Well, this is the final set of pics of my recent Catskill Mtn vacation, during which I had the pleasure of going on some really nice dirt road routes that I had stitched together into routes I'd never done before despite being very familiar with the area. Funny, I grew up in this region but never rode it until recently-- I never thought I could handle, much less enjoy, riding such steep hills, but I've become a hill junkie over the past couple of years and enjoyed these rides immensely. Each of the rides I did this past two weeks averaged over 100ft of elevation gain per mile, the longest of which was a metric century with 6700 ft of elevation gain.

I'm back in Boston now and withdrawing from a cycling high. But at least now I will finally get a chance to read up on and post on all the threads I've missed in the last couple of weeks. But for now, here are some more Catskill mtn pics. Next weekend: D2R2!

Catskill rail trail, mostly flat, and starts in my home village. Great launching point for all my rides. Note the dewey spider webs on the bridge railing:



Another view from the trail, as the morning fog is lifting:


Typical Catskill mtn farm:


More trail:


More farm:


Even more farm:


Paved road connecting the two valley villages of Bloomville and Bovina. This was just after reaching the top of a 2 mile climb with an average 8.5% grade and starting to head down the other side:


An old carriage road that roughly parallels the paved road above. I took this road back:


Hanford Mills Musuem. A fully working water and steam powered mill since 1845:


My Shogun 650B conversion: