WindsorLocks
By Gary Gilbert
Monday, August 22, 2005
August 22, 2005
Today we left Worcester, MA for Windsor Locks, CT. I was hoping for a fairly easy day but one look at the cue sheet introduced me to Dead Horse Hill, Carpenter Road with Rolling Hills, Snake Hill, and others. I knew it was going to be a treat.
We started the day with a Grand Slam at Dennys
The route out of town was basically slightly downhill for 5 miles. That was fortunate as I learned that Worcester is known as the town of 7 hills. Our first one, Dead Horse Hill was the site of an annual uphill race for cars from 1905-1911 sponsored by the AAA.
Here Bill and I wait our turn, first for photos, then second to accept the challenge. It wasn't pretty or fast, but yes I did make it up the hill.
After that experience, I didn't take many photos today. The next 45 miles were a lot of climbing up long steep hills with an occasional downhill thrown in for fun. I spent a lot of time at 4 or 5 mph and then a short amount of time at 30+ mph.
I had forgotten my cycling gloves today. A quick stop into a gas station and I bought a pair of cotton work gloves and removed the fingertips. One other trick I learned from another cyclist is to use old Dr Scholl's shoe liners for extra padding inside the gloves.
I had hoped to stop in Old Sturbridge Village, a restored 1800's New England village but the hills were calling my name. http://www.osv.org/ Sturbridge is an interesting town with a lot of character. I did stop for a quick shot of this building selling antiques
Eventually we made our way to our third state, Connecticut. I've now added 2 more states to the list of states I hadn't cycled in before. I rode in Massachussets several years ago while my daughter was a student at BU.
Of course we need the photos to prove that we were there.
Much of the day had quite beautiful landscape, but only once did we see above the tree line. Way off in the distance there is a house at the top of the hill.
The ride into Stafford was quite exciting. A long fast downhill descent that lasted about 6 minutes, dodging potholes. Fortunately there weren't a lot of cars at that time and I was able to pick my way down the hill. At one point the bike began to shimmy as my speed increased. I got the bike under control by holding my legs against the top tube.
After our lunch stop in Stafford Connecticut, we had finished the hills and had a fairly flat 15 miles to finish up. About 3 miles from the finish, I stopped at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. http://www.ceraonline.org/ Trolly's basically disappeared in the US after WWII as America became an automobile nation.
Of course the best way to end a ride is with a dish of Strawberry-Banana ice cream, a well deserved reward. Tomorrow is another day of hills. I need more sleep!!
At dinner I learned an important fact for cyclists. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
