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Prologue
The planning for this trip has been pretty much set for a while. Gary shipped his bike to my office, and purchased his airline tickets. Denny completed a lot of route research including available campgrounds along the way. Gary would start riding two week earlier than Denny and I with a friend of his named Paul who he met at an Adventure Cycling Association West Texas Hills Ride last fall. He and Paul would ride together to Pennsylvania. Their plan for this section of Gary’s ride is a micro brew tour. Paul’s goal is to ride in a number of states that he hasn’t ridden before and test the local beer at various micro breweries along the way.
Gary arriving at the airport.
I picked Gary up at the airport on Sunday May 4th and he assembled his bike in my garage that evening. I was able to adjust my schedule to accompany him on his first day of riding as far as Granby, CT. From there he was to ride alone to Westfield where he would meet Paul who flew into Rhode Island as that is a state that he had not ridden. As it worked out as Gary and I were taking a picture in Granby by the green up rode Paul, so I got a chance to meet him. After parting with Paul in Pennsylvania, Gary was to ride to visit with his brother in Maryland for a week and then meet up with Denny and me in Delta, PA.
Putting his bike together, thinking "I know this piece goes somewhere."
The plan was for Denny and I to meet in Barkhamstead, CT on May 22. Denny would ride from the Worchester, MA area the day before and I would depart around 9:30 after attending a 7:30 AM meeting for a committee that I chair. As it would be a number of key committee members would be unavailable so the meeting was canceled. We upped the departure date to May 20. Denny would leave in the morning and I would leave around 5:30 PM to meet him. All this may sound a bit complicated, but the logistics worked for everyone’s schedule, so that became the plan.
On the Framington Bike Path Bridge.
The ride with Gary was a pleasant one. He needed to pick up a camping item on the way to Granby so I picked a route that would utilize the Farmington Canal bike trail, which I think is the nicest one in CT. Gary was impressed with the trail, especially the bridge over the Farmington River. So that was it, the set up for the ride was complete. Now all we had to do was ride.
Chance meet up with Paul.
Jim
Cycledog (Ride the extra mile!!)
© 2008 - JNS
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