Berkshire Cycling Classic Cyclosportif: 100K Route

64 miles          Challenging         Paved Roads

Start: Lenox
Towns: Lenox, Stockbridge, Lee, Tyringham, Monterey, New Marlboro, Sheffield, Egremont, Alford, West Stockbridge






View to south from behind Tanglewood

Wind intimidates me. I don't like even to listen to it from snug inside my house. Don't like it when I'm hiking outside, or gardening, or cycling. Duly noted. Today I didn't actively dislike it, tried to note it and then let it go, but struggled with it almost the entire route of the 100K Berkshire Cyclosportif, coming up on May 6. The weather reporters tell me it was a fairly steady 20mph; I only know that I was working pretty hard to hold a cadence of 70 and it was energy-sapping.





South County landscape

The route itself is fabulous, very beautiful virtually all the time. It rolls from Lenox south, winding around the smaller towns of southern Berkshire County, passing through varied geography and offering the rider a fair sampling of the rural southern Berkshires. This is pretty terrain, frequently fairly manicured, in a prosperous New England kind of way. Further north, and in the hilltowns, there are wilder, less developed parts of the county, but this is the best known area.

Lenox, the start of the route, is home to Tanglewood, summer residence of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which plays a big role in driving our tourist-based economy. Though it is  the most prominent of many cultural institutions in the area, there are many more,  mostly seasonal, and the economy and population are radically different summer to winter. Right now towns and roads are still quiet, and will be until June.

View of Stockbridge Bowl from near end of ride

After passing through Stockbridge, where there are plenty of stops for food or water, the route follows the beautiful Tyringham Valley before turning south and climbing over the hill to Monterey. There is a busy section of road on Rt. 23, but it isn't long, and I quickly turned south on Corashire Road, a beautiful short link to Route 57. From there it travels west to Sheffield, before turning back north on Route 41. It is generally flat and rural most of the way, with the only two real climbs: the first  between Tyringham and Monterey, and the second at the very end, from West Stockbridge into Lenox. That one goes past two Berkshire Natural Resources Council properties. You'll see if you click the route map below.

Old barn

In the end I finished with plenty of time to spare, and a new, more specific, goal for the May 6 event. Oh yes, when I learned about the 7-hour time limit to successfully complete the course, I changed my registration from the 138K to the 100K. There is no possibility that I will ride the 138K within that time limit. The 100K, about 64 miles, about 3700 feet climbing is doable for me. Perhaps more gracefully if there's less wind on the day of the event.

Shadbush is blooming, spring is here

Sportif or not, this route is another good addition to my list of County rides, one that I will be glad to ride again. To see a map of the route and cuesheet, click here to visit Ride with GPS.



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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: 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