AMC Paddle - French River Oxford to Webster

Can you say "obstacle course"?  Well that's pretty much what today's river adventure consisted of.  Between the swift water and the numerous trees that extended nearly the entire width of the river, we had a challenging but enjoyable time on this sunny day.

Today's excursion is on the French River from Oxford to Webster in southern Worcester County.  The original plan was to paddle downstream, eat lunch, and then turn around and paddle back upstream.  However, with the plentiful rains that we have had in recent days, the current on the river was pretty swift.  Furthermore, navigating against the current around all the obstacles strewn in the river might be a bit too difficult.  Our leader, Elaine, left it up to see how many people would like to round trip and and many would like to shuttle.  Most opted for the latter option, so by the time we took most of the cars down and got back to the put-in, we didn't actually launch until around 10:23am.

Just to note, as you can see by the map, we are traveling pretty much due south paralleling I-395 so the access to the river was very easy.

The put in spot was very nice.  The home across the river has wonderful views, no doubt.

We were also just below the Hodges Village Dam, a US Army Corps of Engineers project.  Much of the recreation area here is above the dam, but we are launching below it.

I made this picture extra large so you could see the tree crossing the river.  We had to scoot to the extreme left side of the river to get by.

Further along, we did have some wide open spots, too.

A train lines runs alongside the river as we near Webster.

Just before our take-out, we pass under the old B&A Railroad Trestle. 
According to Google Maps, it is an historical landmark.

Our one way distance today was 5.65 miles done in a time of 2:03.  This actually worked out well for me, since as it is springtime, there are still a lot of projects to do around the house.  At least I got some play time in before work time.

Five Boro Bike Ride 2019

When I first heard about this bike ride, I knew I just had to go.

"This bike ride" is the Five Boro Bike Tour in New York City. Covering 40 miles and visiting all 5 of the city's boroughs, who can resist?  Especially when you don't have to deal with cars.  That's right, there will be plenty or road closures to accommodate the 32,000 registered bike riders on this, the 42nd annual ride.

I had the pleasure to do this ride with my son Matt, who
already lives in New York City (Park Slope, Brooklyn to be precise).  Months earlier, we registered as team "Appleseeds" (partly because 'A' is at the beginning of the alphabet and the name  easy to find in the team list).  The day before the ride, Matt and family picked up our registration packets where we got our official participant numbers  (mine was #22948).  I'm not exactly sure how the numbering scheme worked, but suffice it to say we were designated to start Sunday morning  in the 3rd wave at 8:45am.

All week long, we watched the weather and it did not look promising.  For days, the forecast for the day showed rain, rain, and more rain for the entire time we were to be biking.  I brought a varied collection of clothing so I could layer correctly to endure the rain and temperatures in the mid 50's.  On the way down, I also picked up some merino wool low cut socks, as I knew soaked cotton on my feet would not be a good idea.  Two days before, at the advice of a more seasoned biker friend, I also picked up a fender for my rear tire to keep the road spray off me.  Thank God for that inspiration as it really did its job well.

On race day, it WAS raining when we woke up and as we headed to the starting line.

Matt and I hopped on the 'G' line, then transferred to the 'A' train to Tribeca in Manhattan.
Manhattan is NYC's most densely populated borough.  We were not the only people on the subway with bikes.

We made it to the start on Church Street. 
Looking downtown, you can see how the tall buildings are shrouded in fog.

Looking uptown, the starting line is still 3 blocks away.

Meanwhile, the riders are dressed lots of different ways:  shorts, pants, jackets, tights, hoods, ponchos. 
It didn't matter, everybody was getting wet. 
While we waited to begin, we took cover under some of that famous NYC street scaffolding.

As we begin, we pass the World Trade Center buildings and the Oculus.  Then it's north on 6th Avenue, stopping briefly at 23rd Street to let cross town traffic pass.  For the most part, we ignored the red lights and just kept pedaling since the streets are closed just for us.  Continuing, it's up past Bryant Park and Matt's office building to 59th Street and onto the winding carriage ways through Central Park.  Many volunteers lined the pathways to keep us going in the right direction and warn us of upcoming obstacles.  There were also cheerleaders and musical acts along the streets to provide entertainment for us.

