Ware River Rail Trail (MA)

I rode the Ware River Rail Trail on Sunday morning in North-Central MA, from Coldbrook Springs up north to where the trail ends at Route 2 in Templeton. At the southern end I explored a few of the excellent gravel roads that parallel the trail.

I felt a bit under-biked for part but the bike felt perfect for most of it. I started with 36/38 psi in 42mm Pathfinder Pros, but about 1/3 of the way through reduced that to 32/35 and that worked noticeably better across the parts that were either wet soft sand or golfball (or larger) sized gravel.

It wasn’t a long ride by the standards of this group (just over 26 miles round trip) but at my fitness level I’m not complaining. I started just after sunrise (7am around here this time of year) and didn’t see another soul until close to 9am, so definitely not at all busy.

The downsides: even though the day I rode was clear and sunny, it did rain fairly heavily the previous day so parts of the trail became running streams that covered most or all of the trail in places, and numerous large puddles to ride around or through. I couldn’t avoid going through one that was deep enough to give me two wet feet, which got a bit cold by the time I got back to the trailhead. Going from south to north, the trail seems to tend uphill so it was a bit dispiriting that the perceived effort seemed high, especially through the parts that were flooded, soft sand, or larger mini-boulders.

The upsides: the ride back southward was indeed more downhill so I felt I was fairly flying over the return trip. The weather was beautiful, and I felt I had the trail all to myself. The gravel roads paralleling the trail at the southern end were a lot of fun. The recent rain made the brooks running by very active, which was really nice to see. It was very quiet and felt far from civilized bustle.

I’ll definitely try it again, but (1) will try even lower tire pressures next time, and (2) will wait until we haven’t had rain for a few days.

by ElectronDood