D2R2 167K

This was our first year camping with our adoptive D2R2 riding family from Massachusetts. Normally, Will and I would share a hotel room and then drive to the start early in the morning but the beauty of camping is that you are right there. Just ride over for breakfast and then blast off. Another first is that we got Paul Mayer, a Newtown Lunartic, to join us, too.

Getting up to Deerfield early we were able to get a good camping area so that our tents were up against the edge of the area and we were hemmed in by out cars. I brought the Tiki torches to add to the festivities. It rained when we arrived and afterwards it was so hot and humid no one wanted to do a quick a pre-ride.

So, what does any beer drinking, gravel cyclist do when they are not riding?

Drink beer!

We even learned a new trick to create a lantern using a water jug and a headlight

It was a hard wake up call for the 160K ride

and Paul, Will and I set off at 6:30 am

I might have been still drunk or just badly hungover from the night before when we started but it was so hot and humid that I must have sweated out all those toxins during the first hour of the ride.

Paul was feeling it, too.

Here is the original route

And here is the route we attempted which I created based on the Que sheet that included the extra credit loop and the section of last year's mystery ride that Will and I didn't complete

We hit First Dirt 11 miles into the ride, which is kind of unusual, on South County Road just outside of Greenfield and then began a 5 mile climb.

In North Bernardston the route took us down this goat path which was more of a dual track mountain bike trail. I rode it like a mountain bike by hanging my butt off the rear and riding the brakes.

Will was not liking this section at all but he made through.

We crossed into Vermont and continued riding north.

There was a rest stop this time at the Green River Covered Bridge in Guilford

Listening to the water flowing over the Crib Dam was so relaxing. It had a tempo that could put you to sleep. After the rest stop we went out to do the Carpenter Hill Extra Credit Loop.

On the extra credit loop we had to stop a few times to make sure we were heading the right way

The view looking towards Mt Snow or Stratton, no sure which, was definitely Money Shot worthy.

This was the first time I was riding the CAADX and the bike was performing quite well

The lunch stop was in Vermont

In North Heath there was an unexpected detour due to the heavy rains from the night before where we had to ride a trail along some power lines. Dropping down into Charlemont we stopped at a convenience store to get more water and then we did the dreaded East Road dirt road climb behind Berkshire East Ski Mountain.

There were some tasty treats at the last rest stop in Asheville

From here we decided to just head back on the regular 160K route rather than trying to include the missing section from last year's mystery route.

There were some nice cows to see along the way

and then we were back!

We did a few extra miles and fun was had by all