We exited the park at 110th Street into Harlem still heading north (into the wind).  Finally, we turned east to cross the Harlem River on the Madison Avenue Bridge into the Bronx.  There, we crossed under the I-87 (Major Deegan Expressway) twice before returning to Manhattan via the 3rd Avenue Bridge.  We were in the Bronx for less than a mile, but at least we were there.  On the bridge coming back, Matt unfortunately got a tire caught between the concrete road sections and took a little spill.  Fortunately, the damage was limited to scraped-up pedal.

The first official rest stop was at the 11 mile mark along the FDR Drive.  They made us  dismount and walk our bikes quite a ways for safety sake, but then we were rewarded with fruit, water, and energy bars.

There weren't a lot of opportunities to take photos, and besides, it took a lot of concentration to keep from slipping on the wet road surface or running into others.  At many points along the ride, we noticed what seemed to be professional photographers on the roadside taking pictures.  Sure enough, a few days later, they matched my tag number to an email so I could purchase one of those shots.

Here's what Matt & I looked like most of the ride.  At this point we're crossing the Queensboro Bridge.  This bridge is also known as the 59th Street Bridge, also  made famous by Simon and Garfunkel in their song from 1966 (aka Feelin' Groovy).
This bridge also passes over Roosevelt Island and is served by the famous tram.

So, now we're in Queens, the borough with the largest land area.  We turned north again (still into the wind) circumnavigating Astoria Park.  We skipped the rest stop at the park and took a quick break a while later.  We pass through Long Island City then over the Pulaski Bridge into Brooklyn (NYC's most populous borough).

Matt had actually done some riding in many of the neighborhoods we would pass through next:  Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Dumbo, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Finally, we head off the streets and onto the BQE (I-278, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway).

It's was really kind of weird riding a bike on this highway.  However, even in a car, I'm usually not moving much faster than on a bike.  A little further on, the road actually gets wider and one is exposed as if on a mountaintop.  Unfortunately for us, that's when  the rain intensified and  there was just no place to take cover.   We just got wetter. 

We took one more break before the long climb up the Verazzano Narrows bridge over New York Harbor.  This is the only day of the year when you can ride a bicycle on this bridge.  In a couple of spots on the road surface, they had big plastic panels covering the bridge expansion joints to keep narrow bike tires from slipping through.

Matt got this great photo. Being on the lower deck, we're finally protected from the rain.  You can see one of the main bridge towers in the distance.   

Once over the bridge, we're on Staten Island.  The bike tour festival grounds are just at the bottom of the ramp and everyone turns in to this unofficial "end to the ride".  Well it's only the end if you don't have to get back to the subway in Manhattan.  The festival grounds were clogged with people.  There were some concessions and entertainment, but we opted to complete the ride since it was still raining.  The only exit was over a grassy area that had turned completely to mud.  Yuk!  

From there, it was another 4 miles to reach the Staten Island Ferry.  We were treated to ice cream bars as we walked our bikes through the terminal.

This was Matt's first trip on the ferry.  I think this photo is blurry because my poor camera got a little wet.

Once back in Manhattan, we had to navigate ourselves back to the subway.  But now, we had to deal with cars on the streets.  I'm not sure if it was the warm ferry ride or the extended rest, but riding those next few blocks was the only time I was cold all day.

Once back at the apartment, I realized that I did not pack 100% perfectly.  Yes, my new GoreTex jacket worked incredibly well.  However, I failed to bring extra footwear;  the only pair of shoes I had were the sneakers I wore on the ride itself and these were soaked!  My best solution was to put my dry stocking feet into plastic bags and then put my shoes on for the nearly 4 hour drive home.  Luckily it worked really well!

The only other casualty of the ride was a my rear bike light that was lost along the way.  After all, there were still plenty of bumps on those city streets.

One of the neat things was that there was a mini-transponder on my bike tag, so at the end of the ride, a text message was automatically sent to Betsy with my finish time (about 3h30m).  My bike computer recorded over 44 total miles including the rides to and from the subway.

Becky asked me if I would do this ride again. Without much thought, I answered "Yes, but without the rain."

It was a fun ride and I really wan't hurting much the next day.  Everyone who made it to the festival grounds was awarded a medal to commemorate the occasion,  A nice memory despite the soggy day.

AMC Paddle - Quinebaug

Today, we're paddling down the Quinebaug River from Southbridge MA to Thompson, CT.  This is the second time I've done this river, the first time being 3 years ago.  This time I'd thought I'd include a bigger map so you could have a little more perspective as to where this is.  From the map, you can see that we take the river into the extreme northeast corner of Connecticut.  Our finish point is just to the east of I-395.

It rained last night, so like most river adventures in the spring, the water is running very fast.  Can you say "quickwater"?   Basically that's what we had almost the entire trip.  However, that was only part of the story.

We have 6 kayaks and 2 canoes today (9 people). 

As I said, the water is running very fast.  We head to the far end of the Big Y parking lot to find a spot with an eddy to we have a better chance of launching without the boats floating away.

Our first casualty of the day.  One of our novice kayakers falls in the icy cold water.  We get the boat to shore, but unfortunately, he tips the boat again trying to get in.

We had one unplanned portage due to a very large tree, however this portage is planned.  We're in West Dudley at the south end of the Quinebaug River reservoir.  There is a picnic table and bench, so we decide to take an early lunch break even though we still have a long way to go.

Here's the reason we have to portage.  We got everyone off the river safely before they hit the dam.

A little further on down the river, the same paddler unfortunately fell in again.  Getting going again this time was more complicated.  The boat and paddle floated away, but we were able to retrieve them   Then we had to 1) find the paddler who had walked downriver a couple hundred meters, 2)  get him into one of the canoes, and 3)  get him down to where his boat was.  To get there, we actually had to paddle around an island and upstream a bit.  Here he is getting back into his boat finally.  He was thankful for the sun to help dry him out.

We continued downriver where one of our experienced paddlers accidentally took a spill into the river.  She was able to recover fairly quickly.  A little while after that, we had our second planned portage, this time in Fabyan, CT.  After that, I took the lead position to ensure that our boats didn't bunch up too much.  You can see the water behind me is still moving at a pretty good clip.

From time to time, I turned around to make sure we were all together.  

We finally arrived at West Thompson Lake, an Army Corps of Engineers project.  Of course, the wind was blowing right at us, so it was a bit of a challenge at the end of the day.  We traveled  a total of 12.5 miles but it took us 5:32.  Considering the fast current, that's a long time and can be attributed to people falling in.  With the shuttling of the cars in the morning, we actually didn't get on the river until 11:10 am (late), so it was almost 4:45 pm when we got off.  With the swift water, my maximum speed was 13.8 mph (wow!), but average was only 2.7 mph.  In any event, it was still 72ºF when we got off the river.  We were very thankful for this warm spring day.

Warm Up Bike Ride

I can't believe ski season ended some quickly.  Well, no time to rest, though.  Time to get ready for the next season. 

Last year, I got a new book from Rails-to-Trails detailing the many bike trails in Southern New England.  There was a rail trail running along Rt 140 in Gardner that I did several years ago, but at that time it was only about 3 miles long.  Since then, however, they were able to link it with another trail that goes all the way to the "Y" in the center of Winchendon.  Altogether, this trail is known as the North Central Pathway.

The ride was on paved rail trail for all but 3/4 of a mile, were it jumped onto Old Gardner Road then Rt 12 for 200 meters.  Even so, getting across busy Rt 12 was pretty easy.

I covered the entire 14.06 miles in about 1:05.  The weather was very mild for early April.  The only extra layer I needed was my biking jacket.

The bike trail ends at the Clark Memorial YMCA in Winchendon.  It's a nice stop with ample parking and even playground for the kids.

AMC Paddle - Squannacook Groton

A relaxed paddle close to home.  What a joy for a mid-September Saturday!

The Squannacook is a tributary of the Nashua, and information about paddling it can be found in the paddle guide from the Nashua River Watershed Association. I have paddled this river before, but it was way back in 2003.  It was April, and I was in the only boat I owned at the time, my 15'6" Cape Horn, which is actually a little too big to be paddling in this river, especially for a novice paddler.  Back then, we launched from West Townsend and during the course of the day I overturned into the river twice.  That was the day I decided I needed a smaller boat and better cold weather clothing (Geeez, that water was cold!).

Today we are launching from the West Groton Water Supply District, heading upstream to the rapids and back.

I'm paddling the Pungo today, along with 5 other kayaks and 1 canoe. 
The day is starting out a little cool and foggy, but the water is still pretty warm.

Right near the start, we see a great blue heron, who stands for a long time before flying off.

In this short stretch of river, we had quite a few blow-down's to navigate around.

Some were more difficult than others.  Fortunately, someone with a chain saw had been through here earlier.
Nonetheless, we still had to go through one at a time.

We reach our lunch spot near the rapids at around 11:15am.  It would be difficult coming the other direction.  There was not an easy path through.  Despite the recent rains, there were still many exposed rocks near the surface.

Walking up along the shoreline, I got a much better view of the rushing water.  The overall drop was probably about 3 feet.

The sun peeked out a bit on the way back.  Of course, we still had to maneuver under trees from time to time.

We got a little push from the current on the way back.

As I said, it was a leisurely paddle.  We covered 5.36 miles in about 3:19.  We were off the river by around 2pm.  Plenty to time to get to the 6th Annual Holy Family International Food Festival in this busy September.

AMC Paddle - George's Island

The last time we attempted a trip to George's Island, we would up just looping Long Island, so I was anxious to join this trip.  Today I joined up with 6 other intrepid paddlers from the Boston AMC, several of whom I had paddled with in the past.  We had a newly certified leader who was anxious to demonstrate his navigational skills, taking into consideration the tides, winds, and forecasts.

We put in at City Point in South Boston, and we got started early because the parking in the area fills up fast.

First stop is Spectacle Island.  A very long concrete dock reaches out into the harbor.

The view to downtown Boston here is great.  It's about 4 miles to those tall buildings as the crow flies.

The visitor center is open and has restrooms.

Lunch stop on George's Island.  It's only 11:00, but we're hungry because we've been working hard.  We don jackets before snagging the plastic Adirondack chairs facing the harbor.

Ferry boats from Boston and Hull arrive and depart regularly.

I had to take a peek inside the fort before leaving.  It's a nice place to visit any time of year.

We head back down to the water to get back in the water around noon.

My phone ran out of power at the south end of Long Island, so I had to reconstruct the map for the last quarter of the trip.  While on the water, we changed plans to go around the north end of the island, and instead traveled down the east side to come around the southern tip.  The waves coming at us as we traveled southeast were 2-3" following waves that really pushed my boat around a bit.  It was quite a workout.

From there we passed by the old Long Island Bridge abutments and headed toward the Dorchester Gas Tanks coming around the south end of Thompson Island.  We had to pass through a standing wave that extends from the south tip of the Island down to Quincy.  Then we turned north to head back to City Point, passing the JFK library.  Ultimately, we paddled 13.04 miles.  We were on the water by 8:35am and were back at our starting point around 2:25pm.  With only an our for lunch and exploring the island, that means we were paddling for a long time.  All things considered, one of our leaders said this was a solid Level 3 paddle adventure.  I'll be due for a soak in the hot tub later.

On the way back to City Point, we could see the Anthem of the Seas (RCCL) rising about the Black Falcon terminal.  Boston is the first stop on an 11 night cruise out of Cape Liberty (Bayonne, NJ).