Over the long Independence Day weekend, I went for a bike ride into the towns of Shutesbury and Leverett (both hill towns to the North and East of Amherst).  I intended to visit 2 places, and maybe make it to one or two others. The first place I wanted to go was Baconville.  What is … Read more

Back in Mid-May, during Bike Week, I took part in a fundraising bike ride for the Hotel Bridge, a little landmark in the Leeds section of Northampton.  This didn’t involve me raising any money – riders just payed a registration fee and the proceeds from that went toward an engineering/restoration study of the bridge. I … Read more

On October 4, a couple of ribbon-cutting events were held (along with some other festivities) to mark the completion of new sections of bike trail in Northampton.  I was there, and my report follows. The first ceremony was held at the bike bridge over Main St. downtown.  It drew a pretty good-sized crowd: It was … Read more

Well, as you know if you were reading my last few posts, I had a fun and successful ride in the Berkshires yesterday.  It was pointed out to me that my live posts from the ride seemed to have the wrong times on them.  Sure enough, I checked the time zone setting on my blog … Read more

Woo hoo! I’m at the finish. Got here at about 1:53. That’s at least an hour shorter than last time. Bring in better shape and more practiced at riding definitely made a difference, as did, to a lesser degree, riding a hybrid bike rather than a mountain bike. Coming in to the finish is fun, … Read more

I’m back in West Stockbridge. The route North through here doesn’t have a rest stop, but I pulled over anyway (there was a lot of hill climbing after the last stop). Some river pix are below (I think it’s the Housatonic). Got about 10 miles to go.

I’m at the second rest stop now, close to 32 miles into the ride. This is going a bit quicker than I thought it would, as I got here before noon. It’s certainly a lot quicker than last time (and at that time I missed this stop). Below are pix of sights from the second … Read more

Well, I’m at the first rest stop, about one third of the way done. It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to get here, which included a 5-minute stop to rest and take pics. Below are pictures of the start of the race, a mountain view along route 41 in Richmond, and the rest … Read more

I’m at Bousquet ski area, the starting and ending point for the MS ride. They have free wi-fi here, so I have a pretty fast connection. Those of us riding 50 miles begin in abot 25 minutes. Just having a bit of food before I get ready to set out. It’s a bit chilly – … Read more

This past Saturday I went for my final training ride.  I set out for the City of Westfield, which I’ve never been in, except for traveling through it on the Mass Pike. I started out heading over the river into Northampton, and then went South on route 5 so I could pick up the Manhan … Read more