Berkshire Cycling: Stockbridge Loop 1

27 miles     Paved Roads
Start: Berkshire Botanical Gardens, Route 102, Stockbridge
Towns: Stockbridge, Housatonic, Great Barrington, Alford, West Stockbridge 



It's now about two weeks later than the date of my last outdoor ride in 2010, and that was later than in 2008 or 2009. Before that, who knows? This despite the scare thrown into New England cyclists by the Halloween weekend storm. Today is sunny, 50+ degrees, little wind; what more could a rider want towards the end of November? There was a skim of ice on the swamp when I left, but it warmed up quickly.



And there was other news, as good as the weather today. What does this tell you: shopping center parking lots full to overflowing, with merchants providing school buses to ferry people from distant overflow parking. Town centers crowded, with people on the sidewalks and no parking places available. Yes, it must be the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., so called black Friday. Everybody was shopping ... so, happy side effect, no one was on our rural roads ... they were emptier than I have ever seen them from a bicycle seat. I will scoff no more at my culture's love of shopping. Instead, I'll jump on the bike and be glad for open roadways.

I parked at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. This is a fabulous garden, gardens really, in Stockbridge. If you're in that town during the short Berkshire growing season, don't miss it.


Riding south on Rt. 183, I passed both the Norman Rockwell Museum and Chesterwood, a National Trust Historic Site that was home and studio to sculptor Daniel Chester French, probably best known his work on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It is more than a museum to his work, also hosting resident sculptors and an annual juried show of contemporary sculpture.


The road follows the Housatonic River, and passes through the eponymously named town, where many of the old factories are put to use as galleries, studios, and one very good bakery, Berkshire Mountain Bakery. Worth a stop for bread, including some with chocolate, but unhappily, no coffee.



Turning south on Rt. 7, my ride went through Great Barrington, then turned west on Taconic Street. The traffic in Great Barrington was bearable, because everyone was inside shopping, their cars still on the roadside.


This year's crop of winter berries is abundant,  their bright red colors appearing in wet areas. I followed Taconic Street through Alford, using West Road to West Center, which ends back on Rt. 102, where I turned right into West Stockbridge, then continued on back to Stockbridge


Besides its historic downtown, Alford still has several working dairy farms, a happy fact in a town where development pressure must be intense, given its location in the southern Berkshires (read that: accessible to NYC, Tanglewood and Great Barrington.)


All in all, this made a very nice ride, thought not exactly what I set out to do, it was fun and I saw quite a few other cyclists on the road today.


 Finally, a retraction. I've been wondering if there are any careful readers out there who noticed my writing a month or so ago of my plan to keep fit  by going to the gym on the way home from work, and thought: huh, what's that, her?  Is this the person we know? Well, there was at least one: my brother! So truth be told, no. I came to my senses, lost the illusion, and realized (happily before spending $300 that I will do much more fun things with) that there isn't a bat's chance in hell that I will stop, after work, tired, in the cold dark winter night, to work out in a gym. I don't like gyms. I like the outdoors, cycling, cross-country skiing. So this year, once I can't ride, it's back to the stationary set up. Though I'm thinking of purchasing studded snow tires for the bike, they certainly help the car get around in winter .... hmmmm. Black ice, anyone?

Roads: Rt. 183 south to Rt. 7. South to Taconic Street. West to West Road / West Center to Rt. 102. East to West Stockbridge, then Stockbridge. Click here to see the route, with map, cue sheet and climb  details, on Map My Ride.

Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 4

Touring as Sport?

It was a good start to November. After October's first minimal snowstorm, then its second, 20+ inch snowstorm, the weather warmed up, and the snow melted almost completely. Last week I got in three good rides, including a 25-mile ride in the Connecticut River Valley, where I rode a few weeks ago, and a 50-mile ride in the Berkshires from Pittsfield to Great Barrington and back.


These two rides set me to musing again on the differences in the nature of experience between cycle touring and riding at home. What makes touring so alluring, compelling, seductive ...  required even, for me. Part is the travel, the adventure. Part also, the "grass is greener" phenomena.  Part probably related to goals. More about those things another time. I've written that a part of it is the physicality of riding a bike. But is that physicality any different on a local ride, say of 50 miles, and a touring ride of the same distance?


