Let’s Ride To New Haven… home of Yale University!
Connecticut has an on-road cycling infrastructure that leaves much to be desired. Bike lanes, whether physically protected from vehicle traffic or simply painted designations on the roads are hard to come by in this state. Rough roads with debris strewn “shoulders” are about as good as it gets. When I ride the roads of Connecticut I try to choose quiet country roads with little traffic. I will say, as a compliment, that Connecticut drivers seem very aware of cyclists and tend to give us wide berth.
The two gems that Connecticut does have are descent off road rail trails. “The Airline Linear Trail” is a designated State Park that traverses the state east and west and extends about half way across the from Portland on the Connecticut River Tom the border with Massachusetts and Rhode Island to the east. I have explored most of that rail trail and it is hard-packed dirt and fine gravel… not really suitable for road bikes. The second trail runs north and south… “The Farmington Heritage Canal Trail” extends from New Haven north to the Connecticut/ Massachusetts border with a combination of State and city maintained rail trails extending to Northampton Massachusetts. There are gaps where one must ride the local roads but a large percentage of this trail is complete and either paved or groomed with hard packed stone.dirt. Prior to COVID I rode the northern segment of this trail from Farmington to Northampton as I headed for Vermont.
This ride explored a portion of the southern segment of the Farmington Heritage Canal Trail from Cheshire to New Haven that I was not familiar with. The trail is very much complete with good signage and safety markings and barriers… it is completely paved with my only “nit” being what I call “root heaves” where the asphalt is rippled and pushed up by tree roots. The Cheshire portion and part of the Hamden leg were rural… running along vestiges of the canal and situated on the berm where the rails once ran. As one would expect, the closer I got to New Haven, the more urban the surroundings became. I was struck by the extensive greenway within the city of New Haven… a perfect commuting route for the workforce who resides in towns north of the city. My ride abruptly at a chain link fence that was due to a tunnel construction project. As I did not have time to exit the trail to see if it continued to what I planned on being the end of my ride, my expected 32 mile round trip was a bit over 28 miles. I do not know the status of the trail beyond my stopping point.
As I turned and rode back to Cheshire on the trail, my videos were designed to capture ares not filmed as I rode south… they are snippets set to music but worth the watch if you want to get a flavor of the ride experience.
As usual… thanks for joining me on this exploratory bike ride intended to experience the Farmington Heritage Canal Trail. Enjoy… and I am very open to feedback, comments, and questions.
2 окт 2024
