Litchfield Dirty Thirty

Climbing Blakeslee Road

Last fall, Mike and I rode what I called the Litchfield Hills Roubaix in which we rode from Roxbury to Thomaston and then back through Litchfield and we just scratched surface of all the dirt roads between Roxbury and Route 8. I decided to come back and try a few more.

Good day for the beach

Since I didn't get out Friday to ride because I was helping a friend of a friend who is a cancer survivor and can't lift anything, carry anything heavy or walk very far rearrange her house a bit and take things to Goodwill I decided to ride down to Compo Beach in Westport. I had to leave before noon because I had to help pack my favorite daughter's and wife's cars as she was heading back to school today.

Scott, is that an ice cream scooper in your pocket or are you just excited for Ferris Acres?

This week's RC Ilumenati's Tuesday night ride, which happened on Wednesday, was without Dear Leader. The consensus was let's ride lightly traveled roads and stop at Ferris Acres for ice cream.

2022 D2R2 115K Ride Report

What a hot day! I think this was the hottest day of riding Will and I have ever ridden at D2R2. We rode the 115K route with a few routing changes because I didn't want to lollipop the northern section. The course had three new climbs for us, River Rd, Stage Road, and Pennel Hill, which to me has to be the hardest climb in the area.

It's a good thing we left early because we got to lunch early and from what I heard by noon the lunch stop at the Covered Bridge was fairly picked over. Some other highlights include meeting and riding with Joe Bamburg from New Jersey, cramping on the Patten Hill climb and getting back while the sun is still up.

2022 D2R2 Pre Game

After checking in at the main tent, I got my camping pass and drove over to this year's camp ground where I met Todd. He picked out a good spot although we had to carry our stuff in but it was a lot flatter than there other places. We set up our tents and then had a beer, or two.

Broken Pedal Metric

I met Marshall at the Newtown Flagpole with the intention of riding to Ridgefield for some kind of Nosh and then riding back for around 40 miles. After climbing up Castle Hill and heading towards Birch Hill my foot came off the pedal, or should I say the pedal came off the spindle and then it disengaged from my food.  Good thing we were only 4 miles from my house and it was mostly downhill, so we rode back to my house so I could put on a new set of pedals.

OOF with Gavin

I think after a couple of days and being extra careful around my wife, wearing a mask, and staying away from here as much as possible and not having any symptoms I think I have dodged the COVID bullet. Gavin and I decided to ride to Ovens of France Friday morning. Since the Jamis was in need of a gearing overhaul I replaced my rear tire on the Waltly with a replacement that I bought while I was in Chicago but had it delivered in CT by accident.

Greis-n-sprinkles

Heading out Thursday morning I checked the weather and it said no rain in Newtown so I decided to ride the reverse way to Greisers for a little Greis-n-Shine, a delicious egg, cheese and bacon sandwich with a cup of coffee. Greisers is a Lunartics favorite breakfast ride destination because it makes a great jump off point if you want to ride down to the beach or just ride back to Newtown and still get a 40 mile ride in for the day.

Save Weed Street!

Woke up early Wednesday morning with no tell tale COVID symptoms but I did have a scratchy throat, not sore, though.  I headed out on another 30 mile ride instead for riding with my night group this evening. The Ilumenati asked me to stay away from them, too, as some of them don't have the best health insurance. 

COVID in da House

 

After taking a rest day on Monday I rode to my local polling place to cast my vote in the Democratic Primaries and then proceeded to ride 30 miles.  When I got home, I noticed my wife's care still in the garage which was odd because she usually goes to work on Tuesdays.  When I got upstairs and found her in her office and asked her why didn't go to work she pointed to a rapid test result on her desk and said that she has COVID!

Roe Jan Roubaix

It's just two weeks till D2R2 and I wanted to get in a good training ride to ensure my worthiness to climb the massive dirt road climbs for Franklin (MA) and Windham (VT) counties on the D2R2 115K Route this year.  I reached out to my brother-in-law Will and asked if he wanted to ride Mt Riga starting from the Roe Jan Brewery in Hillsdale, NY.