My intention in August and September was to go for a long ride once each weekend in training for my 100-mile ride on 9/17. Various factors have thwarted that plan, though. For instance, the weekend of August 27 was when hurricane Irene was passing through New England, so there wasn’t much of any opportunity for riding.
The following weekend (Labor Day weekend), there was the threat of rain again, and I had some other duties to take care of, so I went for a couple of shorter rides. On that Saturday I went out for the afternoon, intending to get some good hill climbing in, even though I didn’t have enough time to do a long distance.
This ride began similarly to the previous 84-mile one – I headed through Northampton and Westhampton. This time, though, I left bike paths sooner, going straight along route 66 from Noho. Also, once I climbed the hill leading into Huntington, I took a side road going downhill (the exact side road that will be used on the actual Food Bank ride). This road (called simply “County Road”) doesn’t descend constantly, but eventually it ends up being steeper than the downhill portion of 66. At least, it felt steeper, which could be attributable to its being curvier than the main road.
After laying on the brakes a good deal while headed downhill, I reached route 112 and started heading north. This route took me along part of the Westfield river, which looked like it had a higher water level than the last time (caused by all the rain from Irene, I’m sure):
The road then crossed the river. Here you can see the tree trunks somewhat engulfed by the current:
Further along the road, I came to the view of a wider part of the river, along with the Knightville Dam (which I had seen on this road 4 years ago). In this picture, you can see from the discoloration on the trees on the far side how high the water must have gotten after the hurricane:
And there is the dam itself:
I’m not sure if it was caused by the rains the previous weekend, but the edge of the road seemed to have crumbled away at one spot:
That was right by this nice little waterfall:
Soon after that, I passed into the town of Worthington, but not for very long. I left the highway and headed to Ireland St. in Chesterfield, which involved another hill climb (though not quite as bad as the one in Westhampton. This is a nice country road that goes by an apple orchard once you get up on the ridge.
I wasn’t riding along the top for very long, though, as the road headed downhill quite a bit, ending up at the Chesterfield Gorge at the bottom. I’ve been to the gorge a couple of times before, and since I didn’t have a lot of time for this ride, I decided not to stop to sightsee.
Just past the gorge, I came to route 143, where I started heading back east. I passed over the Westfield River again, which looked quite sedate here:
I then began the long climb up to Chesterfield center. There’s not a lot to say about this climb, except that I had to rest 4 or 5 times, not always getting very far between rests. At the top, I stopped at the Chesterfield general store for some beverages. I took pictures of the town hall after starting to ride again:
And I noticed that the town has nothing to say:
From here it all seemed to be downhill:
In actuality, there are a couple of small inclines I had to ride up in the otherwise continual descent into Williamsburg, which culminated in reaching route 9. I passed through Williamsburg center, and then went off on a side road that took me to Leeds, and the Northampton bike trail.
Following the trail back to Hadley, I stopped to rest a couple of times as I was getting a bit sore. At one stop in Hadley, I heard a rhythmic knocking sound. I realized there was a woodpecker in a tree above me:
That’s the best picture I managed to get of it – it was a good 20 feet off the ground.
From there, getting home was uneventful. My total time was 5.5 hours, and distance was 57 miles.
On August 20, I went for another long ride – this time I wanted to check out a hill that was mentioned in the 100-mile ride description on the Food Bank website. They mentioned that the hill was where the route passes from Westhampton into Huntington, and that it is the worst hill of the ride.
I began by heading to Northampton and taking the bike trail there to its terminus in Leeds. Along the way, I spotted this stenciled text on the trail in Look Park, which I have seen before in other locations:
I have no idea who has painted these, but it’s amusing, IMHO.
After leaving the trail, I arced along back roads (which I’d been on in some organized rides before) into Westhampton. I passed by this barn just before reaching the town center:
And there was this sign, which said the same thing on both sides:
Who could they be thanking? And for what?
A little ways past Westhampton center I reached route 66 (not the famous one) and headed west. It didn’t take too long for me to have to start climbing, but I wasn’t sure if I was climbing “the” hill yet (I’d biked along this road before, but it was at night, going the other direction, and happened 4 years ago). The climbing was not too steep, but went on for long enough that I had to rest twice. I got a bit of a reprieve after that, and then came to what seemed to be the real climb. I started heading up in a low gear, and had to pause a rest a little way up. I continued on once I’d caught my breath, and soon found that the road leveled off, and I crossed the Huntington town line. Then there was a little bit more of an incline – and that was it, I was over the top. It turned out that the worst hill that I’ll face on 9/17 isn’t too bad.
