Harkness Memorial

Total for this ride: 22.9 miles
Total for this year: 2215.8 miles

Cold and windy in southern CT today (wind chills in the low 30's), but with brilliant sunshine and no demands on my time there was no way I was going to miss the chance to ride.  Shortly after breakfast I filled the tires on the Trek, layered up, and hit the road.

My plan was to ride to the Harkness Memorial State Park, a gorgeous 220-acre estate on the Long Island Sound which was donated to the State of Connecticut in 1950 by the Harkness family, who acquired the property in the early 1900's.  The outbound route was one I've traveled many times, most recently in the summer of 2009.  In spite of the fact that segments of the ride aren't really bike friendly (primarily because of moderate traffic and lack of adequate shoulders) it's one of my favorites when I visit my parents.  It's kind of the biking equivalent of comfort food.

I made good time as I worked my way down to the coast and rode east along Niantic's Main St.  I crossed the drawbridge over the Niantic River, rode past the entrance to the Millstone nuclear power plant, and then turned south toward Jordan's Cove.  I would have loved to take a few pics, but with my cold weather gloves on, and the camera stored in a pocket underneath my outer layer, it's almost impossible to shoot while riding.  I'd either drop the camera, or kill myself, or both.  I waited until I stopped at Harkness to get the camera out.

Knowing I would probably do some walking at the park, I brought a pair of sneakers with me in a backpack.  I really don't like riding with a backpack, but walking in cleats would have been a huge hassle, so the backpack was the lesser of two evils.  Besides, it wasn't going to be a long ride, so I figured I could tough it out.

When I rolled into Harkness I was surprised at the number of cars in the parking lot.  As cold and windy as it was, I expected the place to be almost empty.  But there were actually a fair number of people out enjoying the sunshine - bundled up in their winter parkas, scarves, hats, and gloves.  With my thin layers on they must have thought I was nuts.  But even though it was cold, it was certainly bearable.  I was relatively comfortable during the 20 minutes or so I was there taking pictures.

Before the ride I thought about going from Harkness over to Ocean Beach Park, just to the east in New London.  But then I realized that I'd been riding with the wind to this point, and that I'd be riding into it on the way back.  So having met all of my mileage goals for the year, I decided just to head back.

I took a new route on the return ride to my parents' house, through mostly residential areas of Waterford.  Some of the houses along Niantic River Rd. were absolutely incredible...  I survived the intersection at Flanders Four Corners and head back up the Post Rd. toward the house.  My last decision was whether to make the turn at Ancient Highway and make the steep climb up to Webster Rd., or keep going and turn at Lover's Lane, which is a longer, but not quite as steep, access into Mom and Dad's neighborhood.  I decided to man up...

Sacred Ground

Total for this ride: 34.4 miles
Total for this year: 2192.9 miles

It was cold today.  And windy.  Temps when I left the house were in the high 30's, and never got any better.  Winds were out of the east (unusual...) at 12.  So yes, it was cold.  But still no snow (or salt...), so I decided to layer up and hit the road.  I'm glad I did.

The plan was to ride in a big rectangle from Victor up to Rt 31, then east to Palmyra, south to Manchester, and west back to Victor.  The route would take me past some of the most sacred sites in the Mormon Church.

My first stop was the Joseph Smith Farm and Sacred Grove.  I've been near this site several times, but had never made an effort to see the farm.  In fact I hadn't planned to stop there today, but I saw a sign on Rt 21, and wasn't in any hurry, so I decided to make a little detour to see it.  I don't know if it's closed on Sunday (which would be kinda weird) but nobody was there when I pulled into the parking lot.  Fortunately I was still able to ride up to Smith's log house, where the Angel Moroni appeared to Smith in September 1823.  The Sacred Grove (where God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, visited the 14 year old Smith in 1820) was just beyond that, but I was wearing cleats, and didn't have a way to lock up the bike... so I hopped back on the bike and returned to my planned route.

Once I got back to Rt 21, it was a couple miles to Hill Cumorah, where Smith received the Golden Plates containing the Book of Mormon in 1823.  The site is now the scene every summer of an incredibly elaborate pageant which recounts the history of the Mormon faith.  I saw it a couple of years ago for the first time - breathtaking.

I stopped only long enough to grab the pic shown below, then head for home.  It took a while to warm up when I got back... my toes were numb for the next half hour...

Rescue Mission

Total for this ride: 2.5 miles

Total for this year: 2158.5 miles

Just a short ride to rescue my truck from the shop where it was in for a new muffler and tailpipe.  Rode in street clothes.  Cut through the school yard, over to Lane Rd., and down to 96.  Windy and cold...

Still no major snow in the forecast... I can keep riding until the salt trucks hit the road.

A Cold, Dark Commute...

Total for this ride: 27.7
Total for this year: 2156.0 miles

Seems like forever since I've ridden... Been so long that I'd already put the bikes in the basement for the season. But with the weather man predicting a run of decent weather, I decided a couple days ago to haul out the Univega and make at least one more commute in to work.

I parked the truck in the usual commuter lot and hit the trail before sunrise.  And yes, it was cold... I heard 30 degrees on TV before I left the house, but that was the temp downtown.  I have no idea how cold it was out in the burbs.  Maybe not quite as cold as some of those rides I made back in March, but it was still cold.  I was glad I went with four layers.

The ride in was pretty uneventful.  It was sad to see that the trees are all bare again.  There's still water in the canal, but it probably won't be there much longer.

The ride home was a little more interesting... I left the office at 4:30.  The sun was still up, but just barely.  It would set by the time I hit the canal towpath, and it would be dark by the time I got back to the truck.  But, being the smart guy that I am, I planned ahead and brought both my head and tail lights.  Good to go.

That is, until I got to the corner of John and Jefferson, and while waiting for the signal to cross, realized that my headlight was out.  Great... I didn't want to ride all the way back to the office to get fresh batteries, but I definitely wouldn't be able to ride home without the light.  Fortunately, I happened to have two spare batteries in my rack trunk.  I keep a set on hand in case the GPS runs low.  But the light takes four batteries.  So I had to cannibalize the two out of the GPS.

It's a good thing I did.  The skies were perfectly clear today, so once the sun went down it got dark fast.  By the time I got to Schoen Place, there wasn't even any twilight left.  I decided that I'd never ridden when it was that dark before.  Because if I had, I would have known that my headlight is woefully inadequate for those conditions.  It was barely bright enough to keep me on the trail, let alone see if there was a deer or bear or whatever up ahead.  If some obstacle appeared, I'd have a couple of seconds to react.  But, luckily, the wildlife was on its best behavior so I made it back to the truck without incident.