Saturday September 20th Great Barrington, MA

[HwyRider]

Saturday ride to Great Barrington via the Northwest corner of CT Rt. 44 to 7. Lunch place to still be determined.

[BigRed]

What's the route for getting there and back? I hate going through Springfield on secondary roads and riding the Pike just isn't all that much fun.

[ctrider]

You could take the pike to 84. Get off at the very first exit union or the next one 190. Martin and I could meet you there and then I'll take you guys the back way over to Bradley and rt. 20 which brings us out to that part of the state. 75 miles from Stafford Springs each way. Usually is no traffic out that way. Figure 5 hr's total ride time from Stafford 1 hr. for lunch I have a few places in mind and then 1 1/2 back to Quincy for you Neil total trip time 8hr.s with stops for fuel and 1 or 2 quick ones. Getting dark around 7ish. Just throwing that out

[HwyRider]

Works for me. Any place to eat will be fine. Just getting Martin's last ride in before his surgery.

No Springfield Martin. This is up through the northwest corner of CT.

[HwyRider]

Originally Posted by ctrider

Getting dark around 7ish. Just throwing that out

As long as I'm on a well lit highway when it's dark I'm fine riding at night. Just don't want any of those pitch black backroads where Bambi is waiting to jump out.

[ctrider]

I'm not thrilled about meeting bambi either which is why I did not follow Martin back up into Woodstock yesterday. If we meet at 11am you should be back on the 84 at the same exit by 6pm. For every 1/2 earlier we meet means 1/2hr. earlier back on 84 for you. We will also be crossing 91 but that would mean you need to ride though Springfield pick up 20 to 291 to the pike. Figure 1 1/2 hrs. from great barrington to springfield and 1hr. from springfield back to union, ct where you would pick up 84 where you got off.

[HwyRider]

Meeting at 11:00 is fine. So I'll be coming in 84 to 190. That would be the second exit off 84? Any particular place to meet?

[ctrider]

That depends where Martin wants to meet you. You guys could meet at the 84 exit in sturbridge some where and then hop back on until you get to 190.

There is a back way I found a couple of years ago from exploring. rt.20 to holland rd which turns into sturbridge rd and mashapug rd which runs right into 171 in CT. check out google maps cuz 171 makes a rt then left and such you guys could meet at the union town hall probably would be 1 small bld maybe lol.. From there you guys could ride 190 into stafford and I can meet you there.

If you want to get off at 190 (there is nothing at that exit) you would make a rt. off 190 and come into stafford at the rotary just take the 2nd rd. it's like right in front of you. One the left is an ice cream place with some park benches. I could meet you guys there or

As you come down 190 on the left is the union state hwy garage I could meet you there also, it's maybe 10 minutes more for me.

You 2 should discuss it first.

[HwyRider]

I usually meet Martin on Rt. 20. Is it easier to just continue on 20?

[HwyRider]

Evan, am I missing something here? In the above post you said that I could meet you and Martin at 190 then you say where I'm going to meet Martin?

[BigRed]

Neil, we could meet right off of 84 at exit 1. There are a couple of gas stations there so you could it top off you bike and then we could ride down to Stafford and meet up with Evan. Here are the GPS coords for the Pilot gas station: 42.066961,-72.106721

There is also a Mobil up the road if you prefer that.

[BigRed]

Originally Posted by ctrider

I'm not thrilled about meeting bambi either which is why I did not follow Martin back up into Woodstock yesterday. If we meet at 11am you should be back on the 84 at the same exit by 6pm. For every 1/2 earlier we meet means 1/2hr. earlier back on 84 for you. We will also be crossing 91 but that would mean you need to ride though Springfield pick up 20 to 291 to the pike. Figure 1 1/2 hrs. from great barrington to springfield and 1hr. from springfield back to union, ct where you would pick up 84 where you got off.

Neil is the one that has the longest ride home and will most likely end up riding in the dark. Perhaps it would make sense to meet up earlier than 11 to save him some daylight. I will leave it up to you guys. I am OK with whatever.

[ctrider]

I was really thinking just about you until my last post where to meet Martin. That's a great place for you guys to meet it's easy on and off 84.

[ctrider]

I'm fine with anytime also. Lets leave it to Neil since he does have the longest way to go.

[BigRed]

Thinking about it, the Pike may be f-ed up at times on the weekends so Neil may not want to ride it all the way to exit 9. If that is the case then we could just meet at hotel as we did this past weekend and then take the scenic route to 190.