Update, 3/31/07: Routes have been added.
Date: Saturday, April 14
Start Location in Connecticut: Mototown USA, 1001 Dayhill Road, Windsor, CT 06095 (860-688-5110) (Interstate 91, north of Hartford, exit 38, right off ramp, take your first left onto Dayhill Rd [after passing under 91] and 2.5 miles down Dayhill Road.
Mototown USA Website for additional details on this facility.
Time: arrive at 9am, Rider's Meeting about 10, leave about 10:30am.
Start Location in New Hampshire: Meet at the Citco station at the junction of rt 202 and 119 in Rindge NH,
Leave Time: 9:15am
Destination: Great Barrington, Mass. for lunch. There is no set restaurant, everyone is on their own for lunch.
After lunch, both the CT & NH groups will meet at the Price Chopper parking lot, 300 Stockbridge St., Great Barrington, starting at about 1pm. After another Meet & Greet we'll split into small groups and ride back home around 2pm or so. Great Barrington has easy access to Interstate 90 and eastern NY.
A big thanks to the folks at Mototown USA for being enthusiastic hosts for the CT start. These guys are actually looking forward to having us there. More thanks to Andy for the suggestion.
Routes from Mototown USA to Great Barrington:
There are a lot of ways to get from the start location in Connecticut to lunch in Great Barrington. Here are four possible routes I made up. You can play around with them and make other options too.
Each route has a downloadable Streets & Trips File (2007 version, I’m not sure how well previous versions can view it) and a .GPX file for your GPS (unzip the file and “recalibrate” it in Mapsource). The directions from Windsor to Great Barrington are pretty straightforward even if you can’t access these files.
Route 1: Via Routes 8 & 57
Streets & Trips FileGPX FileRoute 2: Via Route 183
Streets & Trips FileGPX FileRoute 3: Via Route 189
Streets & Trips FileGPX FileRoute 4: Via Route 23
Streets & Trips FileGPX FileHere’s some ideas for lunch too:
The afternoon meeting spot at Price Chopper is actually in the same shopping plaza as the McDonalds. I can vouch for Four Brothers Pizza. There is also a pub just north of the Price Chopper on the right that is good.
I know there is also a Subway and a lot of other restaurants clustered in this area. Manhattan Pizza is a good place.
I'll update more information in this space as it becomes available.
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In 2005 we did a Meet & Greet where about 50 ST.N'ers from all over the northeast met in Waterbury, Conn. and did a short ride up to Great Barrington, Mass. for lunch. It was a nice way to meet some new people, check out the new bikes and farkles and get a little riding in early in the season. You can read about that ride and see some videos
HERE. (Can't believe it's already been two years.)
We tried the ride again last year but the weather never cooperated.
Is there any interest in doing it again? The basic plan is this: we group up in our respective areas (eastern NY, Mass., Conn/RI) and meet in a central location, like Waterbury. We then leave and ride at our own pace(s) up to another location about an hour away, have lunch, then meet again and go our separate ways to ride home. It worked pretty well in 2005, the roads were in pretty good shape and there were no accidents or injuries. People came from as far away as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New Hampshire.
I was talking to Leebo and he is organizing a group ride in New Hampshire on Saturday, April 14 and would be interested in meeting the group in Great Barrington. For sake of simplicity and convenience I would say we could meet in Waterbury and ride up to Great Barrington again.
This would be the weekend before the Meet & Eat and would be good for those of us who can't travel too far from home.
Post up if you're interested.