There is a long downhill ride, though. The west side of the hill descends farther than one climbs on the east side. It gets a little steep at points, so I had to lay on the brakes a few times before I got to route 112 at the bottom. Once I did get there, I headed south on 112. Riding near the Westfield River. The road passes over the river at one point, as you can see here:
Just after that, I arrived at Huntington center, where I had lunch at a place called the River Cafe. Decent food, but not a place I’d go out of the way to visit.
I continued south, coming to US-20. Just before reaching 20, there’s a bridge on 112 the goes over railroad tracks and a smaller river (which I think is also a branch of the Westfield). Here’s the view along the bridge, looking south:
And the view to the east:
Route 20 runs alongside some hills, it seems.
Here is the little branch of the river, which joins with the main portion (the one I crossed earlier) just to the east:
I headed along 20 and was soon in the town of Russell. For a while, the road followed along the Westfield River, getting away from it as I headed through the town center. It went back near the river further east, with some stunning hills on the other side of the river (those hills and the river were on the north side of the road):
Eventually, the road passed beneath the high overpass of the Mass Pike, and then across the Westfield city line. The surroundings slowly got more urban as I headed into downtown. When I got there, I discovered that the common was being completely reconstructed:
From here I went south on Route 10 down into the town of Southwick (which I’d never entered before). I wanted to check out the Southwick bike trail, which I’d heard a lot about. I got onto the trail somewhat south of its starting point, and headed south from there. It’s a very nice trail, with smooth pavement and a lot of signage you don’t find on other area trails.
The trail in Southwick also connects with a longer trail in another state:
I only rode about 100 yards or so into CT, and then turned around, though not before taking a picture of the creek/marsh nearby:
Someday I would like to ride that trail, which I believe goes continuously down to Farmington (a suburb of Hartford). For now though, I went back into MA:
On the way back north, I stopped to take pictures of a trail underpass which had been decorated with aquatic murals:
I rode the trail all the way to its northern end, which turns out to be a point in the woods where you hit the Westfield line, and the pavement abruptly ends, leaving one to ride on dirt trail for another quarter mile or so, until reaching a road. From there, I headed back to route 10, which took me back downtown and to route 20. I took 20 east again, crossing the Westfield River again, and then turning north on E. Mountain Rd., which took my up a hill past the small Western Mass Hospital, then under the Mass Pike and into the western end of the city of Holyoke. I kept heading north into Easthampton, where I picked up the Manhan rail trail. I followed the new extension (opened earlier this year) of that trail up into Northampton, and then took the trusty Norwottuck home.
My total time out was 9 hours, and the total distance: 84 miles!
2 weeks ago I went for my next training ride (I had a few weekends where I didn’t ride, because we were on vacation – pictures from that to come). This time I planned a route around the Quabbin reservoir.
I started out the same way I had a month previously – by riding east to downtown Ware. This time, I stopped to take a picture of the town’s welcome sign, with its claim to fame, of sorts:
Click here to see where that name comes from.
They must have known I was coming, because they built a cake:
The town is apparently celebrating its birthday:
I stopped here for a bit of a break, next to a tiny park:
The plaque that went with this little patch of green:
After my break, I headed north out of town on a minor road that ran not far from the Quabbin, though it was low enough that it didn’t offer any views of the water.
Soon after leaving downtown, I did see this sign:
Apparently Ware is the town of weird quotations on signs.
While I couldn’t see much scenery to the west, where the reservoir was located, I did see some nice views of a ridge to the east:
On this road, I passed into the town of Hardwick, and soon, I saw a frog sitting in the middle of the road:
I’m sure it was enjoying the sun there, but I was worried about the traffic (although there wasn’t a whole lot of that). I did see one car go by that passed harmlessly over the frog. Hopefully it continued to be that lucky until it decided to leave the road.
The road soon started to descend a ways, becoming almost completely wooded, and then turned east. There were an entrance or two to the Quabbin reservation at that point, and the road started to climb toward Hardwick center. It climbed for a ways – more than a mile, certainly, and then a horse farm provided some more open views:
I think I could almost see the water from there, but not quite.
Soon I cut over on a side street to state highway 32, missing Hardwick center so I could head north sooner on 32. I came upon a couple of houses through whose yards I could actually see the water:
The road climbed a bit more, but then went downhill as I crossed the Petersham town line. At that point, the road surface became a good deal worse, and there were hardly any lines painted on it to speak of. I was surprised to find a numbered highway looking like that, but that section of road turns out to be pretty low traffic compared to the section in Hardwick, so maybe it makes sense.
