Vermont, West River Trail

New England Trip, Day 4 After a nice stay at the "retro" Snowdon Snow Chalet, we rode right from the hotel parking lot.  Retro or just old? Snowdon Snow Chalet, Londonderry, VT Potty jokes Google Maps showed a bike route on Rest Haven Road, but it turned into a two-lane mud path.  Mona loved it -- not. Rest Haven Road or pre-revolutionary cow path Once on the West River Trail itself, the biking was really nice and again great weather. Patrons of the trail provide binoculars cabled to this nifty protective box At start of the Ball Mountain Reservoir, the path narrows and climbs into the hill, so we parked our bikes and hiked to a nice lunch spot. The perfect spot for lunch Paved route back to the hotel On the return, we rode back on the road instead on the muddy path. Route on West River Trail Next stop, Horse & Hound Inn, Franconia, NH

State:	Vermont
Date:	2019-10-19
Route:	West River Trail, Snowdon Chalet Motel to Ball Mountain Reservoir
Distance:	20 miles

Connecticut, Hop River Trail

New England Trip, Day 3 We drove just 30 minutes from the hotel to the trail head which should have provided an early start to our ride, but my tire had gone flat.  I couldn't find a leak in the tube so I put the tube back, pumped it up and hoped for the best.

From the new parking lot, we crossed a new bridge over the Willimantic River on to the Hop River Trail.  Connecticut has a lot of biking options.  Our trail choice proved to be a good one as the rails-to-trail led us through yellow and gold autumn-shrouded forests.  The weather was excellent once again.

Yellow and gold autumn-shrouded forests

A gradual elevation gain on the outbound journey provides a nice boost to tired riders on the way back.

Burnap Brook

Perfect spot for lunch

Backstory

Chillin' at Bolton Notch State Park

No question about it, New England is rocky.  When the last Ice Age's glaciers receded, they left behind millions of tons of stone.  Early farmers cleared these plow-impeding stones from their fields and piled them on the edges.  

The supply of stone seemed endless. A field would be cleared in the autumn, and there would be a whole new crop of stones in the spring. This is due to a process known as “frost heave.” As deforested soils freeze and thaw, stones shift and migrate to the surface. “People in the Northeast thought that the devil had put them there,” says Susan Allport, author of the book Sermons in Stone: The Stone Walls of New England and New York. “They just kept coming.”

This process was replicated at thousands of farms across the region.  This collective act of labor built 240,000 miles of stone walls -- equivalent to building Great Pyramid of Giza 60 times.

New England loves rock walls

The trend continues today as office buildings and shopping centers feature stone walls as part of their landscaping.  After our ride, we sidetracked to Nathan Hale's Homestead secluded in the Nathan Hale State Forest.  It's apparent that Nathan came from a well-to-do family as the homestead is impressive (lots of stone walls).  While we were there, staff was giving a tour for a prospective wedding reception. 

Nathan Hale's Homestead
("I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.")

There is some controversy about whether Hale's actually made this statement moments before his hanging as a spy.  I'm not one to ruin a good story so let's give him full credit for a heroic death.

Mysteriously, my tire remained inflated until the last day of the trip.

Route on Hop River Trail

Next stop Snowdon Chalet, in Londonderry, VT.

State:	Connecticut
Date:	2019-10-18
Route:	Hop River Trail, Willamantic (Mackey's) to Bolton Notch State Park
Distance:	28 miles

