Perfect day for a motorcycle ride through Litchfield County

It's been a pretty rough summer around here, but I had the day off and finally found enough free time to spend a day out on the Sportster.

It's wearing a new pair of Metzelers (at the suggestion of a doctor named Hess), and they're a nice upgrade from the original Dunlops. I managed to change the front by myself using a friend's HF tire machine, but I had to have a shop do the rear because of the belt drive pulley.

It was about 90 degrees and humid today, but even with all the gear on, it was pretty comfortable once I was moving. Fortunately, there is no shortage of shaded, winding country roads around here and, once I was about five minutes from my house, I pretty much had them all to myself for the rest of the day.

There are a lot of dead celebrities who used to live in this part of Connecticut, and a few live ones too. I rode past the former homes of Ed Sullivan, Victor Borge, Frank McCourt, Walter Matthau, Richard Widmark and the house where Arthur Miller lived when he was married to Marilyn Monroe. Behind it is the cabin where he wrote Death of a Salesman.

Just around the corner is the home and studio of Alexander Calder. It's still owned by his family, and there are several (Genuine!) Calder sculptures on the property. You can still see his 2CV Truckette parked in the open barn.

I also passed the homes of breathing people like Dustin Hoffman, Rob Zombie (who was undoubtedly annoyed by the noise from my stock pipes) and some guy who made a ton of money producing porn videos.

I continued northwest, passing farms, orchards and vineyards. I checked on a pair of old abandoned BMWs that I always try to keep an eye on, saw a beautiful Mercedes Pagoda SL, a Bentley Corniche Convertible, a Lotus Esprit, three (!) Jaguar F-Type R's, a bunch of 911 Cabriolets and a guy riding a two stroke Bimota.

I rode around the perimeter of Lake Waramaug, where I saw several vintage wooden boats, a seaplane and girls in bikinis.

After rounding the lake, I stopped at a little deli in New Preston that I've driven past a million times but never tried. My lunch was fantastic. After that, I pointed the bike toward home, retracing part of my route and poking around on some other back roads.

I was on the bike for about two and a half hours or so, including the stop for lunch, and did about 68 miles. I think that 883 Sportsters are under appreciated, and I loved the new Metzelers. It's no superbike, but it was prefect for cruising around on winding country roads. It's cornering abilities are well within my comfort zone and I never felt the need for another 300cc's or a third brake disc. Fifth gear almost seemed unnecessary.

I needed a day like this.

I'm not much of a Harley fan, but I do appreciate the un-superbike mentality. I have a '74 Guzzi V7 Sport that scratches the same itch. Lots of torque, not much power. Just a relaxed way to appreciate the ride and the engineering.

Sounds like a very good day.

To me, that's what motorcycling is really about. Riding from bar to bar or going so fast the phone poles are a blur has no appeal to me. When I ride, I find that I (gasp) rarely exceed the posted speed limit. The view on the bike is so expansive I like to experience what I'm passing through, not just see it.

That is a great part of CT.

I've done a lot of those roads in my 2002, both in groups drives and solo, over the years. Need to get back over there this fall.

Sounds like a nice ride.

ddavidv wrote: To me, that's what motorcycling is really about. Riding from bar to bar or going so fast the phone poles are a blur has no appeal to me. When I ride, I find that I (gasp) rarely exceed the posted speed limit. The view on the bike is so expansive I like to experience what I'm passing through, not just see it.

Ah, soon you'll be living your touring bike dream.

don't forget to stop by this place on your next ride.

http://www.ctamachinery.com/

Isn't that the Sloane Stanley/ Kent Furnace place? Oddly enough, I've been going past it for 25 years and have never been motivated to stop. I thought it was mostly farming stuff.

I tried to stop in there twice - closed on both occasions. They seem to have limited days of operation, and they close up shop in the winter. Looks like they have lots of neat stuff, some of it operational.