Jay, Westfield, Troy

16.6 miles 1,114 feet of elevation 1:30 moving time

3/5/23

Jay Country Store – unique wooden sculptures *photo Marcia Gauvin*

This is a ride that is more pavement than gravel, but very little traffic and the gravel portions are awesome!

This ride starts at the Jay Country Store, where there is ample, safe parking. It is worth a walk through the store, either at the beginning or the end of your ride, because it is a unique place with a lot of cool stuff, including a deli and a bar (open at times).

We left the store to ride south on Route 242, before a very quick right turn onto Cross Road, heading toward Troy. It is a bit of a climb to Troy, but since you start at an elevation of over 900 ft, it doesn’t take long before you are simply gliding down for almost half the ride.

I loved Troy – it wasn’t a village with a lot of expensive houses, but it had a lot of heart. The houses (even trailers) were decorated nicely and abundant with flowers and happy children running through the yards, and lawn decorations of old farm machinery painted school-bus yellow. It seemed like a bright and happy place.

From the Troy General Store, it is just a brief ride down Route 100 before turning onto the first gravel section of this ride – River Road. This road was so wide and flat it felt like a king’s highway. We saw more four wheelers than cars on this stretch of road.

For the next 6 or so miles on River Road, you ride up and down rolling hills along the lazy Missisquoi River. Lazy, until it’s not so much, when it rushes through gaps in the rocks in multiple cascades and waterfalls. We saw several people swimming in this part of the river and it looked fun.

Bridge crossing the Missisquoi River *photo Marcia Gauvin*

the lazy part of the Missisquoi *photo Marcia Gauvin*

At the end of River Road, you turn left into North Troy Main St, going past the Toasted Bun food truck, and into a very nice village that obviously sees some tourism because it sports a lot of fresh and colorful paint. In North Troy, you are very close to the Canadian border, and at one point we saw a sign that side we were closer to Canada than any other VT town.

After that, you have to ride on VT 107 for quite a ways – but again, very wide shoulder and very little traffic – before turning onto your last gravel road – Belle Vista Road. This road is a bit of a climb as well, but the funny road signs make it well worth it.

The ride then goes up and down (but mostly up) to get you back to your car at Jay Country Store.

Very fun ride!