Oof!

After yesterday’s long, hilly ride, and a great evening with my Warmshowers hosts, John and Kathy, I knew I had more hills in front of me today. But I also had a relatively short day - 53 miles. I started a bit late this morning, waiting out the rain and enjoying more conversation. Kathy had volunteered to give me a lift over the first hill, but I politely declined, extremely (over)confident in my abilities. By the time I started the sun was out and I found a rail trail that John and Kathy hadn’t told me about. That covered about 12 miles and then the highway was nice and flat. I was over 30 miles into the ride and had not been challenged. I stopped for lunch and that’s when my luck changed. Let me say, I’m back in the Berkshires. I know there are hills. In fact, the last 10 or so miles before lunch will go down as the only portion of this whole journey that I will repeat, albeit it in the opposite direction. (This doesn‘t count the rail trails I did while I had the rental car last month). But those repeated miles were along the West Branch of the Westfield River so no big hills.

I stopped in the little town of Chester at a little diner because their neon sign just said EAT. What I didn’t know in the moment was the “DONT” light was obviously burned out. I had the worst burger of the trip, hands down, and I’ve had more than one convenience store burger. The too small patty was on a rock hard oversized dinner roll. They didn’t have fries so their side was chips. There might have been 4 that weren’t in multiple pieces. All of this was accompanied by another old-timer - he was 78. I didn’t have to ask - he carried on a largely one-sided conversation while I was trying to figure out if I should eat the burger, or just cut bait. I responded just enough to be polite. Best I can tell, he has a son making bank as landscaper and his 10-year old daughter is helping him run the business. I’m pretty sure he also shared that he was having a stroke a month last year but had surgery and is now fine.

When I got back on the bike, my route immediately diverged from my previous time through. That was good because had it not, I had a 6 1/2 mile uphill. I made it another 2 miles along the river then it hit. The hill I’d avoided for close to 35 miles, was in my face and screaming at me like an Army drill sergeant. The hill was a 3-stopper. I had to rest 3 times before I got to the top. It might have been 4 but I was too delirious to recall. The payoff at the top was a turn on to a road called Skyline Trail. As it turned out, it was NOT the top. At the end of the day, probably 80% of my 3200’ of climbing was done in about a 10 mile stretch.

The capper to the afternoon post-lunch and post-hill was the lovely Econo-Lodge in Pittsfield, MA. I went to check in and the clerk's 4ish year old kid was in the lobby with some electronic toy that was turned up to a volume that would embarrass AC/DC. The lady behind the counter took forever to match the name on my ID to the exact same name on my reservation, my ears starting to bleed from Wheels on the Bus at level 94. When she finally sorted it out, she couldn’t find a little sleeve for the room key, so she found an old one, for out the eraser, and deftly changed the number. I could still read it through the massive smudge. The room only has one stain in the carpet larger than a kiddie pool. I’m just glad it‘s on the floor and not on the bed.

I’ve now entered Massachusetts 3 different times on this trip and this is the closest I’ve come to a Welcome sign

Carms in Chester, MA. The waitress was nice. Not too many positive Yelp reviews for this place.

This was a new one. Yesterday, I saw horse and goat crossing signs and earlier today, I saw a Quarter horse crossing sign, complete with a cow that I guess was being herded.

Typical scene every evening. Tablet, portable charger, GPS device, Airpods, and electronic shifter. Not pictured, the phone used to take the photo.

Would not want to put the black light on that