29-29-20 on the Colchester Spur of the Air Line Trail

After driving all the way up to Willimantic from Niantic via Colchester looking for Friendlys to have dinner, because that was promised to the boys in order to go trail-a-biking we headed back down Rt 66 to Rt 85 where we picked up the Colchester Spur of the Airline Trail.  First ride on the Dillinger since the conversion to gears but it wasn't going to be true test, afterall this is just a rail trail.

It was a good ride with the usual brotherly infighting and tom foolery.  We did go through a wet stretch in which Brodie got a lot of mud in the face due to no fender up front and Elliot got a nice skunk strip up his back.

Of course, getting them to pose for a picture is always a challenge.

Still, any ride with the boys is fun, even in the trail is a carpenter's dream!

Tandem Trail-a-biking on the Farmington Canal Greenway

As you can imagine for a beautiful spring weekend day, riding on the Farmington Canal Greenway is always a treat.  Got the wheel back for the Qball on Friday and put the bike back together Sunday morning and it was good as new.  I brought the tire pressure up to 70 psi and what a difference that makes.

Usually, we start out at one end or the other either at the top of the trail in Cheshire or what is probably the middle of the trail at the Stop & Shop parking lot in Hamden however today since we were having lunch with the boy's great grandfather in Cheshire we continued on to Brooksvale Park and began our ride in the North Hamden.

We rode north to the terminus of the trail.  At some point it's supposed to extend all the way Southington and then connect to the Farmington section, which then you could ride all the way to Massachusetts but that seems to be far from complete.  Turning around, we rode back, past where we parked down to Sergio's Pizza restaurant where I wanted to get the boys Gellatto only to find that it was processed in a facility that has nuts and both Elliot and Brodie have varying nut allergies.  They had Snapples instead and a promise for Ice Cream on the way home.

Commuter Cross and Tandem Trail-a-bike

Here is the Qball, rigged as a Commuter/Cross Bike, or Commuter Cross (CCX) pulling an Adams Tandem Trail-a-Bike.  I am rolling with Kenda Kross 700x40c tires, 2x8 gearing (soon to be 3x8), Brooks racer saddle, and Misfit Fme bars.  Great bike configuration for riding rail trails and commuting to work.  Seen here on the Berkshire Division of the Housatonic Rail Road Company Rail Trail in Monroe, CT.

Berkshire Division of the Housatonic Railroad Company

Day 9 of 30 Days of Biking challenge I took the boys on the Monroe Rail Trail, which appears to have some new signage identifying it as the The Housatonic Rail Road Company, Berkshire Division.  This sign is at the main Pepper Street parking area.  We always park at the first Pepper Street crossing where you can park on the side of the road but it's not very official and there have been break ins in the past here, too.

There was some initial squabbling over who get's to be the captain on tandem trail-a-bike.  Since Brodie got to go first last time when we are on the North County, Elliot had to be the Captain for this ride.  Elliot may dislike riding by himself but he loves the trail-a-bike.

Of course, Brodie loves it, too, and but doesn't really care where he sits, as long as he gets to ham it up where ever and when ever possible.

60 degrees on Saturday though the northerly wind kept it a bit chilly.  I always park higher up so I get more of ride because for the boys, it's all about the park.  They like riding but they love the park.  From the first Pepper Street crossing to the park it's 2 miles but if I work in the drive way down to the gate shack and on the tail end of the ride up to the Newtown Trailway turn around, all told I can get about 9 miles in total.  That wouldn't be much if I were riding alone but pulling 100 lbs of kids and 40 lbs of trail-a-bike turn this little jaunt into a pretty good workout.

Of course, for the boys, the high light of the ride is the park.  Monroe Parks took out a section of the Jungle Gym and replaced it with a larger structure with more things to climb on and climb over.  It's funny how the boys relate to the different rail trails that we ride, at Monroe it's the Orange Park because of the orange jungle gym.  Middlebury, it's the seesaws that they have at Meadow Brook Park.  The Baby jungle gym at Brooksvale Park on the Cheshire Trail, and the really big park on the North County.  We still need to check out the really, really big park in Avon off the Farmington Rail Trail sometime.

