Who's starting off in or passing through Connecticut?

Don't believe I have been on RT. 183. In this case, it wouldn't really make sense for those of us coming up route 7 from southern CT, as 7 runs basically due north to Great Barrington from where we are starting.

Meeting Place

Hi lcarlson: sorry I was asking about the road in the context of it being a way for us to cut over from Winsted to Breat Barrington to meet up - my bad.

Is 11:00 am a good meet time for Great Barrington?

sounds good -

11:00 am in Great Barrington sounds about right to me -- we'll have to come up with an easily located spot to meet.

So we are not meeting in Winsted and are in Great Barrington?

Riders from the Hartford area may want to meet in Winstead, then join the riders from SW CT in Great Barrington.

Aye, aye Captain.... Those going to Winsted I say 10 am is good

Meeting in great Barrington

I can see from the time stamps that everyone had a productive day at work...

As for meeting in Great Barrington: we could meet at their High School which is on Rt 7, about 2 miles north of the intersection with Rt. 23. School should be out that time of year, so I would think we could congregate in their parking lot while everyone rondevous:

Monument Mountain Regional High School
600 Stockbridge Road (Rt 7) Great Barrington, MA

Here is a link to mapquest: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.ad...+Road&city=Great+Barrington&state=MA&zipcode=

I am also open to other suggestions - just getting the ball rolling

CT to VT

Winsted to Great Barrington to Essex Junction on the 20th sounds like a plan. I'll check with my riding buddy to see if he's a go.
This could be good.
Breeze

Departure Thurs. 7/20 from Southern CT

I just learned that riders will be assembling at Cliff's BMW in Danbury CT for a 9:00 am departure for the rally.

I see this thread began back in April, and it sounds like it is oriented toward the western part of CT, but, for what it's worth, I'll be leaving my home in eastern CT (FAR eastern CT, 200 feet west of the Rhode Island border) early in the AM on July 20th and heading up using a route "to-be-determined" although I am leaning heavily toward finding an expedient route to VT 100 and enjoying the ride from there. I am camping onsite and want to get there moderately early Thursday. At the moment I am solo, but flexible. I figure once on Rt 100 I won't be solo any more, regardless.

from west CT

Are all of you nuts? I hate the super slab probably more than all off you put together.
And have traveled all these roads that are mentioned. Rt7, Rt8, 22, 8a etc.
I did a preliminary run on Sat. from Bridgeport to Dalton MA. 115 miles / 2hrs.20min. And was moving at a good clip ignoring the posted speed limit.
Rt8 is good until Otis MA. but than becomes to residential, 35 mph tops with traffic. Which will be heavy during the week.
Rt7 After Kent CT is OK, but once youÔÇÖre close to Great Barrington MA. Becomes very congested.
Do not forget that the locals that live in these areas have no interstate to use. And in the middle of the day all the rural routes in CT, and Ma. Will be like Main St USA.
I have decided, and recommend that you grin and bare the interstate until youÔÇÖre in VT. Than take some rural route that we nutmeggers do not get a chance to ride on.
WARRNING TO ALL: taking back roads the whole way will make for a very long day. And after 8 hours in the saddle, your judgment will be impaired.

west CT

And by the way. The later you get there, the less you will have to pick from if camping. (like real rally goer's do).

No thanks to the slab

If you check my April 24 post, you'll see a route I recommend. Sure, you hit a little congestion around Great Barrington and Bennington, but hey, these are not major population centers, and the rest is nice and bucolic.

For me, early arrival is not an issue -- I'm not camping, and want to enjoy the ride.

ride to VT

I'm leaving the 14th!!! NA Na....

GPS Map

OK, here is a map of the "Plan" as I understand it:



According to Garmin Mapsource, it will take the Cliff's contingency 1:40 to get to Great Barrington. Original plan was to meet in Great Barrington at 11:00 am. Cliffs group starts out at 9:00 am, so this should still work.

For those meeting in Winsted at Canton Cycle, it is a 0:48 ride to Great Barrington. So this group should be able to leave Winsted at 10:00 am as planned.

If we follow lcarlson's suggested route from there, it will take 5:20 to get to fairgrounds (not to bad considereing it is a 4+ hour ride by high-speed slab). So with minimal stops, we could be in Essex by 6:00 to 6:30 pm.

I am all for lcarlson's suggested route, as this is as much about the journey as the destination.

For those who want; I've created some GPS files in Garmin Mapsource of this ride. I have created 3 different formats, so pick your poison appropriately.

For those coming from other directions, we should be at the intersection of RT 11 and RT 100 at 1:26pm.

At RT 103 and RT 100 (Ludlow) at 1:47pm.

RT 4 and RT 100 in West Bridgewater (near Sherburne) at 2:09 pm.

All times are rough estimates of course so wait if you wish, or not....

Here is a zipped file for GPS: CT_to_MOA.zip

Are any of you guys still on for this?

I am still planning to leave from Redding CT about 9:00 am Thursday. I'll swing by Marcus Dairy in Danbury around then in case anybody is interested. Should be at the intersection of Route 7 (Main Street) and Route 41 in Great Barrington about 11:00 (it's at the north end of town just west of the bridge over the river). If anybody's there, great; if not, I'll head up Route 41 solo. I'm on a black R1150R BTW.

Ride North

lcarlson said:

I am still planning to leave from Redding CT about 9:00 am Thursday. I'll swing by Marcus Dairy in Danbury around then in case anybody is interested. Should be at the intersection of Route 7 (Main Street) and Route 41 in Great Barrington about 11:00 (it's at the north end of town just west of the bridge over the river). If anybody's there, great; if not, I'll head up Route 41 solo. I'm on a black R1150R BTW.

Click to expand...

I've had a change of plans due to volunteer commitment so I'll be headed up on Wed.AM. I'll slab it to Bratlleboro then shoot over to 100N from there.

Breeze

Slight change of plans

I'll be leaving the Danbury area by 8am on Friday 21 July. My original plan was to leave Thursday but...

Send me a pm if the lift off time on Friday works for you. I'm agnostic as to route but i prefer not to dawdle...!

n1hnr941 said:

I am game. I live 10 minutes from Canton Cyles. For clarification Canton Cycles moved to Winsted and is still called Canton Cycles for those not familiar with the shop and is right at the end of the multilane Route 8. Go to the end of Route 8 and look to the right and thar she be...! Route 8 continues to the right and then a right again at the NCCTC college 1/4 mile up from Canton Cycles. Also make note on the rally forum about reflective stuff on your helmet in Vermont.

Click to expand...

Guy's this sounds good, if you don't mind I'd like to tag along on my K1100.

Meeting at Winsted

I'm leaving home around 8 or so, should be at Canton Cycles by 9:30 or so, then on to the North!