Autumn in New York. Crisp, bright mornings. Multi-layered rides on quiet back roads. This November weekend saw the Bellerophon Cycle Club riding in Connecticut's Litchfield Hills, taking in part of the Rapha Continental route...
On these deserted Sunday morning rides it's always exciting to come across a sign that others also rate these roads as some of the best - in this case it was a series of Rapha 'R's, spray-painted on the fresh asphalt in West Cornwall, Connecticut. Rapha's famous 'Continental' riders rolled on these very roads.
About halfway through the ride we started skirting around the base of Great Mountain - flirting with the climb to come.
The climb itself is a monster, as I've described before - here. Suffice to say, it gets easier every time, but it will make you pay if Saturday was a late night...There is a riding stables just before the summit, and the local riders are usually good for some cheers of encouragement.
After the climb we hit the dirt roads - the surface is very hard and quite smooth at this time of year. We use 700x23 tires and they work fine - just make sure they aren't super light weights - these our the current favorites of the club - Continental 4-Season.
The resevoir is at high altitude, and feeds the town of Norfolk (home of Archer Cycles) below, fed by gravity. This is the water in my bidons.
It was 37 degrees when we left in the morning, and 66 when we got back to the club...great ride!
