htfdcycle – Page 3 – Hartford Cycle

July 22, 2021 | Soggy

In July, the Big River was like this:

The Farmington was like this:

And the trails were like this:

… Rewind to the end of June, the days were drier and Elizabeth Park reached peak rose:

Sunny days, return… some day?

June 22, 2021 | Points South / Coming Up Short

Open skies, puffy white clouds, and not too hot… a truly glorious day for a bike ride.

But the Grand Plan Southern Expedition comes to screeching halt: It seems this tire has been eating itself from the inside.

This led to a bit of excitement, racing to the closest train station, repeatedly stopping to refill the deflating rear tire. With 10+ minutes to spare and the train running a bit late, I finally had time to take in the “scenery” a bit.

Wallingford puts me one stop short of the goal of New Haven (two, if you include both New Haven stations). The plan was to bike down, hang out, and choo choo back up – the reverse of the Springfield trip.

Back in Hartford, a rest at Bushnell Park afforded more leisurely maintenance – a patched tube and granola bar wrapper over the shredded casing was enough for the ride home. All’s well that ends well.

June 10, 2021 | Rails and Rail Trails

Planes and cars and bikes and boats
These things will all take you to places remote
And if you’ve a minute, I’ll now you regale
A journey once taken, by rails and rail trails…

A chug and a choo, a woot and a clang
All now make way for the oncoming train!
“Step up, this way sir – you’ll notice in back”
“A bay and some bungees, fix your bike to that rack!”

And away now, with speed, we cast off up north
Past locks and canal and that River with girth…

But what is the goal, where does this train go?
Springfield, Massachusetts – we might as well slow!

And onto the platform, then station depart
To search out the scene, some sights and street art…

…To halls that enshrine the famous at hoops
And courtyards remembering that fellow called Seuss

But the journey’s just started, we must up the pace
So refill with treats from a usual place

Past sun beaten roads, provisions run low,
But a welcome relief – the greenway to home!

So if you are tiring of oft-travelled routes
And biking your umpteenth Farmington loop
Just grab your ticket, from your locale bail
To some destination, by rail or rail trail!
(-_-);;

June 1, 2021 | Do You Believe in Ferries?

I’ve heard tale of mythical entities from ages past that dwell deep in the woods of our fair state. If one hazards the trip to a certain mystical location along the banks of the Tidal River, you’ll be suddenly whisked away. No one knows for certain the final fate of these poor souls, but rumors persist that they can invariably be found on the opposite shore.

This ride starts on the Bloomfield green, then meanders through backroads in an all-out effort to avoid Cottage Grove Road. The charm point here is a sidewalk between Ellsworth and Eagleton, bridging the cavernous divide between cul-de-sacs and joining the disparate locations of Bloomfield and Windsor together as one.

As with all battles to avoid 218, this one ends in abject failure, but at least the crossing is purely lateral and, ignoring a stack of dismembered tree parts that absolutely should not be trespassed upon, we arrive at Windsor Meadows State Park.

Next we grit our teeth traversing the Bissell Bridge and Route 5 before ignoring the unrelenting quaintness of Glastonbury, slowly closing in on our destination…

Goal!

And with space warping magic…

Now we’re in Rocky Hill!

On the way home through Wethersfield, I’m delighted to find the town has been taken over by bicycles.

But this one’s both decorative and useful.

May 29, 2021 | Panoramas 3 Plus: Hydro Powaaa!

YAGR (yet another greenway ride), but with a detour to the aforementioned upper dam. Unbeknownst to me, this hydro was already in the process of getting powered.

I don’t think you can mill corn with these turbines, but I’m sure they’ll help power a plug-in miller if that’s what you really need.

And the remains of the Collins Company:

Collins was a world-famous manufacturer of axes, but following damage from the Flood of 1955, the company itself got the ax (-_-);;

The greenway’s nice, but with vaccinations afoot, the unblinking eye turns its gaze south…