Rhode Island, East Bay Trail

New England Trip: Day 2 It was dark and rainy when we checked into William's Grant Inn in Bristol, RI.  The forecast had been shouting about an incoming Nor'easter for the last couple of days.  Apparently, we just missed the brunt of the storm.  In the morning it was cool with a stiff breeze, but sunny -- very nice biking weather. B&B William's Grant Inn (recommended) At breakfast, we met the B&B owners.  A friendly couple, they explained they would shutting down for the season at the end of the week.  Except for a few weekends over the holidays, they would be closed until next spring.  They added it was a well-deserved break as they had worked every day since last May.  Apparently, the life of a B&B owner is a difficult one.  Most B&B owners only last 5 to 7 years.  They were in their third year and still going strong.   East Bay Trail We loaded our bags in the car parked at the B&B and rode to the bike path a few blocks away.  We noticed a lot of leaf clutter on the trail, but didn't realize the power of last night's storm until we reached the first of a dozen trees blown across the path.   Narragansett Bay Nice day for biking Brickyard Pond "Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving." "Hours: 12-7 or whenever" One of a dozen blow-downs blocking the trail OK, time to turn around. The last blockage was the biggest and about as far as we wanted to bike anyway, so we used it as our turnaround point.  Colt State Park The British navy shelled Bristol when the town refused to supply 30 cattle and 400 sheep. When we returned to Bristol, we noticed a promising-looking restaurant advertising seafood.  We stopped in for an afternoon snack of clam chowder and crab cakes -- ah, the benefits of bike touring -- unlimited eating. Portside Tavern's chowder and crab cakes!  Fortified by our afternoon snack, we drove half an hour to a most remarkable walking trail in Newport -- the Cliff Walk.  The Rhode Island Constitution of 1843 guaranteed public access to the 3.5-mile Cliff Walk “for purposes of fishing and the gathering of seaweed.”  In the late 18th century, Newport became a playground for the rich who built opulent "cottages" overlooking Easton Bay.  The most famous cottage, "The Breakers," was built by the Vanderbilts and is open to the public. Of course, the rich property owners tried to block public access to the path along the cliff and rocks below over the years. The fishermen won access rights against the rich land owners Fortunately, the "fishermen" went to court over and over to protect their rights and now the Cliff Walk is designated a National Recreation Trail. The 3.5 mile Cliff Walk starts out paved and gradually turns to rock hopping along the beach Easton Bay is a popular surf spot after a Nor'easter Must get more rocks The Breakers Route on East Bay Path Next stop -- Connecticut.  I wanted to stay at a "haunted" B&B, but Mona said she'd be a stronger biker if she got a good night's sleep -- Hampton Inn, it is.

State:	Rhode Island
Date:	2019-10-17
Route:	East Bay Path, William Grant's B&B, Bristol to Crescent View Ave.
Distance:	20 miles