In one house’s yard I saw a couple of wild turkeys near the road. However, by the time I’d gotten out my camera, they had retreated a bunch:
I eventually got to Petersham center, and tried stopping at the one restaurant in town. It turns out that the place closes at 2:00, which is exactly when I got there. I was hungry, though, so I ended up getting some convenience food at the general store in the town center (which apparently would be opening up a deli in another week or two).
After eating I headed west toward New Salem on route 122, and to skirt the northern end of the Quabbin. Before getting to the Quabbin itself, I passed the picturesque Harvard Pond:
A bit of a ways after that, I turned off the highway and went into the Quabbin reservation, I passed a boat launch, and then went onto a narrow road that only allowed bikes and pedestrians. There were a couple of little bridges over parts of the water – here’s the view in each direction from one of those bridges:
There was a semicircular edge that water was spilling over in that second photo – sort of a little dam. I noticed this little bird walking around on top of it:
Just after that, the road turned to dirt and gravel. Also, I came to realize that a few roads on the route that I’d planned were these little Quabbin dirt roads (they didn’t look like that on the map). As such, they were unmarked, and at one point I went the wrong way and had to turn back from a dead end. The road that actually went somewhere in that case looked like a less of a major path at its turnoff than the dead end one.
Here’s a picture of the road at one point:
Riding on these paths was worth it, though, because I still got some nice water views:
Soon after I took those shots, I had to climb a ways, and then I emerged through a gate onto a paved, but still very minor, town road in New Salem. A little more climbing brought me to US 202, where I would turn south (but not until after a stop at the New Salem general store for some more liquids).
At this point, my legs were tired of hill climbing, but I still had some to do, as route 202 goes up and down as you head south through the towns of Shutesbury and Pelham (they call them ‘hill towns’ for a reason). Just before leaving this highway, I got to a scenic overlook in Pelham which I’d driven by several times in the past. Here you can see the Quabbin from the west side:
From there I headed west (and downhill all the way) into Amherst, where I went through the Amherst College campus and picked up the Norwattuck trail, which I took back to Hadley. My total time for the trip was 8 hours, 15 minutes, and the length: 71 miles.
Watch this space for longer trips yet!
2 weeks after my adventure with flat tires, I made another attempt to bike to Shelburne Falls. This time I made it! I took a slightly different route through Northampton, allowing me to stay on the bike trail much longer, and avoid a little hill climbing that I’d done before. The route through Williamsburg was mostly the same, and I rode the same road through Whately into Conway. After passing Conway center (and the point where my tube had blown out the previous time), I was in territory I’d never been in before.
The road is pretty level for a while, even declining a little, but then there is a good-sized hill climb. It was at least a 2-rest-stop hill. After that climb, though, the road gently declines for quite a long distance. Eventually, I passed from Conway into the town of Buckland, and saw this view:
Among the wild (?) flowers in this field, I saw this lily:
I was thinking that, at some point, I would pass into the town of Shelburne Falls, but I discovered that that there is no town by that name. Before too long, I arrived in the Shelburne Falls historical district of Buckland. And on the other side of the Deerfield River was the Shelburne Falls district of the town of Shelburne.
I rode across the river on this bridge to check out the lay of the town (and to look for a bike rack):
I did find a rack by the public library, and having secured the bike, started walking around.
I walked back over the iron bridge and saw the Bridge of Flowers, one of the attractions I’d come to see:
I approached the bridge:
I took quite a few photos of the flowers on the bridge, however I don’t know what all of them are. A few of the plants seemed to be labeled with little signs, but most of them weren’t. Here are a whole bunch, in the order I encountered them:
There were a couple of trees on the bridge, including this one with big seed pods:
These are delphiniums (blue):
Balloon flowers! (which we grow ourselves, as well):
Now it’s flowers in 3-D:
These looked like tiny roses:
White balloon flowers:
Begonias, perhaps?
