My childhood friend Forrest and I have been sporadically trying to reconnect for months now, and finally last week got something in our calendars. Forrest is in Bridgeport for school (and just finished up his PhD, congrats!), and he suggested meeting somewhat halfway near Haddam, CT for a mixed surface ride – he didn’t know that I love riding in that area, and it made the whole thing feel even more like it was meant to be.
In another moment of serendipity, the day after we picked a date, Ronnie Romance announced a community event he was planning to host the following week in the area. I’m broadcasting a few university graduations b2b2b in conflict with making it along, but he was kind enough to send me the route in advance for Forrest and me to ride. It goes without saying that Ron is perhaps one of the greatest routebuilders alive (ever?), so I knew we were in for a treat.
I left Springfield at 5:45 to head south for an early 7:00 start from Gillette Castle. I’ve been here so many times as a kid to hike and letterbox and picnic with family. If you’ve never made it before, make sure to add it to your list. Not to break the fourth wall, but these photos were actually taken at the tail end of our ride when we arrived back.
A short and steep downhill from the park put us at a negative for elevation immediately, and within a couple miles of tarmac, we hit the first turn into the woods. From the road, the path was so innocuous that we almost missed it entirely. As expected, our planned route ended up being a bunch of really excellent trail sections pieced together by short road connections.
This was the wildest ride Forrest had ever ridden (and on 700×37 tires, compared to my 700×45’s), but he absolutely crushed it. He’s an awesome trail runner, so I think some ability to pick a line transferred here and his aerobic engine is just insane. It was a lot of fun to have a reason to push my limits a bit. Side note, Forrest has been pushing running mileage again for the first time since a bad injury in college and is working to beat his high school mile time of 4:24 before turning 30 in November. I can’t imagine ever moving my body that quickly.
Most of the route was pristine, with a lot of riding and only a little bit of hiking. It’s been a lot of fun to progress in skill and confidence in riding offroad, pushing both my and my bike’s limits. We ran into one pretty funny step up a 2′ rock that maybe Danny MacAskill could’ve gotten up but was definitely not in my toolbox. Outside of a few spots here and there though, only one section of heavy logging forced us to walk for any extended period of time.
As we wandered through the woods, we caught up about adult life. This September marks a decade since I left the Mormon church, and Forrest has just been navigating the same transition for about a year. At this point, I’ve completely moved on and the church holds so little weight in my day-to-day life, but it’s interesting how permanent many of the scars are. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to put some things behind me entirely – traumas that shaped me and guilt for what I perpetuated. I’m glad Forrest made it out, but my heart also hurts for the long road he has ahead, in many ways tougher than my breakup. Ignorance is bliss, but I guess it’s better to live an authentic experience.
After a few hours of meandering through trails, we crossed a pedestrian bridge over some train tracks and suddenly were faced with panoramic ocean views. I haven’t been to Rocky Neck State Park since I was really young, and didn’t realize how striking it is. We took a break down by the water, surprisingly with the park almost entirely to ourselves.
Ron provided an alternate route to get home that kept to quiet country roads rather than his standard double and singletrack, and Forrest and I got into a groove where the remaining 30 miles of our ride passed pretty quickly. The remaining miles and elevation slowly ticked away, with a really brutal climb that held 14-18% uphill testing us with just a few miles left. At the very end of our ride, we paid for the fast downhill with a punchy and extremely slow climb back to our cars.
Our time together really filled my cup. It was incredibly meaningful to reconnect with such a genuine and kind person, and I’m hopeful that we make it happen again soon.