Open invitation to join on a Friday ride soon. I'm planning a road trip thru New England which includes the Farmington Canal Trail on Friday, October 5th. I plan to drive up early Friday morning and park in Farmington at the lot just off Red Oak Hill Road at New Britain Ave. I should be ready to push off, northbound, around 10:30 to 11:00am. I'm packing a wee lunch so will find a charming spot about an hour north to waste time eating that. I'll then either continue north for a while before turning or just turn there. Donno yet. Probably 40 to 50 miles total.

Anyone that wants to join should send a PM and we'll coordinate details. This is all weather dependent but as long as its not pouring rain I'll probably hold to this Plan A.

Hmmm... I think I feel a cold coming on...

I’ll check my work schedule and see if I’m needed that day. If not, I’m game!

I just may be able to come out and play. I won’t really know until middle of that week. Marking it on my calendar for now.

You are needed - on the Farmington Canal Trail. And, frankly, from here you do look a bit 'green behind the gills'. Must be a cold...........

Great. You're one of those I thought about here. Out there in the hinterlands with no C&V events. I also thought of you when I was in Westfield earlier this year. See you soon.

I should know for sure by end of day tomorrow. Looking promising though and the forecast looks even more promising.

Is there a roll calll yet?

Also, at the expense of sounding like a wimp, do you know what the elevation is like on the route? I’m tempted to air up the Olmo but it bears no semblance of a climbing gear.

Google Maps Directions

a). Yup, pretty flat. It must go uppa and downa but I didn't notice, last time. I'm bringing the Crescent with 700x23 ties. This is the bike is used back in the spring and it was REAL comfortable the whole way. Bring the Olmo. Bring the SuperCourse.

b) Sure bring your modern drivetrain. My Crescent has several classic upgrades - just what folks would have done BITD. Gliding thru the forest on excellent pavement on C&V steel. Hard to beat.

It’s official... I’m in

GREAT! Please send me your cell number via PM. A fine day to be had by all.

I’m in as well. I’ll pm my cell number. Looking forward to it!

It was a lot of fun guys! And I’m still amazed at how Frog made it 62 miles on his 1940s Westfield. Very cool bike but just looking at those funky bars makes my back hurt. Good times.

It was an excellent day - clear, sunny, cool and no wind. The trail sweeps thru forest most of the time and that forest was starting to turn to those legendary NE autumn colors. Dry leaves on the trail, harvested fields here and there, end of season tobacco farms and nurseries. Great sight seeing. It was great riding with SirName, RickRob, Plonz and Frog. Great guys and strong cyclists.

However, after a great 55 miles, with just 5 miles to go, the tension spring on my Cyclone RD gave up the ghost. We rigged the Crescent as a SS and completed the trip. I considered shopping for a replacement RD at FFD the next day as I had planned to drive on out to Cape Cod to ride the CCRT with the other C&V forum cats. But I mentioned my poor old Crescent to our jimmuller who immediately offered up a loaner for the day. On Sunday morning he rolled out his Peugeot (Vitus 181, Simplex, Mafac, tubies, etc) with a smile and a handshake. I learned several years ago that Jim's bikes fit me to a T, no alterations needed. Just hop on and go. Lemons to lemonade!!

Back to the Farmington Canal Trail. Many thanks to SirName who carried a multi tool with a chain breaker. To convert the Crescent to SS we removed 4 links and re-closed the chain with the MissingLink. I then removed the DO adjuster screws to gain enough DO slot to tighten the chain so it would ride. It dropped to the next higher cog one time as I coasted over some frost heaves. Lesson Learned: Keep some tension on the chain all the time, don't coast. The trouble did not repeat.

Now Monday evening and that RD is fixed already. As expected, after only 40 years of service to the cause the tap on the tension spring that engages the RD body had broken. Just like the one on my Nishiki International. I have now removed the spring and carefully and slowly bend a new tap which (as on the Nishiki RD I repaired 5 years ago) should last more years than I'll need. I've taken the occasion to do a complete clean and lube so will reassemble tomorrow and the Crescent will set off into the wild again.

Thanks Gentlemen for making this ride so memorable. I look forward to doing it again, maybe even with a larger mob than on this past Friday.

Funny you should revive this thread. Imma tinkin of doing this ride again around the 18th - play hookie again. Twice now I've ridden this on my 1974 Crescent with 700x23 tires and have been real happy. Yes there a few frost heaves/root heaves but not many. I think it's a very nice trail and you'd expect some bumps over any trail 34 miles long. I've also ridden there on my '87 Voyageur with 27 X1 1/4 (31mm width) tires and greatly enjoyed that too. On that ride last fall we had a member on his Olmo - 700 x 23 tires too. Loved it.

Bring the great "miles on end" bike. I may bring the Crescent again this month. You know - "get back on that horse and ride". Don't you think the Crescent wants to show that trail who's boss?