June 8, 2008
Day 27: North Granby, CT to Dudley Home Hostel (Northwest of Dudley, MA)
68.69 miles, 5:36:33 Ride Time, 12.24 Average Speed, 40.32 Maximum Speed
It was supposed to be another unseasonably hot and humid day, but as usual, my big plans to get out extremely early failed. I was actually riding from Kelly and Helen's home at about 8:00. It was already muggy. The night before, Kelly had told me that he had set his all-time record on the bike, 53 mph, on a hill that I would be descending as I got back on the route this morning. The sign at the top of the hill warned that it was a 13% grade, but I've been especially cautious since the crash the other day, and I didn't set my own personal-best this morning.
About a mile after descending the steep hill, a car pulled ahead of me - it was Helen, with a bag of cookies and a banana for me. Such nice people - Thanks, Kelly and Helen!
The first twenty or so miles were easy - mostly flat, and I had an easier than usual time finding my way out of a metropolitan area (Windsor Locks, in this case). The next twenty miles were tough. The hills were back, and it seemed even hotter than yesterday. I rode through the small town of Stafford Springs, and stopped to take pictures of "Rocko's Puff & Stuff" - purveyors of "Smoking Accessories" - and one of the many tattoo parlors I've seen in the last month. I've seen more tattoo establishments than tanning beds on this trip - is this a national trend?
Climb, descend, climb. This was turning into a long day. I had originally planned to get all the way to Westborough, MA, a large town with motels, but there was no way that was going to happen. A few miles before the little town of Union, I stopped at JT's Fly Shop, where they had a few soft drinks along with the fishing bait. I spent a while there sitting in the shade on the bench outside the store. It was time to start figuring out where to stop for the day, and the lady at the store was very helpful in describing the campground options in the area. (She also provided a correct description of the condition of the next several miles of my route. That's rare - local people almost never seem to really know where - and how steep - the hills are).
I was energized after resting at the store, and with one major exception, the rest of the day was relatively easy. The major exception was the climb out of Bigelow Hollow State Park. That was the last really tough hill in Connecticut.
It was mostly downhill and shady to the little towns of North Woodstock and Quinebaug. I passed one campground, and one B&B, because I felt that I really hadn't done enough miles for the day. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Dudley (pop. 10,936), I was hot and tired again - I suppose I was still feeling the effects from yesterday - and I still hadn't found a place to stay for the night.
Despite its size, Dudley had no motels, and the next campgrounds were several miles away. There was, however, supposed to be some sort of hostel near Dudley. I had been calling the hostel's number the last few hours, but no one had answered. I made a few phone calls home, where my family was able, using the internet, to find directions to the hostel. I decided to ride there and hope for the best.
I rode into increasingly deserted countryside - few houses, mostly old rock fences and hay fields - and finally found a farmhouse that appeared to be at the address of the hostel. No one seemed to be home, and as I looked around the place, the sky darkened and the wind picked up. I noticed that a hay field next to the house was half-mowed; a tractor and mowing machine stood in the field. The whole situation seemed a little eerie - like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I was there about an hour, and had just about settled on a place to setup the tent, when two men pulled into the driveway. The older man, Joe, was the son of the farm's owners, and he immediately informed me that the hostel was no longer in operation, and the owners were out of town. Great - I'm sure this was mentioned in an addendum to my Adventure Cycling maps, which I had probably ignored. Luckily, he agreed to let me stay in the hostel anyway - I would have the whole place to myself. Later, his son Steve drove me back into Dudley to pick up a pizza and a two-liter of Diet Pepsi.
After Joe and Steve left, the isolation of the place began to weigh on me, and the lonely farm seemed increasingly eerie as dusk fell. I decided to leave as early as possible tomorrow morning.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 69 miles (111 km)
Total: 1,925 miles (3,098 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |