Sunday's Ride to Curtis

The day started as most Sundays start, at Dunkin in Montville, There was a tad worry about the weather, The skies looked threatening, and there was a call for on and off showers. Doug whipped out his trusty phone and pulled up a weather map...

At 10am the weather looked like this, and that was good for us, because we were to running rte 2 to Hartford, then 91 through Mass to Putney Vermont, and the map showed the storms were east of our planned route.

We had a slight sprinkle on route 2 at the beginning but it ended as soon as it started and the rest of the day was warm and sunny. We picked up one bike in Colchester and none at Jennings road. I have to say I am not overly fond of highway riding but 91 north of Holyoke and into Vermont is pretty pleasant. We made a stop in Greenfield o top off the bikes then ran straight to BBQ. 

The last time I was at Curtis's the meat fell off the bone, this time you had to tear it off with your teeth then chew like crazy because it was tough as leather.  After eating we sat around talking till after 2pm then decided it was time to hit the road. I informed them I would not be joining their ride home, I planned on a different route, I asked a few people if they were interested but when we hit exit 2 in Vermont I was the only one heading into downtown Brattleboro, The rest of the Club ran south, I believe to Salem for Ice Cream.

My ride was rather fantastic, I crossed into New Hampshire on rte119, which followed the Ct river to Hinsdale before turning east along the banks of the Ashuelot River and Canal. There are some very picturesque dams along this route. In Winchester Route119 ends and 78 begins, it runs up to Warwick through Mt.Grace State Forest. Whomever designed this road must have been a boater, because they "tacked" their way up the mountain. The road is a steady climb snaking left and right all the way to the top. Route 78 dumped me out on a blind curve in Orange on rte 2a. 2A took me through Athol where it dropped me on route 2. I had planned on doing a short hop on 2 to Gardner, then taking 68 and 122a, but I decided to stay on 2 to 190 which took me to Worcester.  In Worcester I picked up rte 146 and with it the tail end of a shower. The rain ended quick but it must have been a pretty good downpour since the roads were soaked. Route146 out of Worcester has two lanes each direction divided by Jersey Barriers. I noticed rather quickly that vehicles heading into Worcester were running through puddles (rivers) and sending waves over the barriers onto the high speed lane. I quickly adjusted my travel to the slow lane. The entire ride out of Brattleboro was clear, I never had one vehicle in front of me to slow me down. The wet roads lasted until Purgatory then dried out. From there to Twin Rivers was under sun.

Leaving Twin Rivers (about 6pm) I opted for more cross country and back roads on my way home. 

All in all a great day on a bike. It's a shame more members hadn't made the trip. 

klay