Ride Report: CycleFest
The Hat City Cyclists ran an excellent CycleFest yesterday,
June 13th, on one of the best days ever for cycling with
temperatures ranging from the mid 60s at 7am to mid 70s
late in the afternoon. June 13th was almost the longest day
of the year and it took most of the day to complete this
invitational.
Marty, Trish and I started off with the idea (hope) we
would complete the century. We met a little after 6:15 am
at a Commuter Parking Lot east of Waterbury to caravan to
CycleFest in Bethel, CT. As is often the case I arrived
late by five minutes. As soon as we started driving via
cell phone calls we agreed to stop at Starbucks in
Southbury which is located just off I-84; it was just an
extra ten minutes. Marty took us across I-84, south to
Bethel over what seemed like a dozen turns, and then thru
Bethel. He missed the signs to CycleFest in downtown
Bethel. We only went about ten blocks out of the way. At
last we were at the start.
Kathy, the chairlady of CycleFest greeted me and made sure
I bought a t-shirt. Her middle daughter, Colleen, designed
it. My favorite t-shirt is the Melon Metric Ancient
Egyptian one modified by my daughter with an Isis on the
back and symbols for good luck and strength and the name of
the scribe. The design is excellent so it too will be my
favorite. On the t-shirt Colleen put a map of CT with the
country borders and the city of Danbury. Overlaid on the
map was a top hat with the HCC yellow diamond including a
sketch of a cyclist on a bike. “Hat City Cyclists”
surrounds the diamond. Around the map of CT is “HAT CITY
CYCLISTS” and below the date and “CYCLEFEST 2004” and the
url – www.hatcitycyclists.org. I wanted Colleen to sign my
shirt, but she wasn’t there.
CycleFest is a three loop ride with a 23-mile loop going
south of Bethel. The main 51-mile loop goes north of Bethel
to Gaylordsville with a 28-mile extension north and west
into New York. The 23-mile loop is one of the prettiest
rides you can take. In just a couple of miles you are into
the country. Then you hit farm and stable country before
riding on roads surrounded by woods, ponds, brooks and a
few homes. The winding, gently hilly roads were free of
cars. We saw more joggers than cars. We saw more non-
CycleFest riders than cars.
Trish zoomed ahead of Marty and me. After riding a couple of
miles Marty was sure Trish had missed a turn. The route was
well marked with a warning arrow a hundred feet before the
turn, an arrow at the turn, and a confirming arrow after the
turn. The turn in question, Hopewell Road, had three yellow
arrows at the turn; at least one was probably from last year
plus warning and confirming arrows.
Marty and I continued on to a delightful view of the
Saugatuck Reservoir at the south end of the loop. We asked
the three riders there if they saw Trish. They did not
remember her. There was a rest stop at 15 miles that we
would have ridden by except we wanted to check for Trish.
Rest stop workers there had not seen Trish. They had this
rest stop for slower riders who might a couple of hours to
ride the lower loop. After ten minutes Marty said he would
wait for Trish and I should go on.
I continued on enjoying solitude in the woods with an
absence of cars. I saw a few cyclists coming from the
opposite direction. After several turns, a bunch of little
hills, and a few million trees I got back to residential
areas in Bethel and then to the start of the ride. There was
Trish beside her car calling Marty, who did not have his
cell phone. I headed for the rest stop for my first jelly
donut. It was served by Bob, a cyclist in rehab who rides a
century most days. He said he consumes 6,000 calories a day.
Trish left a note on Marty’s car and we started the 51-mile
loop. In about five miles we reached the south end of Lake
Candlewood passing by Candlewood Park. Just as we were
coming to open country and right before the Federal
Correctional Institute (Danbury Pen) Trish’s phone rang. We
stopped by the entrance to the Pen where Trish heard from
Marty. He made it back to Bethel and was already on his way
home. Marty had been on the disabled list all winter and
spring with a bad rotator cuff. His doctor said riding would
not worsen the injury if it didn’t hurt. Marty had done just
one ride prior to CycleFest.
Trish started on a downhill and turned on the speed. She
flew past the double arrows pointing to a turn on Bear Mtn
Road. I shouted and she seemed to look back, but apparently
not because she kept on going. Going downhill she really
zooms, so it’s not easy to catch her. When I checked the map
I saw SR37 and SR39 merged about 14 mi up the road. I
thought I would wait about 15 minutes for Trish to come back
and then ride to the 37-39 junction. A sag wagon came by so
I asked the driver to look for Trish. About a half a mile
down the road he found her on the way back.
On the roll again we went along the west side of Lake
Candlewood up and down many small hills offering good views
of the lake and hills on the east side of the lake. At one
point the road goes between Squantz Pond and Lake
Candlewood. A pretty spot from where you can see a home high
up on the hill on the west side of Squantz Pond. Finally we
reached Sherman at the north end of Lake Candlewood.
Following SR39 where is splits from SR37 you pass the
picturesque Sherman Firehouse. Then we turned west for a
loop in the woods. Besides good scenery and some pretty
farm ponds the loop is about four miles long so the century
route reaches 100 miles. The route crossed over SR39 and by
the church for which Church Road is named. This was another
scenic road, but it lost some of its beauty when we crossed
the county line and were greeted by pea gravel. There was a
warning sign at the start of the pea gravel; which would
have been better placed a hundred feet before the pea
gravel. The pea gravel was not thick, so it wasn’t much of
a problem.
