I find myself with very little to write about, and so my posts are more and more intermittent, though my time is mostly all on the bike, when it's not the daily stuff of life: commute, work, eat, sleep.
Besides two challenging weekly group rides (no chance for photos,) and a training ride or two (no need for photos,) once a week I get in a longer ride, hopefully incorporating more climbing every week.
Last week my car needed brake work, so I dropped it off and rode the long way home. Most of that ride has been included here in one form or another, but the route linked some different rides together. Here are a few pictures from 42 miles, 2800 feet climbing.
Fading paint makes a beautiful surface and this old barn and house are on a very quiet road, where I saw not one car. House and barn will both soon be in my nature reclaims culture series, as windows are boarded up or full of holes. The oldest houses here are typically very close to the roads, which have gotten wider and motorized.
The highland swamps are excellent habitats for Great Blue Herons, moose and many smaller creatures. Somehow the swamps remain surprising to find in this hilly terrain. This one is still full of cattails and other native plants, not yet driven out by invasives.
Cemeteries on this road aren't the oldest around. Most of the stones in this one date from the early 19th century. For reasons unknown to me, the stones are considerably more eroded than many older stones in other graveyards.
The roads were a mix of quiet rural, and busier state roads. From Lee, the ride took me to Tyringham, Monterey, Otis, Becket and back to Washington.
Gorgeous pictures. I have made some great discoveries on those quiet, rural roads. Always something interesting out there, on every ride.
ReplyDeleteHi Aaron,
DeleteThanks! That's good to hear, and you're right about the little roads. I think you're at the southern, higher end of the same mountain range that I'm at the northern, lower end. Oh yes, and you're at the hotter, more humid end this time of year. Happy climbing!
That's what I love about cycling. You see something interesting on every single ride - and often something you'd probably never notice if you were driving. Today on our little family potter around we came across some beautiful ripe wild plums, which were delicious, waved to someone on their horse and stopped to admire some amazing hortensias in a garden. Little incidents that make life so interesting.
ReplyDeleteHi Steph,
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you're getting some riding in... and you're absolutely right, with open eyes and ears and noses there is always something new to be discovered! I love that, too. Plum jam in your future? Now I'll go look up hortensia.