There was another group at the park, at first I thought a mother and two daughters but when the little girls were calling the woman by her first name I figured it must be an Aunt.  Still, I was impressed that they were all wearing helmets on their ride to the park.

And while I didn't get a picture of this guy I now understand the meaning of a Fred.  This guy rolls into the park on  yellow Special-Ed road bike with a lot of bling bling parts, a real PT Barnum consumer, only dressed for a night at the discotheque.  I did, however, get another Fred picture, this one of a guy riding at least a $5K full suspension Niner branded mountain bike.

In fact following this guy was a whole crew of mountain bikers that I think were from one of the local Meet-up groups.  Not sure where they were riding or if they were poaching some blue trail farther north but it looked like after they all passed that they were riding the various patches of single track coming off the rail trail.  I guess what ever floats your boat.  Personally, with that kind of hardware (and time) I would be hitting the Pequonnock River Valley.

More pictures had to be taken while we had a snack on the ride back to the car.  Brodie insisted on a picture by himself in front of the bike with one of his trade mark poses, which prompted Elliot to have a picture by himself.  And then, I insisted on the two boys together.

We still had some time to kill because afterwards we were heading out to dinner at the local Duchess and then to Brodie's first baseball practice.  So we headed further up the trail, past where we parked the car to the Newtown section of the trail.  Looks like Monroe fixed the drainage problem that I noticed last year when Katie and rode up here last spring.  The flood we had last month must have prompted the work.  Further up the trail, however, into the Newtown section we found a tree blocking the trail and couldn't proceed any further.

Tandem Trail-a-biking on the North County Trailway, South

The boys and I met my father in Amawalk, NY to ride the North County Trail Way.  Instead of riding north towards Baldwin Place like we did last time, I suggested that we ride south and little did I realize what treats were in store for us.

It was pretty much down hill the entire 5 miles that we rode with the wind at our backs, which meant coming back was going to be fun.  There were quite a few people out enjoying the nice weather and riding this trail.  We got a nod from another Tandem pair and we saw a few others on trail-a-bikes but it seems nary a soul has ever seen a tandem trail-a-bike.

The boys still have to work on their teamwork.  There is still a lot of infighting on when to pedal and when not to.  Initially they were pretty good but later Brodie got cocky and found it was a great way to annoy is older brother.

Here is another attempt with mounting my helmet cam looking down backwards but my Camelbak gets in the way.  Still, what's cool is that we are riding over the original railroad bridge that held trains a century ago.  

I still want to ride the entire trail some time.  It's something like 60+ miles round trip.  It's probably a 5 hour trip altogether.  I am going to try and set up a work outing in which we do a round trip on it.

Other than the pedal issues, the boys did really well.  There was only need for two pee brakes, one for each.  It's usually Brodie that needs to stop every 5 minutes to go but he only did it once and Elliot watered a few trees himself.

And of course there is always the required snack.  Cheese-its, Scooby snacks and an orange.  The funny thing was that I told them we could only stop at a bench and they were bugging me to stop immediately following riding over the old Railroad bridge but I told them we could only stop at an empty bench.  Thus 3 miles later we finally found one.

After the snack brake we rode up to Yorktown Heights where my father went ahead and we hung out at the train station play area.  The boys love playing at this park and the last time we were here, after riding with my father, they played till dusk.

That is one of the key ingredients to riding with my boys.  They will always ride if they know there will be a stop at park.  That's what makes the Monroe Trail so popular with them because Wolfe Park is right there.  Middlebury is the same way.  In Cheshire, we stop at Brooksvale Park but they have a small jungle gym and they loose interest on it quickly.  

Next weekend we are going to try the Farmington Heritage Canal Trail.  Starting in Farmington, we'll ride up to Simsbury and have lunch at this big park that has a bunch of jungle gyms and then turn around and ride back.  A nice 26 mile ride pulling upwards of 150 lbs of kids and trail-a-bike should be good conditioning for the Fattire Classic the following weekend.

