November 1 is a milestone around here to still be able to be out riding. Unlike last year, and many before that where there was snow at Halloween, this day was pretty nice. We had been monitoring the weather apps for about a week waiting to see if the predictions held out, and we got pretty lucky: right around 50 degrees with partial sun. Good enough. Three of us planned to meet up and take a ride south to a covered bridge, just as a destination. We also know that the roads are usually in pretty good condition out that way, as we wind through the mountains.
Two would gather then come south to where I would meet them, and we’d proceed from there. An hour before that, a shower was passing through from Northwest to Southeast. So it’s raining a bit at Scott’s house… He waits it out and soon the sun is back again. Then Luke reports it is now raining at his house… We decided to push the meeting time 1/2 hour and gather at noon. I head out at 11:30 to meet them and I run into light showers — just enough to be annoying — along the way. We take off south on a planned route to go to the Blenheim Covered Bridge, which claims to be the “Longest single span wooden bridge of it’s type in the world”.
I’m pretty bundled up for this ride as I don’t have a batwing fairing or lowers or heated grips; some of that will be rectified over time. Many of the roads we traveled were known from Sunday ride routes we’ve taken in these areas over many years. The roads were mostly excellent and the scenery was very nice. That part of the ride was about 60 miles or so from where we met up.
Turns out that this is a re-creation of the original bridge which stood until 2011 when Tropical Storm Irene came through and caused historic flooding, which destroyed and washed the bridge away. It was rebuilt using the original plans in every detail, allowing it to maintain it’s historic designation, 10’ higher above it’s original location.
The ride back took a slightly different route to be both a bit quicker while the sun was still up, and avoid rush hour traffic. Overall I rode 132 miles, most of it through the local mountains to the south, on a sunny day in November, with two long-time good friends. If that turns out to be the final group ride for this year, it was a good one.
"Hey, which bike is yours?" "The black Harley"...
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