Northeast - Sound off CT!

Who are the CT people in here? Sound off!!

Z.

I've been too busy to ride this year, but I hope to get out tomorrow in the F'ton valley area.

From Hartford area here.

Steve

From Danbury area... but I'm a BMXer...

im from connecticut, fairfield county

South Windsor :)

South Windsor :)


Same here. Do you go to the Tuesday night ride at Jo-Ann's Fabrics?

Steve

Hamden/New Haven born and raised... did a lot of BMX riding as a kid around there... ahhh, those were the days. Been living in philly for a long time though :)

Think of me as a CT cyclists support group member :D

I'm in Brookfield. Most of my rides are up in litchfield cty, and I do half commutes down to Shelton from Newtown. This sunday I'm doing the Hat City cyclefest if my back loosens up in time. I'll be easy to spot--I'll be the slowest guy there on a road bike.

Same here. Do you go to the Tuesday night ride at Jo-Ann's Fabrics?

Steve

Hi Steve,

No I never make it to the Monday night rides. I do ride with the spinning group from my gym sometimes on Tuesdays, but genereally a few of us meet two hours before the "official ride" and go out and get in a much better training ride.

A friend of mine met me at my house yesterday after work and we went out to get in a very windy, but beautiful 44 mile ride. Some very gusty winds - but what a GREAT training tool.

I will be doing a bunch of rides listed on my road cycing calendar web page link at the bottom of this post. Are you doing any of those? I bet I must have seen you on the road sometime along the way.

When I am not doing a ride listed on my link, I generally hit the road for a local ride @ 5:30am on the weekends and will usually get in anywhere from 80-100 miles. We have some great riding around here. I think that I am just finally starting to appreciate how many options are available to me living in this area. It really is quite nice.

I will be doing a bunch of rides listed on my road cycing calendar web page link at the bottom of this post. Are you doing any of those? I bet I must have seen you on the road sometime along the way.

When I am not doing a ride listed on my link, I generally hit the road for a local ride @ 5:30am on the weekends and will usually get in anywhere from 80-100 miles. We have some great riding around here. I think that I am just finally starting to appreciate how many options are available to me living in this area. It really is quite nice.

We sure do have some nice area to ride. We probably did pass each other on the road somewhere. I done the NY 5 Boro, Bloomin' Metric Century, and the Bkm Steelcase MS Bike tour century. I see a lot of rides that I will check out. Thank you for the link, I bookmarked it.

Steve

Willimantic

hi there. joseph from middletown. i've been riding bikes for probably 30 years, but as of this week, just moved from old hardtail mountain bike with slick tires, to a carbon road racing bike with modern components.

i've worked up to about 25 mile rides through middlefield-durham-wallingford -- really nice rides, very rural, rarely flat. i'm planning to join the Pedal Power (LBS) monday night rides asap. see you there perhaps.

Anyone doing Cyclefest in Bethel this Sunday? It is a very nicely organized ride with routes from 4 to 103 miles.

http://www.hatcitycyclists.org/cyclefest/cyclefest2006.html

I have ridden at Cyclefaest three years now and it always has great SAG support, rest stops and beautiful routes. Weather is calling for low 70's with sun and clouds. Should be nice, if the weathermen get it right as they usually do :rolleyes:

Say hello if you are there > I'll be the blonde chick on the black Colnago doing the 4 mile route :p Okay, plus 99 more miles.

Happy cycling!

i'm planning to join the Pedal Power (LBS) monday night rides asap. see you there perhaps.

Hi Joseph!

A friend of mine has ridden with Pedal Power and he said that their evening rides are awesome
(and I note that since he has been riding with them, he has become a much stronger rider and has gained some great group riding skills).

I wish that I was closer so I could make it to a few of their rides. Maybe someday.

Norwalk, hopefully soon to be Simsbury area.

cdr

East Hartford

Norwalk, hopefully soon to be Simsbury area.

cdr

Hope ya like hills :) You won't be too far from Barkhamsted and the like....

Anyone doing Cyclefest in Bethel this Sunday? It is a very nicely organized ride with routes from 4 to 103 miles.
.

Happy cycling!

I'll be there, I did it last year and thought it was a great route with a nice riding atmosphere: better than a lot of other organized rides that I have been on. Even better when my rear shifter cable snapped and was replaced at the Gaylordsville rest stop.

BTW, I liked your CT ride link list, that is something that has beern missing and nice to see it all on one page.

I'll be there, I did it last year and thought it was a great route with a nice riding atmosphere: better than a lot of other organized rides that I have been on. Even better when my rear shifter cable snapped and was replaced at the Gaylordsville rest stop.

BTW, I liked your CT ride link list, that is something that has beern missing and nice to see it all on one page.

Excellent. Well, I hope the weather is better than it is today (it is POURING here right now). Say hello if you are there. I will either be on a black Colnago or if the weather is sketchy - my yellow Cannondale.

I'm glad you like my road cycling calendar. I find myself always searching for rides in the Northeast, so I decided to compile it all onto a single webpage so that others can "one-stop shop" as well. I do update it with new rides as I get them.

Enjoy your ride tomorrow!

I live in Mass, but do 1/3 of my riding in the NW corner of CT, so can I be an honorary CT? Plus my favorite crit is in Naugatuck.

I live in Mass, but do 1/3 of my riding in the NW corner of CT, so can I be an honorary CT? Plus my favorite crit is in Naugatuck.

Sure you can :)

I live in CT and do most of my riding in MA. I love the CRW Club routes.

I will be on a white and green Lemond with flat handlbars,

I saw a bunch of people riding today in the pouring rain and thunder storms, turns out the RI Diabetes ride is going through today.

Bolton, Im out most evenings, except tuesdays, on a black singlespeed road bike or an old Bridgestone.
Give me a wave!
Sfene

New Milford / Bristol area

Blue Trek 7.3 FX

Cheshire newbie here, returning to riding after 20 years off. I am picking up my Trek 1500-D at Bicycles East in Glastonbury on Wednesday. I hope to either ride locally or at work in Bloomfield with the cycling nuts - they typically do Fridays at lunch time for an hour.

I commute down Farmington Ave. past the West Hartford reservoir every day and see some of the same folks all the time. Most notable is a guy on a recumbent that wears a BMW full-face helmet and another guy on a fixie w/ no brakes. Some day maybe I will join them.

Grew up in Middletown and spent a few years in New Haven after college. Used to enjoy the out and back back country route between them with a stop for food at my parents. Ought to try that now from Boston, hmm (evil thoughts, must resist)...

I'm from Suffield and ride in town, West Suffield, East Granby, Granby, Feeding Hills, Agawam, and Westfield, MA areas.

shelton\trumbull here. As long as it's nice, I can be found in the trumbull trails.....

shelton\trumbull here. As long as it's nice, I can be found in the trumbull trails.....

Hey lodi, I live in Oxford and am just getting into mtn riding after doing mostly road riding for years. I hear lots of good things about Indian Ledge & Old Mine Park in Trumbull. Are there any maps of the trails I can get or organized groups that ride there regularly ? I don't just want to show up and start riding.....I have plenty of road skills and fitness but I need to work on the off road skills now...

Hey lodi, I live in Oxford and am just getting into mtn riding after doing mostly road riding for years. I hear lots of good things about Indian Ledge & Old Mine Park in Trumbull. Are there any maps of the trails I can get or organized groups that ride there regularly ? I don't just want to show up and start riding.....I have plenty of road skills and fitness but I need to work on the off road skills now...

i think you can check MTBR, they may have something for you. But just remember this. If you start from the comuter lot off rt 25, when the water is on your left your going in, if it's on your right, your coming out. If you go in thru the tate Rd entrance, it's the opposite. PM me , I usually ride during the week, cause it gets packed during the weekends......

Hi Joseph!

A friend of mine has ridden with Pedal Power and he said that their evening rides are awesome
(and I note that since he has been riding with them, he has become a much stronger rider and has gained some great group riding skills).

I wish that I was closer so I could make it to a few of their rides. Maybe someday.

hi to you -- thanks for the link to events -- i went out on the Pedal Power Monday ride, and it was very welcoming and a great ride through Durham in the rain!

Coventry Here. Some excellent riding out here. www.routeslip.com is a great place to share routes. I stored a few of mine there.

Jeff

East Haven rodie here...

http://mapmyride.com/ is what I have been using. I tried routeslip but the editing feature just wasn't very robust, and I read in the forums on the site that it is only occasionally maintained.

So I loaded a couple of training routes into my profile at http://www.mapmyride.com/user_profile?username=fprintf

East Haven rodie here...

Hi mkdevo,

I see in your signature that you were participating in the Tour de Cure ride. Did you do the ride in North Haven last weekend?

I cycled the Cyclefest Century in Bethel last Sunday and was planning to possibly follow the 100 mile Tour de Cure route this Saturday in North Haven. I have the cue sheet and would imagine that the roads should be marked fairly well. Does the route pass by areas that have convenience stores or small markets that we would be able to stop and refill water bottlesl? Any info about the route and what to expect would be very helpful (ie: unpaved roads on route, hilly/not hilly, poorly marked, high traffic, etc).

Thanks a bunch.

Not sure how accurate the elevation gain part of it is. According to mapmyride, my ride through Bigelow Hollow State Park would've been around 4,500 feet for 51 miles. My computer said around 2,800 feet.....

Elevation is a known problem with mapmyride.com, and for that you would be correct that routeslip.com is much much better at it. I only wish they would combine the accurace of routeslip with the easy GUI of mapmyride!

Hi mkdevo,

I see in your signature that you were participating in the Tour de Cure ride. Did you do the ride in North Haven last weekend?

I cycled the Cyclefest Century in Bethel last Sunday and was planning to possibly follow the 100 mile Tour de Cure route this Saturday in North Haven. I have the cue sheet and would imagine that the roads should be marked fairly well. Does the route pass by areas that have convenience stores or small markets that we would be able to stop and refill water bottlesl? Any info about the route and what to expect would be very helpful (ie: unpaved roads on route, hilly/not hilly, poorly marked, high traffic, etc).

Thanks a bunch.
hey spindog -

yes, i did the north haven tdc last weekend. it was a great ride!

i was actually thinking about doing it again this weekend as well. the roads are marked VERY well. you want to follow the white arrows. there are 4-5 different color arrows, and they're all together at the beginning, and they slowly start to split off.

the route definitely goes through some areas where there are places to stop (mostly the state routes - 17, 80, etc.), however, there are also extended stretches where you may be hard pressed to find something, so be prepared for that.

the road quality, for the most part, was very good. i ride a good chunk of this route quite often.

traffic isn't too much of an issue, though it's heavier on those state routes.

there aren't many left-hand turns on the ride, but there are some, and a few are tricky, so be careful on those.

there are (i believe) TWO portions of road that you will go over twice. one you ride over the same way you rode the first time, the other you go in the opposite direction on the same road. NOTE REST STOPS #3 and #5 ON THE CUE SHEET! it is the same place, and is at a fork. be sure you head RIGHT (onto 77) the first time you hit it, and LEFT (onto 17) the second time you hit it. other than that, the road markings should be enough to get you through.

it's a moderately hilly ride. ~4600 feet total. far and away the hardest part of the ride is ~mile 30-31 - whirlwind hill road. it's about 1.2 miles long, and steep hill after steep hill. just when you think you've done the hardest part, another hill creeps up on you. it's a great feeling when you finally go over the top!

the thing that bugged me about the 'century' was approaching the finish and looking down at 96.x miles on my garmin. sure, i could have rode ~1.5 miles past gateway and turned around, but at that point, there was NO WAY i was riding past the finish line. ;)

hope that helps. let me know if you'd be interested in having company on the ride.. like i said, i was planning on doing it anyways. FWIW, i had a 15.7 mph average on the ride. took me just over 6:08 in the saddle; just over 7:00 with breaks.

dave

I haven't been able to save any new routes on Routeslip in months now....pissing me off. I emailed the dude, but have heard nothing. Even tried setting up a new account....still no dice.