Massachusetts, Charles River Trail and the 1985 Bears Parade

New England Trip, Day 1 This was a bonanza trip for the Frizbo Fifty -- New England for the fall colors and biking in six states.  Mona and I landed early in the morning in Boston and drove to Arlington, MA to rent bicycles from Quad Bicycles (recommended) for ten days.  Always a concern, would the bikes fit in the rental car?  They did -- barely.  From there it was a quick drive to Danehy Park and then a quick ride to the Charles River. Welcome to Boston Once at the river, we noticed racing sculls rowing up and down the river.  On the shore, construction crews were assembling various viewing stands.  Innumerable porta-potties lined the sidewalks and parking lots.  It was, we later learned, preparation for the "Head of the Charles Regatta" -- the largest two-day boat race in the world.  Boston apparently loves boat races. Rowers practicing for this weekend's big boat race "Head of the Charles Regatta" The '85 Bears Parade Like Chicago, Boston is a great sports town.  The Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox and Patriots are beloved by the locals.  Boston broke "The Curse of the Bambino" in 2004 and Chicago broke "The Billy Goat Curse" in 2016.  But back in 1986, Boston and Chicago were long suffering for a football championship when the Patriots and Bears met in Super Bowl XX.  It was hard to say which city was more excited about their team, Chicago with the unstoppable 15-1 Bears or Boston and the Cinderella wildcard Patriots. Jimmy Mac and Da '85 Bears! We watched the Super Bowl at Ronny O'Connor's house, aka The 706 Club.  The watch party was a ruckus blur as the Bears dominated 46-10.  One of my few clear memories was loading Anna into her boyfriend's car through the window as she was unwilling to leave the party of her own accord. "Oh, I never knew that" moment -- Cambridge is on the north side of the river, Boston on the south. With two days' notice, city hall hastily announced a parade down La Salle Street and a noon celebration at Daley Plaza for January 28, 1986.  Later, during the Bull's glory years, the city would learn to host these events in Grant Park where there is more room, but championships were new to this administration and Daley Plaza seemed like a good plan -- what could go wrong?   "Let's meet at the corner of Clark and Washington at 11:45am to watch the parade," I suggested to Mona on the phone.  We both worked downtown at the time.  Mona walked from her office near Union Station.  I strolled a couple blocks from the IBM Building.  At the plaza, we were able to easily find each other in the large crowd of orange and blue Bear fans.  Despite the frigid temperature, the crowd continued to grow until we were hemmed in on all sides with people flooding the plaza and surrounding streets. "How will they get the parade through here?" I thought as I watched the first team bus round the corner on La Salle Street.  The large coach buses inched their way toward the plaza with some of the players sitting atop the buses waving to the fans.  The buses were led by a phalanx of police on horseback arranged in an wedge formation to break through the crowd much like an Arctic icebreaker.  As the wedge pushed the people aside, the crowd compacted and soon Mona and I were smashed like old Milk Duds.  We were entirely at the mercy of the crowd.  Arthur Fiedler, long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra Our plight evoked the image of the hallway at the Who concert in Cincinnati where eleven people were crushed to death.  In the photo of the aftermath, the deadly hallway was littered with shoes.  Injuries from crowds are often the result of the victim's feet being stepped on and entrapped. When the crowd surges, the victim is then pushed to the ground and trampled. "Keep your feet off the ground," I called to Mona.  She looked confused.  We could barely communicate even though we were only a few feet from each other.  The wake of the horses and buses pushed us back, then left, then forward and then right.  We traced a 50-foot circle around the corner streetlight completely driven by the ocean of people. Hatch Memorial Shell Strangely, I noticed various musical instruments being handed overhead through the crowd.  A trombone floated by followed by a saxophone.  Next, I noticed a high school kid in a band uniform with her face literally pressed against my chest pleading "I'm going to be sick!"  I used a swim maneuver to squeeze her by me.  Thankfully, she moved on to the next person with a similar plea and disappeared from sight.  Poor kid, I hope she found her trombone. At this point, the Bears had reached the stage and the crowd stopped surging.  We could see the stage but couldn't hear much.  Unable to move, we waited patiently for the ceremonies to conclude.  When the stage cleared, the crowd thinned and we escaped.     "We were just standing there and then suddenly we were trapped. It happened so quickly,"  Mona recalled.  "Then it ended just as suddenly and we left.  It was very scary." My daughter described her escape from a similarly crowded concert.  "The only way to leave early was to crowd surf our way to the front of the audience where a bouncer was grabbing people, ripping them out of the crowd and directing them into an open aisle where we were ushered outside the venue."  Perhaps a tip for next time. I walked Mona back to her office and then cut through Daley Plaza on the way back to work.  Most of the crowd had left.  It felt surreal walking unimpeded through a spot where minutes earlier I was completely trapped. Sadly, I am reminded of this parade every year when I'm crushed by the Bears' fortunes yet again. --- My annoying selfie at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology In Cambridge, we rode through both the Harvard and MIT campuses.  The number of tourists taking selfies at both campuses was kind of annoying. The worst was the queue to take a John Harvard Founder Statue selfie given that John Harvard didn't found the school and the statue isn't actually of John Harvard. Arlington High School, MA After the ride, our niece, Clare, a Harvard researcher and the smartest person I know, graciously met us for dinner at the Grafton Street Pub.  She regaled us with stories of Boston life and caring for lab mice.  As much as we enjoyed hanging out with Clare, we couldn't stay late as we had to be in Bristol, RI that night. Our route through Boston and Cambridge Next stop Rhode Island!

State:	Massachusetts
Date:	2019-10-16
Route:	Danehy Park to Charles River Dam (stops at Harvard and MIT)
Distance:	13 miles