- Week Quick Weekend Around the Berks

[Boris]

First off, what exactly are Berks anyway? And why go there? And on What?

I've gone riding in this area a few times in the past. Mostly a long day trip, or part of a trip through. I vaguely understand this area as an area of western Massachusetts, and it's always been a nice ride.

The Berks actually seem to extend down into northwestern Connecticut, as well as north into Vermont.

My fiancee and I were looking to do a trip with a couple overnights. This would be her first multi-day trip as the passenger, and some of her longest days on the bike. The format would be a little bit different than trips I usually take. To make sure we had a place to stay that we knew ahead of time, we ended up booking a hotel for two nights, and planned our ride around being there. The NY Metro Dirt TOR was also up in this area, and had been for a while, so we decided it would be a good opportunity to grab that.

And the ride of choice was the passenger-friendly but also back-road friendly ST1300

This report is missing lots of road pictures, but I want to record this trip for myself anyway.

Day 1
Half day of work wrapped up, we headed out on some local roads, trying to avoid highways as much as we could

I am forever grateful for the roads that I have accessible close to me. We started by winding through the roads around the reservoirs local to us, but this time was different because we didn't have a "turn around" point hanging over our heads. We rolled north along the classic roads, heading towards Harriman. I expected any roads to be open at this point, and we easily scooted through there and across Bear Mountain bridge.

This was my first time with both a loaded bike and the passenger. Slow-speed maneuverability was a bit more of a challenge, and I had to be more careful on the really tight roads, but generally the ST1300 handled it well.

We finally made it out to Peekskill, where we had to stop for gas. Unfortunately this is the only gas station shot I got on this trip. The rest of them didn't feel depressing enough.

From this point, we were winging it a little. The goal for dinner was Kent, CT. A wonderful area that I've been to before. I knew (hoped) we would be able to get a good meal there. It's also the entry point to one of my favorite roads, US Rt 7 through CT. But first we had to get there. By this point it was the evening commute, and I'm not familiar with this area of NY during the commute. We started out on Rt 6, which ended up being a drag on a touring bike. Single lane traffic, hitting every light. Sweating from multiple sources. Not my favorite. At some point I saw a road that looked somewhat passable on the GPS, and turned Right towards Croton Falls Reservoir. Finally some nice riding. The road opened up, and we were finally able to carry some speed.

By this point dinner was our target, so I didn't stop at the dam or really anywhere else until we got to Kent.

I always get a little bit of culture shock when I leave the super populated areas I'm used to. It was a beautiful spring Friday at 5:30PM, and several restaurants were closed. I guess it's still technically before the tourist season. That's OK because the Kingsley tavern was open.

I'd stopped here before, so I knew we would be in for a good meal.

Tuna Tostadas

Burger from the farm that owns the restaurant. I'll take it.

The meatloaf was amazing.

And chocolate cake #1

We started up US 7. The stretch north of Kent (actually north of New Milford, CT) is one of my favorite roads in the area. It's especially good for sport touring, and it's beautiful. There are plenty of nice roads off of it as well in western CT, but we had no time for that now. We didn't have as many stops or road shots on this trip, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was getting dark, and we had to boogie.

We did stop for a few minutes at Cornwall covered bridge, to enjoy the general scenery.

The week was starting to catch up with us, and it was getting darker and colder. We made our way the rest of the way north to the hotel for the night.

 

[Boris]

Day 2

The first order of business was sleeping in. I have no shame about the first night of a trip. Having full time jobs and even partial parenting responsibilities leaves us spent at the end of the week. Don't think we got ready to move until almost noon.

We went to a place called Marketplace Kitchen, which seemed to be an extension of a local store. Great options for a light breakfast.

And off we went

First stop was the tag spot. The tag was here for several months, through winter. This would be my first tag pickup, and I figured it would be a good one to do. This was along the NEBDR route, which will have to be a different trip or set of trips. The route there was sport touring bliss, though. Some tight and highly active roads, and some twisty fast roads, and overall a whole lot of enjoyment. The tag spot was close to paved roads.

On to Shelburne falls. I can't underscore the quality of roads in this region for sport touring. I need to admit that I don't know the police situation at all. The roads seemed to be 30mph, then 35, then 45, then 40, then 45, then 30, on and on on the same road even within the span of a couple miles. And we were going significantly faster than that. So I do want to recommend this area to visit, but I don't at all know the police presence. We were taking a bit of a risk.

Anyway, we were headed to the bridge of flowers. It's a bit early in the season, and we weren't sure if there would be flowers, but hey, one destination is as good as another. We took roads like 8, 143, and 112, all of which were delightful.

Note: there weren't any flowers.

As with most small towns, there's some coffee. We tend to drink a good amount on rides, because it can be a good place to stop.

Shelburne falls seems to be named after the falls, which are dammed over. I would have loved to see the river in its natural state here. The dam does give a view of all the glacial potholes.

Further along, we enjoyed more amazing back roads. I wish I had stopped to take more motorcycle+road pictures, but we had such a groove going, and it was perfect weather and roads. We were getting too close to the interstate and civilization, so we turned off into some farmlands. bit of a slower exploration here.

