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here we are amassing at the historic Hadlyme ferry landing saturday morning… wish I’d gotten a group shot! don’t know why I just thought of that now after 4 years of hosting this event. you will have to imagine the 100 riders who signed up and whoever ended up coming after the rain scare. rain forecasted all week, but as you can see above, half the day was actually sunny!

what a day to venture deep into the woods of East Haddam/Lyme for a deer tick survey. oddly (luckily) enough I was finding a lot more ticks a few weeks ago. I wonder if living in the area of Lyme disease’s namesake alone keeps this place so quiet … but it’s the land trusts of both of these towns and the opposed to development town governments. in a town(s) with such few businesses for tax revenue, it is more expensive to develop than to just leave things alone. also back to the land trust — thanks for your donations!

we had our annual stop over at JP Weigle’s shoppe in Lyme 5 miles in before heading back into the woods for some, and onto some of my fav country roads for others. the long single track route was a big ol’ bite of granite and loam … luckily we still had 8.5 hrs of daylight to go as it was nearly noon when we left Weigle’s.

after some full body pump on the vast single track of Nehantic State Forest, groups regrouped to deal with a plethora of mechanical issues that come with the territory. always a good excuse to grab a snack and or puff.

to me it felt like we’d been in the woods for hours at this point … full spring green room pre leaf out immersion … then we happened upon a large group on the side of the road about to enter the Goodwin trail. it was a bike I had built a special customer just the day before, and go figure, we’ve got issues!

after some mid level surgery on the rear derailleur, we got this one back up and running for another 25 miles or so. the chain snaps, punctures, sticks in the spokes, and derailleur explosions had us regrouping just about every turn at this point. it was actually pretty fun to see, and re-see folks, and gave us the opportunity to really enjoy the single track together when our bikes were working.

As a Brian Chapman (as a craftsperson and person) appreciator, it is always cool seeing him on our tires. Local Bawlz on the right seen here recruiting folks to follow them on the road knowing darn well what was ahead on the Goodwin trail.

I love riding this trail with a group. I generally need the group mentality for motivation to venture this deep into the Hartman Park area. so dynamic!

I took my Alumax on this ride with 700×46 instead of the 700×42. very impressed with how much more chunk those extra 4mm of rubber afforded me. nice to know for the summer time where we venture deep into the trail networks on the other side of the river on our ways to the various pizza locations of western Middlesex county. I felt great on this bike — stylish too. thats the only way I feel great.

ran into more folks hanging near the waterfall at Devil’s Hopyard. it was here that I proposed cutting the route a little short. no one argued with that!

the skies got moody towards the end of the day, but the storms stayed to the north — some good luck! our group bounced around the rocky trails and roads until we hit the home trail stretch above Parker hill into hatch lot.

and that’s a wrap on the weekend! thanks for making the trip out folks!

XO Ronnie