I thought these were really neat looking, and they had a sign:
They’re called crocosmia lucifer. Here’s a wider shot:
A poppy (which did not put me to sleep):
Lilies:
A more pastel shade of delphinium:
I think these are lilies, but the leaf structure is unfamiliar to me:
I don’t know what these are:
But the bees really liked them:
After I finished going across the bridge of flowers, I headed to the other main attraction in Shelburne Falls, the glacial potholes. Basically, they’re these interesting rock formations in a portion of the river (next to which a dam was built). Here’s the view down the river toward that area:
And here is the overview of the pothole area:
Followed by some close-ups:
The view upriver from the potholes:
There is an old mill building (apparently empty) next to the pothole viewing area (with a star o’mill):
As I headed away from the potholes, I saw this little zen garden in front of a yoga studio:
After seeing the sights, I had lunch at McCusker’s Market; I ate a lovely turkey and avocado sandwich with lots of veggies.
Following lunch, I headed west and a bit north out of town, and then picked up route 112 to head back south. It was a nice, easy ride until I hit the town of Ashfield, and then I began to climb, and climb. The hill seemed to go on forever, and required a number of rests (I was probably getting a bit tired at this point). I eventually got to route 116, and headed east (and downhill) toward Conway, heading south again before getting to Conway center.
The road I was on this time involved another climb, not as bad as the previous one, and then had lots of downhill riding toward Williamsburg. I passed through Williamsburg center, and headed southeast back through Northampton and toward home.
Including the nearly 2 hours I spent in Shelburne Falls, the trip took about 8.25 hours. My total riding distance was 68 miles, a new personal record for one trip.
After my failed attempt to ride to Shelburne Falls, I planned another training ride the following weekend. This time, I went for a bit more modest distance, because I went biking the evening before, and was a bit tired from that.
The evening ride was on Saturday, July 9, and involved riding from Hadley north to Sunderland, MA and back. It was a quick 22 miles.
The following morning, I set out for points east and south. I first rode east through Amherst and Belchertown to the town of Ware (“Where?” “That’s right.”). On the way, I passed near the southern part of the Quabbin Reservoir reservation, and rode right by a marshy area along state route 9. Saw a heron there (at a distance):
The road gets a little hilly as one gets closer to downtown Ware, and so I was feeling a little bit worn already when I got there. Here’s what the main street looks like:
In the distance is the spire of the Town Hall:
Here’s the whole building:
I’m always fascinated by how many town and city halls in New England seem to look like churches. Coincidence?
I left Ware heading south on route 32 toward Palmer, MA. This was a slightly hilly, and not always very interesting-looking ride, but I did find one nice view:
I could tell that the ride the evening before was still having an effect on me, as even minor hills were slowing me down a fair deal.
Before too long, though, I got to Palmer, passed south of the Mass Pike, and started heading back west on US 20. As I rode out of Palmer’s downtown, I passed this abandoned fast food place:
There were no signs indicating what it was, though the patterns on the awnings might give some clue. The only text seemed to be a “Welcome” sign over the side door, and this:
At that moment, I wasn’t hungry yet, having had a sizable breakfast. But it was nice to be asked, I suppose.
I passed briefly through the town of Monson after that, and then into Wilbraham. In the latter, the road started run along the Chicopee River:
That’s the view west (downriver), and here’s back east:
Soon after this, I turned onto a side road that took me across the river into Ludlow. There’s a dam just before that bridge:
I didn’t take any more pictures after that, as I didn’t see anything I really wanted to photograph. I rode through Ludlow, with a short break to eat some fruit I’d brought along, skirting the Pike on a parallel surface road.
This road took me into the city of Chicopee, where I ran into route 33, a heavily developed road. I headed north on 33 toward home, and though it isn’t a particularly pretty ride, it was direct and pretty flat. My legs were not liking inclines much at that point. I stopped at a convenience store to get some kind of drink with electrolytes, and fortunately I wasn’t feeling picky, because they had hardly anything on their shelves or in the coolers. I wasn’t sure if the place was closing, or getting ready to remodel, or what (and I neglected to ask).
Somewhat refreshed, I continued up into South Hadley, where I rode on route 116 for a while, and then picked up route 47, which took me back to Hadley. 47 has a few short but steep hills, and it took me a good bit more time to climb them than I was used to (this is the route I use when I ride my bike to work). I did make it home, though, having spent about 6 hours total on the ride. Miles ridden: 58. Still an improvement over my previous rides of the year, and a total of 80 miles for the weekend.
As I’ve done on two previous occasions, I’m doing a fundraising bike ride for charity. There are a couple of differences this time, though. Instead of the MS Society, I’m riding in an event being held for the first time by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. It’s a local organization that collects and distributes food to other area organizations that serve people in need of food.
The other difference is that, instead of going 50 miles, which is pretty easy for me now, I’m going to try and ride 100 miles – something I have not yet come even close to.
