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...