Hat City Cyclefest

Has anyone done the Hat City Cyclists' Cyclefest event? I'm tempted to
take a road trip up to Connecticut for this ride, but before I decide
to drive so far for a bike ride, I'd like some information about the
level of support (both SAG and at the stops), the roads, traffic and
scenery, etc. Thanks. --Roy Zipris

On 3 Mar 2006 06:12:11 -0800, "Roy Zipris" wrote:

Has anyone done the Hat City Cyclists' Cyclefest event? I'm tempted to
take a road trip up to Connecticut for this ride, but before I decide
to drive so far for a bike ride, I'd like some information about the
level of support (both SAG and at the stops), the roads, traffic and
scenery, etc. Thanks. --Roy Zipris

I haven't done it but I've heard I've heard good things about it especially that
it's challenging.

Have you looked into the Bloomin' Metric? Great stops and sag. Lots of
volunteers and lots of riders. It's not as hard as Danbury, hill elevations in
Fairfield county are a few hundred feet lower.

Why not do both?

BK.

Thanks, Bill. I've heard of the Bloomin' Metric, never considered it,
but will give it some thought. --RZ

Roy Zipris wrote:

Has anyone done the Hat City Cyclists' Cyclefest event? I'm tempted to
take a road trip up to Connecticut for this ride, but before I decide
to drive so far for a bike ride, I'd like some information about the
level of support (both SAG and at the stops), the roads, traffic and
scenery, etc. Thanks. --Roy Zipris



Hi Roy,

I posted the following on rec.bicycles.rides two years ago:\\.

Pete

Ride Report: CycleFest 2004

The Hat City Cyclists ran an excellent CycleFest yesterday, June 13^th,
on one of the best days ever for cycling with temperatures ranging from
the mid 60s at 7am to mid 70s late in the afternoon. June 13th was
almost the longest day of the year and it took most of the day to
complete this invitational.

Marty, Trish and I started off with the idea (hope) we would complete
the century. We met a little after 6:15 am at a Commuter Parking Lot
east of Waterbury to caravan to CycleFest in Bethel, CT. As is often the
case I arrived late by five minutes. As soon as we started driving via
cell phone calls we agreed to stop at Starbucks in Southbury which is
located just off I-84; it was just an extra ten minutes. Marty took us
across I-84, south to Bethel over what seemed like a dozen turns, and
then thru Bethel. He missed the signs to CycleFest in downtown Bethel.
We only went about ten blocks out of the way. At last we were at the start.

Kathy, the chairlady of CycleFest greeted me and made sure I bought a
t-shirt. Her middle daughter, Colleen, designed it. My favorite t-shirt
is the Melon Metric Ancient Egyptian one modified by my daughter with an
Isis on the back and symbols for good luck and strength and the name of
the scribe. The design is excellent so it too will be my favorite. On
the t-shirt Colleen put a map of CT with the country borders and the
city of Danbury. Overlaid on the map was a top hat with the HCC yellow
diamond including a sketch of a cyclist on a bike. “Hat City Cyclists”
surrounds the diamond. Around the map of CT is “HAT CITY CYCLISTS” and
below the date and “CYCLEFEST 2004” and the url –
www.hatcitycyclists.org http://www.hatcitycyclists.org/. I wanted
Colleen to sign my shirt, but she wasn’t there.

CycleFest is a three loop ride with a 23-mile loop going south of
Bethel. The main 51-mile loop goes north of Bethel to Gaylordsville with
a 28-mile extension north and west into New York. The 23-mile loop is
one of the prettiest rides you can take. In just a couple of miles you
are into the country. Then you hit farm and stable country before riding
on roads surrounded by woods, ponds, brooks and a few homes. The
winding, gently hilly roads were free of cars. We saw more joggers than
cars. We saw more non-CycleFest riders than cars.

