Fat Bike on a Mini Cooper Countryman

The other day I picked up a barely used OEM Mini branded bike rack to match the other one and to carry my mountain bike. It's actually a Thule rack. I got the Thule Fat Bike adapters but found that there were some slight variances between the molding on the rack vs the adapters, but I was able to get them fit. The one thing that gave me a problem was the fact that my Cannondale Cujo has such a high bottom bracket that I had to play around with the tire holders to get the bike to be held snugly.  Finally, I got it set right and test drove it on the highway at 70 mph and it held fine! 

Lunch Ride

I was planning on a dirt century this weekend in preparation for the The Lu Lacka Wyco Hundo but then Gavin wanted to know if I wanted to do a road century with him instead. I said sure but it would have to be Sunday. He got the all clear from his better half and then I suggested that we ride to Great Barrington via Route 7 and get some lunch at the Barrington Brewery.

Kent Falls

The route I planned left from the Bicycle Center in Brookfield and skirted Rt 7 where it could and where it could not then we were on Route 7. I have always wanted to ride it up this way so this was a perfect opportunity.

Starting out was cool but by the time we got to New Milford the jackets came off. We brought jackets because there was a threat of rain in the afternoon but despite a little drizzle in the afternoon the jackets never came back on. Between Cornwall and Kent I recognized Terry Burke's car and waved to him but I don't think he recognized me. Terry rides all over the Northwest Corner of Connecticut. Later on, Gavin stopped for something to eat and Terry drove up to us and stopped to have a little chat. How ironic it was to pass him further south and then run into him again in Canaan.

 

We crossed into Massachusetts on Route 7A but had to head back to Rt 7 again because the bridge over the Housatonic River was finally being rebuilt and couldn't ride across it like we did on the Big Elm Ride last year.

We stopped at the Barrington Brewery for lunch and we both had the Black and Tan, but all it was black. Still, it tasted great.

I had the Chick Cordon Bleu for lunch but that was a mistake because it sat in my stomach the whole way back to Brookfield slowly digesting. I should have just had a big bowl of the Chili.

On the ride up to Great Barrington we had a head wind. On the ride back, the wind changed direction and we had a head wind, again! The ride back was slower probably due to the headwind and other factors, e.g. exhaustion.  There was one little scary moment on Rt 7 between Covered Bridge and Housatonic Meadows when an 18 wheeler wanted to pass on a curve and there was no shoulder.  He left us about 3 feet of room as the law dictates but he drove past us slowly which made the encounter a little unnerving to say the least.

This could have become my biggest ride to date if we had tacked a little something on. However, it was the longest ride for Voodoo Bondeye.