the Way of the Turtle

20.6 Mile Ride on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail
Sunday, June 17, 2007

official Ashuwillticook trail site

After spending almost 3 1/2 hours running up and down the sides of Mt Greylock in the mid-June heat, any sensible person would grab something cold to drink, put some tunes in the CD player, and head for home. So naturally I drove a few miles south the Lanesborough and took my bike out on the paved Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.

The trail is paved and relatively flat, and runs through some fairly pretty countryside - first through woods and swamps, then alongside the Cheshire Reservoir and along the Hoosic River as it passes through more wetlands. The final stretch down into Adams is through shaded woods.

Managed to find parking in the very crowded lot, geared up, and discovered that my camera battery was dead as I loaded a fresh roll of film... so no pictures this time around. Getting on the bike was a bit uncomfortable, both from having run the half marathon earlier in the day and from riding both of the last two days. The ride out through the initial wetlands and along the Cheshire Reservoir was both easy and fun, especially since I kept my gears on the lower end and my speed fairly slow (about 11 mph.) Lots of other walkers and riders on the trail, especially families on bikes (something I think is a good thing, though I still would like to see more parents with helmets and more keeping to one side of the path.) Saw a fair number of ducks, some geese with goslings, and even a couple of turtles off in the swampy areas.

The ride started to get a bit tougher through the Cheshire wetlands, mainly because my legs were fried and sitting on the bike began to get uncomfortable. I probably should have turned around before the last 2 miles down into Adams, but I was enjoying the shade, the trees and rocky hillside, and the river, as well as not having the pedal much to keep moving forward. Unfortunately, I paid for the latter when I turned around and had to ride uphill on the way back. The grade is fairly low, and ordinarily it wouldn't have bothered me at all, but today it was tough.

Partway through the wetlands, I had unpleasant surprise when another spoke snapped... only six miles to go, but it left me wondering if I was going to end up walking the bike when more spokes went. On the plus side, at least I hadn't been planning to move quickly! The rest of the ride was uneventful, but increasingly difficult as I tried to find some energy in my tired legs.

All in all, a tough ride, but I'm still glad I did it... it was a nice day, and riding through some pretty countryside was well worth it. Still, having ridden over 60 miles the last three days - tomorrow I'm taking a break!

JMH