Saturday, October 23, 2010

Old Lyme


Total for this ride: 22.8 miles
Total for this year: 2128.3 miles

Riding on borrowed time...  At this point in the season, every time I get on the bike it could be my last ride of the year.  Got to enjoy them while I still can.  I did enjoy this one. 

I know I've done parts of this ride in the past, but I can't remember exactly when.  All I know is that it was a long time ago.  May have even been back when I was in college, riding the bike I used to commute to high school (which was stolen during my move to CA in 1984, necessitating the purchase of a new bike - a Trek 420 which I still occasionally ride to this day...).  Anyway, even though there were some familiar sights on this ride, the bright sunshine and breathtaking fall colors made for a thoroughly enjoyable ride.

I started from my parents' house in a neighborhood off the Boston Post Road in East Lyme and headed south toward the beach on the Long Island Sound in Niantic.  The traffic was, as usual, fairly heavy between Flanders and Niantic.  But I've ridden that stretch of road so many times I've kind of gotten used to it. 

When I hit Rt. 156, which parallels the coast, I turned west and followed the road for several miles, past the prison on Bride Brook Rd, and Rocky Neck State Park (which I visited earlier in the summer).  The road eventually turns north and follows the Connecticut River inland.
Just past where 156 goes under Interstate 90, I turned to the east and entered the village of Old Lyme.  It's a really neat old town, with a history that goes back to the late 1600's.  George Washington is known to have passed through the town on multiple occasions, and Albert Einstein had a summer home there.

I was apparently spending too much time "leaf peeping" and looking at the scenery -- and not watching for road hazards.  I hit a small pot hole square on, so hard that it rattled my teeth.  I was afraid I had damaged a rim, but I stopped and checked everything out.  Seemed like all of the critical components were still intact, so I pressed on.  After passing through town I made a quick stop at Rogers Lake to take a few pictures, continued on to Scott's Yankee Farmer, and then home.


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