Friday, July 29, 2011

Climate change!

We've been having some turbulent weather lately, but when a late July ride in CT includes building a snowman, that's just getting too ridiculous. Ok, ok, it did happen, but that isn't the whole story; Wednesday, Damian and I wandered around E. Hartford and S. Windsor looking for places to aim. In those not-quite-aimless ramblings, we wound up behind the S. Windsor area, where they apparently empty the Zamboni every now and again. Reminds me of Mount Lemmon in Tucson where, on a 60 degree day in the valley, one can see cars driving down from elevation with snowmen on the hood. What fun!


But expanding on our aimful search, Damian and I found an array of trails along the CT river heading south from Vibert Rd. in S. Windsor. A decade or so ago, I had tried to reach the river by a road further north, but after being stymied by private fencing, I'd given up the search. So, it was with surprise and joy that we were able to continue down along the river well south of the Bissell Bridge. Again, what fun!

On to Thursday, and a lengthy ride with my Pa to parts of CT north, namely Somers and Stafford, and even a touch into Massachusetts. I've meandered through these areas before, but this time, the nose led us onto countless dirt and woods roads. I'd guess from Manchester to the state line we covered about 10 miles or less on pavement. I smell another Detour (de MA-CT?) route in the offing.
The view from atop the Soapstone observation deck was superb,
although violent crimes seem on the rise.


5 comments:

Damian said...

That was a fun ride.

The coolest part for me was when you threw the snowman up towards the clear, blue sky and his cold surprise landed directly on the tippy-top of my sweltering dome.

The hottest part was the refugee corn which was cooked and ate even before my very muddy pants had finished their round in the wash.

Brendan said...

So, that's where those dirt bike trails go?

Damian said...

Do you remember the trail along the Podunk where Dario tossed his bike out of a ravine and then scrambled up over the top (somehow without getting any dirt on his clothes) during last year's Eel? Right there, at the end of that trail, we took a right towards main st. If we had, instead, taken a left and then a right and then some more lefts and rights we would have entered the newfound trails. But you probably already realized that, and I was just reminiscing.

Anonymous said...

The in the Barrel3-speed geatures a simple-minded color scheme with a complex geometric frame design to form the utopia of cruisers Comfort Bikes.
cruiser bikes

Mark said...

Hey Salem, what were you doing in Tucson?