Day 2- Leominster to Northampton MA

From what some say is the armpit of Massachusetts to one of the gems, today we rode 75 miles (with 4110 feet of climbing) from Leominster to Northampton. Today promised to be a gorgeous day of cycling through lovely central Massachusetts with temps in the 70's and intermittent cloud cover. And it started out great.

The father and son combos of Ken and Adam, and Jack, Ben and Gabe Hayon started out together, and we had an excellent morning cycling together for the first 25 miles of the day. Both dads were happy to be cycling with their boys and enjoying everyone's company. We biked out of Leominster and headed through the beautiful towns of Princeton, Barre and Hubbardston. 

Breakfast with the Carlsons and Hayons

Our good friends Daryl and Erin who are roving
this year in a car looking out for us

Gabe Hayon

Jaacckk!

Climbing!

Unfortunately, at mile 26 just before the first SAG stop, Jack was hit a dip in the road which caused him to crash. We had no idea Jack had fallen as we thought he was right behind us - a good Samaritan who saw the whole thing happen picked up Jack and drove him to the SAG. Jack looked pretty beat up with a banged up knee and elbow, a ripped shirt, and was complaining of pain in his hand and in his side. He also had an impressive crack in his helmet (although no concussion - thank goodness for the helmet). He was taken to the hospital (with one of his boys) and later we found out that Jack had a broken thumb and a few cracked ribs and will miss the rest of the ride. Big bummer for all of us. We biked on and it took a long while to shake this off (never did completely). 

The rest of the ride was uneventful, and really lovely, as we headed south to Ware and then toward Belchertown.  Along a quiet road in New Braintree, we came upon a young girl, Riley, at a farmstand who offered us free water. She and her Dad had been seeing cyclists all day and learned what we were doing and thanked us. We thanked them back!

Riley and her Dad at their farmstand

Ken had a close encounter with a local resident in a bucolic field (see young calf below).

We entered the Pioneer Valley just outside of Ware, and made our way to Belchertown and picked up the lovely Norwottuck Rail Trail which took us from Amherst all the way to Northampton. I know the Amherst and Northampton area well and was very happy to back in the Pioneer Valley.

It was an uneven day with what happened to Jack (he won't be riding the rest of the week). Besides that Mrs. Lincoln, the weather was ideal, the countryside was lovely, and the company - Adam and the Hayons for the first half of the day and Adam, Newell and DJ for the last half was fantastic. And we always need to remind us that we are doing this for the kids at Anchor House. They deserve our help and support and we are proud and honored to be doing this ride.

The amazing rail trail that leads into Northampton

Why we ride