For a third week in a row, I volunteered to lead the SMR B as Austin has been recovering from an injury.  

I was thrilled to see that Saturday’s weather was finally going to be a break from the 100 degree temperatures and saturating humidity. I chose a route heading north up to Bernardston and Lyden, with the main event climbing the Eden Trail, which I have ridden and lead rides up there several times.

At home, as I was kitting up, it was 51 degrees (F) at 7:30 AM. It felt cold! I tried not to complain, given the aforementioned 100 degrees. I was fussing over putting on arm warmers or a windbreaker. I settled with a windbreaker- which I think was the right choice for the ride into Northampton. Once I arrived at Pulaski Park, the air had warmed, and so had I. It was a bit of a pain to carry the windbreaker with me all day. Sort of wished I had toughed it out from home.

Nine riders gathered to take on my route. It was sunny, clear, and definitely a top 10 weather day for the cycling season. About half the group were regulars this season, but the other half, I have not seen in quite some time, so it was great to have this mix in the group.

We had a good steady paceline on River Rd until we crossed over in Sunderland, where it broke up a bit with the risers and drops.

The Deerfield end of the bikepath led us by the Turners Falls canal and up to the Connecticut river. A short climb into Gill found us on some nice side roads, including Hoe Shop Rd- which has a short dirt section- very well maintained.

Once in Bernardston, we turned onto the main feature of the day, the Eden Trail Climb.  This is about 3.5 miles over 750 feet in elevation. Takes you by beautiful farms and views into Lyden.  When we thought we were done, nope, a left turn took us up one more sharp climb- Frizzle Hill, with a beautiful view at the top.

The descent down Frizzle, was a bit "frizzling" for me, at least.  Cross winds and deep dish aero wheels are not a great combo.  At the bottom we met up with Eric W, who intended to ride with us, but did the route in the other direction.  We debated which direction was better and parted ways. (my vote gets Eden Up, Frizze down!)

From there it was mostly downhill- we turned off to cross the covered bridge over the Green river and paused for a photo op.

From here, it was off to a quick stop at Harper's store to refuel, and then "the home stretch".  Except, the road was closed on my planned return leg in Greenfield.  So I used my brain (no electronics) to get us back on track- no choice but having to weave in rotary traffic, and ended up taking Upper Rd instead of Lower Rd.

As you may know, I don't take the easy way home!  Instead of heading through Deerfield and the "flats"- we went home via Whatley and the climbs into Haydenville, complete with the final climb up N. Farms Road to make it an honest day on the bike.

We rolled into Florence a bit later than I planned (1 PM), with 67 miles, 3383' and 16.3 MPH average for the route.