woods, snow…a super sport, no way!

It started the night before,  I was reading several trip reports from bikers with KLR’s & BMW GS’s and I got bitten by the dirt road bug. I had to go find some dirt roads my duck could do.

I knew today’s temp was going to be under 40, it was 33 when I left my office and headed out. I was careful on the side streets for the standing water was starting to ice over, including the ponds

So I figured the small dirt roads would be safer because I would be going a lot slower.  

My first road brought me by a water fall and then another road just lead me to nowhere. I had to turn around and track back

After riding around Princeton, Westminster and Barre I wasn’t sure which way or what I wanted to do.  I was finding a lot of dirt roads but they were in good shape and not worth stopping and snapping photos of.  

As I approached the center of Barre I noticed a lot of white stuff on the sides of the roads. I thought, boy did they put a lot of salt down this morning.  

Then as I grabbed rt122 and started heading north it wasn’t salt, but snow!  

I sat there for a minute and wondered if I should turn around and head south towards home….

NAH!  

North I went. I had a new plan.  

Lets see if I can get near the Quabbin Reservoir. My map shows roads that go right up to the water. So as quickly as I hopped on rt122 I got of the main road.  

I followed West St in Petersham going west. The gps has the road ending only a few miles in off the main road.  It was all paved to this point, and a nice road at that. 

That was soon to change. 

It started off as a nice gravel road, nothing to challenging, but as I descended down a pretty large hill it got smaller and smaller. The surface was pretty slippery with wet leaves and snow. 

You cant tell by this photo but its a pretty steep hill. I went for what seemed like a few miles. At one point it intersected with a paved road, but I kept straight on the dirt.  About 2 miles down the road became a trail.

 

And then it happened!

It just ended!


I had a choice of 2 directions, but both had logs in the way.  I was not about to try and move them, or go off trail to get around them. I will save that for when I have a KLR .  I had to turn around and do it all over again.  

 

These roads were not even on the gps, but didn’t have no trespassing signs either.  I will be back!

At the intersection I had just crossed I turned left towards the Reservoir, but I only got a few miles then another one of these.

At this time I was getting sick of dead ends. So I made my way back to 122 and continued north. I went by the shell station we start so many rides at, but no bikers out today.

It was close to 2pm and I need a quick stop for a pick me up.  Out front of this DD it had warmed up to a balmy 36

I worked my way onto Rt2 west bound. After I crossed over the French King Bridge I noticed this little sign. 

 

I had forgotten about this little dealer, home of this t shirt. 

I noticed this yellow machine just staring out the window at the duck, almost calling me to come and take her out for a ride.  

I talked with the owner for a while. Seems this guy has a Bimota Tesi. He came out to make sure it really was a Ducati Supersport riding on this day. 

He had said a heavy snow squall had just rolled thru about 1 hr before I arrived. I like these types of dealers.  Small personal & friendly.  If I buy a BMW it will be from this guy!

He bid me farewell and I continued west.  I wasn’t too sure just how far I was going to go.  As I came into Greenfield I pulled into a small Honda dealer.  They had some restored Honda’s parked around the dealer. Not for sale, just show.  

Oh my, what did I find.  My very first bike ever.  Even the color I had.  Boy was this thing beautiful. This was the bike that got me started in biking. I use to tie a old sleeping bag to the back, and just ride around MA. Sometimes just pulling over in a large field and spending the night sleeping on the ground next to her.  I had a lot of fun on that bike. I even rode it to school during the winter of 84-85, no gerbins then!

One thing I noticed about this dealer was.. once they realized I wasn’t going to buy anything they wanted nothing to do with me.  Even though they are not a big dealer, you certainly got that feeling when they talked with you.  

The salesman asked me what kind of of bike I had, when I said Ducati he responded with, “ya but what kind…Kawasaki or Honda Ducati?”  Oh well. 

By this time I figured I should head back, the sky was getting dark and I was afraid I would need something like this if it started to snow.

I stopped at the French King Bridge for this shot on the way home.

I used rt2 expressway to get me closer to home before darkness fell. I was wondering if it had been cold enough for snow making in our area.  

As I drove up toward Mt Wachusett to find out I noticed this guy was at it again. By spring this thing is 15 feet tall and one huge chunk of ice

Then a little more snow.

I only had one pucker moment, when on 2a in Orange there is a corner that goes under rt2. During the summer there is always running water across it.  So I wasn’t too surprised to see ice & slush going across the whole road today. I snapped this after I went thru