One Sweet Day

I awoke this morning early as usual about 6:45 with LuAnn as she got ready for school I got ready for the day. Being my day off it is not usually spent lazily sleeping in or excessive amounts of time on the couch especially when the sun is shining there is no day to waste in my opinion. So I decided I would start the day by taking the dogs aka kids to the park. We hopped in the car around 7:30 and were off to Sand Hill Park. It is a great place because it is pretty big and has nice manicured gravel paths and even a dog park which my dog's don't frequent ever due to other peoples dogs. So we got off walking and it was a really nice morning beside the mosquitos buzzing around my head. We were half way around the park when I came upon a baseball in the grass that happened to be right next to one of the baseball fields and I knew it was a sign that came from above that Bentley deserved some fetch. So I walked them into the huge green ball field and set them free off their leashes since it was so dead in the park and they were fenced in. As usual Bentley went nuts and started begging me to throw it which I did. Bowie was showing interest so I tricked Bentley on a few throws because he takes off on the windup which allows me to throw the ball the other way and watch the little fluffy bunny chase the ball and then fail to bring it back but I sure love to watch the thrill in him when he runs for it. I was so happy to be with my doggies and they were having fun which brought joy as well. I soon leashed them and off down the trail we went and then getting home to plan out the day.

I got on the Bikerag.com and found a fellow rider that was looking for company on a ride. I figured this would be a great way to check out a new location since all the choices he listed I have never been to. We worked it out and decided on Chatfield Hollow in Killingworth CT. This location was about 40 miles from the house and I had a clear schedule for the day so I happily made the drive down. We were meeting at 11am and I had arrived 30 minutes earllier so i decided to explore. Which is where most my pictures came from so they don't do the place justice. After pedaling the pavement and finding one purple trail that was quick enough to stay close and get back to meet. Time flew by and began to head back in meet the fella I would be riding with. We met and talked a bit and turned out to be a real nice guy and shortly we were pedaling uphill and I had to put foot down soon into the ride. The review had rated it pretty technical and it sure was. We got climbing and things were great, hit a few spots that even with second attempts was not getting close but my team mate was pedaling up them, definitely had the up skills. We soon arrived to the top and had some nice sections and got to a nice technical down and a hairpin. Walked a few spots but it really wasn't as bad as I had thought. The pace was not very fast with my heart rate and all the tech sections but it was a good time. Eventually my riding buddy's tire went flat, he had wore through the side wall of the tire with his brakes. Shortly after the repair it let go once again. We rode down mountain and knew it was on borrowed time so we finished off the purple trail and hit the car. It was 1:00 and I was still feeling strong so I figured I would hit not one but two new locations today! I am going to miss not having tuesdays off in a way since I have been putting them to such good use.

Chatfield hollow

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I made my way up to Millers pond from Chatfield and it was about a 20 minute drive. I did not know much about Millers other than there seemed to be a lot of posts about group rides at that location. I arrived to the parking lot and hopped on the internet to try to find a quick loop since I was short on time and I saw a read trail right next to the lot and looked like a good place to start. Shortly after I started riding I came upon feature after feature and the palce was awesome. I believe I rode it backwards since 90% of the features were facing the other direction. The trail had a really good mix of rocks and smoothy and lots of features. I was flying through the woods since I was short on time. I eventually hit a fire road and shot down it and caught back up with the red trail and got me to the pond. Took the white trail which was a mistake since it was a narrow root filled trail that bordered the perimeter of the pond. Got myself off that as soon as I could and then had an easy ride to the car. The place was great and can't wait to go back. It was a really great day and I think I used it pretty well. I want to ride tomorrow morning but I think I am going to get some rest since I am on 4th day riding.

Millers pond

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