The blog Le Grimpeur recently got me to thinking about Roland Barthes, a French philosopher I am somewhat familiar with, but Le Grimpeur linked him to sport. Specifically to cycling. I've never associated Barthes with the philosophy of sport. This made me curious. That should not be surprising, Barthes being a French author, coupled with my interest in the relationships between touring, cycling, sport, culture, adventure ... I bought a copy of What Is Sport? and just now it offered a new insight.

It's a little book, and I'd been happily reading along, thinking that of course touring is athletic, and the physicality that I enjoy is athletic. But just because an activity is athletic, does that make it sport? Barthes first chapters got me to thinking that touring is not sport: racing is sport. Yes, I know people talk about "conquering" mountains, and  conquering would be sport, like bullfighting. But I don't buy it, even as metaphor. Conquering by its nature means getting the better of, overwhelming, beating, subjugating. The mountain submits to none of these things. No one conquers a mountain: capable cyclists successfully ride up it, faster or slower, with more or less grace, as the case may be. The mountain goes on with no measurable change in its existence after a cyclist climbs it: it is not defeated.  This in no way diminishes the experience of climbing mountains, on a bike or on foot. I love love love the experience of climbing mountains. It is a language issue, a part perhaps of a philosophical issue.


So, sport or not?  But then I came across this. Barthes writes (in translation) of the Tour de France "...for that is the stake of the Tour: to hold out. To hold out against anger, against suffering. To hold out, which means to begin again." This quote could equally apply to self-supported touring. There are times when anger or suffering need to be ignored, held out against, and you just go on. Just push the pedals around, just keep paying attention to the experience. And it is in the nature of cycle touring that you begin, again, and again and again. The only time I became sad on my last trip was when, at the end I could not, the next day, begin again. It was time to get on a train and head home. Sad didn't originate in the coming home, this is a good place to live. It was caused by not beginning again the next day.


Perhaps there is an element of sport involved in my touring, that doesn't exist on my local rides, and which I miss when riding here, however seriously I ride, and however much I train. Sport may be one component that contributes to the difference in experience.



Anyway, my third ride last week finally provided a chance to ride with my friend Ellen. We rode about 35 miles, climbing the hills up into Windsor, then making a looping route back to town. The day was sunny, in the low 40s and blustery, especially windy high in Windsor and we had cold toes. It was a good and beautiful ride. For me, it was especially fun to ride with a friend ... the first time I've been able to since back home.

By the way, I've been tickled to learn that at least some riders have been using my site for planning trips to France: just what I hoped for. That's encouragement enough for me to put together a listing of the websites I've found helpful in the past. When I can get these organized by categories, I'll put it up.

Berkshire Cycling: Around Beartown State Forest

31 miles Paved and dirt roads
Towns: Lee, Tyringham, Otis, Monterey, Great Barrington, Stockbridge,

Parking: Rt. 102 and Tyringham Rd., Lee

The wide Tyringham Valley

There were two reasons I chose to ride this route: to see what Tyringham Road offers after it passes my usual turn to Monterey, and predictably, to ride down Blue Hill Road, one of the most enjoyable descents in this part of the Berkshires. The route is mostly a pretty ride, provided some nice climbing and a gorgeous descent, with a few sections of highway and enough traffic to prove that it is summer in the Berkshires and Tanglewood has opened. There are many reasons to visit here, cultural as well as the beautiful natural world, but Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home, drives the number of visitors.

Which direction are those horses going?

From Lee, I rode out Tyringham Road, a long, pretty valley, with open fields, surrounding ridges, some remaining old farm houses, and a number of horses. The signs on the road reminded me of my friend Larry. “Horse back riding on road.” Guess they don’t know which direction the people on horseback will be going. See his blog birds and words for more great signs.  

Appalachian Trail hiker

Close to the village of Tyringham I met a hiker who began in May at the south end of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, and is hiking through to Maine. We were just below Tyringham Cobble, first protected in the 1930s, and in the 1960s donated to the Trustees of Reservations. Its two miles of trail link with the AT, and provide stunningly beautiful views of the valley. I’ve found wild asparagus growing in the field on the top, left I think, from the Shakers who once lived here. A great walk.

 

The road climbs up into Otis, with some typical Berkshires high swamps, then continues bearing south until it ends at Rt. 23 in Monterey.  Once there, I turned west, towards Monterey, and passed the sign for Bob’s Way, another Berkshire Natural Resources Council property. I’ve heard it’s about 2-1/2 miles of nice looped walking, but haven’t yet hiked it. 