Trish zoomed ahead of Marty and me. After riding a couple of miles Marty
was sure Trish had missed a turn. The route was well marked with a
warning arrow a hundred feet before the turn, an arrow at the turn, and
a confirming arrow after the turn. The turn in question, Hopewell Road,
had three yellow arrows at the turn; at least one was probably from last
year plus warning and confirming arrows.

Marty and I continued on to a delightful view of the Saugatuck Reservoir
at the south end of the loop. We asked the three riders there if they
saw Trish. They did not remember her. There was a rest stop at 15 miles
that we would have ridden by except we wanted to check for Trish. Rest
stop workers there had not seen Trish. They had this rest stop for
slower riders who might a couple of hours to ride the lower loop. After
ten minutes Marty said he would wait for Trish and I should go on.

I continued on enjoying solitude in the woods with an absence of cars. I
saw a few cyclists coming from the opposite direction. After several
turns, a bunch of little hills, and a few million trees I got back to
residential areas in Bethel and then to the start of the ride. There was
Trish beside her car calling Marty, who did not have his cell phone. I
headed for the rest stop for my first jelly donut. It was served by Bob,
a cyclist in rehab who rides a century most days. He said he consumes
6,000 calories a day.

Trish left a note on Marty’s car and we started the 51-mile loop. In
about five miles we reached the south end of Lake Candlewood passing by
Candlewood Park. Just as we were coming to open country and right before
the Federal Correctional Institute (Danbury Pen) Trish’s phone rang. We
stopped by the entrance to the Pen where Trish heard from Marty. He made
it back to Bethel and was already on his way home. Marty had been on the
disabled list all winter and spring with a bad rotator cuff. His doctor
said riding would not worsen the injury if it didn’t hurt. Marty had
done just one ride prior to CycleFest.

Trish started on a downhill and turned on the speed. She flew past the
double arrows pointing to a turn on Bear Mtn Road. I shouted and she
seemed to look back, but apparently not because she kept on going. Going
downhill she really zooms, so it’s not easy to catch her. When I checked
the map I saw SR37 and SR39 merged about 14 mi up the road. I thought I
would wait about 15 minutes for Trish to come back and then ride to the
37-39 junction. A sag wagon came by so I asked the driver to look for
Trish. About a half a mile down the road he found her on the way back.

On the roll again we went along the west side of Lake Candlewood up and
down many small hills offering good views of the lake and hills on the
east side of the lake. At one point the road goes between Squantz Pond
and Lake Candlewood. A pretty spot from where you can see a home high up
on the hill on the west side of Squantz Pond. Finally we reached Sherman
at the north end of Lake Candlewood.

Following SR39 where is splits from SR37 you pass the picturesque
Sherman Firehouse. Then we turned west for a loop in the woods. Besides
good scenery and some pretty farm ponds the loop is about four miles
long so the century route reaches 100 miles. The route crossed over SR39
and by the church for which Church Road is named. This was another
scenic road, but it lost some of its beauty when we crossed the county
line and were greeted by pea gravel. There was a warning sign at the
start of the pea gravel; which would have been better placed a hundred
feet before the pea gravel. The pea gravel was not thick, so it wasn’t
much of a problem.

Soon we reached US7 and the Gaylordsville rest stop. Lisa and Joe
leaders of the Mt. Greylock ride were there. Very kindly Lisa searched
for a jelly donut. There were lots of cream filled donuts, but Lisa
found a jelly donut #2 for me. I was lucky enough to be at the rest stop
when a worker opened an aluminum foil package that contained great
brownies an HCC member baked e great brownies. There were gatorade,
water, bananas, oranges, wide varieties of cookies and donuts.

It was just after noon, Trish and I calculated the time needed to finish
the century. We were averaging 15 mph. The 28-mile loop would take two
hours and the 23 miles back to Bethel would take an hour and a half.
Trish could not complete the century and get back for work at 4:45pm, so
she got a ride back to the start.

