a beat-up mountain bike for $600 and eventually found himself riding with Cushing in Moab, Utah.

When the couple moved to western Maine in 2023, they began exploring their new home on two wheels.

Rowell sees the Rambler as an extension of that exploration.

GETTING PEOPLE INTO NATURE

For Rowell, cycling is also a way to get people into nature — and potentially turn them into advocates for the places they encounter.

That idea is central to the Crooked River Rambler, the final event in the Maine Gravel Series. About 150 riders are expected to gather Oct. 11, as Maine foliage approaches its peak. The group will include tandem riders, occasional cyclists and dedicated gravel riders.

The Rambler is designed to be accessible rather than intimidating. Rowell calls it essentially a “zero-sum event.”

“In contrast to some expensive bike events these days, ours is a low entry fee ($30 or $70) and meant to just cover the basic expenses, with some left over to donate to community partners,” he said.

Unlike mountain biking, which generally takes riders onto natural-surface trails, gravel riding typically follows established roads that have already been cleared and surfaced. The Rambler, Rowell says, falls somewhere between the two disciplines.

The route offers plenty to notice along the way: roughly a half-dozen remote ponds, mountain views, farm roads and ATV trails. Local landmarks, including the Hand on the Rock and the Kezar Falls Gorge, add history and local lore.

More importantly, Rowell hopes the ride helps people connect with the Crooked River watershed and understand what makes it special — from its inland salmon spawning grounds to the clean water flowing into Sebago Lake, the region’s largest downstream water body.

Mahoosuc Land Trust and Sebago Clean Waters are working toward protecting 25% of the Sebago Lake watershed — about 35,000 acres — over the next 15 years. This year, Greater Lovell Land Trust is joining the Rambler as a community partner, adding another dimension to an event that celebrates not only riding, but the landscape itself and the people working to protect it.

BUILDING COMMUNITY

The Rambler is also deliberately local.

With lawn parking, strong community participation and an intentionally informal atmosphere, the event has some of the feel of the long-running Songo Pond triathlon, which ended in 2017 after 26 years.

There are several ways to ride the course. The standard route is 33 miles. Riders looking for more can take the Crooked-Kezar Extension, bringing the total to 43 miles, while those wanting a shorter outing can take Melby’s cutoff for a 23-mile ride.

Rowell describes the new 10-mile extension in typically irreverent fashion. It is for the “piddle-pedalers who want to keep on pushing, blasting you on up to the finest hill country general store there ever was: the Center Lovell Market. Enjoy the Baldface views and a sneaky cute antique shop, then send it back down to the Kezar River valley floor and bring ’er on home.”

Back at the finish, riders can gather for food, libations, yard games and music, including a performance by hyperlocal musician Keith Briggs, who lives just down the road. Those who want to linger can camp Saturday and Sunday nights, with a Sunday evening campfire and s’mores.

Along the course, aid stations will offer Maine-inspired fuel, including whoopie pies, as well as pretzels and fondue.

Beneath the jorts, spandex and whoopie pies is something more fundamental: a love of being outside with other people and an appreciation for the places a bicycle can take you.

But Rowell hopes it is also something more — a reason to slow down, look around and become a little more invested in the place beneath the tires.

The idea is simple: You are more likely to care about a place once you have experienced it.