Routeslip was probably the most user-friendly one out there, but it's gone to ****.

....hope that helps. let me know if you'd be interested in having company on the ride.. like i said, i was planning on doing it anyways. FWIW, i had a 15.7 mph average on the ride. took me just over 6:08 in the saddle; just over 7:00 with breaks.

dave


mkdevo -

Thanks for the excellent info. I just got off the phone with a friend and we are deciding between driving up to MA to do the Mt Quabbin 125 mile route or to do the North Haven, CT Tour de Cure 100 mile ... or should I say, 96 mile route :rolleyes:

Right now, we are keeping an eye on the sky. Been there, done that with the cold rain thing > I do plenty of centuries and greater distances that I prefer to skip the crappy weather. It is looking like the rain is more likely to hold out in CT until afternoon and up North at this point, they are forcasting rain after 9AM in the Petersham area. I don't want to be stuck on the Quabbin route during thunderstorms and violent weather > there are no shortcuts back.

It would likely be myself and two guys riding together. The three of us are doing the MS Society Great Mass Getaway Tour (GMG) next weekend so we are looking to get in at least one more long ride.

You are certainly welcome to hook up with us if you'd like. Heck, come up with $400 fundraising in a week and join our GMG team - we are in for 175 miles next weekend ;) .

Anyways, regarding this Saturday - We won't be racing each other, but will definitely get in a good workout. I believe we averaged around the same speed last weekend at Cyclefest as you did at Tour de Cure and there was definitely at least that much climbing.

I will send you a PM.

Anyone doing Cyclefest in Bethel this Sunday? It is a very nicely organized ride with routes from 4 to 103 miles.

http://www.hatcitycyclists.org/cyclefest/cyclefest2006.html

I have ridden at Cyclefaest three years now and it always has great SAG support, rest stops and beautiful routes. Weather is calling for low 70's with sun and clouds. Should be nice, if the weathermen get it right as they usually do :rolleyes:

Say hello if you are there > I'll be the blonde chick on the black Colnago doing the 4 mile route :p Okay, plus 99 more miles.

Happy cycling!

Spindog:

How was your ride on Cylefest? I thought that it was a lot more scenic than I remember from last year, and a lot more hillier too, even though there weren't any really big climbs. Not sure if the last stretch was changed from last year because even that didn't seem as bad but still as hilly?

All of those woods, streams, lakes, ponds, rivers farmlands, and not much in the way of congested roads, all added up to a really really nice ride.

The nicest thing about the ride was that there seemed to riders from all across the riding spectrum.

John

Spindog:

How was your ride on Cylefest? ... John

Hey John-

Cyclefest was great. It was surprisingly cool, but it was kind of nice that way. I too, didn't remember the ride to have as much climbing. I was thinking that there probably wasn't more climbing than before and that I was just feeling it more because of pain from an ankle injury (it hurts to pull with the pedals: more climbibng = more pulling).

I really love the Dutchess County, New York portion of the ride. The last 25 or 30 miles went pretty fast with the exception of some of the crappy roads towards the end - but we had to get back somehow. The best part was the nearly absent traffic on the roads and very friendly rest stops with mechanical support if needed (oh yeah, and "facilities" too).

I was kind of dissapointed in the rider turnout this year. It didn't look like there were all that many cyclists. They may have not wanted to chance the weather. It would have been a very cold rain if we got unlucky!

Not sure how accurate the elevation gain part of it is. According to mapmyride, my ride through Bigelow Hollow State Park would've been around 4,500 feet for 51 miles. My computer said around 2,800 feet.....

Can you try it again? I emailed the site owners about the problem (he is also a new member here under the username 'MapMyRide') and they worked on the algorithm all day. My ride to work is accurately calculating the elevation rise and fall but I wanted another person to look at theirs. Thanks!

Hey John-

Cyclefest was great. It was surprisingly cool, but it was kind of nice that way. I too, didn't remember the ride to have as much climbing. I was thinking that there probably wasn't more climbing than before and that I was just feeling it more because of pain from an ankle injury (it hurts to pull with the pedals: more climbibng = more pulling).

I really love the Dutchess County, New York portion of the ride. The last 25 or 30 miles went pretty fast with the exception of some of the crappy roads towards the end - but we had to get back somehow. The best part was the nearly absent traffic on the roads and very friendly rest stops with mechanical support if needed (oh yeah, and "facilities" too).

I was kind of dissapointed in the rider turnout this year. It didn't look like there were all that many cyclists. They may have not wanted to chance the weather. It would have been a very cold rain if we got unlucky!


The ride was really empty this year. Since I live one town over, I tried to turn it into a double metric(ride 12 miles to the start point, do the route, then ride 12 miles home), though by the time I reached the home stretch I was so tired out, that I wimped out and rode straight home which cut the ride to a century. I was passed by pretty much everyone(which usually happens to me). Last year I had real trouble trying to eat the food at the rest stops, so I loaded up the trunk bag with a bunch of klondike bars with dry ice to keep them cold, and had a couple at each stop. There aren't that many big hills over the route except up in Sherman and Kent/Dutchess County. Rt 39 by Candlewood Lake is probably one of the toughest hills in the area. However, they manage to find a whole bunch of steep little ones, so I wind up going from the granny gear to the big ring and back in the course of a half mile.

My bonehead moment of the day: Trying to merge into a three-bike paceline after only two bikes had passed(I saw two in the mirror, didn't see the third)

Someone else's bonehead moment of the day: Six bike paceline passing me too close on a narrow shoulder, forcing me into a tree branch, and nearly causing me to hit a mailbox.

Moment of pride: Not walking up a single hill at any point, at all. Granted, I haven't walked up any hill since 2005, as a borderline uber-clyde, I still take it as a point of pride that I've done the ride without doing that.

Moment of humiliation: When a woman passed me, looked at me like I was about to have an imminent coronary, and asked if I was okay, and did I need SAG support. I said, "No, that's all right," but I felt like saying, "Excuse me, but I am all right, just a bit slow on these hills. Is there anything else ego-destroying you'd like to say before you pass me like a jackrabbit on speed?"

I'm from naugatuck. You can find me at the linden skatepark in naugatuck everyday. but not for awhile because i got a broken foot from doing a fakie yesterday.

The ride was really empty this year.......

Moment of humiliation: When a woman passed me, looked at me like I was about to have an imminent coronary, and asked if I was okay, and did I need SAG support. I said, "No, that's all right," but I felt like saying, "Excuse me, but I am all right, just a bit slow on these hills. Is there anything else ego-destroying you'd like to say before you pass me like a jackrabbit on speed?"

Hey , I was that woman :eek: :p :D

No I wasn't!

Sounds like you had an eventful ride. Be careful of those mailboxes jumping out at you - they tend to be more aggressive this time of year. Who cares if you are fast or if you are slow? You are out there doing it and that is a heck of alot more than the majority of people in the world who were still in bed sleeping while you were out turning one hundred miles on your bike. Keep cranking out those miles at whatever speed feels right!

Dumb question: anyone know what time the Sleeping Giant Sunday training ride in Hamden begins? It goes right past my house in Cheshire and I'd like to ride toward the group and then hook up with them. Thanks in advance!

Hey all, Hartford area road cyclist here. I'm not fond of organized rides but, I am interested in meeting other local riders.

On Sunday June 24th I rode to Quinnipiac U. from my house in Cheshire and hooked up with 2 other riders on my way back home. Eventually I put 31 miles on, which is the most I have done since getting back on the bike. Anyway I was expecting a big pack of riders to emerge from Sleeping Giant state park, but it was only 3 guys! It was fun nonetheless and tremendously motivating. I hope to do it again some day as I really enjoy riding with other people. I'll even take my share of turns at the front, I just need to figure out what the best way is to take my turn.