Oct 12 rides

[mudmucker]

jaydee, very nice. redrhodie and fastdogs, sounds like you both had fun, although each was certainly different.

The other day I said, wow, heading towards the middle of October. I need to stop biking all weekend and spend some time buttoning up the house for winter. So I did some buttoning yesterday. Heck, today was just too nice, so off I went and I took the Old Red, the revamped steel utility bike.

Today I did a cute little brick, a leisurely one, and ended up doing a little of everything - about 24 miles. I rode 9 miles over to Lake Dennison-Otter River State Forest, which combined has about 6000 acres of undeveloped state forest. Once I got into the Forest, I rode about 6 miles on the dirt roads and trails - my new 28c Randonneurs worked great. I know this area well, and tapped into the more unused quiet portions. When I emerged from the Forest trail network on the other side, I rode a bit over to the Birch Hill Dam area where I went for a trail run for about 2 miles. I brought my running shoes with me, locked my bike to a signpost, and hid my bike bag, bike shoes and helmet in some bushes. At that point I'm only 2 miles from the house but on the ride home I took a route that was about 7.5 miles.

It was a total blast do all 3 activities, and to have that option to go on dirt.

Here are some pictures. A lot of the color in the lower wetland areas have passed and many leaves are off. Some of the upland areas have peaked, and there are still some that need to turn.

Otter River, of said Dennison-Otter River State Forest. These pictures are along one of the smoother dirt roads.



Gotta get the bike in. Need to wrap the tools tight so they don't rattle so much over the off-road portion of the ride.



Rarely do I get a picture of me, as I ride solo a lot. But I got one today - found a post to put the camera on. Lake Dennison is in the background. My running shoes for the trail run are tucked in the bike bag.



Millers River, near Birch Hill Dam



Farm art.



The last stop of the day, as the shadows are getting long.
My Monadnock.