Sunrise in Southbury

 

Saturday afternoon, Ann & I drove to Connecticut, after we rode down to Wallingford from Rutland. The following morning we were both up really early so we headed out at 5:30 AM for a ride to Ovens of France in Woodbury.

Slate Valley Trails - Fairgrounds

 

There are 8 trail systems managed by the Slate Valley Trails organization with 60+ miles of trails. On Friday, Juneteenth, I headed over to Poultney, about a 30 minute drive from Rutland, and parked at the Slate Valley Fairground Trailhead to ride this trail system. 

802 Single Speeding

After working around the house all morning and big storm moved through the area with tornado warnings across the spectrum going out and I slept through it all during a midday nap. A tornado actually struck in Woodstock, VT and caused quite a bit of damage. I awoke to blue skies and sunshine and went out for a ride on the single speed.

The Ride for our Vets

 

Team Abrahammer

Since 2012, The Connecticut Veterans Legal Center puts on a charity ride for Veterans to support their ongoing efforts to provide legal representation at no-cost to low-income Veterans. I have been meaning to do this ride over the years but there was always some conflict but this year I was wide open so I joined Team Abrahammer for the ride. Being a Veteran myself I have seen very few organizations in the area that support Veterans and I was proud to be invited to ride with my friends in support of this organization.

Summer Fat Biking at PHP

I had three interviews on Tuesday and the last one went into extra innings. Afterwards I needed to clear my head so I got kitted up and headed out on the Tracker towards Pine Hill Park.  I headed to another entrance to the park because I new there was trail work going on and I didn't want to feel guilty that I was riding and not helping.

We finally made it to Wallingford

Don't Take the Box!

Before leaving Connecticut this week we got in another ride to Woodbury yesterday.  This morning we left Connecticut at 6:30 AM for Vermont and after unpacking and getting some lunch at Gils, we decided to try to ride down Wallingford again. Given that is was later in the day we didn't think there was going to be anything keeping us away from getting there this time.

Sunday Morning Ride to OOF

I went out Sunday morning to ride to Ovens of France with Gabby and Marshall, who I haven't see in quite some time. With ski season over and Ann spending weekends in Connecticut I took the opportunity to ride to OOF with the guys. Ann actually went on a solo ride at the same time. I had invited her to join us but she felt she would slow us down and didn't want to ride the distance we normally do.

Resuming our weekly Wallingford Ride

Ann & I went out early Saturday morning before driving to Connecticut to resume our weekly rides to Wallingford - our Vermont equivalent of an OOF Ride. Heading out at 6:00 AM on our quasi gravel route - there is one section of dirt - it was a nice morning and didn't really feel like it was 50 degrees, which was the temperature showing up on my watch. We ride to Sweet Birch in Wallingford for breakfast and then ride back. Sometimes, if we do this ride on the weekend, we might get lunch and then stop at Rutland Beer Works on the way home for a beer.

Green Mountain Trails - Fat Bikes don't Ford well

 

I drove over to Rochester (VT) on Friday to pick up my fat bike after I had it tuned up and some issues fixed and then on the way back to Rutland stopped off at the Green Mountain Trails. I should have checked their website first to see what would have been the best approach for a first time ride because the route I took wasn't the one.  Starting off, I looked at the map it said there was a ford you had to cross to get to the trails. I figured there would be rocks everywhere and crossing would be easy.  Much to my surprise it was not.

Hubbardton Battlefield Roubaix

 

One of my bucket list items when I first started coming to Rutland was to ride the dirt roads in and around Hubbardton and to visit the battlefield. It's the only battlefield of the Revolutionary War that is on Vermont soil.  There was another one called the Battle of Bennington but it was actually fought in Hoosic, NY. What interesting to note about the Hubbardton Battle, though, was that it was more of a delaying action so that the main body of the Continental Army could reorganize and eventually defeat the British at the Battle of Saratoga.

Back to Pine Hill

 

Got back to Rutland yesterday and couldn't wait to head over to the PHP on the Cujo after getting the rear wheel fixed by JT at Rutland City Bikes. Originally, I was going to convert the Cujo back to tubeless last year but then I got sidetracked and bought the fat bike.  The last time I rode at the Park I had to take the full susser because I re-discovered that I never did anything about it.  

Woodbury Hippie Ride

Since I am not working Ann & I are splitting our time between Sandy Hook and Rutland and she wants to ride as much as possible now.  After returning from our camping trip we had things to get done at both our houses so we couldn't ride Monday so before heading back north we rode up to Woodbury and back.

Lake Waramaug Camping & Cycling

 

We took Ann’s new camper out to Lake Waramaug State Park for two nights of camping. It was my first time with a camper and I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was.