Red Sky at Night 3 Handle

As it turns out September was going to be a big riding month where I it will be second the time I have ridden over 900 miles in 30 days. I also did it in May of this year and as of last night I bested that month the night before.  I was planning on riding after work today and Scott said he was swinging by house at 5 PM so I kitted up and we headed north into Bridgewater. He was just out for a quick twenty but I wanted to get a 3 Handle (30 miles) which would put my total miles for the month at or over 950 miles at the conclusion of tonight's ride.

Maple City Gravel Grinder and the Three Bears

This year's Maple City Gravel Grinder was a blast despite the weather. Leading up to Sunday we were nervously watching the weather forecast as each day it kept changing and the predicted rain for Sunday moved earlier and earlier. There was no doubt it was going to rain so you just had to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Today's ride marks Will and I's second visit to the Maple City Gravel Grinder, the last one was in 2019. 

Tour of the Dirty Litchfield Hills

Today's ride in Litchfield was an exploration of sorts and follow up to my last ride dirt road ride in Litchfield, The Litchfield Dirty Thirty. Accompanying me today was my friend Leslie who lives in Litchfield and is no stranger to some of these roads but like many of my exploration rides we're bound to find some dead ends, hike-a-bike, and probably a Napoleon's Death March. 

Sympathy for the Devil

 

Don't you just love it when your wife wants you to go for a ride? That's how this ride came about. We had Will's apartment keys from when my daughter spent a few weeks this summer cat sitting and brought the keys home before going off to school. Sondra, Will's wife, thought it would be great idea if we got together this Sunday so I could hand off the keys. Our wives conspired and here we are are!

Ralph Pruitt's 40 mile Gravel Grinder

You might say Ralph Pruitt is somewhat of a legend in our area. He is a prolific gravel rider and I have had the pleasure to ride with him a few times and kills everything. Before he moved the south the last time I rode with him was back in 2017 where we did a 70 mile gravel ride to the Barrington Brewery. Prior to this ride I had a made a few suggestions to get a few more dirt miles in but Ralph really wanted to hold the route to 40 miles so I decided to do his ride in three parts:

1. Ride to Gaylordsville and along the way meet Mike and ride a little dirt along the way
2. Meet up with Ralph and his crew from Pawling Cycle and do his route
3. Ride home and hit some gravel roads in Newtown and perhaps stop at a Brewery