This week in Bike Commuting: Predicting the weather

I forgot to check the the weather forecast Tuesday morning and after getting all duded up for the ride to work it starts to rain.  I checked Bob Maxon's forecast on News Channel 30, and he said this morning's rain should end early.  It was so warm out that despite the wet weather I could not pass up the opportunity to ride to work.  I threw on some portable fenders and took off.  On Friday, the temperature turned sharply colder in the morning requiring a full snivel gear dress up. 

 

F2G2 2014: Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder

You could not ask for a better day to be riding the Gravle in the Berkshires!  Will and I got to the Cantebury Farm in Becket and it was around 38 degrees but the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky!  I felt it was still cold enough of bib shorts and I went went two layers under my jersey but my feet and fingers were cold for the first 10 miles, otherwise it was outstanding!

The field was limited to 200 riders due to the amount of parking at the Cantebury Farm and the smaller amount of riders made this event more colloquial and friendly.  For Will and I, this ride was to be our second attempt at Schermerhorn Hill.  

We tried to ride it previously in July but the Park Rangers recommended against it and directed us to ride New Lenox Road and Whitney Place Road (red track below) which turned out to be the Gravel Grinder from Hell because it was more of a mountain bike/motocross trail and the bugs were horrendous!

Today's ride had us on some Gravle that we were originally supposed to ride last July but didn't due to time constraints and somewhere we had to be.  Each of the Rest Stops were being run by the Pittsfield High School Cross Country Teams and each one had a theme that we had to vote on at the end of the ride.  

The team with the best theme would win a pizza party courtesy of Berkshire Cycling Association.  I ended up voting for the second team because they seemed to have the most enthusiasm, strawberry shortcake shots, and these little moon pies with butterscotch filling that was so delicious I think I had a couple of them.  All the teams were great and it was hard to choose just one.

Will and I rode the bonus loop, which was an additional 8 miles through Beartown State Forest, and it was basically all climbing.  One section was a dual track trail but the Surly Cross Check handled it fine. 

From Beartown State Forest we road down Brace Road, which when you look on all the map engines isn't listed as a road.  The only one that shows it's a road is the USGS Topography Map and I think it's actually part of the Appalachian Trail.  The flat part was puddled and then it led into a steep downhill.

Eventually we came out on Tyringham Road.  When Will and I rode through here in July we did it in the opposite direction which took us all the way to Lee.

Although it's paved the view across the valley was stupendous.  That ridge was what we just rode down.

The next big hill was George Cannon.  In July we came down George Cannon and riding the other way was obviously a lot tougher.  For some reason I thought it was a lot flatter but in this direction it was just climb, climb, climb.  I filmed the descent and loaded it on Vimeo and you can see that we are going to really fast but going down just didn't feel as steep as it does from the other direction.

From the top of George Cannon we road down to Route 20 and through East Lee to the entrance to October Mountain State Forest.  A little ways in from there the road turns to dirt that is this outstanding view of Shermerhorn Hill.

The climb up Shermerhorn Hill was brutal!  Brad Herder, the one responsible for creating this fantastic event actually went out with a leaf blower to clear a path on Shermerhorn Hill otherwise I am not sure it would have been rideable.  If it were dirt it would have been fine but since it was actually paved those rocks would have made it slippery as hell.  Once it's all said and done you come up to Anderson Vista.  From here you can see the Zephyr at Jiminy Peak, the windmills atop Brodie Mountain and you can even see Mount Greylock.

  

Getting to this point was a victory.  Of course there was a food stop here, too, and once again both the quantity and selection was amazing.  The highlight here was the Maple Syrup shots.  It tasted like Sunday morning pancakes without the pancakes!

The highest mountain in Massachusetts is pictured here, Mt Greylock.  I hope to ride it some time.  From here it was just 9 miles back to the Cantebury Farm.  They were serving Brats, Chilli, and soup with plenty of sides.  The beer was from Wandering Star Craft Brewery in Pittsfield and I had the Mild at Heart Porter.  It was just what the cyclist needed!

This week in Bike Commuting: National Bike Challenge Completed

Monday and Tuesday were the last two days of the National Bike Challenge and the race was on.  I was neck and neck with this one woman on the New Milford River Trail Team.  She did a hundred miler on Sunday that put her in the lead when all of a sudden this couple comes out of no where and the wife takes over the lead.  So it was game one for the last two days of the challenge.

For me to stay in the race it meant two days, back to back 30 mile round trip commutes and with the waning sunlight in the afternoons it meant two mornings riding my 20 mile Castle Hill Route. Monday morning was kind of over cast with a little sun breaking through but nice temps.  In the after noon it was back to short sleeves again.

SSCX and a busted Seatpost

Last weekend, on my way back up Old Farm Road I noticed what appeared to be trails on either side of the road so Sunday I headed back to check them out.  Banging a right at the barn the trail cuts diagonally across the field and then there is a stop sign?  I turn right and I am on an old road that dead ends in someone's back yard.  Headed back the other way then crossed over the tracks and into the next field.

Following the periphery of the next field there is a fork, left is more grass trail and right is single track.  I go for the singled track and it's really good, only I wish I had put on bug spray and I wish I had my mountain bike.  I pop back out on Old Farm Road and cross over into the next field.  Coming around the bottom, it turns west and climbs.  I did most of these trails as much as possible to get the lay of the land and next time I come back I am going to create a better circuit, sans single track.

On the other side of the river I rode 4 laps around the eastern field and then headed up to Fairfield Hills for a few laps on the trails at Nunnawauk Meadows. 4 laps in one direction and 2 more in the other and then I headed back down through the lower fields near the doggy park.

As they say, I was just riding along when I heard a snap and my but slipped back off the saddle and oh shit!  Now, before you go start shouting warranty, warranty, I bought this seat post off Amazon through some shady, off shore remarketer who was selling factory seconds or perhaps even knock off parts.  You get what you pay for, is all I can say.

OK, I am 5 miles from home, guess I am riding home doggy style.  It's going pretty good although my quads are killing me.  I try to lightly sit on the saddle because riding the top tube is killing my nuts and then it just comes off.  My neighbor happened to be driving by and offered assistance but I told him I got it.  Shoving everything in my back pouch I rode home.

If it wasn't for the ice cold, and I mean ice cold PBR in the fridge I think I would have been a lot more bummed out but the beer helped a lot!

This Week in Bike Commuting: Riding with Panties (*Panniers - damn auto correct)

The last day of summer was a little chilly on the way in to the office but perfect in the afternoon for riding home.  That was the day in which I broke 2000 miles on the Cross Check so on the way home, I did a 20 mile ride and got home in the dark and with no lights.  My guess is that my headlight didn't have enough charge.  It was another great day to be on the bike and it was totally worth it.

On Tuesday, however, temperatures plummeted to the mid thirties in the morning it was a full snivel gear mufti ride.  Welcome to Autumn!  Once again, the ride home was a lot warmer and I did another 30 mile round trip.