Wow! That was a cool adventure. I rode Paradise road which is off Clinton road and goes up through Watershed land.
I rode this years ago two times, once I made it to Henderson road and turned around and came back.
The other time I was Geocaching and only went part way up Paradise.
Today my intention was to go all the way to Henderson and see if it goes through to any main roads.
Paradise is quite an adventure in itself, I think it used to be a real road years ago, but like many things
it fell into disrepair and became a disaster. Now a days nothing can travel it except the best 4 wheel drive vehicles.
Huge puddles that are deep and take up the whole road, so much so that trails have been cut around them through the woods.
Rocky washed out climbs around every turn. Slippery old time woods black mud that easily spins your tires.
It’s only about four miles of this, but it’s relentless. The kind of ride that makes me say, I’m not coming back this way, no matter what,
there has to be a way through this and out to main roads again. There are plenty of off trails waiting to explore,
but I’m sure whatever you choose, you’ll be coming back because they’ll dead end.
When I started out it was snowing, but soon turned to a light rain, then back to snow.
There were many uphill, rocky spots I got bounced off track, lost my line, and had to dismount and walk.
I was holding a good line and then it would disappear and go to total rock garden.
Steep hills too. About half way through I met up with three side by side quads. Pleasant guys out for a good ride.
One said “hay, that’s one of those e-bike’s ain’t it?” I said yup, and you got one of those gas powered things, right?
Yup, we both laughed. I said, but I’m workin’ a lot harder than you guys!
Well, I made it to Henderson rd, which wasn’t any better than the Paradise rd I just came off of. I stuck with it and eventually
it started to turn into a real gravel road, and then some houses! Nice! Civilization! I came upon some guys by their truck and
asked where this took me. They said Canister road and then rt 23. Great, now I know where I am. So off I went on tarmac finally.
Made it out to the hi-way and headed south to Jimmy G’s bar along the hi-way. Pulled in for a beer and then back on the road to finish up.
Funny, my bike computer said I was doing 42 mph on the hi-way down hill, but my Garmin Strava said my max speed was only 24 mph.
Modern technology just can’t get this shit right, can it? Headed back across the hi-way to Paradise rd, and back to the start.
Now it started sleeting, to the point I had to squint my eyes to even see. Said I rode just under twelve miles, felt like twice that!
a party place out by Buckabear pond
Paradise
some quads
finally, a beer
almost back to the start
snow, sleet