by Jonathan O’Keeffe » Sat Oct 05, 2013 9:23 pm
The fall weather continues to cooperate, with temperatures today in the upper sixties despite partly cloudy skies. We rolled from the Academy at 10AM (Saturday rides are at 10 for the rest of the fall season) with ten riders — myself, Tim, Aaron, Rob, Roger, Elissa, Derek, Rich, Ron, and Bryant. Tim planned out another stellar route up into the hilltowns to take advantage of the foliage, which is pretty much at peak up there right now.
We headed out to Williamsburg and then up Petticoat Hill Rd, which we haven’t done yet this year on a SMR. Tim and Derek led the way up the climb, as they continued to do all day. We climbed up 143 toward Chesterfield, but then turned off on Bisbee Rd and took some back roads into Chesterfield center, including a bit of dirt on Bagg Rd and an ugly freshly chip-sealed section on Munson Rd. I hadn’t been up this way before, and it was very scenic.
We flew down the Chesterfield wall, and took a left to climb up Ireland St and over to 112, which is (mostly) freshly paved, with a few sections still remaining to be completed in the southern portion. We took a side trip to climb up to the Knightville Dam, where we rode out onto the dam and enjoyed gorgeous 360-degree views of the surrounding foliage. After a stop at the Huntington Country Store, Roger suggested that we also check out the nearby Littleville Dam. This involved a very steep climb up to the dam, and then a beautiful ride out onto the dam to enjoy views over the mirror-flat Littleville Lake.
The group broke apart a bit on the climb up to the Littleville Dam, and we spent some time trying to regroup, eventually losing Rich (but finally managing to contact him on the phone as he headed home). The rest of us finished up the day by climbing the west side of Montgomery Mountain and then descending down into Southampton, returning to NoHo via Pomery Meadow and Park Hill Rd.
I ended up with 60 miles at 16.0 mph, with about 5,400′ of climbing.
