Between my Daughter's Wedding, COVID and other stuff, there's been very little riding this month. Thankfully I got out today for my second ride of the month on this unseasonably warm Monday. And the leaves in many places along the ride were at peak color. That was the icing on the cake.
Gary and I met at the Mobil Station on route 70 in Lancaster. We were on our way by 10:15. We followed mostly back roads up through Lunenburg and Townsend to pick up route 119 west bound in West Townsend. We've been on this road multiple times this season and once again it delivered today. The colors were beautiful and there was virtually no traffic.
We had early lunch at the Hometown Diner in Rindge, NH. There was an HD rider getting ready to leave when we pulled in. He had questions about the GWs as he's considering buy one. We had a nice chat and told him the pros and cons. There's 2 major cons: (1) air filter replacement is ridiculously complicated and time consuming; and (2) the stock seat ain't that great. Most people replace it. Other than those, it's great!
After lunch we took 202 N to Jaffrey center. We turned left west bound on to the new pavement on 124 and rode it all the way to 101 in Dublin. Spectacular color along the way with nice views of Mount Monadnock. The pavement is such an improvement that the ride seemed to go quicker. No more bouncing around on crappy pavement.
We took 101 W into Keene. From there we got onto 9 W and rode to Brattleboro, VT. Route 9 delivered wide open views at speed and not much traffic. Great ride.
In Brattleboro, we followed 5 S to 142 S back into MA at Northfield. The bridge under construction over the CT river is coming along. It's going to intersect 142, so Gary and I assumed there's going to be major changes required for 142 to handle the traffic.
142 S from Brattelboro to Northfield, MA is a wonderfully diverse ride. It follows the CT river for a bit, goes through flat sections with farms and also has plenty of hilly and curvy terrain. Many of you have ridden it. If you haven't, give it a try.
142 ends at route 10 in MA. We took a left east bound on 10 for a few miles. Then we took a right on to Main Road in Gil, which ends at route 2 in Gil. This is not a numbered route, so there's very little traffic. The ride delivers beautiful views of Northfield Mountain on the left and flows through bucolic farmlands and forests.
We then took route 2 east to 202 south to 122 east to Petersham for our typical rest stop. Again the colors along route 122 were great. I took pictures of a couple of trees on the Petersham Common that were just past peak.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/tjk4TKH8ssFA8MpV8https://photos.app.goo.gl/2JLyz9FKXCTkLYZW9From Petersham we followed 122 east to 62 east to 140 south and found our way home. These are all great roads loaded with Fall colors. It was a great day!
