cgallagh

We are coming up to western Mass in late October to visit my wife's family. We are staying in a B&B on the 24th and 25th, in Williamsburg bringing our bikes. I found this ride on Map My Ride. It looks like a fun little ride and if we tag on getting from the B&B it may turn into around 45 or better. Anyone out here know that area and do you have any advice?

Thanks and we will be glad to return the favor if anyone comes out west to California.

https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...gton/624385498

Steve in MA

There's a lot of nice riding in that area. I'm not familiar with the specific route you referenced (but it looks like a good route), but I ride along the Connecticut river pretty frequently. Routes 5/10, 47, and 63 are all pretty bike-friendly, if you wanted to plot out your own route. Just to give you some ideas, here's a link to the Connecticut Valley Century route, which comes pretty close to the area you'll be staying: COVAC

You may also want to try searching on "Look Park" to see if there are any rides that come up...that's a fairly large park in the center of Northampton, I think a lot of people from out of the area park there to start their ride, so there may be some routes referenced under that heading. There is also a very active cycling club in that town, and their website may have some routes and/or contacts that would be helpful: NCC website.

Just one note of caution: at least in my part of the state, a lot of the leaves and acorns are dropping earlier than usual, and many of the back farm roads that I ride have significant accumulations of both along the shoulders. On the plus side, there's less traffic, so riding futher into the lane to avoid the debris is generally not an issue.

I hope you enjoy your trip to MA!

cgallagh

Steve,

Thanks for the info and advice. I did some further searching and found several nice loop rides that we can start from our B&B, some hilly and some less so. I sent an email to the NCC president to reach out to the local group. If anyone from the area sees this and wants to meet up let us know. Looking forward to the ride.

Steve in MA

No problem! And depending on which day you'd be riding, I may be interested in meeting up for the ride. I'll be working on the Monday that you'll be in town, but I'm usually free (and usually ride) on Sundays.

Jay H

Another person in Western MA, Lenox to be precise, the leaves are nice up here though this past week's heavy rains have knocked a lot of them off and onto the roads.. if it's wet, then be careful.. there are a lot of nice riding out here and I only just moved here in August, stay off I-90 and I-91.. :-)

Jay

I guess I should change my profile...

cappuccino911

any suggestions on places to stay in the berkshires? UMASS is my alma mater which I know isn't berkshires but I can tell you that when I was there 15 years ago I wasn't concerned with nice places to stay for a weekend away with the GF! If you know of any suggestions either B&B or a smallish cabin/cottage type rental with a fireplace would be really sweet

cgallagh

I searched here:

https://memberservices.membee.com/manorcoc/irmdirectory1.aspx?action=Category&value=44

https://www.fivecollegebb.com/

https://www.hidden-hills.com/index.html

https://www.noho.com/accomm.html

Many of these places use a service to check for availablity and to reserve a room. I got a little frustrated because sometimes they listed a place as available on our dates but when I called they were booked. Seems there is a lag and sometimes the establishment cannot accommodate due to other reasons. I suggest calling. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly and helpful. We are so looking forward to the visit.

Jay H

Being new to the area, I have done one of the routes in the book, Backroads Bicycling in Western Mass, which has some SHORT routes in the area.. I haven't ridden too much in the area but I do bike commute to eastern Pittsfield and I have biked up Greylock and did a nice 35 mileish loop going up from the south, down the north side and looped around through Willamstown via Rt 7 back to my car..

there are a ton of B&B's near me in Lenox but I suspect they all are very pricey... and I've never stayed there..


Jay

cappuccino911

GF and I decided we are going to stay in Hadley this weekend! It's UMass homecoming so we are going to come up on friday and spend Friday and saturday doing things out in the countryside then spend saturday doing stuff around campus and check out the football game. Should be a good time, I haven't been back in about 10 years and she's curious to see my old stomping grounds. Our hotel is going to be just off of I91 right by the river so I assume there should be plenty of good places to ride there.

noglider 

Gosh, you could hardly go wrong in that area. I'm so envious!

cappuccino911

OP,
I just got back from my trip. Stayed at the hampton inn rt9 hadley about 1/2 mile from the bridge into northampton. Google the Norwottock Rail trail, it's a trail that starts in northampton and goes for about 9 miles all the way through amherst . it also connects to a couple of other trails in northampton. I forget the names of them, one of them ran from Northampton to florence. If your wife doesn't like riding in traffic, these are great options. Also, I used google maps and got cycling directions up to mt. sugarloaf. you can probably ride up it but it's quite steep, you may want tolock up bikes at the bottom of it and walk up it. Great views of the entire pioneer valley from up there.

The leaves are just about at peak in this area but there are plenty still on the trees and it was windy as a mutha this weekend. 40 mph wind gusts and steady 20mph winds so you should still have plenty of good foliage for your trip.


If you do the ride to mt sugarloaf, you can then come back via rte116. IF you do that I highly recommend stopping at Bubs BBQ Barn on the way. then continue on rte 116 down towards the umass campus and then yo ucan get on the norwottock trail and head back to the northampton area. lots of good ride options around there.