Thursday, June 2, 2011

An Invitation: The Father's Day Ride

You are cordially invited to the Father's Day ride.

At 8:00 AM on Saturday, June 18th, there will be a bicycle ride along the Metacomet ridge from West Hartford to East Granby and back.  We will hit ALL the best trails the Res, Penwood, and TJ's Backyard have to offer.  

The Father's Day ride is a tradition I started solo (because none of you shrinking violets wanted to join me).  Within a couple of years the Harmonizer had become a regular on this annual jaunt.
Last year's Father's Day ride was a miserable failure of a road ride due to extenuating circumstances.


The above gps track is similar to what the Father's Day ride will be.  Unfortunately on that day we bailed  before we got to Hatchet Hill, and skipped some really good stuff.
On the 18th, we are on a mission.
ALL THE GOOD STUFF.


The ride will be approximately 40 miles with well over 4000' of climbing.
There are 3 water fountains along the route (there's one right in the center of T'ville!), and since we are crossing the river there are also these things in Tariffville called "stores" that sell "food"  and "drinks".  They also have another thing called a "Bar" there, but I think that kind of tomfoolery can wait until we get back to town.

Now for the not so fine or subtle print.

I know Father's Day is on Sunday the 19th.  The Q has a baseball game at noon.  I'm not riding at 5 in the morning to make sure I'm home in time for it.

You can meet me either at my house at 7:45 AM, or the Res at 8:00 AM.

After ride binging at Moe's.

There also is an important road race on Sunday.  Be honest; were you really going to podium?  The Father's Day ride is an excellent excuse for a less than stellar result.  Sorry to anyone who has to work Saturday.

The pace of the ride will be a Cat1 pace.  We usually average over 9 mph on these rides and try and keep breaks to a minimum.  We want to make it back to WeHa and burritos by about 2:00 PM, at least I do, but I won't let that interfere with hitting ALL THE GOOD STUFF.

Come prepared.  Flats are not uncommon.

It's worth the trip from out of town/state.

Hope to see you.

8 comments:

TJ said...

This I cant wait for, and will be good to do the reverse from my normal route.

Anonymous said...

Where's this fountain in T-Ville? Never knew that existed but would be good to know where it is for future rides.

CB2 said...

The fountain is on the green. I never noticed it before Memorial Day so it might be new.

Hill Junkie said...

I'd love to join you on this, but my Dolomites tour begins that day. Hey, have you heard much about the M&M trail becoming part of the New England Trail with a National Scenic Trail designation? It now has similar status to the Appalachian Trail.

Brendan said...

Can one still participate if not a father?

CB2 said...

If you know or ever have known a father you are qualified to participate.

TJ said...

This will be a good preview for the filthy 50 mountain bike gran fondo Oct. 1 that I keep hearing about...I hope your free that day.

Fort James said...

I would love to come up for the ride, but Google Maps indicates a drive time of five hours, each way! Sounds great though. I will duplicate the four hour ride here and post a GPS coordinate for comparison.

WV = consper, like conspiracy I think.