The first place I wanted to go was Baconville.  What is Baconville you ask?  That’s exactly what I wanted to know.  There is an intersection in Shutesbury which, if you look on Mapquest, is labeled ‘Baconville’.  I first spotted it on a map of the area on the National Weather Service page (it isn’t there any more).  That label doesn’t show on Google maps, but if you try mapping ‘Baconville, MA’ on Google, it will point to the same intersection:

Basically, it’s where Sand Hill Rd. and Baker Rd. meet W. Pelham Rd.  I couldn’t find info online about it, so I thought I’d go see what was there.

To get there, I rode through Amherst into the town of Pelham, and then came North on Buffam Rd. (which turns into W. Pelham Rd.).  That road involves a good deal of climbing, so I had some slow going.  On the way up, I spotted this interestingly colored house:

There were 2 flagpoles near the end of the driveway, one flying a US flag, and the other with a flag that seemed to have the same colors as the house:

However, I couldn’t get a very good look at the flag.  I tried looking for flags of other countries, but couldn’t find one with that color combo.

Continuing on, I soon came to the crossroads known as Baconville.  And here’s what I found:

There’s not much there.  I definitely had the right place, as evidenced by the street signs:

There were a few houses, one of which had some nice stone walls:

And an electrical or phone transformer of some kind:

But nothing else to speak of.

I looked for a sign, or a historical marker of some kind, but found nothing.  Perhaps I’ll have to check with the town historical society sometime.

From there I continued North, and bore slightly East toward Leverett.  I ended up traveling on a dirt road for quite a ways, which is fine, as long as it doesn’t get too steep.  However, there were a couple of spots where the road headed downhill to steeply for my comfort, given the loose surface, so I walked my bike in those areas.

I did come across a lovely marsh area while still in Shutesbury.  Here are some views of it on either side of the road:

A bit further up the road, there was a dam that the wetland flowed over into a creek.  Here are shots of the area above the dam:

And the dam itself:

Just after that dam, I entered the town of Leverett.  Not long after, I came to the end of the dirt road I was on, where there was what looked like an old mill building with a creek running past (probably the same waterway that the marsh fed into).

I almost immediately turned onto another dirt road and came to my next destination, the Leverett Co-op:

Yeah, not a great picture of the building, but the sun was behind it when I was there.  I stopped in for some extra water (and a cherry-cheese danish).  It’s a neat little place, and would be very convenient to shop at if one lived up in the Northern part of Leverett.  Besides selling groceries, there’s a little cafe there, a computer with Internet access (not sure if it’s high-speed), a playground (with old merry-go-round):

and also a quiet garden with peaceful decorations:

This fellow also resides on the grounds:

I left the co-op and traveled down the dirt road that it’s on, called Rattlesnake Gutter Rd.  I had not paid close attention to the road as marked on Google Maps – if I had, I would have noticed that the road gets very thin for a while.  It turns out that the road climbs up a hill, and then becomes closed to motor vehicles.  It turns into a gravel path only open to bikes and pedestrians, which goes through a conservation area.  Once again, I found myself having to walk the bike through parts that were downhill, but it was definitely worth going through there.  Rattlesnake Gutter turns out to be a pretty gully in the hills, and I took a few photos:

Eventually, I passed a gate at the bottom of the hill, and the road turned into a road once again, and not long after intersected a paved road.  From there I pedaled down through Amherst and home.

Total ride distance: 33 miles.

I wanted to go since I had not yet been on an organized ride in the Pioneer Valley.  They had 10, 25, and 50-mile routes, and I chose the 25, not feeling like I was up to doing 50 yet this year (I didn’t ride at all over the winter).  The ride began in this business parking lot in Leeds:

Soon after getting underway, I passed this dam at the base of a reservoir:

Here’s the other side of it:

The reservoir proper:

The actual route was a fairly easy one, with only a couple of significant hills.  It did take me through parts of Northampton and Westhampton that I had not really seen before, so that was cool.  The weather was very pleasant, alternating between cloudy and sunny.

There wasn’t a whole lot of interesting picture fodder along the way.  What I did see included this grazing horse:

and this stone wall:

Once I got back to Leeds, the route went over the Hotel Bridge itself shortly before returning to the starting point.  The bridge is open only to bike and foot traffic, but preservationists hope to have it available for cars again one day.  Here’s the bridge before I crossed it:

A view from the bridge:

and here is the bridge from the other side, once I’d crossed:

My total time was about 2 hours, 20 minutes.  For doing the ride, I got to take a couple of things home.  They were giving away helmets (which had been donated, I believe) to anyone who filled out a survey for MassBike, and given that I’d been thinking of getting a new helmet, and that I liked the color, I got one:

These t-shirts were also available as part of the registration fee:

All in all, a fun way to spend a Sunday morning.  I’ve gone on some longer rides since this one, but those will be detailed in future posts.

