This past Saturday I planned and lead a 125 mile ride with my cycling club. We met in Collinsville, Connecticut at 7 am. I made up the route and tried to string together some of the roads from some of my favorite rides I have done in the past. We headed over the Nepaug Dam, then took lots of backroads to Winchester Center and Norfolk. Scott and Pat suggested an alternate route to avoid the super steep Burr Mountain Road. Randy got a late start, and caught us on the way to Norfolk.
At Norfolk we took Mountain Road. I had scouted out this road earlier in the year. There are some dirt sections, but it was hard packed and smooth for the most part, so it was passable on skinny tires. The road passed the edge of the Canaan Resevoir which is very scenic, and on the other side of Canaan Mountain there is a fun downhill past a dairy farm.
When I was planning out the ride, I saw a road called Cobble Road. To me that didn’t sound very smooth, so my original plan was to go farther to connect to route 63. When we got to Cobble Road, I could see that it was paved, so I lead the group right onto the road, but just after the turn, there was a sign that said “Road Closed.”
I was about to have the group turn around, but there were a few chants of “I’m sure we can get through”, so we headed down the road. Soon we could see that water was over the road. Scott lead the way, and made it around a few puddles, but the water got deeper, and soon he had no choice but to go through about a foot of water. After a few of us had ridden through, there was no going back. Water was above the botton bracket on the bike, and we all had wet shoes after the crossing.
There was a short hill before connecting to Route 63. We were only on Route 63 for a mile or so before turning onto Music Mountian Road. I had first discovered this road on a fall drive a couple of years ago, and ridden it in the opposite direction last year. Music Mountain is a gradual climb, and a very nice backroad. Just after passing a waterfall, we made the turn on Cream Hill Road. This hill is longer and steeper than I had remembered, but the climb is rewarded by a fun descent. I saw some other cyclists heading the opposite direction.
We made a stop at the West Cornwall Store to refuel and fill water bottles. Coleman found an unopened Bud Light outside the store, so Scott drank some of it. Beer has lots of carbs … right? We set off again across the covered bridge, and started climbing again on the way to Sharon, CT. This was another scenic section of road that crosses the Appalachian Trail. In Sharon we cut across Lovers Lane, a dirt road that connected to Route 361, and headed north to Millerton, New York. We crossed route 44 and continued on some more scenic quiet roads. I saw more cyclists out enjoying these great roads and nice weather.
We connected with Route 22, but I saw that there is a rail trail that we could have taken to Taconic State park, and that would have been a little better way to go. Route 22 has a good shoulder, but more traffic.
We stopped at the Depot Deli across from Taconic State Park. It was a good place to stop for lunch. There are picnic tables outside. The Deli is right at the end of the rail trail, and there is a bicycle shop across the street. I got a turkey sandwich and topped off my water bottles.
We left the Deli and started the climb to Bash Bish Falls back over into Massachusetts. This is a very steep climb that I had done last year on the Berkshire 300K. We all made it up the climb and regrouped at the top.
After a fun downhill, we cut over to Route 7, but then missed a turn. Don’t trust Google Maps. They had the wrong name for a road, so we went too far on route 7 which was super busy with Memorial Day traffic. After a couple of miles we figured we had gone too far, so we turned around and backtracked. We turned on Maple Avenue and headed toward Mill River. I bonked at about the 80 mile mark, and fell behind the group. I just wanted to pull over and take a nap. I made it to the Mill River store, where we made our final stop. After a couple of ice cream sandwiches, I got my blood sugar level up, and I felt better.
There were two other cycle tourist at the store with fully loaded panniers doing a weekend trip. This is a really great area for bicycle touring. I struggled up the climb out of Mill River and back route 183 to Connecticut. After getting back into Connecticut the road has a lot of gradual downhill, so I recovered and felt better on the final miles down Sandy Brook, to Riverton, and back to home.
This was a really challenging route, but it was very scenic on backroads with very little traffic. It was a great group of people to spend the day with exporing the countryside. Eleven of of finished the ride.
With stops it took us about 9:30 with about 8:00 of actual time on the bike. I hope to make this ride an annual event.
Route: Collinsville CT, Nepaug, Winchester Center, Norfolk, Mountain Road, Cobble Road, Route 63, Music Mountain, Cream Hill, West Cornwall, Sharon CT, Millerton NY, Bash Bish, Egremont MA, Sheffield MA, Mill River MA, New Marlborogh MA, 183, Sandy Brook, Riverton, Pleasant Valley, Route 44, Route 179.
The Map and Route sheet below have been updated after the ride.
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Nice pix and write up.
Looks like a phenom ride. Thanks for the post.