High swampland on the Otis border

Turning right onto Hupi Road, the surface is dirt, the road is  quiet and provides a few views of Lake Garfield from above. At the intersection with Monterey Road, I turned left  went back to Rt. 23 in the village of Monterey, but you could continue straight on Hupi and avoid more of busy Rt. 23.

Lake Garfield from Hupi Road

Before too long a right again took me onto Blue Hill Road, the second main reason I’m here today. This was a fine ride, up for a bit, then down to intersect with Monument Valley Road and Route 7.  Its curving downhills were sometimes fast and reminded me of riding in France. It was fun. I guess it was such fun that I didn’t stop to take photos. The quiet sections of the trip made it well worth the traffic on the two ends, Rts. 23 and Rt. 7.

 

Monument Mountain

At Rt. 7 I turned north, just under Monument Mountain, another Trustees of Reservation property.  Trustees are a big, effective player in land preservation in our area. I have hiked up that mountain many times and it is either a steep rocky climb up with a gentle, wide path descent … or vice versa.

Follow Rt. 7 through busy Stockbridge to Rt. 102 and back to South Lee.

Roads: From Rt. 102 in Lee, Tyringham Road to Rt. 23, to Blue Hill Road, which intersects with Monument Valley Rd to Rt. 7 north. Follow it to Rt. 102 back to Lee. Click here for Map My Ride link to this route, it will have cue sheets, map and climb info.

BERKSHIRE COUNTY RIDES LIST

Berkshire Cycling: Great Barrington - Sheffield Loop 2

18 miles   Paved Roads

Towns: Great Barrington, Egremont, Sheffield

Parking: Great Barrington

 

Pond usually covered with geese

Another nice after-work ride for me, not too long and generally flat. When I ride near home after work it is always hilly … not always what I want to see after a long day and commute. So I often ride here, then drive home. This ride goes west from Great Barrington to the pretty, very traditional white-building, town of South Egremont, then south past the Appalachian Trail before turning back west in Sheffield.

View of hills to east

One of these days I’ll ride to the top of Mount Washington, past Bash-Bish falls, but my defeat on Washington Mountain Road chastened me enough to wait another few weeks before trying  this south county hill. 

Sheep farm

The two Washingtons are confusing, even to area residents.  One is a hilltown, simply named Washington, with “Washington Mountain Road” leading to it from the northwest. It is large in area, small in population, with most of its landmass  unpopulated in October Mountain State Forest. The other town is Mount Washington, located on the Connecticut/New York border, featuring (surprise) Mount Washington.  Even the Commonwealth can get confused: once about fifteen years ago the state deposited monies due to Mount Washington into the bank account of Washington. Both are small towns, and no one realized the error for months. 

   

 

On today’s ride I pass the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Kellogg Center, located on Rt. 41. This mid-18^th century farmhouse was a gift to the Trail Conservancy, is the regional office for Massachusetts and Connecticut, and offers workshops and retreats for staff and hikers. 

Continuing south, on the other side of the road the herd of sheep reminded me of my trip to the Languedoc in southern France. Though the Cévennes are much more rugged, and high, than the Berkshires, some people say that they aren't really mountains, just as I say the Berkshires are hills. The Cévennes are sheep country and provide milk for Roquefort cheese. There is a growing cheese industry here, but I haven’t learned of any local sheep-milk cheese.

The ride across Berkshire School Road is fast and flat, followed by a short stint on Rt. 7, a jog over to Boardman and the ride back to central Great Barrington.

Roads: From Great Barrington travel west on Rt. 23 to South Egremont, turn south on Rt. 41, then left onto Berkshire School Road. Follow it back to Rt. 7, turn north and follow Rt. 7 for a short distance to Maple Street. Right on Maple then left on Boardman. Left when Boardman ends onto Brookview which takes you quickly back to 7. North to Great Barrington center.

Berkshire Rides List

Berkshire Cycling: Great Barrington - Sheffield Loop 1

23 miles   Paved Road

Towns: Great Barrington, Sheffield, New Marlboro

Parking: Great Barrington abandoned fairgrounds

South County is flat

This loop makes a very pleasant cycling and I ride it frequently after work to stretch my legs and get on the bike. It provides pretty views of the fields and hills of south county, with very short sections through forested areas. Like most riding in this part of the county it is flat and the quiet rural roads don’t have much traffic on them. Part of the ride follows the Connecticut border. The first time I rode it I missed the turn at Old Turnpike Road and continued straight. Only noticed the state change when all the cars in driveways had CT plates.