The first ceremony was held at the bike bridge over Main St. downtown.  It drew a pretty good-sized crowd:

It was originally thought that this section of trail, which parallels the train tracks through town, would be completely done by the date of the ceremony, but as you can see in the top picture, there is still a bit of paving to be done.  It should be finished by sometime in November.

As people were milling about, waiting for the event to start, I spotted local radio and stage celebrity Kelsey Flynn:

She was there putting together a radio story, which can be listened to here.  Here she is recording while people spoke:

Four people spoke on the trail system, the new bridges (over Main and North Streets), and what it took to get to this point.  They also mentioned upcoming projects, such as a trail connecting the Northampton trails to the Manhan trail in Easthampton.  The first to speak was Mayor Clare Higgins:

She was followed by Ward 3 City Councilor Bob Reckman (whose ward we were standing in):

(Reckman is the one with the moustache, not the baby)

Then came City Director of Planning Wayne Feiden:

and finally Ward 4 City Councilor David Narkewicz, who chairs the Council’s Bike and Pedestrian Subcommittee:

Wayne Feiden thanked various groups who were involved in helping realize the new trails, including Friends of Northampton Trails and Greenways, of which I’m a member.  Also present were some people from the Friends of the Manhan Rail Trail.  They said that the sinkhole in that trail was in the process of being filled in, and was more than half done.  I heard this past week that the work has been completed, and pictures can be seen at this site.

Once the crowd broke up there, I went a on a little tour of the Northampton trail with its new sections, led by Craig Della Penna, a local realtor and trail advocate.  He talked about the history of the older trail, and of the railways that used to run along the beds the trails use now.

The old Northampton Bike Path goes through the village of Florence, and there is a new section of trail heading through part of Leeds (both Leeds and Florence are sections of the City of Northampton).  At the end of the new Leeds trail, the Leeds Civic Association was hosting the second ribbon cutting, as well as other activities. Here’s the scene at that end:

Most speeches were given by the same cast of characters as earlier (Higgins, Feiden, Narkewicz):

I actually got a halfway decent shot of the moment the ribbon was cut this time:

The mayor had a local kid assisting her for the cutting.

Once that was over I had to head home to make dinner.  It was nice to have almost uninterrupted trail to take me all the way back to the center of Hadley from Leeds.  I got home in just under an hour.  I didn’t have much time to take pictures of the trails themselves, but hopefully I can do so on a future excursion.  Meanwhile, construction is starting soon on the trail down to Easthampton – can’t wait until they finish that!

The drive out there was uneventful, and there were no problems with my bike on the back of the car.  This is the ski lodge where the event is based:

I arrived, got checked in, put on my number, etc.  This is my number attached to the back of my shirt:

I got that shirt from this event 2 years ago.

Here I am near the starting line as we were just about to line up for the 50-mile ride:

I started out in long sleeves and pants, as it was chilly, but I had other layers underneath for when it warmed up.

I could tell I was speedier and more endurant than the previous time, as I kept fairly close with people at the front of the pack for a while.  2 years ago, the whole pack left me behind within a few miles of the start.  I was able to go quite a ways without resting, and in fact, I stopped the first time mainly just to take come pictures.  This is one of them:

That’s off of route 42 in or near the town of Richmond (I included an iPhone pic of the same view in a live post).  I generally tried to take pictures of things that I didn’t photograph 2 years ago, as I didn’t think I needed to duplicate the old stuff.  Plus, that allowed me to stop less.

I got to the first official rest area in relatively quick time, and then spent half an hour there between using the bathroom, having a granola bar, and blogging (note to self: posting 6 pictures from my iPhone with only a 2-bar cell connection takes a while).  I was feeling pretty warm at that stop, so I stripped down to my short-sleeve jersey and shorts, and put on sunscreen.  This seemed like a good move until I got going again, when I got cold riding in the wind.  Within an hour, though, the temp got warm enough that I stopped being cold.

I had something happen during this second leg of the ride that I hadn’t experienced before: a falling leaf hit me in the face and pasted itself onto my sunglasses.  The wind just held it there.  I had to reach up and pull it off, otherwise it probably would have stayed there until I slowed sufficiently for it to fall off.

Partway through this second leg, I took a couple pics of a pond:

And after a couple more miles, some mountain shots:

Even with 2 photo stops, I still made as good time to the second rest area as I had to the first.  Here’s where they setup the second stop, located in Great Barrington:

I was there for about 20 minutes, then got going again around 12:10.  I still had almost 20 miles to go, but figured I could cover that distance by 2:00.