As with other rides, I’m looking for donations in any amount to benefit the Food Bank. My goal is to try and raise a total of $1000. If you want to give, you can visit my fundraising page at https://www.pledgereg.com/21078 and donate online, or contact me to send me payment in another form.
The ride takes place on September 17. I’m in the process of training now, and my next few posts will be about training rides I’ve already done.
Wish me luck!
Over the July 4th weekend I made an attempt at a longer bike ride, intending to ride to Shelburne Falls (where I had never been before). I made sure that I had plenty of air in my tires, and plenty of water, and set out mid-morning, riding first to Northampton.
I headed out into Florence, and then North through a rural part of Noho. While on a country road, I spotted this house with interesting wood/paint work:
Who knows who lives there.
Soon after that, I passed through part of the town of Williamsburg, and then into Whately. I passed by the Whately reservoir while climbing a good-sized hill:
and I saw just a few geese hanging out there:
I kept going, with more climbing to do on the same road after that hill. Before too long, I was in the town of Conway, where there is a nice, long downhill stretch that takes you into the town center. This was all part of a route that I had traveled on a couple of previous rides, but I started into unknown territory as I headed North away from the town center.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get very far. About a mile North of Conway center, I hit a bump and my front tire blew out. I suspect it was overinflated, as I had put air in the tires with an air compressor. I always carry a patch kit and tools with me, so I quickly removed the tire and found that there was a nearly 2-inch gash in the tube. I set to work patching it (using 2 patches in the process).
The patch seemed like it had worked, but I pumped up the tube to test it, and it started to leak out the side of one of the patches. So, I slapped another patch on that. Again I tested the tube with air, and after holding for a few seconds, it leaked again. I tried with a fourth patch, but could not get the thing to hold air. At this point, I had spent nearly an hour working on the tube, and knew I wouldn’t have time to go to Shelburne Falls. I walked the bike back into Conway to see if I could find some place to get a new tube.
I had lunch at a general store and luncheonette in town, and asked where there might be a bike shop. It turned out that the nearest one was several miles away in Sunderland. Too far for me to walk. I tried searching on bike shops on my phone in case there might be a closer one, and discovered a bike touring company that was located not too far away. I called their number to ask if they would sell me a tube. As it happened, they had a tour group who would be riding right past my location in a little bit, and they could give me a tube at no charge.
So I waited a while (it ended up being another hour), and the group did ride by and stop. The tubes they had were for standard road bike tires, rather than the somewhat wider ones my hybrid bike uses, but I made a go of it. With enough inflation, the tire seemed good to go, and I started riding back toward home. However, when I was back in Whately, just a little way past the reservoir, the front tire went flat again. I tried putting in air, but it would leak out right away. At that point, I needed to get home, so did not have time to try patching the temp tube. So I gave up on the ride, and called home to get a car ride.
The next day I went to a bike shop and bought 2 tubes, so that I could have a spare one to carry, and also got a new tire, as the old one had some of the metal bead exposed (which could have pinched or scraped the previous tubes, contributing to the leaks). I planned to take another crack at this trip later. In the meantime, I had ridden a mere 29 miles (and walked 2 miles or so).
The first weekend in June I went on a bike trip up to Turner’s Falls and Greenfield. I headed up through Amherst, Leverett, and past Montague Center to get to Turner’s Falls (where I had been on a previous ride), and once I got there, I rode the full length of the bike path that follows the Connecticut River. That path runs for a while along a canal, but then the canal rejoins the river to the West of downtown. While next to the river proper, I saw several ducks sitting on logs in the water, and I also saw this bird:
Which, from some Google searching, appears to be a cormorant.
The path eventually leaves the river for a bit, then crosses it, as the river turns South. The path ends soon after, in the Northern part of Deerfield. From there, I rode across the Deerfield River into Greenfield, and went downtown to The People’s Pint for lunch. I had never been there before, but had recently heard about the sodas that they brew themselves. I tried both the root beer and the ginger ale, and while the former was good, the latter was amazing! It’s fairly gingery, but also has a citrus base to it. Highly recommended. Unfortunately, while the brewery bottles a number of its beers for sale in area stores, the sodas are only available there at the pub.
Once I left there, I headed home by a different route than I’d taken on the way up. I rode down through Deerfield, Whately, and Hatfield into Northampton, and then back across the Connecticut to Hadley. This ride was part of an effort to extend the distance I can ride – the total length was about 53 miles. More on my riding plans for this year in an upcoming post.
