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| Capoolong Creek Trail, Pittstown NJ |
The author discovers that the preferred road to Clinton isn't a road at all.
When I returned from the job interview in Fall River, Mass. (just outside of Providence, RI) I hung my suit jacket in the closet, where it will now gather dust until the next interview. It's funny how we put things away we seldom use, or hang them up. Another thing on a hook was my mountain bike, which resided in the dark basement, with deflated tires and cobwebs amongst the spokes.
Road season is drawing to an end, many have already switched over to 'cross. The group training rides are dwindling and more rides are now solo endeavors. With many road miles under my belt, and Monday an easy day, I decided to change things up and hauled the MTB up from the cellar. I would ride the Capoolong Creek trail, which begins in Pittstown and take that to the Lower Landsdown trail all the way into Clinton. At that point, I would relax at Citispot with a cappuccino.
The last time I rode Capoolong, it was on my 'cross bike, and the first couple miles were a bit dicey. The single track is rutted, there are large rocks and big tree roots. Right now those obstacles are being slowly concealed under a bed of leaves. While I was able to get through Capoolong on a CX bike, I was never fully relaxed, spending much mental energy on where my front wheel was headed and getting out of the saddle to let the bike absorb the rocks and roots. Enter the Mountain Bike.
The '99 specialized FSR XC is ancient by today's standards. 26 inch wheels, cantilever brakes. But that didn't really matter that much for Capoolong, which is relatively flat and not overly technical. On a scale of 1 to 10 of difficulty, Capoolong is really only a 2. While in my past life I did ride a mountain bike, fast, downhill over technical terrain, I seemed to have discovered self preservation and prefer less radical terrain than the contemporary hammer-head MTB crowd. The full suspension Specialized was the perfect tool for this trail. With the plush ride and wider tires, I could pretty much pedal flat out and the bike did the rest. I blasted through the single track in a way that I simply couldn't have done on the CX bike. Rocks and roots were soaked up by the suspension and I discovered the harmony of flying through the woods on a single track as fast as my bike would allow.
Rewind to the train trip to Boston: when we got into Eastern Connecticut, the train was hitting 130 mph. It was quite a rush watching the countryside rip by at that speed. And the sensation of ripping single track is similar. With the trees or tall grasses closing in on you, it feels like you're going 100 miles an hour. I looked down to see that I was really going about 20 mph. With a mountain bike, you can relax a bit knowing that your bike will plow through ruts, rocks and branches. You can focus on your direction and pedal stroke. In short, it makes off road riding into much more of a Zen activity than a CX bike.
The trail widened out to a rail trail when I crossed Landsdown road. That is the spot where the spur railroad connected into the Lehigh Valley rail line. From that point its another 3 miles of easy riding into Clinton. On the trail, I only heard three sounds.. the sound of the gravel under my tires, the wind rushing past my ears and the hush of crickets. When you ride 5000 miles a year on the road, it feels like a different world without car traffic.
In Clinton, I sat outside Citispot and enjoyed my coffee, while chatting with some old-timers. We all agreed that kids today are missing out. In our own childhoods, we would be free to ride out bikes down the trail to the town to get a cold drink or something to eat. The soccer moms had not yet arrived.
Another discover I made today is that the off-road route to Clinton is much easier than the road route. My usual road road is about 14 miles and has significant climbing in it. The off-road route however is a former rail line, so it is relatively flat, and shorter. I think I just discovered my new winter coffee ride route to Clinton, whether on a CX or MTB.