Soon after that, I came to this paper mill, which I had seen last time but not photographed.  I think it’s a pretty neat building:

And just a couple miles from that was what looked like a village center, which from Google maps looks like might be called Housatonic.  It’s definitely part of the town of Great Barrington:

The route then headed North into Stockbridge, following the Housatonic River, and heading slowly uphill over a couple of miles.  Eventually, I passed the Norman Rockwell Museum:

The road levels off for a bit after that, but then one turns West onto Route 102, and the road ascends again.  It’s a gradual hill, but it’s long, and by this point my legs were getting a little tired.  That climb ends soon after 102 crosses the Mass Pike, and then there’s a nice long downhill ride back into West Stockbridge.  In that town’s center, I stopped again (and blogged), and then started the last 10-mile stretch.  Mild hills felt like a lot of work at this point, given my muscular tiredness, and I had to downshift much more often (and into lower gears) than I had to earlier in the ride.

I did make it back to the ski area before 2:00, though, cutting off an hour from my time 2 years ago.  Here’s a picture of me at the end (after I’d eaten and stuff):

Thanks very much to everyone who supported me with donations.  The total amount I raised was $715, about equaling the donations I got last time (and this time the economy is worse, so I really appreciate people’s willingness to give).

In the future, whether I do more charity rides or just riding for fun, I can certainly challenge myself to ride a distance like this in even shorter time, but I feel like I’m ready to attempt greater distances.  50 miles has, in a sense, become “no big deal” for me.  Stay tuned to this site for further developments!

I started out heading over the river into Northampton, and then went South on route 5 so I could pick up the Manhan Rail Trail, and ride it through most of Easthampton. I had heard earlier this year that part of the trail collapsed when a sinkhole opened up, but I didn’t know exactly where that occurred, or how large it was.  I discovered it soon after getting on the trail, as it’s near the Eastern end:

Needless to say, I wasn’t going to be crossing that gap (it was a good 50 feet across).  I peered over the edge and saw a bit of construction equipment.  Apparently efforts have recently begin to start fixing the hole and trail.  As I was taking pictures, a cyclist showed up below, walking his bike through the trench, then coming up a sort of construction road and making his way through the woods over to the part of the trail I was on.  He said that was the first (and might be the last) time he’d attempted crossing through that way, but he’d just gotten tired of going the long way around.  He also mentioned that the original collapse was not quite as wide – the repair efforts have widened the gap somewhat.

I ended up going back to the beginning of the trail, but at least got a nice view of the Connecticut River oxbow before leaving the gap:

I headed down nearby East St., which parallels the trail for a while, and then I took a side street back to the trail at a point past the collapse.  I continued on toward downtown.

Just before downtown Easthampton, one comes upon various abandoned mill/factory buildings:

I kept on the Manhan trail until its end near the West edge of town.  From there I hopped onto Route 10, and headed into Southampton, a town I had never been in before.  Just before hitting the town line, I saw this view of mountains to the West:

Southampton is a pretty town – there are some little shopping centers, and a big Harley-Davidson dealership, along 10, but most of it is pretty rural.

The Manhan River, which flows through Easthampton, goes first through Southampton.  I took a couple of pics of it where it crossed Route 10:

A heron flew up soon after I got to the river crossing.  It landed at first near that left-hand red building, but when I tried to photograph it, it flew across the road to get farther away.  I managed to spin around a get a pic of it in flight, traveling away from me:

And then I captured it from afar, along with some ducks and geese:

Not too long after that, I was heading up a gradual hill, and came upon this:

Coolest

Mailbox

Ever!

(I think the owner works for one of the local electric companies, as you can see a utility truck parked there.)

A bit further along I passed into Westfield, and then Route 202 joined with Route 10.  The combined highway heads South for a couple more miles before passing the Pike (aka Interstate 90) and then the road descends a hill into downtown Westfield.  There are 2 bridges that would normally carry traffic over the Westfield river into downtown, but one of them is under construction.  Here’s the one that is open:

And here’s a view from that bridge of the other one:

Here are various pictures taken in and around the downtown:

Here’s the Westfield River again, looking the other way (downriver, East) from the previous view:

I headed back North, up the hill and past 90 again, and noticed the airport off to the right side:

That would be Barnes Municipal Airport, which also functions as an air National Guard base.

Just after I got back into Southampton, I saw this great view of Mt. Tom off to the Northeast:

That’s technically the whole Mt. Tom range, but Tom itself is the peak on the right (if you look closely, you can see the many antennae on the peak).

I stopped off at a little grocery on the way home and got an apple to keep my energy up, but I didn’t have a huge amount of time, so didn’t want to take too long to eat.  I skipped the Manhan trail on the way back, and just took Route 10 all the way to downtown Northampton, then Route 9 back across the Connecticut to Hadley.  I made the whole round trip in just a hair under 5 hours.  Total distance: 48 miles.

I’m definitely ready for the big ride this coming Saturday.  More details in my next post.