A few weeks ago I biked up to Greenfield, MA to check out the Brick and Mortar Video Art Festival. It was a one-day presentation of many video installations at 5 different buildings in town, all 5 of which were in at least partial need of renovation. I had not heard of the festival before, but this seems to have been its second year.
It started in the mid-afternoon and ran through late evening. I headed out close to 1:00 and got to Greenfield around 2:45, passing through Sunderland and Deerfield on the way. In Deerfield, I passed right by the Mt. Sugarloaf reservation, and took some pics of the side of the peaks (with some Fall colors):
Once I arrived, I looked for some lunch before going to any of the exhibit spaces. I ended up eating at the cafe in Greenfield’s Market, which is the natural food co-op there.
From there, the first building I went to was the Pushkin gallery, which is in an old bank building:
There were videos showing in a few spots in the building, including in the old vault:
The second building I went to was also an old bank:
Inside its cavernous space was the largest video projection of the whole show:
That image was at least one story tall.
It was an interesting way to see videos, in spaces that were partially restored, or full of bare studs, or just dilapidated. Some were projected on walls, some showed on small lcd monitors, and a few were on good old honking CRT monitors on A/V carts. The quality varied, and I think I found about half of the videos interesting in some way. They were all fairly short, so if I missed the beginning, I could just wait until it repeated. One that I found fairly captivating was also one of the simplest – it was just a real-time, extreme closeup, single take of a snail crossing a space of 6 inches or so. Of course, it helps that I like snails.
Once I’d seen everything, it was starting to get dark, so I set out for home. I had lights with me, so I was prepared for the darkness. Unfortunately, I had somehow thought I’d be leaving sooner, so I hadn’t dressed as warmly as I should have – just 2 not-very-thick layers on top, only 1 layer on my legs (with shorts underneath), no hat under my helmet, and no gloves. It got quite cold as I rode back (down to the upper 40′s, if not lower). I took a slightly different route back, crossing the Connecticut River and heading South through the towns of Montague, Leverett, and Amherst. It took about 2 hours in that direction, but though it was cold, I still mostly enjoyed the stillness of the night, and the excellent view of the stars.
It’s good I wasn’t out much longer, though. By the time I arrived home, it was cold enough that my hands were getting numb. The total distance I covered was more than in the organized ride I did the previous weekend – about 47 miles.
A month ago, I did an organized bike ride that started out nearby in Northampton. It was a fundraiser for the youth cycling programs of the Northampton Cycling Club. Unlike the MS rides I’ve done, the riders weren’t expected to raise donations – the funds were simply from registration fees.
I did a 40-mile ride. I’m sure I could have done more, but the next level up was 65 miles, and I didn’t have enough time to train for that. It was a neat ride, though, as I went through some towns I’ve been in before, but on unfamiliar roads.
The ride first went Northwest into the town of Williamsburg, and then headed North into Whately. I went through Whately center, passing its quaint library, and then found some nice views just North of that, such as this:
Eventually the route took me into Deerfield, where I passed by Warm Colors Apiary (we’ve bought their honey in local stores).
I crossed state hwy 116 and soon was looking for the one rest stop on my route, where I could have a snack and refill my water bottles. The route cue sheet (which listed all the turns and mileage) said the stop would be in front of a small cemetery. I passed said cemetery, but there was no rest stop set up. I eventually found it another mile or so up the road, near some farm fields. Apparently, the ride organizers had chosen the cemetery site and set up there without checking whether it was legal. Turns out they needed a permit to do that – some neighbors complained, and the police came by and told them they couldn’t be there. Hence, they moved.
The rest stop was on a loop at the Northern end of the route, and the beginning and end of that loop both crossed a bridge over the Deerfield river. Here’s the view from each side of the bridge:
After that, the ride went on a dirt road for a while, and then started up a long climb. That climb was the one really grueling part of the ride, though fortunately it wasn’t dirt for very long – most of it was paved.
After coming down that hill, the ride headed into the town of Conway (which I’d never been in before). We passed Conway center, where a big festival was going on (it’s apparently an annual event in the town). This made the ride slightly more challenging, as tons of cars were parked along the side of the roads near the town center.
Once past that, the route went South, climbing again, and leading to this view of the hills to the West:
Before too long, the road entered Whately again, and eventually joined up with the first road we’d taken through there, which went back through Williamsburg into Northampton. My total ride time for the 40 miles was just short of 4 hours.
« Previous Entries Next Entries »