Soon we reached US7 and the Gaylordsville rest stop. Lisa
and Joe leaders of the Mt. Greylock ride were there. Very
kindly Lisa searched for a jelly donut. There were lots of
cream filled donuts, but Lisa found a jelly donut #2 for me.
I was lucky enough to be at the rest stop when a worker
opened an aluminum foil package that contained great
brownies an HCC member baked e great brownies. There were
gatorade, water, bananas, oranges, wide varieties of cookies
and donuts.
It was just after noon, Trish and I calculated the time
needed to finish the century. We were averaging 15 mph. The
28-mile loop would take two hours and the 23 miles back to
Bethel would take an hour and a half. Trish could not
complete the century and get back for work at 4:45pm, so she
got a ride back to the start.
I continued on the century route alone. I did not want to
miss crossing the Appalachian Trail twice plus lots of good
scenery in the back country of CT and NY. The route
paralleled the Housatonic RR line most of the way to Kent.
Just after crossing the Housatonic River, the Appalachian
Trail crossed SR341. On the other side of Macedonia I
neglected to go far enough into the woods for a brief break,
so I heard the tune of motorcyclists tooting their horns in
recognition of my activity.
Almost as soon as I resumed riding, I crossed into NY and
passed the motorcyclists. I waved and they waved back. About
10 miles of the route in NY is along the Ten Mile River
which joins the Housatonic just north of the rest stop.
Kathy was there with Colleen who signed my t-shirt. I had a
jelly donut (#3), relaxed for a few minutes before starting
back to Bethel. Just as I was leaving another rider pulled
in, so I wasn’t the last rider holding up the closing of the
rest stop. After a tenth of a mile I hit a bump breaking a
spoke which put my wheel out of true. I opened my rear
brakes and continued, but wasn’t too happy. The spoke hit
the chain in the low gears, but I got by without using them
since the route was fairly level.
Most of the returning route went along the Housatonic RR and
River. Scenery was good along the river, but not as good on
the part along the railroad. The scenery was okay and it
avoided lots of traffic. Last year the route went along the
east side of Lake Candlewood on roads with lots of traffic
and a fair number of potholes. I made fairly good time back
to Bethel where I had another jelly donut (#4) and grabbed a
banana and raisin bran muffin for the drive home.
Delorme’s Topo 3 assessed the route at 103.7 mi and 8038 ft
of climbing. The highly scenic 23.3-mile loop had 1760 feet
of climbing.
EVALUATION
Brochure – I never saw a brochure, but there was complete
information on the Hat City Cyclists website.
Routes – excellent. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees,
lakes, brooks, and rivers. The return route was a good
improvement over last year’s return.
Intersections - excellent. Well marked with a warning mark,
a mark at the intersection, and a confirming mark after the
intersection. Often there were many straight arrows
confirming the route.
Cue sheet – excellent. Accurate with mileage and turns plus
a map to give you the option to pick a short cut if you are
tired, it starts to rain, etc. (1)
Rest stops – excellent. Great jelly donuts. There was a good
selection of bagels, cookies, fruit, muffins, donuts,
brownies, etc. etc., but an alternative drink to water and
Gatorade would be appreciated. Great jelly donuts!
Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route. At
least nine passed me.
Value – excellent.
Conclusion – I’ll be on this ride next year looking for
jelly donuts.
(1) It’s possible there’s a left at 52.66 on Long Mountain
Rd before the turn on Kent. The route was marked
correctly. I didn’t notice the possible error until
putting the route into Topo 3. Delorme has errors.
Disclaimer: I have been positively influenced by Kathy,
Lisa, Joe, Jim, Jim, Bob, Teresa, and many other HCCers. I
am a recipient on the hcc-road email server. When I saw
Lisa’s message about a Mt. Greylock ride, I asked if I could
be a guest rider. I missed the Mt Greylock century organized
by the Berkshire Cyclists last year.
The Mt. Greylock ride was designed and led by the Bob and
Teresa for about 15 years. Lisa and Joe led it this year
accompanied by the Bob and Teresa. While Kathy was supposed
to be busy on 5/29, she became free at the last minute and
drove a support van.
The ride starting in Lee, MA was a joint ride of the Hat
City Cyclists and the Westchester Cycle Club plus a few
guests. The Westchester Cycle Club approached
Mt. Greylock from the steeper north side while the Hat City
Cyclists approached from the south. Kathy SAGged the HCC
route waiting at almost every turn. At noon the two
clubs met atop Mt Greylock. It was a cold day made worse
by a stiff breeze. We ate lunch in a large building
including a restaurant and rooms for overnight guests.
Kathy gave us our jackets, arm warmers, leg warmers, etc
for the coast down the mountain and she collected them
at the bottom. After the ride several of us dined at the
Athena restaurant.
NOTE: Putting on an invitational ride takes lots of hard
work. I have worked at a rest stops and in
registration. The work and intentions of club members
is appreciated by me and other riders.