May 11, 2023 - Black Rock State Park, CT loop

Start and end: Black Rock State Park, CT
Miles: 27.7
Feet climbing per mile: 83
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/120757325

With no shower after riding 54 miles in the sun, I felt itchy from the salt that covered me. As a result I had difficulty sleeping, making for a miserable night. Starting at about 4:00 in the morning I began to consider my options. I eventually generated a list of five:

1. Spend another night at Black Rock State Park.
2. Move to Branch Brook Campground a half mile away for $50.
3. Move to Plymouth Motor Lodge 6 miles away for $77.
4. Move to a Marriot 10 miles away for $150.
5. Pay for a night at Branch Brook but spend the night at Black Rock.

Option 1 would have avoided any further cost but I would have had another restless night.

Option 2, in addition to the extra cost, would have required tearing down my campsite and setting it up again. Furthermore Branch Brook was an unattractive RV park.

Option 3 would have run the risk of spending a night in a non-smoking room smelling of smoke (according to many reviews).

Option 4 would have required, besides the substantial additional cost, creating a new loop route for the second day of the trip.

Option 5 would have allowed me to shower without tearing down my campsite and setting it up again.

After generating those five options I realized that if I could get in the water at Black Rock Pond a quarter mile away, Option 1 would be my best choice. I walked to the pond and after several minutes was fully submerged in the cold water. I had solved my problem!

There was nobody else around so I enjoyed the pleasure of skinny-dipping, the proof of which is the picture below. The item at the bottom of the picture is my Lycra underwear which can also serve as a bathing suit.

On my walk to and from the pond I traversed a bridge over troubled water.

On my walk back to my campsite I met two men who said they, too, had been surprised by the lack of showers and flush toilets. After I told them about my bike trip, George reminded his brother-in-law Tom that he had been looking for a human-interest story and maybe he'd like to write about me. I asked Tom whether he was a writer. Before answering my question he told me about all sorts of work he had done, including designing and building a World War II radio which is displayed at the Stratford Veterans Museum. I asked him how it could be a World War II radio if he designed it after the war. He explained that he designed it on the same principles as a World War II radio which needs no external source of power because the sound is produced in an earphone which need little current. He said that the power could be supplied by a crystal or even a razor blade appropriately modified.

Tom's WWII radio

Tom told me that when his wife died a few years ago he asked his friend Matt Fitzgibbons to record his wife's favorite song, The Impossible Dream. Matt instead wrote Angels in White, a song to honor nurses (Tom's wife was a nurse). Matt created the video below in which his explanation of how the song came to be is followed by a pictorial history of nurses accompanying the song.

Eventually Tom told me he has written about twenty pieces that have been published in magazines and one that is online, A Grateful Nation.

Having spent the morning considering my options of where to stay, skinny-dipping in the pond, and talking with Tom and George, I set off for a ride at 12:30. The temperature was already in the high 70s and forecast to go up a few degrees, so I shortened my planned route of 48 miles to 28 miles.

My first stop was at Scoop It Up in Thomaston, where I had a scoop of strawberry ice cream last month while riding from Redding to Torrington (April 12, 2023 - Redding, CT, to Torrington, CT). This time I had a scoop of chocolate.

Scoop It Up had a bike and a play car on display.

I think that I had a fire engine similar to the car when I was a kid.

At mile 7.0 I walked a short distance up Hill Road (yes, that's it's name). The beautiful Hill Road eventually leveled off.

Hill Road

At mile 11.4 I stopped at Hometown Pizza II to enjoy my favorite biking beverage.

At mile 12.0 I needed to walk up Litchfield Road for a short distance. I was then on the beautiful South Road for almost five miles.

South Road

While on South Road I saw a horse occupied with eating and uninterested in me.

In front of a home I also saw an interesting object I couldn't identify.

What is this?

At mile 18.7 I walked a very short distance up Minor Road.

As I mentioned in my discussion of my options, I had read several reviews of the Plymouth Motor Lodge saying the non-smoking rooms smelled of smoke. I had initially planned to stay there for both nights of this trip and then changed my mind after reading the negative reviews. I now wanted to check it out for myself, so I stopped at the lodge before returning to my campsite. I met Mike, the owner, and asked him to show me a non-smoking room. It smelled fresh and there were no cigarette burns in the blanket as was claimed in the reviews. I asked Mike whether he knew about all the negative reviews and he said he did. He said that when customers leave nasty reviews after they are upset that they've been fined for breaking the rules such as sneaking pets into the room or smoking in a non-smoking room. I told Mike I would write a positive review for him.

At mile 24.4 I was again waking a short distance up a hill, this time on Jackson Street.

I love riding along or across rivers and train tracks. As I crossed the Reynolds Bridge I experienced both.

After my 28-mile ride in the hot sun I headed back to the pond for more skinny-dipping. My page Aphorisms and Exhortations includes the following aphorism:

Every once in a while the day ought to begin with skinny dipping.

It's a special treat when there's also skinny-dipping near the end of a day.

Dinner at Rozzi's included their enormous Gourmet hamburger "smothered with sautéed mushrooms & onion, crisp applewood smoked bacon & melted Cheddar cheese". I would have tried one of their desserts, but Roderic, the owner of Scoop It Up, had given me a complimentary slice of flourless vegan chocolate cake that was thick like fudge. I wasn't sure it would survive the heat while I was riding but it did so quite well. I enjoyed the slice of cake after I returned from dinner at Rozzi's.

I had been fortunate in the morning to be able to use a mirror in the shower building to insert my contact lenses. Although there was no running water, the door was unlocked because someone was painting. I thought that I ought to carry a small mirror for situations in which no bathroom mirror was available. Later in the day I realized that I always carry two mirrors, both of which are visible in the picture below.

When I spoke with the park ranger the day before I asked about bears and other critters that might be interested in my food and other items with scent. He told me they hadn't seen any bears but that there were always smaller animals such as raccoons, but if I were to put my items in a bag and hang it from the limb of a tree they would be safe.

Before setting up my tent I found a hammer. Later I found a bell, both of which you can see in the video below.

Here are my modified lyrics for the final verse of Pete Seeger's If I Had a Hammer:

          Now I’ve got a hammer

          And I've got a bell

          And I've got a bike to ride

          All over this land

          It's a hammer for tent stakes

          It's the bell of fire pits

          It's the bike I ride to see all my brothers and my sisters

          All over this land

After a 28-mile ride in the hot sun followed by a second time skinny-dipping and a delicious dinner, I was looking forward to a night of good sleep in preparation for my ride back to South Norwalk.

Previous day: May 10, 2023 - South Norwalk, CT, to Black Rock State Park, CT
Next day: May 12, 2023 - Black Rock State Park, CT, to South Norwalk, CT

Subscribe to this blog

If you post a comment, please identify yourself.