Tandem Trail-a-Biking the North County Trail Way

Another great day to be out on two wheels, or in this case three wheels.  Took my sons over to the North County Trail Way just outside of Yorktown Heights to go riding with my father.  We tried riding here a couple of years ago with my daughter but ran into problems with her stamina and ended up not riding very far.  Too bad I never tried the Trail-a-Bike Train until the following year.

with our new, Tandem Trail-a-bike, I can expand our range and ride longer and further like on Sunday.  We ended up riding from Rt 35 in Amawalk to Mahopac, 6.5 miles in one direction.  With the exception near the Amawalk Reservoir the ride is a steady climb up hill but you barely feel it except in one or two places.

The North County Trail Way ends in Bladwin Place, which neighbors Mahopac.  Nice place to take a break and carb up to tackle the climb up to Mahopac. 

After taking our little break, dropping a few crackers on the ground, and a photo opportunity, we were off to Mahopac largely because my father has never been past this point.  Katie and I tandemed down to this point over the summer.

At Mahopac Station, we checked out the lake and climbed the fence.  There is a nice cafe in the old station but not a place where my two sons would be happy.  

This is the kind of profile I look for on a rail trail, nice and smooth but for some reason the GPS always starts out a little higher and ends a little lower.

It's Friendly's or nothing, and that is the beauty of Yorktown Heights, just a few miles down the road from where we parked, they have a Friendly's and a really nice park for the kids to play at, because that is important, too.  In some respects, the boys are just along for the ride, their reward is the Park, but deep down they like being out with their father.  Service at the Yorktown Heights Friendly's was painfully slow and it put at the park at 4 PM.  Then we needed a break so Brodie could use the facilities at the local KMart.  Then it was back to park till it got dark.

Next week, we are off to do the Monroe Rail Trail and go to Wolfe Park.

Tandem Trail-a-Biking the North County Trail Way - Video

Made a little video Sunday of the boys on their Adams Tandem Trail-a-Bike.  We rode with my father up to Mahopac from Amawalk for 13 mile round trip on the North County Rail Trail.  It was 5 1/2 miles to the end of the line and then we picked up the Old Put section to Mahopac.  Great weather to be riding in and the boys loved it.

Monster Tandeming in Middlebury

The inaugural ride of the Adams Tandem Trail-a-bike was great.  The boys need to learn to work together a little better but they did well.  It was cold on Sunday, mid 40s but the wind brought it down to feeling upper 30s so I bundled the boys up in warm jackets, thermal shirts, ear bands and gloves.  Of course, I wore shorts with a long sleeve jersey and a thermal running top, and then a short sleeve jersey.  I was fine until later when we descended down the Trolley Trail towards the center of Middlebury. 

I took them into the back of Flanders Nature Center, the Whittemore Sanctuary, to check out the old road that goes from Lake Quassapaug to Tuttle Rd that I want to include in my Tribury Monster Cross.  The dirt road is perfect, New England Monster Cross terrain, in fact it seems there are quite a few interesting trails/carriage roads that are worth further exploring.  I think I might have to slap on the 2.1s and roll in there and check out all the trails, as well as explore around the Woodbury Reservoir.

Then it was back to the Trolley Trail and a ride down to the center of Middlebury.  Neither Elliot nor Brodie could shift the gears largely due to their gloves I think.  Still we had a fun time riding to the turn around point and of course we needed a little snack while basking in the sun.  The favorite was the Oreo Cookies while the fruit went untouched.

After snack, we mounted back up and took off back to the starting point.  It's all uphill from here and I could really feel the extra 150 pounds that I was pulling.  The boys were helping a little when they were not fighting with one another about who is not pedaling forwards.

Part of the draw that get's my boys out with me is the chance to run around the park.  In fact, that's one of the reasons we never have gone back to Old Put because I haven't found a decent park along the way.  There is a great park on the North County Trailway in Yorktown Heights that we need to try.  Might have to wait till the spring and work in a ride with my father for that one.  Monroe has Wolfe Park and the Farmington Canal line has Brooksvale Park in Hamden.  Brooksvale doesn't have a lot going on but it does give them a chance to stretch their legs and play on the little Jungle Gym a bit.

Elliot and Brodie just know this park as the Seesaw Park because it has a seesaw of course.  We even run into the same kids from time to time.