Welcome to my fundraising page for 2025! It is an exciting year for the Roe Jan Ramble Bike Tour- and the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Associaton. This year the New York State Budget includes money to finally extend the Rail Trail from the Orphan Farm Trailhead in Copake Falls across State Route 22 to the Black Grocery Trailhead. From there a cyclist can continue on the trail to Hillsdale.
This is a long awaited connection. Thanks to Assemblymember Didi Barrett and Senator Michelle Hinchey for making it happen! And of course thanks to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association for their many years of advocacy and fundraising. Executive Director Lisa DeLeeuw, thank you!
But this is not the last stop on this rail trail. From the beginning, my mother Elinor Mettler's motto was "CHATHAM OR BUST"! She and Larry Tell started the work to make this dream a reality. They were joined by lots of others to build the first 26 miles.
But Chatham is still the goal, and it is only 20 miles away.
Whatever you can give will help us reach that goal.
Onward!
Jeanne
Roe Jan Ramble Bike Tour
Join us for the 13th anniversary of the Roe Jan Ramble Bike Tour! It's free to all participants and is sponsored by the towns of Copake, Hillsdale and Ancram, NY on the border of Massachusetts in some of the most beautiful scenery of the Hudson Valley & Taconic foothills you've ever seen. While it is free to ride, our event encourages donations for the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. Funds raised will be used to support, connect and expand the public trail to its expected terminus at Chatham, NY.
The Roe Jan Ramble Bike Tour is sponsored by the Towns of Copake, Hillsdale, and Ancram, New York. This free public event raises funds to support the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association. The Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association (HVRTA) was founded in 1986 and incorporated in 1995 as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to advocating for completion of the rail trail in Dutchess & Columbia Counties, New York. HVRTA’s core mission includes partnering with public and private agencies, leading volunteer efforts to assist with trail maintenance, raising capital for purchasing rights-of-way, and offering trail design expertise to public and private agencies.