A ride gone... better.

Considering that the Scruffy Peloton has effectively been on hiatus for the past several weeks I took my day off Monday as the opportunity for a long solo ride in which I would re-attempt the route into Barkhamsted that several weeks ago went so horribly awry. While the ride went much more according to plan I could, of course, count on Google to throw me several curves to keep me on my directional toeclips. Along the way I saw one of my all-time favorite volleyball courts...

and got to ride some of the meanest hills Ive found in CT thusfar.

Check it out, Click "READ MORE" for the pretty pictures...

So I headed over Simsbury Mountain following the same route I mentioned in my previous post, turned North onto Route 10, and West onto Stratton Brook Rd. Moving much faster and more confidently than before I quickly came upon the intersection that had thrown my last attempt into its spiraling decline.



It was at this intersection, technically the junction of Stratton Brook and Route 309, but known to Simsbarians as the joining of Stratton Brook, Westledge Rd, Old Farms Road, and Farms Village Road, not confusing for an out-of-towner, that so much went wrong last time. Better prepared with BOTH route and road names I nonchalantly turned onto Westledge and made my way past meadows, farms, and farm stands. I caught this sign out of the corner of my eye and my adoration of hops obliged me to snap a picture.


There were, to my dismay, no hops in said brook.

There was, however, clean cold water which was quite refreshing on this, a very hot day. This willow and its shade also seemed to be calling out for a hammock and a good book.


The picturesque scenery continued as I rode down Westledge, which subsequently turned into North Canton Rd. and then West Simsbury Rd. At the end of the latter, however I passed a sign which made me laugh and shake my head...

Apparently once you leave Simsbury and get into Canton the use of route signage once again becomes acceptable.

I turned North onto 179, passed this gorgeous horse farm...

... and headed up a mean hill, 2.0 miles long with a max grade of 9.0%. As me and my burning legs crested the hill I came across some road art that perfectly mirrored my sentiment.


Cresting the hill I enjoyed the fruits of my efforts and cruised down the backside of the hill and turned onto 219 (where I again came across a sign that would have been helpful on my first attempt).


This section of the ride turned out to be the most scenic and for a moment of two I thought I had ridden all the way up to NH or VT. If anyone is feeling up for it take a ride out this way and check it out, you wont regret it as you can see.






Riding further I even came across a very nice iron bridge!


Thusfar my ride had gone largely without a hitch, however this was where I turned onto the Farmington River "Turnpike". I started out down a side road which I (foolishly) remarked as being one of the nicest "turnpikes" I had ever seen. I twisted and turned along the road through the woods until the pavement abruptly ended!


The next couple miles were spent managing bumps and avoiding rocks along the gravel access road. On the plus side this little detour offered me a great view of the river and I got to move along in the shade.


When I reached Route 44 I turned North as planned but coming across the road I had intended on taking noticed that it looked to offer little more infrastructure than my last path! I decided to turn around and head back into Canton via 44. I crossed the river over the gorge and caught glimpse of a fly fisherman and several tubers enjoying the river...


I hopped off Rt 44 and cut over on Rt 202 and rode down Powder Hill road again crossing a scenic small iron bridge over the river.


From here I headed back through Collinsville, back over the mountain via the now seemingly smaller hill over Mountain Spring Rd and back down Route 4, pleasantly pleased that I had completed my intended ride without getting dreadfully lost and all less than an hour's ride from the city.

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Bring Your Rubbers alleycat roundup

Holy Shit that 1st band was loud! The hood was scared!

The alleycat popped off very well indeed. The police only came twice and the fire department once...not too shabby. We had three super loud bands and a super unloud stereo for the afterparty as well as a keg and other libations. Many thanks to Krash, El Presidente de China, all the bands (Fruit Punch, Dirty South Revolution and Own Life), the peeps who held down the checkpoints and all the racers. And the sponsors! Manhattan Portage, for the 1st prize messenger bag, Play in Traffic Productions, for the Monster Track DVDs, 5-Boro Generals, for the t-shirts, and CCBA for the stainless steel, non-carcinogenic water bottles and Brendan for the whiskey.


