Photos
Left: My bike all dressed up for its journey into the unknown. Taken where the Hop River Trail is supposed to cross Route 316 and the junction of Route 6 in Andover, CT. Maybe the bridge will be in place in my lifetime. Ha! Don’t count on it.
Right: Hornets’ nest just three feet off the ground. I’ve never seen one that low. It was active.
Load 'em up
I loaded my bike, again, with what I would be taking on the Erie Canal ride. Still carrying 21 lbs. It seems that when I took some things out, I realized I had forgotten other things the first time so it evened out and remains 21 lbs. I decided to ride the Hop River Rail Trail from Vernon to Andover because it’s compact dirt covered with stone dust…just like the Erie Canal Pathway. One big difference, however, Hop River has long, 4 mile, up-grades. The grade is only about 1%, but after a couple miles you feel like it’s more than that. The EC Pathway is flat. The highest elevation is listed at 400 ft., but I don’t know where that is. I’m guessing one of the stretches on-road.
Move 'em out
I was surprised that riding fully loaded was no more difficult than riding with no load. I’ve ridden this trail many times (with no load) so I would have noticed any difference.
It was a beautiful day for a ride
There were a lot of people out on the trail biking, walking, running. I met a couple at the Fish Reclamation area near Bolton Notch. They were fun to talk to. Already I’ve forgotten their names, but they will email me later in September to get the web address of my Erie Canal Adventure on-line journal.
As I was taking pictures of the hornets’ nest, I stopped a fellow rider to show it to him. He told me bears had been sighted several times in that area (not too far north of Bolton Notch). Wow. I told him I hoped I could out run one on my bike…after getting a picture of course.
Smooth surface
I could not help but notice that the surface of the trail was not marred by the washboard effect of horses’ hoofs. That is one of my big pet peeves! However, today I notice a few hoof prints but they were off to the side of the trail (where they should be) and not all over the middle where bicycles travel. The indentations made by the horses make the surface feel like a washboard when they are all over the place. I should mention, too, that the only “piles” left by horses was in the tunnel, which made them hard to see, but at least they were not all over the trail as I have seen in the past.
All in all, I was very happy with today’s ride.
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