Cows crossing at Balsalm Hill Farm

More than one reader has told me my photos are too much scenery and not enough people. I’ll work on the people part someday, but today I’ll pay attention to other habitants of the county. The corn in the fields is mostly for the cows. 

The calves were less than a week old

The cows are mostly for milk. We're lucky to have these farms, obviously they provide food, but they also protect the open space and rural economy. Maple Shade Farm is a member of the Organic Valley Cooperative dairy system.

Wild turkeys glean the field

Roads: South on Rt. 7 from GB; left on  Brookside. Right onto Boardman. Jog left onto County, then immediate right onto Hewins. Bear left onto Shunpike, then right onto Canaan/Southfield Road. Right onto Clayton Rd. (where Old Turnpike Rd. enters from the south.) Right onto Polikoff, right onto Hewins. Back to Boardman and GB.

BERKSHIRE COUNTY RIDES LIST

Berkshire Cycling: Great Barrington Alford Loop 1 (part 2)

Bike travel, and its easy ability to meander, offers such a sensory experience: the smells and sounds change quickly with the specific surroundings. And it provides a better chance to look at detail than any other form of wheeled travel. Today, in many places along my ride, both the wild apples fallen on the ground and those remaining highlighted against the sky, like ornaments on naked trees are an autumn treat for the eyes and the nose, as they ferment.  I sometimes smell them first, see them second. And sometimes pick one to eat; usually they are wild apples, tart and dry, that make excellent apple butter or cider.

A road called “Crooked Hill Road” caught my eye on the map, so I doubled back to ride across it. I couldn’t spot a crooked hill, though its name is s evocative and it was fun to ride, twisting a little up and down before reaching Rt. 71. The road surfaces have been perfect to ride on, newly paved and very smooth.

 As I neared the Great Barrington airport a small, mustard yellow plane flew overhead, its flat, yellow-ish green color unusual and noticeable. It was a dull yellow, which I saw again as the plane took off when I was next to the runway. Within a hundred yards,  between the mowed cornfields and the road, there were three or four clumps of asparagus, surely left over from an old field, that had been spared the mower’s blade. Asparagus fronds can be just beautiful in the fall. These were almost the same hue as that plane, but not at all dull or flat:  in the late afternoon sunshine they were a luminous, glowing, mustard gold color.

Turning off Route 23, I rode past Wyantenuck Country Club and down towards Route 7. Avoiding Rt. 7 by crossing it and continuing to Boardman makes better riding, but by then I was worried about being late so I turned left onto Lime Kiln Road and when it reached Route 7 turned north. It’s good there is a wide shoulder, because the traffic is fairly heavy, and fast.

Roads:

Start:  Taconic Ave. & Route 7 in Great Barrington

Castle Street to Alford Rd. to Alford

Left  past the Cemetery to North Egremont Rd.

Lef:t North Egremont Rd.
Right: Green River Road

Left: Crooked Hill Rd.

Right: Rt. 71 (Green River Valley Rd.)

Left: Rte. 23

Right: W. Sheffield Rd.

Left: Lime Kiln Rd.

Left: Rt. 7 

Berkshire Rides List

Berkshire Cycling: Great Barrington Alford Loop 1 (part 1)

19 miles               Paved Roads

Towns: Great Barrington, Alford, Egremont, Sheffield, Great Barrington

Parking: Abandoned Fairgrounds, Rt. 7 Great Barrington

The riding here in the southern Housatonic River Valley is generally much flatter and the countryside more developed, with accompanying heavier traffic, than in the hilltowns or north county. This is a good ride if you're looking for something short and flat in south Berkshire County.

Leaving Great Barrington on Taconic Ave., the road climbed very gradually to the west towards Alford with its impressive old cemetery.  Today, many of the family names remain in the area. Alford is third smallest town in the Berkshires, with only about 400 people.