TJ proudly wearing his medal of fastness. He shoulda paid attention and worn some rubbers as he found himself thigh deep in the flooded Connecticut River carrying his bike to the bonus checkpoint. That’s core dude!


manifests and maps

Here’s the list full of misspellings:
1 TJ (dreads)
2 Shanesaw
3 Valdez
4 Sean
5 Aaron
6 Jeremy
7 Tony C
8 Mourad
9 TJ (no dreads)
10 Steve
11 Rich's eyeglass case
12 Robin
11, 12 or 12,11. Who knows!?!?
Opton missed a checkpoint and got a flat, but won a 40 for the breakdown
Rick and AmyZ never left my checkpoint!
Two others?…Orion and Matt didn’t finish? Got swept away? Traded to the Mets?

the checkpoints:
pope park pond, keney park pond, elizabeth park pond, lincoln's horse EH riverfront, park river @ asylum and woodland, constitution plaza fountain, chillwill's backyard, and prove you went to wendy's on airport road. bonus spot: hock river ped bridge in EH


The band, the crowd, the keg, a MP lanyard...i dunno, its freakin dark!

there's prolly another dozen photos after the jump.
click on "read more" fool!


pay up!


robin and jeremy enjoying the park


lauren and that dude whose name i got wrong at the park...help!?


15 minutes til "GO!"


Tony C, an army of one.


where's that sculpture of Lincoln's Horse!?!


that's right suckas, you gotta climb two sets of sketchy fire escape stairs to get yer shit signed.


jeremy and aaron navigating the Stairs of Death


this dude was flying down Cap Ave


steve trying not to eat metal steps


once they pulled out the buds...there was no leaving!


dirty south revolutionaries


steve, bianca, ozzy and more manhattan portage schwag


own life


tony makin' all the right moves


krash, chris, and that dude from the dirty dirty. he was mad cool.


i am not sure i improved much from the 40 i had the night before


ken demands the 'stache is back


bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles


el prez lookin' el serious


eva chulita and meeeyoo! i don't sleep anymore cuz of these chicas, but its all good. (be nice when you tell me how to spell yo name)


watching the van back out and in and out and in to get out was funny. i have a cargo van and feel thier pain in that parking lot.


wow! the pope park checkpoint and friends. eva, wizzzzzzy, laura, meeeyooo and leslie who also won the pullup competition!



rich is proud of his DFL prize, an acryllic block with a CT quarter that says, "you belong in connecticut."



el prez on his Xootr just seconds before bailing on going to the diner at 3am






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Courant feels same way about the bridge as I do

I hope the complete bridge looks like this.

There's an editorial today in the Courant about the Salmon Brook Bridge I keep talking about. As you can tell from the title of this post, the Courant and I share similar feelings about the bridge. I think it's pretty awesome that one will have the ability to ride over 40 miles without riding on a road. Think of the epic rides I can take with my mom and dad now! They have no excuse now.

Here's the complete editorial:

Happy Trails

July 15, 2008

The Salmon Brook Bridge looks like a go, and that's good news for hikers and bikers in the central part of the state.

The new bridge will replace a derelict 300-foot-long railroad trestle in East Granby. It will fill the last major gap in a 21.5-mile section of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. The new bridge will allow bikers and hikers to travel from Farmington through Avon, Simsbury, East Granby and part of Suffield to the Massachusetts line. Another seven-mile section is being paved in Southwick, Mass., so a trip of nearly 29 continuous miles will soon be possible.

With this section of trail completed, planners now look toward the completion of the entire 84-mile route from New Haven to Northhampton, Mass., along the path of an early 19th-century canal and a later railroad. Work in Westfield, Mass., will substantially complete the Bay State section; the major bottleneck in Connecticut is in Plainville, though advocates are hopeful some local routing problems can be resolved.

Completing the 21.5-mile section is a victory of persistence. The nonprofit Farmington Valley Trails Council, which has been working on the central part of the trail for 16 years, raised $70,000 to augment public funds to build the new Salmon Brook Bridge and spent years negotiating with the state Department of Transportation, which has been slow to embrace trails. With formal approval by East Granby officials, construction of the new bridge could begin as early as July 21.

The effort will be worth the trouble. The trail brings bicyclists through the centers of most of the towns, which means they can stop to shop or eat, or commute to work. The trail is immensely popular; it's not unusual to find cyclists from Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well as all parts of Connecticut.

The success of this trail should encourage local and state officials to finish other ones in the state. Trails are a source of exercise and fresh air. They can be used for bicycling vacations or short trips that otherwise would have been taken by car. They are much safer for children and adults than biking on the road. In short, they add greatly to the quality of life that is Connecticut's competitive selling point.

