Boston to Amherst to New Haven on a Brompton
Thanks to my friends David, Cynthia, and Zach, who invited me to join them on a four-day 200+ mile bike trip from Boston to Amherst to New Haven. David plotted the first two days of our route along rideable portions of the 100+ mile work-in-progress Massachusetts Central Rail Trail. The quality of the MCRT ranges widely, from paved trail to stone dust to gravel to “proposed” segments that do not yet exist so you need to ride on roads. Last year, David and Zach rode along the MCRT from Boston to Northampton and they noticed several improvements this year, with more work to be done.
We enjoyed beautiful fall weather with no rain our our four-day journey. The first night we stayed at an AirBnB in Jefferson MA, the second night with my friends in Amherst, then the third night at my former neighbor’s house in West Hartford CT. I plotted the second two days of our route along the Northampton - New Haven Farmington Canal Trail (with a New Britain CT shortcut on the CT Fastrak multi-use trail and new Bee Line trail) since this is familiar territory for me. We also stopped by the Two Rivers Burrito restaurant in Westfield MA for lunch and my almost-annual meetup with the brothers who own the place, who are related to my older sister Jill, and we sent her a short video greeting since it happened to be her birthday!
My Brompton folding bike held up very well on this trip! The MCRT dirt and gravel segments were the roughest terrain I’ve taken the Brompton for a multi-day bike adventure. At the end of day 2 near Amherst, I temporarily went from 6 gears down to 3 gears, but cleaning the Brompton chain shifter the next morning fixed that problem. Everything I needed for 4 days fit neatly inside the large Brompton front pack, as we slept inside and ate at diners, so no camping gear this time! When my trip concluded at New Haven, I folded up the Brompton, carried it on board the Northeast Regional Amtrak train, and placed it on the luggage rack above my $30 seat for a 3-hour ride back to Boston!
