Big Santa Metric

 Oct 9, 2026

I saw a post on Facebook the other day that instantly brought back a wave of nostalgia. It turns out that Big Santa from the historic Danbury Fair is now residing up in Wells, Vermont! I had to go see it.

Fest Bier Roubaix

 Oct 6, 2026

It was a perfect fall day in Vermont and after job hunting all morning and then cleaning up around the house I decided that I needed to get out on the bike. Ann wasn't feeling up to a ride but her brother, Bruce, on the other hand was.

Fletcher Farm Trails

 Sep 25, 2026

A new trail system just opened in Ludlow, VT called Fletcher Farm Trails and I thought I would check it out. I replaced the rear brake pads on the Cujo and loaded her up on the MINI. It's kind of a bittersweet day as I will be trading in the MINI for a pick up truck and this is the last time I will carry a bike with the car.

Go Dog, Go!

 Sep 21, 2026

We have an onery, Corgi and Australian Shepherd mix and hate leaving him in VT when we come down to Connecticut. We brought him down with us this weekend and decided to get him a kid trailer so we could take him on rides with us. I looked around Craigslist and FB Market Place and found this InStep Trailer over in Naugatuck. On Sunday, we tested it out with Kai.

Two States of Gravel

From l to r: Dave, Tom, Malcom and me

When my friend Malcom reached out that he was camping at Lake Saint Catherine State Park and asked for local gravel recommendations, I immediately shared my Ride with GPS (RWGPS) library of Vermont dirt road routes. He suggested we plan a ride together starting near the campground. Having camped there last year with Ann, I knew the absolute perfect staging spot: The Cluckin' Cafe & Cones Point Country Store (which conveniently serves the best creemees in the area). To make the most of our meetup, I mapped out a brand-new route for us to tackle: Two States of Gravel.

There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend

Before heading back down to Connecticut for the weekend Ann & I headed out for a ride to Pittsford and back.  There is a great view of Killington Mountain from West Proctor Road. 

Riding with Bruce

 

Ann invited with her Brother Bruce to ride with us Thursday afternoon.  Due to an early childhood accident and not the best reconstructive surgery, it was the 1970s afterall when he had his bike accident, Bruce rides an e-Bike.  He has ridden with us before but has declined more recent invitations due to poor health. Today, however, he was feeling really good and joined us.

OOF on the 4th of July

 

Ann & I got out before 7 AM on Saturday and rode from Sandy Hook to Ovens of France (aka OOF) in Woodbury.

Sherburne Trails from Base Camp

 

I had to run an errand up to Killington this morning so I brought my mountain bike to ride the Sherburne Trails, this time from Base Camp. For a blue trail, it was really buff to start, super flowy and some fun features along the way.

Florence Road Ride

 

Tuesday morning we decided to ride out to Florence and Ann wanted to try riding the Ridley. She got this bike from a friend last summer but it didn't fit her well because this particular model, the Helix, had a seat post that was part of the frame. We tried it last fall but it was just too tall for her so I cut it down and put a very large seat post clamp on it.  

TNTT

 

We got up too late Saturday morning to do our customary Wallingford for breakfast ride because Ann had relatives in town visiting. When we got back to Rutland later in the day we headed out for another night ride.

Rutland Gravel Night Ride

I spent Friday running errands around Rutland and was going to ride at Pine Hill in the afternoon but a thunder storm ripped through the area and stayed in and cleaned up the basement.  Ann got home from work around 7:15 PM and she really wanted to ride so we headed out before the sun had even set at 8:00 PM.

Night Riding with Ann

 

Ann got back from work and wanted to ride and who am I to say no to that, even after riding a 40 mile gravel grinder earlier in the day.  The sun had already set and the temperature was perfect.

Some dead ends go through and some do not

Originally I had planned to head out when Ann left for work and I had my smoothie for breakfast but for once I actually fell back to sleep. I wanted to ride the CAADX again but discovered a broken spoke so I waited until the bike shop opened and dropped it off to get it fixed. I finally got out around 12:30 and while it was sunny the temperature was in the low 70s and in the shade it was downright chilly.

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.