Copyright © 2008, The Hartford Courant

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Good bridge news

Great news for those of you who want to cross the Salmon Brook bridge! I just received this email from the Farmington Valley Trails Council:

Dear Trail Friend,

Thanks to the truly extraordinary efforts of many dedicated people, construction is scheduled to begin on the Salmon Brook bridge during the week of July 21! This is an event we have all looked forward to and feared we might not see.

During construction, the trail will be CLOSED between Floydville Road and Hartford Avenue. While Hartford Avenue will be used as the main access for the construction, there will occasionally be equipment on Floydville Road.

We STRENUOUSLY encourage you to resist the lure of curiosity and stay away from the construction site because of the safety risks. Police will be monitoring the area, especially on weekends, but we really need everyone's cooperation on this issue.

We're certain you will understand and please SPREAD THE WORD.

Thanks,
Farm[i]ngton Valley Trails Council

So, there's the good news. But, don't hang out there because you'll get arrested. Also, be careful riding through Simsbury to get there, so as not to get injured by a poultry-based IED.


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"Heeeeey…..White People?!??" Critical Mass June 2008

The sweet, light rain really cooled things off a bit before blue skies began appearing along with the sun. Mother Nature appears to be down with the ride, good lookin’ out! The beat crew met up after work by the river to trade flyers, brews and bullshit a bit. We arrived at the Carousel to 20 people milling about; chillin’, meetin’, greetin’, hydratin’ and wrenchin’.


There was a floor pump courtesy of Dave and a few bikes were getting tubes swapped out and hubs debated. Rick! Another flat dude!?!?!? Super cool to see everyone helping each other out and sharing beta. Caresse's hands are blurry fast when she's working on a bike! Dang! Breck seems to be trying to pump with Jedi mind tricks whilst Dave handles the valves! Also super cool to see a banana seat! I really should have taken more photos, but this ride was just too much fun.

A few more riders arrived. Brendan returned from the portapotty. And then my dream came true… Critical Mass left for Keney Park! Woo-haa! There are a lot of lights between Bushnell Park and getting’ onto Main Street and we worked out the kinks of dealing with traffic lights. We quickly forked left on to Albany Avenue.


Yep, we took The Avenue!



Most everyone cheered and yelled as much as we cheered and yelled. One 'round the way dude looked up in honest bewilderment and a smile, “heeeeyyy…White People?!??!” We took a right onto Woodland and left on Greenfield. I corked the Woodland/Greenfield intersection and had a great conversation with a family in a mini-van, waiting at the green light for the bicycles to pass through safely as a group. I thanked them for waiting and keeping people safe and talked about the ride. I invited them to come next month and they seemed interested in coming! Right on! I saw them two more times with the pops giving us the thumbs up out the window. They were following us! I had a great time talking to drivers all along the ride and most were receptive, patient and super nice. The drivers of the North End were much friendlier than the drivers we encountered on last month's ride into West Hartford!


The ride through Keney Park was a mix of roads and car-free greenway. We saw the skyline of Hartford overlooking lush grass meadows, passed through dense forest and pedaled alongside a golf course. This is a great park. I always love spending time here on a road bike or exploring trails on mountain bikes. We didn't pass the pond and fountain though...this time.

We exited onto Rt. 159 and pedaled south on North Main, Windsor Street, left over the railroad tracks and crossed Weston Street; entering into the mess of traffic due to Pearl Jam and some jack-ass drivers. We got onto the riverfront via Riverside Park and continued south along the river to the Colt Building and Colt Park. Ahhh...riding along the river is always a good idea!


We passed the remains of the Virgin Mary Shrine and returned to Bushnell Park on Wethersfield Avenue.

more funny photos after the jump from the afterparty that happened afterwards, Read More!



After regrouping at the park the group split a few ways. We had already lost a few people needin’ to get to the concert and a few chilled in the park for a bit. A group stayed in the park and went to the Bushnell Park Café and another to Kenney’s (Red Rock Tavern) a few minutes away on Cap Ave. There’s some serious mileage of iron patio fence there, perfect for bike locks. The always-friendly Donnie keeps the show runnin’ smoothly and really makes sure everyone’s always got a smile on their face.


Check the reflection of the view of the skyline from our patio seats!


Check it. The rule of three people in a photo = weird shit continues!


I have absolutely no idea what the hell I am doing. Hi Joey Barber! I owe you a bell!


Brendan is a triceritops! And i just realized i never spelllchecked this before posting.

We really stepped things up on this ride as far as corking and Joel enjoyed sweeping and ensuring no one was left behind. Many others stepped up too! Thanks to everyone for making it such a great ride.


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