I continued on the century route alone. I did not want to miss crossing
the Appalachian Trail twice plus lots of good scenery in the back
country of CT and NY. The route paralleled the Housatonic RR line most
of the way to Kent. Just after crossing the Housatonic River, the
Appalachian Trail crossed SR341. On the other side of Macedonia I
neglected to go far enough into the woods for a brief break, so I heard
the tune of motorcyclists tooting their horns in recognition of my activity.

Almost as soon as I resumed riding, I crossed into NY and passed the
motorcyclists. I waved and they waved back. About 10 miles of the route
in NY is along the Ten Mile River which joins the Housatonic just north
of the rest stop. Kathy was there with Colleen who signed my t-shirt. I
had a jelly donut (#3), relaxed for a few minutes before starting back
to Bethel. Just as I was leaving another rider pulled in, so I wasn’t
the last rider holding up the closing of the rest stop. After a tenth of
a mile I hit a bump breaking a spoke which put my wheel out of true. I
opened my rear brakes and continued, but wasn’t too happy. The spoke hit
the chain in the low gears, but I got by without using them since the
route was fairly level.

Most of the returning route went along the Housatonic RR and River.
Scenery was good along the river, but not as good on the part along the
railroad. The scenery was okay and it avoided lots of traffic. Last year
the route went along the east side of Lake Candlewood on roads with lots
of traffic and a fair number of potholes. I made fairly good time back
to Bethel where I had another jelly donut (#4) and grabbed a banana and
raisin bran muffin for the drive home.

Delorme’s Topo 3 assessed the route at 103.7 mi and 8038 ft of climbing.
The highly scenic 23.3-mile loop had 1760 feet of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I never saw a brochure, but there was complete information on
the Hat City Cyclists website.

Routes – excellent. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes,
brooks, and rivers. The return route was a good improvement over last
year’s return.

Intersections - excellent. Well marked with a warning mark, a mark at
the intersection, and a confirming mark after the intersection. Often
there were many straight arrows confirming the route.

Cue sheet – excellent. Accurate with mileage and turns plus a map to
give you the option to pick a short cut if you are tired, it starts to
rain, etc. (1)

Rest stops – excellent. Great jelly donuts. There was a good selection
of bagels, cookies, fruit, muffins, donuts, brownies, etc. etc., but an
alternative drink to water and Gatorade would be appreciated. Great
jelly donuts!

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route. At least nine
passed me.

Value – excellent.

Conclusion – I’ll be on this ride next year looking for jelly donuts.

Note:

(1) It’s possible there’s a left at 52.66 on Long Mountain Rd before the
turn on Kent. The route was marked correctly. I didn’t notice the
possible error until putting the route into Topo 3. Delorme has errors.

Disclaimer:

I have been positively influenced by Kathy, Lisa, Joe, Jim, Jim, Bob,
Teresa, and many other HCCers. I am a recipient on the hcc-road email
server. When I saw Lisa’s message about a Mt. Greylock ride, I asked if
I could be a guest rider. I missed the Mt Greylock century organized by
the Berkshire Cyclists last year.

The Mt. Greylock ride was designed and led by the Bob and Teresa for
about 15 years. Lisa and Joe led it this year accompanied by the Bob and
Teresa. While Kathy was supposed to be busy on 5/29, she became free at
the last minute and drove a support van.

The ride starting in Lee, MA was a joint ride of the Hat City Cyclists
and the Westchester Cycle Club plus a few guests. The Westchester Cycle
Club approached Mt. Greylock from the steeper north side while the Hat
City Cyclists approached from the south. Kathy SAGged the HCC route
waiting at almost every turn. At noon the two clubs met atop Mt
Greylock. It was a cold day made worse by a stiff breeze. We ate lunch
in a large building including a restaurant and rooms for overnight
guests. Kathy gave us our jackets, arm warmers, leg warmers, etc for the
coast down the mountain and she collected them at the bottom. After the
ride several of us dined at the Athena restaurant.

NOTE: Putting on an invitational ride takes lots of hard work. I have
worked at a rest stops and in registration. The work and intentions of
club members is appreciated by me and other riders.