2026 D2R2 Pre Game to Treehouse Brewing

 

I arrived at the Franklin County Fairgrounds around 1:30 PM, registered, and set up my tent. Will was running late so I went back to the registration shed and bought some T-Shirts. Having the event at the Fairgrounds was a definite plus. The place is pretty much self contained with plenty of camping and RV Sites, chow hall, food venues, showers and bathrooms. Next year, I am bringing the camper and hopefully I can get Ann to come with me.

Will showed up around 3:30, threw his stuff into the tent and got suited up to ride. We took off at 4:00 PM and two miles into the ride we hit First Dirt on Old Albany Road. Massachusetts classifies it's dirt roads three ways: 

Surface Type 1 (Unimproved): Graded earth, dirt, or natural soil surface road.

Surface Type 2 (Gravel): Crushed stone or gravel aggregate surface road.

Unimproved Trails: Unpaved recreational footpaths or tracks not meant for standard vehicular maintenance.

Old Albany Road falls definitely falls into the Type 1 road and is quite the climb to boot.

The fun begins on Upper Road and 1.5 miles into the course and then turns to dirt at 2 miles. There's signs of washouts that are filled in with 3 and 4 inch trap rock which is not fun to try and ride through.

The dirt road improves as it flattens out on Taylor Road.  It turns into a nice descent and then turns to pavement.

We turned onto the famous Hawks Road

Which appears to have recently paved

and then it goes back to dirt.

We stopped and chatted with the farmer and learned all about cows, their friends and local herd hierarchy.

We encountered a Jeep on Hawks Road. 

I had my first crash at D2R2 today. After taking this picture I was putting my phone away and at the same time I was riding in a tire rut on the side of the road. As I tried to get out of it and with only one hand on my handlebars my front tire slipped back into the rut and I lost my balance and down I went.  I bloodied my knee a bit and there were some scratches on my leg but nothing major. 

It's only a flesh wound! 

We got some new Wandrer miles on this route by heading over to MA 116 and we passed another cow farm along the way.

We met up with Scott, Will and Jason at Tree House.  Will & I ordered beers and then a pizza.  We ate our pizza and then the leftovers from Scott and Will.  Up until we got there I wasn't hungry, that hotdog I got from the gas station was sitting heavy in my stomach for the ride to the brewery but having the beer and smelling that pizza made me ravenous.

Caught a glimpse of Amtrak's Vermonter on the ride back to the Fairgrounds

Surprised to see that there are only two cars with the engine. The Ethan Allen, that stops in Rutland, usually has 5 cars and I think one of them is a dinning car.

We got off Route 5 and headed over the Mill Village Road

and the old site of D2R2.

Then we rode through History Deerfield.

and Deerfield Academy.

Saw a few bike racks at the Old Deerfield Inn, too.

Then we were back on Route 5 heading back to Greenfield 

with one last climb up the bike path to the Fairgrounds.

It was a wonderful evening.  We even had one of the fiddle players from Friday's entertainment come visit us and play us a tune.

Here is a link to the route and where you can see where the dirt roads are:  2026 D2R2 Pre Game Roubaix, incase you want to ride this route next year.