We did stop for a break by this reservoir to soak in the spring weather. Everywhere we went we were near a river or a reservoir. The rivers are obviously perfect for making little valleys to build amazing sport touring roads in.

We previously had the idea that being a passenger off-road was not comfortable for my fiancee. She said that it was only the bumps that really caused her discomfort. I suspect it was also the passenger accommodations on the tiger 800, mixed with a much bumpier road. Not that we'll be tearing up any trails on the ST, but it's good to know it's an option in a pinch. Have a 1100GS to try it on as well.

Not many pictures of the rest of the day until we got back to town. We eventually came out onto 66, to 20 to 23. These roads were all the perfect size to get some distance covered at a fun pace with an engaging set of turns. We didn't stop again until we were back at Great Barrington.

The nice thing about this town, at least where we were, was that it was fairly walkable. There also seems to be a bit of a downtown area with more businesses, but we were OK with our little area by the motel. I love having a walkable place to stay in case I want to have a drink. Many trips I've taken, even if I get a hotel, it's often near an interstate. Those towns are rarely walking friendly. This brought up memories of walking through or around highway off-ramps, or across big plaza's, to get to a chain restaurant of questionable quality. Other times it's motels in the middle of nowhere and a camping meal on a camping stove that I definitely didn't set up in the bathroom with a fan on. So this was a nice change of pace.

We walked to Agaves mexican grill for dinner.

A local brewery, Big Elm brewing, also had a taproom there, so I picked up a 4 pack for later. I was particularly fond of the farmhouse ale and the breakfast stout they had.

 

[Boris]

Day 3

This day would take us through several different mountain ranges as seen in the first post.

Our first destination was Moto Coffee / Machines in Hudson, NY. This was a random find on google, and ended up a great place to visit.

Almost immediately we crossed into a different type of terrain. The mountains were larger and the valleys were deeper. This was us crossing over into the Taconic mountains. We also soon crossed into New York, with fairly consistent high speed limits. We made it to the town of Hudson, and to the Cafe. We didn't really know what to expect.

First of all, the coffee was amazing

The front of the space had a few motorcycles and a bunch of old helmets.

The back had more bikes, and a bunch of gear on sale.

The owner was very nice, and made clear to us his love of both motorcycles and coffee. I did end up buying a new pair of pants that I never would have bought without getting to try them on, and Maria bought some new riding shoes.

We also got some breakfast down the street at Maker's Hotel

I do love touring in these areas because the food ends up being really good most of the time. Pricey, but good. I wish I could eat more but I need to keep it light on the bike.

Off to our next mountain range. We crossed the Rip Van Winkle bridge and made our way to the Catskills. 23 to 9<letter> to 23a, which is in amazing road that goes through Katterskill clove. Fat chance of us not getting stuck behind someone doing 20, but it was a nice scenic road, and there was plenty of scenery to enjoy (and not a lot of places to stop).

We stopped for a break shortly past Tannersville, at the trailhead for a hike I'd done in the past.

The Catskills also have a character that is very good for riding. our route took us through Phoenecia, and out west on 28 til we reached 30 around Margaretville. 30 past the reservoirs is another scenic high-speed playground, but we did manage to stop and at least take some pictures of the reservoir.

We then headed to drop a new tag spot at a very nice roadside waterfall that I've camped near in the past.

This one goes out to the bikes I've taken here before

We dipped down to Upland brewing, which is an awesome space to hang out if you don't have a last-leg-of-your-ride-home ahead of you. There's a brewery, a kitchen, a great big outdoor area full of dogs, and some hiking trails in the backyard. I only took pictures of our food and the bike.

They even had some N/A cans, which were great. I don't remember the brand though.

The Catskills is usually a day trip for me, so the rest of the trip was your standard Catskills ride home. We did hop on 17 for a bit, but soon cut south on 42 to Port Jervis, which is a great ride, and then home on NJ 23 south. I think Port Jervis is technically Poconos, maybe. So that makes a 5th or 6th mountain range on this ride.

Wrap-up
We really enjoyed this ride. The roads were fantastic, the traffic was mostly light, and the weather was perfect. Being a first overnight motorcycle trip with Maria, it was a great success. We weren't sure how long she would be comfortable on the bike, and for what distances.

I think we technically went pre-season for the area, and that worked in our favor. Sure, lots of things were closed in MA, but we also had the roads to ourselves most of the time. I do love the lush green foliage in the area, but the bare trees are great for visibility and sightseeing.

As always, dying to go back out again.

 

[Simmons1]

Thanks for the great report. I miss riding up there.

 

[SalNap]

great write up and pics, the colors in the fall are worth another ride

 

[Boris]

Does it get super crowded during peak leaves? Wondering if something like that would have to be a middle-of-the-week trip.

 

[Grizzly]

Wow looks like a great time, and also makes me miss my ST1300.

 

[Boris]

Wow looks like a great time, and also makes me miss my ST1300.

Really really impressed with the bike for this trip. Two-up with gear and still very enjoyable to ride at pace.

 

[SalNap]

Does it get super crowded during peak leaves? Wondering if something like that would have to be a middle-of-the-week trip.

Yes it does, mid week would be better

 

[FLrider]

Nice photos and write up! My folks used to live in CT and I have been up there a few times and it is a beautiful area for sure👍