Kate and I got out for a small bike and transit tour of Connecticut this past weekend. If you're a visual learner or appreciate big photos of nice places, click here for images from the trip: Connecticut Outdoors photos.
We couldn't have picked a better weekend for it, with perfect summery weather. Thanks to CT Transit's Express bus service, set up to bring people into and out of the city from far flung towns and suburbs, one can get to rural places in CT pretty quickly. We took the express bus to Colchester, CT (bikes rack on the front of the bus) and biked about 8 miles to Devil's Hopyard State Park for the night. The ride on the main road through Devil's Hopyard is gorgeous, and they literally just paved the road, so its quite nice right now. Tearing ourselves away from the siren song of a rummage sale in Lyme, we made it to Old Saybrook in time to catch the Shoreline East train to Branford. Feeling like I was back in Palo Alto, we biked to G-zen for lunch, the veg spot that often has their food truck at Billings Forge in the summer. From there we did some of the most beautiful and fun riding we've done in CT. Riding along the sound in East Haven was a treat for people who miss riding along the ocean. We poked around on the shoreline trail that is in the process of being built between Hammonasset and Lighthouse Point Park, looking for shortcuts and condo klunks. On Sunday we biked home from our friends' house in Eastshore to Hartford, about a 50 mile ride that was our only big day for the weekend. We'll do this exact same trip again, in a heartbeat. For more pics, see Connecticut Outdoors photos.
-Justin
2 comments:
Just found your blog and will put it on my "to check" list...great stuff...
I came here from a large (very large) southern city where I commenced my habit of bicycle commuting. The house chosen upon my move here was specifically to make it possible to continue that habit. I'm originally from another midwestern state in which bicycle commuting (at least at the time I left) would be a promised death ride. Without doubt, CT has been the most bicycle-aware place I've lived, and I've found it to be no problem to commute by bicycle any time I wish (which is basically every day that the right berm/right road edge is not covered with ice and snow). There are some jerk drivers as you note, and the prevalence of MA plates does seem to be higher. Also to fear are black BMWs, Land Rovers, and one particular Audi A8 (MD4811) who damned near rode me into an oncoming Ford Exploder one early morning. But by and large I think most drivers here divert their attention from the important cellphone tasks at hand for just long enough to take notice of two-wheeled conveyances, maybe it's the relatively slow speeds permitted by the roads and relatively dense population.
...A Retrocrank
That's super cool---- We hear so much of "I can't" this is a great example of I can.. You are also ludicriously good at packing panniers with a tent amongst your gear!
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