berkshire cycling
by sam on 08/31/2008I know, it’s more maps.
 Saturday morning, I took the train up to Wassaic. My folks met me at the station and my stepmom and I rode the Harlem Valley Rail Trail from Wassaic to Millerton…
Nice ride, except for the moment when, riding a borrowed bike, I was attempting to get my foot into the much less flexible metal pedal basket, and didn’t realize until it was too late to swerve that I was about to crash into a wooden pylon in the middle of the trail (designed to prevent cars from driving down the route). As someone else described it, I then turned into a physics experiment, where I went flying face first over my handlebars. While I was able to brace my fall, I did managed to land on my face, banging my chin. So I’m a bit bruised up, but nothing worse.
It could have been worse, and given that my klutzy self was bound to do something like this sooner or later, I ended up walking away pretty unscathed. Although I may have to wear long sleeves for a few days when I get back to work, since I’ve got some nice bruises.
So then, since I had been thinking about it for a while, and my stepmom was thinking about the same thing, we went to the combination hardware store and bike shop, and bought new road bikes that actually fit us. reasonably priced and everything.
This morning was when I decided to attempt my “big” ride. I have a friend who owns a restaurant up in West Stockbridge, where he makes the best pancakes on earth. So I decided to ride up there, figuring a 20-something mile bike ride would serve to counteract the effects of the pancakes.
I was planning on doing this myself, but yesterday my dad decided that he wanted to join me. Nevermind that he hasn’t been on a bike in a few years. He also insisted that we take the “back” (read=Longer) way, because it was “less hilly”. It was about 5 extra miles, and really hilly. Apparently you don’t notice the hills when driving in a car. I’m never letting him plan the route again. I’m telling you…all hills. But the pancakes were really good.
Here’s the route we took (you can see the more direct, and quite frankly, more flat, route through Great Barrington, which we bypassed)…
I actually felt pretty good at the end, and a bit more confident about my 55 mile ride through NYC that I’m taking next weekend, since the only big hills on that route involve the on ramps on various bridges, which are fairly discrete.
[Update 2015] In an effort to reduce the number of holdover pages on the blog, I am slowly (very slowly) integrating albums into the appropriate historical posts on the blog itself. As such, photos from the ride with my dad are now below.
Tags: berkshires, cycling