You'd expect to see some nice foliage color this time of year and I did. On top of that, it was a sunny day, with clear blue skies. There were so many colorful vistas during the day, that I gave up trying to photograph them all. Viewing them with your own eyes is so much better than a photo. But I didn't take into account my new camera, a Nikon Coolpix with a cool 12 megapixels. The pictures came out so much better, that I was disappointed I hadn't taken more!
Today's ride had its share of rough going-but no stoppers! No downed trees blocking the route. No roads existing only on the map. No washed out bridges. Maybe a first for the Pure Water Ride. The worst obstacles were giant mudholes left by recent rains. Some were only crossed by getting off and pushing-a messy business at best. Slippery, hidden ruts and ridges, making your chances of staying dry as likely as a contestant on a "Wipe-Out" reality show obstacle course. The bike and I got home looking like we played mud football all afternoon.
The first half of the day's ride was familiar, enjoyable roads. Up and over the Braintree mountains and then back up and over the Northfield mountains, along with miles of really way back roads in Brookfield made for an challenging ride. But once safely in Northfield, the second and completely new half began after a very short lunch break at a gas station where a school bus driver tried to get me interested in his old motorcycle. What he didn't know was that I have a cellar full of old motorcycles and a wallet as thin as the chicken noodle soup at 12:30 at the cafeteria at work.
The next 25 miles were all new to me. The map was the only place I had seen any of them before, so what to expect? Usually, with a section of new road this long, there will be some that work out great, and some that end in swamps, or washed out bridges, or just disappear into the woods...Today they all worked out. Even one that came as so much of a surprise that I almost missed it. I was on a dirt road looking for a woods road on the left. At the right mileage, I came upon-not at woods road-but a parking lot that was full of cars. I almost rode by thinking that the woods road was now a popular hiking trail-not that uncommon. But I decided to pull into the parking lot, at least I could check the map for a way around.I shut the bike off and walked over to read some of the posted signs. One caught my eye-"Trails closed to all wheeled vehicles.." No surprise there, I thought and almost missed the rest.."from Nov 1 to May 15".
I read it again just to be sure, then hopped back on the bike, kicked it to life and headed up the trail. It was Oct. 13th. After a short distance, the popular hiking trail took a left up Irish Hill and the old woods road, much less traveled, continued straight. I didn't know which way to go at the time, but fortunately there were two hikers right there that very pleasantly told me they were pretty sure that straight ahead was where I wanted to go. They were right, it turned out, and what a nice trail-winding up, over, and down to Dog River valley. Between the pleasant surprise about the trail being open, the friendly attitude of the hikers, and the fine old woods road that was just primitive enough to be fun without being arduous, the brilliant fall weather and glorious color, it was serendipity at its best.
To be continued...
Today's ride had its share of rough going-but no stoppers! No downed trees blocking the route. No roads existing only on the map. No washed out bridges. Maybe a first for the Pure Water Ride. The worst obstacles were giant mudholes left by recent rains. Some were only crossed by getting off and pushing-a messy business at best. Slippery, hidden ruts and ridges, making your chances of staying dry as likely as a contestant on a "Wipe-Out" reality show obstacle course. The bike and I got home looking like we played mud football all afternoon.
The first half of the day's ride was familiar, enjoyable roads. Up and over the Braintree mountains and then back up and over the Northfield mountains, along with miles of really way back roads in Brookfield made for an challenging ride. But once safely in Northfield, the second and completely new half began after a very short lunch break at a gas station where a school bus driver tried to get me interested in his old motorcycle. What he didn't know was that I have a cellar full of old motorcycles and a wallet as thin as the chicken noodle soup at 12:30 at the cafeteria at work.
The next 25 miles were all new to me. The map was the only place I had seen any of them before, so what to expect? Usually, with a section of new road this long, there will be some that work out great, and some that end in swamps, or washed out bridges, or just disappear into the woods...Today they all worked out. Even one that came as so much of a surprise that I almost missed it. I was on a dirt road looking for a woods road on the left. At the right mileage, I came upon-not at woods road-but a parking lot that was full of cars. I almost rode by thinking that the woods road was now a popular hiking trail-not that uncommon. But I decided to pull into the parking lot, at least I could check the map for a way around.I shut the bike off and walked over to read some of the posted signs. One caught my eye-"Trails closed to all wheeled vehicles.." No surprise there, I thought and almost missed the rest.."from Nov 1 to May 15".
I read it again just to be sure, then hopped back on the bike, kicked it to life and headed up the trail. It was Oct. 13th. After a short distance, the popular hiking trail took a left up Irish Hill and the old woods road, much less traveled, continued straight. I didn't know which way to go at the time, but fortunately there were two hikers right there that very pleasantly told me they were pretty sure that straight ahead was where I wanted to go. They were right, it turned out, and what a nice trail-winding up, over, and down to Dog River valley. Between the pleasant surprise about the trail being open, the friendly attitude of the hikers, and the fine old woods road that was just primitive enough to be fun without being arduous, the brilliant fall weather and glorious color, it was serendipity at its best.
To be continued...
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