North West Ct Ride Sept 20th

[Scootstado2]

Arrived home today after seeing Earl off to PA. Earl's new seat fit great and really improved his bike. Hope everyone had a safe trip. I had a great time. Thanks to all for a great ride. For pics go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scootst...7607417189979/

[madmax-im]

Nice pics Russ....I just came home this afternoon from CT-STOC.The weather was absolutely Beautiful in CT as you all know.I regret we couldnt get together.Hope y'all got some good plaaning for XSEast '09.If anyone else wants to organize a ride before the end of this season....I'd be up for it.no more ST events this year...other than a RTE daytrip to Slate Run PA or another to Bennington VT...coming up in Oct.
Earl...glad to see you got a nice seat...bike looks great too.You guys rock...

[earl G]

home safe, had a great time,big thanks to russ. good weather,food,hotel,roads and great people. to all that came you know what i mean. a place to meet again for a ride mark you map.

[pete_s]

Nice Pictures Russ

Got home just before 6pm so I was safe with Vicky.

The long shadows at 5:30 pm were pretty
cool with temps dropping.

You have to take advantage of the good days now and Saturday was perfect for me. I'll be everyone had great rides on Sunday to!

[earl G]

seat

thanks bob for the seat. it fits nice. get that bike on a battery tender.

[Scootstado2]

Originally posted by madmax-im
Nice pics Russ....I just came home this afternoon from CT-STOC.The weather was absolutely Beautiful in CT as you all know.I regret we couldnt get together.Hope y'all got some good plaaning for XSEast '09.If anyone else wants to organize a ride before the end of this season....I'd be up for it.no more ST events this year...other than a RTE daytrip to Slate Run PA or another to Bennington VT...coming up in Oct.
Earl...glad to see you got a nice seat...bike looks great too.You guys rock...

Thanks Ben. Glad you had a good ride. Ours was perfect all around.

[madmax-im]

Russ I see you're in Haddam...I went thru there on Sat!Next time I'm up your way I'll give a holler

[DeanR]

Darn, didn't see any XS's in CT but it sure was a beautiful weekend wasn't it?
Went to the coast on Saturday, returning on Sun through Granby, Canaan and continuing east across the Hudson, thru the Catskills (Rt 30 was fun along Pepacton Reservoir), thru the finger lakes and home.
Russ, Gillette Castle is a pretty neat stop!
See y'all next year...

[Scootstado2]

[i]
Russ, Gillette Castle is a pretty neat stop!
See y'all next year... [/B]

Elementary my Dear Watson.

Yeah, that's just across the river from my place. Glad you had a good ride. The weather was fantastic!

[randy]

Not only was the weather perfect, the routes, the company and the food was, too! Russ took us to a BBQ joint that was out of this world. Carolyn and I were still talking about the food the next day! Gotta get the recipe for those baked beans. Great ride, Russ.

Here's the link to our photos. Please excuse the duplicates. Gee, if I wasn't in a technical field I'd REALLY be in trouble!



Torrington Photos

[madmax-im]

Cool Pics

Hey Randy...I was at the Cornwall bridge on Fri.Ain't CT a pretty state?I would love to move outta Joisey and live in NewEngland.Looks like we all had a great weekend.Would like to get together for another ride before the end of this season...if possible.MadMax is ready willing and able Oh BTW I was able to get to Groton and see the USS Nautilus...awesome!

[CarolynS]

There's still time

October is wonderful here in New England. Let's try to get something together for a couple weeks from now. Everyone check their schedules/finances.
I have to prove my bike exists at this point so I'm game.
BobE-you were missed on Saturday! The 10 minutes we had with you wasn't enough of a visit. You could have the battery issued sorted out in a couple of weeks, couldn't you?
We could go to Connecticut again...or somewhere else in the area.
Okay, now I've done it...
What the heck! It would be fun to go again. I'm not ready for winter yet!!!
Whaddaya think?

[randy]

Well,

You KNOW I'm in!

Just say where and when.

[BobE]

Ya know, guys, I don't know where my brain was at Saturday! I should have just cruised along with you in my Tracker! After all, we fought tooth and nail to get there, for Pete's Sake! I guess maybe I was just agitated from trying to find the hotel in Torrington and felt I wouldn't be able to keep up with the Tracker (not exactly a harbinger of mighty power...).

Anyway, after discovering my battery dead, I hopped into the Tracker and headed out as I wanted to make sure Earl would get the seat (looking at his old seat, I felt bad for him!). I chose to follow the route I had planned the night before, that being US-6 to I-384 to I-291 to CT-218 to US-44 to US-202 to Torrington to the motel, which Google Maps told me was on US-202 just after the CT-8 interchange.

Everything went well until CT-218, where I ran into an endless barrage of stoplights, which continued on US-44 west of Hartford, arriving in Torrington at 10:55 am. Once into Torrington, I followed the continuing endless stoplights, searching for the motel. The Google Maps led me to a shopping center where a small fair or something going on. I cruised around the city looking for the place, stopped at two gas stations and asked folks (no one ever heard of a Quality Inn in the area and kept pointing me to a Days Inn).

At 11:25 I was forced to stop for gas as the Tracker was running out. By now I was on an emotionally-agitated high. My last chance came with one gentleman at the station that told me there was a new motel at the next exit up, but he wasn't sure what it was. Figuring that the group had left by now, I wasn't going to pursue it, but something told me to keep going, so I decided since I was there, I might as well see if this was the place, so I went.

Lo and behold, it was! I pulled into the parking lot, but no sign of them. I went left, nothing. Turned around and headed around the corner toward the office, and there they were, with their engines running and getting ready to leave! It was 11:40 at this point, and they had been waiting for me! What great bunch of folks! By then, though, I was worn out from the friggin' stoplights and the agitation, so after handing over the seat I decided to head for home as I didn't think the Tracker would be able to keep up with the group. Wish I had went along now....but it wouldn't have been the same without Old Coot.

Took a nice ride home through Haddam (love that area) on CT-82 over to Norwich, then along the same road I took these folks over past Foxwoods a few weeks back. Just ain't the same as on the bike!

Got home, unplugged the Battery Tender, Old Coot fired right up, went for a ride to salvage something out of the beautiful day! Got back home, shucked some corn on the cob and wrapped them in butter and Reynolds Wrap, got out some steaks, fired up the barby, and had a great dinner when Annette got home from work!

Glad you like the seat, Ed! It takes a certain kind of butt to fit in that one, and mine wasn't it!

[BobE]

How about a northeastern CT/southcentral MA ride? I know a great restaurant on CT-12 in Attawaugan, CT, exit 94 off I-395, called the Golden Greek. The Greek has everything from pizza to full-bore dinners and can handle groups.

There's CT-169, a popular bike road, and a few other "backroads" that lead west across northern CT toward Stafford Springs and through some state forests that are nice and mostly deserted (NO STOPLIGHTS...DAMN IT!!!!), passing through such lovely places as Moose Hollow, Eastford, Westford, and a whole passel of other -fords. Northeast CT is full of great roads to ride.

As an alternative to the Golden Greek, there is also the Vanilla Bean Cafe, at the intersection of CT-169 and US-44. Vanilla Bean is a little more "trendy", lots of bikes there profiling and styling, but very historic "country" -ish. More of a lunch-type place than the Greek, parking lot is crushed stone, can get a bit crowded in cramped quarters.

Southcentral MA has Sturbridge/Southbridge areas, more touristy in a historic theme (Old Sturbridge Village). A bit more congestion, though.