more adventure riding through the woods scoping out possible fom-ftt routes.

if you haven't ridden a woods road in 10, 15, maybe 20 years, things will probably have changed. if you've never ridden something, things could also have changed over that amount of time, but you won't notice the difference. profound...

saturday, i made a plan to ride the lary pond section and check see if the way through to river road was still passable. i called skip and he accepted the invitation to join in the fun. he had not been through that way in just as long, so it was guaranteed to be an adventure. 

i rode over to his house and offered clockwise or counter clockwise--he chose counter- and we took off toward stevens road. as we passed a friend david's house, he was outside and stopped us to look at his cool new, little workshop with an arched roof. 

back on steven's we flew downhill and turned onto the lary pond road. skip was already planning to stop. i got out my camera as he was playing with his.

there was a small raft of ducks way out, with silhouettes like buffleheads, but not close enough for a positive id. i was thinking the last time i was here, skip and i were on a mission to skate all the bigger ponds in canaan and enfield. that was many winters ago.

back on the road, we climbed steadily to the left hand turn that would take us into dorchester before doubling back into canaan along the headwaters of the mascoma. at one point we crossed the river and stopped on the bridge for pictures--upstream & down.

not too long after that we came to a right hand turn climbing a big hill with snowmobile signs pointing up. i found a 'dead end' sign on a stick buried in the grass on the road following the river. skip seemed to recognize the hill so why not. as we pushed, we were both thinking this would be a great ski with good snow. we kept on pushing and making plans to come back in the winter, early enough after a storm to beat the snow machines.

as the steep fell off, we got back on the saddles and pedaled. after a while the down hill started and as the light was fading we let go the brakes more. maybe more than we should of not being able to see all the rocks. i thunked one solid with my front wheel and even in all the leaves saw within ten yards or so, it was flat.

as i stopped i thought, crap, i never patched that tube that went flat last month. skip to the rescue. as he pulled up behind he announced that he had a spare tube and CO2--score! i didn't even have to take the tire lever out...in nascar pit speed, the tire was under pressure and the wheel back on. we were lucky it was the front one.

a little more down hill and we turned left onto what would become the gore road, headed toward river road and home. skip turned his light on blinking mode, incase anybody needed to see us. i think we made it all the way to the turnpike without any traffic passing in either direction. at the bottom of his hill he offered to gift me a lift if i pedaled up to the house. it was getting dark enough that i took the offer.

it's always great to have skip along, but he was going to be circumnavigating grafton pond the next day, so i didn't even ask him if he wanted to try to find a route down to clark pond from the gore road. i checked both of the leaky tubes but they were too far gone to patch, so i just stuck all the pump and patches in my frame bag and left around noon to give me plenty of light to explore some more.

this time i passed by the pond end of the gore road and followed river road along the mascoma. a mile or more in, i passed another gate and was back in the woods. after what seemed like another mile, up a really gentle grade, i saw the dead end sign i had pulled out of the grass. it was back down again. skip had tried to pound it in with a rotten piece of wood and didn't get it in very far.

i turned up the hill again and tried riding as much as i could--that wasn't far. the steep and wet leaves were brutal. more pushing was involved for a second day, but it gave me plenty of time to think about skiing it. 

back on the saddle, i was a bit more prepared to miss any sharp rocks on the down slope. very soon the path ahead looked wide open and inviting. in the improved light, i figured it would be safe enough to let off the brake and have a bit of fun in the leaves. what the heck, i had patches and a pump!

that got me to the gore road fairly quickly and fortunately, the air in the tires at the top, was still there at the bottom. onto the gore road, i found a road to the right heading toward clark pond. skip had mentioned it saturday so i turned downhill, again. in a quick minute, i came to another intersection surrounded by old stone walls.

off to the left, there were several old cellar holes with foundation stones still laid up. i got off the bike and wandered around trying to imagine the structures that used to sit atop them. i was guessing the house was the smaller one with a walk in cellar. and the barn was bigger with what looked to be a root cellar. i was pretty impressed.

i was also still in the woods and didn't know how far the pond was. i took off. the trail got steep and rocky after just a short bit, but i found an alternative path--with dirt bike tracks--off to one side and took that. it came out just a couple hundred yards shy of the boat launch at the pond. sweet!

the sugar house road that pam and i came down here on last weekend was just around the corner--and up a big hill. so i kept riding. when i got into the woods again--i.e. the deep, slippery leaves--things got even more slippery as sleet started coming down. i tried to take a quick picture, but... 

the sugar house road that pam and i came down here on last weekend was just around the corner--and up a big hill. so i kept riding. when i got into the woods again--i.e. the deep, slippery leaves--things got even more slippery as sleet started coming down. i tried to take a quick picture, but... 

it didn't get any worse although anytime i was going downhill, it was almost cold. when i got back to the house, i realized i had put my hat in my pocket and pulled my thinner neck gaiter up onto my head and my gloves were in my frame bag.

cold or hot, sleet or sun, it always is fun to go outside and play!