Monmouth, ME - July 31, 2014 - 8 miles

    Short ride today around favorite routes.  Stopped by a new kiosk put up by a local conservation group, but was dismayed to learn that mountain bikes were prohibited from using their trails.  Why do so many conservation groups ban mountain bikes?  It seems they should welcome human powered, green means of transport.  Isn't it less green to drive to a conservation area and walk around, than to bike to the same area and bike around? 

Bowdoin and Sabattus, ME - July 29, 2014 - 20 miles

    A beautiful ride on a beautiful day.  Mostly on an ATV trail in Bowdoin and Sabbattus. 
Exploring this year much further south than ever before, I kept pushing further and further until I knew that I was going to exhaust myself getting back.  Finally arriving at a paved road, I rode a half mile down to the next intersection.  Try as I might, there was no locating the intersection on my map, a page from DeLormes Atlas of Maine.  Ordinarily an invaluable resource, it turned out to be practically useless today. 


    Not wanting to risk extending my ride even further with a wrong turn, I doubled back and re-traced my route northward through the woods, until I came to another paved road, which I was also unable to locate on the DeLormes.  This time, I was reasonable sure, by the position of the sun, that the paved road was heading north, the direction I wanted to go and that it would be much faster than continuing to re-trace the ATV trail.


    This turned out to be a rare good decision-an almost straight, level, mostly paved road leading back to my starting point at the Litchfield fair grounds.


    When I got home, I signed onto Google maps, hoping to learn where I had been.  Google had the road names right and I was able to identify where I had been.  Had the road names been changed since the atlas was printed?  Why would a town re-name roads? 

Pure Water Ride 2014 Begins!

The Pure Water Ride is starting soon.  This year we have an exciting new way for you to support improved health through pure water.  Your choice of donation level and what maximum donation you would like to contribute.  We will be biking up three mountains during the summer and fall of 2014. 

Blue Hill in Canton, MA is the highest peak in Eastern Mass, rising to a height of 635 feet.  Massachusetts gets its name from the Indians who lived in the area around blue hills whose name means 'people of the great hills'.  We are asking for a donation of $5.00 for each time we ride up the access road to the top, up to the maximum number of times you chose to support.


Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, MA is the highest peak in central Massachusetts at 2006 feet.  We are asking for a donation of  $20.00 for every time we ride to the top, up to the maximum number of times you pledge to support.


Mt. Greylock in Adams, MA is the highest peak in Massachusetts.  At 3491 feet, the summit offers dramatic views of the beautiful Berkshires.  We are asking for a donation of $40.00, the cost of one water filter for a single household, if we manage to ride to the top.  Due to the distance and the arduous climb, we plan only one ascent this year. 


Follow our progress-check this blog throughout the season.  Like to get some exercise, see some fantastic scenery, and have some fun?  Then bring your bike and join us for one of these rides.  Contact me at purewaterride@msn.com and we will try to find a date and time that will work.  All riders must make a contribution.  After all, the purpose of the pure water ride is to help provide pure, clean, healthy water to those who often have to drink dirty, contaminated, unhealthy water.

Borderland - 12 miles

A perfect weather day-sunny, clear skies, no humidity, and just enough nip in the air to make you want to keep moving.  Gordon and I did some local trails in Borderland, where the trees were starting to color and the crisp air seemed to make everything surreally bright.  I pushed myself hard just to show off a little and was pleasantly surprised to see that a summer of riding has paid off in better power and stamina.  If a couch potato like me can do it so can you.   Next year there will be opportunity for you to join me on the pure water ride.  See you next year!  

Wahh_ahh_ahh - Wachusett! - 15 miles



A trip to Mount Wachusett turned out to be a showcase for alternative energy.  The sun-bathing windmills below totally dominated (and nearly ruined) the view from this overlook half way up.  And no, they weren't turning.  I'm sorry, wind power is not the answer!  (see excerpt below)

(...this letter written by Princeton Municipal Light Department's (PMLD) General Manager, Brian Allen, offers a candid assessment of the utility's two-turbine (3.0 MW) project. The turbines have failed to live up to expected production levels and has been plagued with technical problems. Rather than reducing rates for customers, the project lost $1.875 million and will continue to lose $600,000 yearly under current circumstances...)

 

On the drive up here, I passed by a solar farm off Route 70 in Lancaster, MA and hardly even noticed it although it is located right next to the road.  The solar farm produces 550 kilowatts, which is just about what all the municipal buildings in the town consumes.

 

 





Windmills Suning Themselves

Sunlight is everywhere, not just on high isolated ridges, where windmills are located.  Not every day is windy, but every day has at least some sunlight.

Oh, Yeah Solar is Everywhere!

 

"Rising above the surrounding forest to a height of 2006 feet, Mount Wachusett stands as a unique landmark within the central New England landscape. From the summit, a clear day reveals views of Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire, the Berkshires to the west, and the Boston skyline to the east.".

(from the mass.gov/dcr wachusett mt website)

Mr. Retro made it non-stop to the top.  Up the car road, then later a second ascent on a combination of unpaved and paved roads. 

On top of Wachusett

Barely visible due to my photography skills - a group of 5 or 6 birdwatchers were spotting broad winged hawks.  Good thing for the hawks the windmills weren't turning today.

The Mass Audubon site states "Wachusett Mountain has been documented as one of the premier hawk migration and observation sites in the Northeast."
 

Boston Skyline from Wachusett

Blue Hill - Sept 21, 2013 - 2 miles

Weather Station atop Blue Hill

Great Blue Hill in Milton, MA rises about 400 vertical feet above the surrounding countryside.  It's the highest point in the area.  An access road about a mile long reaches from Route 38 at the base to the weather station at the top. 

This morning I got up, grabbed my bike, tossed it into the back of the truck, and headed over to Blue Hill.  No breakfast-not even a sip of coffee.  I'd been planning this ride for some time, but somehow it never worked out-until today.  Yet I couldn't take long with a full day planned ahead. 

I was half-way to the top before I woke up.  Glancing over the ski slopes to civilization far below suddenly made me aware of the height I had been gaining.  Until then it was all through the woods which pretty much restricted the view to the surrounding trees.  It wasn't a clear day in general, so the view from the top was obscured by clouds and fog, but what a great feeling to ride non-stop to the top!

Monhegan, ME - 0 miles

We took a day trip to Monhegan.  Nice ferry ride through the heart of Maine's lobster country?

How's your balance?

 

Seal Harbor

 

Picture Perfect

 

Where's the Lighthouse?

 

Outward Bound had a boat or two here.