Day Three - Windsor Locks, CT to Poughkeepsie, NY

After an early start this morning, we quickly got away from the developed area near the airport and into the Connecticut countryside. We climbed over a ridge between Mt. Horr in northern Connecticut and Mt. Nero in southern Massachusetts and then enjoyed a fast drop to the Barhampstead Reservoir at the Saville Dam. The fog over the reservoir cleared just as a group of us arrived, and we were able to get some good pictures of the architecturally interesting dam, which (although it was still a bit hazy) you can get an idea of from the picture.

Much of the rest of Connecticut involved long, fairly gentle climbs matched by easy descents as we wound our way up and down the hills in northwest Connecticut. Just before we reached New York, though, we encountered the first climb that reminded my of my training rides, a relatively short but significantly steep climb up Fink Hill on the corner of Wetauwanchu Mountain (you have to love those names). Just after that climb, Chris and I arrived in Salisbury, Connecticut, where we were joined by several other riders for lunch at a quiet cafe' a couple hundred feet off the road.

The countryside in Western Connecticut and on into New York is much more open than we had been through yesterday, and we could see the rolling hills we were riding through across farmland that reminded me much of Wisconsin. There were corn farms and a few cattle farms, which contributed their own distinctive odor (though most of the day involved more pleasant smells).

Late in the ride we followed the "Duchess County Wine Trail" for a while. Though we didn't directly pass any wineries, the Millbrook Vineyard was only a few miles off the route we traveled. If it had been earlier in the day (and not quite so hot), I might have been tempted to take a side trip, though wine tasting and hard riding don't really go together well!

Besides farming, the other predominant activity in Western Connecticut and Eastern New York appears to be education, with several prep schools scattered along the road, the most prominent of which was Salisbury School, shown here.

The last 15-20 miles into Poughkeepsie got a little long, mostly because it once again got quite warm. Also, although the terrain didn't match that of the morning it wasn't the steady descent into the Hudson River Valley I had expected, but continued up and down. Poughkeepsie's urban flavor surprised me for an upstate New York town, and we rode into town through the type of area you wouldn't exactly seek out. Tonight we are staying in downtown Poughkeepsie, just a few blocks from the Hudson, in a hotel that is several steps up from the Days Inn and Quality Inn we were in the last two nights. We walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant, and had a lively dinner with the whole group sitting at one large table.

Here's the map of today's ride: 89.5 miles and 3400 feet of climbing. (Note: the feet of climbing is from Map My Ride, which generally underestimates the total. We actually believe today involved about 4900 feet of climbing. I'm using Map My Ride's total just because it corresponds to what you'll see if you click into the map.)