As I neared Alford, the architecture became quintessentially New England: white houses, red barns.  The village of Alford is pretty: its white wooden Methodist church sits on a small hill above the road, with Center Cemetery behind it. The tall, obelisk-like stones are an unusual site in graveyards in the Berkshires, where I usually see only small, simple markers.  This is the historic center of Alford; the town hall is right here also. The town, a farming community,  was settled in 1750 then  in 1769 split away from Great Barrington.  How important farming was to people’s lives here is easy to imagine by remembering the story of Aaron Kinne, a resident of Egremont and preacher in many  nearby towns. The story goes that there was a terrible drought in the early 1800s, and during a sermon he called for rain; the fields were parched, the crops dying. At the end of his prayer he added: “But after all our petitions, O God, we would not presume to dictate, but we would advise.” And actually, today it is … well, white houses, red auto garages, no longer so many red barns. Land prices here are far too high for most farmers, and even those working farms that have been in the family for generations are challenged. Berkshire County is losing its farms, and especially here in South County, which has what is probably the most fertile soil and gentlest climate in the County. At the side of the road there are many signs telling the passer-by the name of the house that sits next to the road: something-something farm, or something-something-else farm. But almost without exception these do not look like farms, or like market gardens. It is a shame to lose so many farms, and with them so much in the way of fresh local food and flavors. 

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Berkshire Cycling: South Lee Loop 1 (part 1)

24 miles                Paved and Dirt
Towns: South Lee, Tyringham, Monterey, Great Barrington

Parking: Post Office or Park, South Lee

Housatonic River

This is a pretty ride, probably would be at any time of the year, with little traffic. It starts at Meadow Street and Rt. 102, where Meadow Street turns off to the east, crossing the Housatonic River. The bridge was built in 1954 and  offers good views downriver. When my friend Larry visits, he knows that he can announce with confidence virtually every river he sees in our part of the Berkshires, no matter how geographically improbable it seems, as the Housatonic. It doesn’t matter whether the water is flowing north, south, east or west. The river starts at Muddy Pond, in my town of Washington, flows north to Dalton; then west to Pittsfield: then south, and meanders its way to Connecticut. It’s frequently pretty, especially where General Electric and its PCBs haven’t been near.  

Past Oak and Spruce Resort (don’t look left or right, just ride through it) Meadow Street is quiet, sometimes in the woods, sometimes between open fields. At about 1-1/2 miles I turned right onto Fernside. After a bit the surface becomes hard gravel. The oaks in the forest are holding their color, a rich, reddish- or orangish-brown, depending on the variety. Their color, leaf shape and bark announce several varieties. I think they may be red oak, black oak, white oak and perhaps chestnut oak. There are a lot more oaks here than in my home woods, only about 10 miles northeast as the crow flies. Some people say the oaks never flourished there, that the glacier, higher altitudes and subsequent colder temperatures made a dividing line. Other people say that the oaks were all cut for ties when the Boston – Chicago rail line was built through town, and that they never regrew. In any case, I have never seen a mature oak in the woods near home; it is a beech-birch-maple forest with hemlock stands in cold areas.

After the droughty summer, the recent rains have filled the streams coming down the side of the hill to my right, and they are moving quickly now.  On the forest floor the Christmas ferns are evident, growing in healthy stands. Named Christmas fern because their leathery fronds are evergreen, they grow in rocky, shaded, moist, woods and are fun to watch until winter snows bury them. Less happily, there are large stands of coltsfoot at the edge of the road, a plant brought to this country as a medicinal herb by English colonists. It may be a good medicinal, but it drives out native plants, dominating the area where it grows. Soon I cross the Appalachian Trail, which comes from Maine, entering the county in Clarksburg, just east of Williamstown, and continuing south until it exits Massachusetts in Mount Washington, on its way to Georgia.

I pass a wooden trough that offers water to the passing public. There is no sign, but I imagine that it is potable water, something that in our litigious society no one would ever say, must less write. In the photo you can (barely) see the springhouse at the top, and if you look carefully you’ll see the beer can discarded next to the bucket. What kind of person throws away cans, bottles, other garbage? And why is it so frequent in our culture? I could guess: someone in a car, drinking, who knows it’s dangerous and illegal, so gets rid of the evidence. And, why then, do I see Vitamin Water bottles littered on the side of the road? I don’t imagine cyclists or hikers throwing them away; perhaps I am wrong, but even my cynical self hopes not.  And why do I see cigarette packages? And fast food packaging? How stupidly unnecessary is this? Why don’t we as a culture respect and take care of our surroundings? In any case, it’s a sad juxtaposition, the fresh, clear water and the discarded, empty aluminum can.

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