Team Ice Cream Discovers a New Hampton - Northampton!

2002 July
by Rebecca Uss

The ride to Northampton was a great success, and just goes to show that not every Hampton is on Long Island. Here's my very quick report. I hope we can do this trip again with a bigger group from Fast and Fab, perhaps to see the autumn leaves.

Four of us (Rebecca Uss, Paula McKinley, April Frederick, Richard Brause) on three bikes, left New York City Wednesday, July 17, 2002, rode through upstate New York and the Berkshires, and arrived in Northampton, Massachusetts, Friday afternoon. Our pace was fun to moderate, we carried all of our gear and stayed at hotels and B&Bs along the way. We returned on Amtrak Sunday.

This was the first major trip that Paula and I attempted on our new tandem and we loved it. Weather was warm and humid, and we managed to make it to our destination each night before the rains hit. The cue sheets developed by Paula and myself worked well, and we made a couple of nice detours that Richard suggested.

Highlights of the 175-mile trip include

~ A stop to the see the Chagall and Matisse windows at Union Church of Pocantico Hills;

~ the best Ice Cream in the USA at Hienchons in Pawling;

~ meeting "Mother" at the Sharadu in the Town of Positive Thinking;

~ visiting with Jay Hill who gave us a ride (in a car in the rain) to dinner at Kripalu Institute;

~ the best Ice Cream in the USA at Langderhurst Farm in Copake;

~ the very cold 40-foot-deep (!) swimming hole in Copake Falls;

~ 30 miles of bike paths with (almost) no roller-bladers;

~ great climbing and miles and miles of down hill into the Pioneer Valley;

~ the best Ice Cream in the USA at Herrel's at Thorne's Market;

~ no rain while riding!;

~ meeting with distant cousin Christina Uss, a professional bicycle tour guide

(who also gave us a ride in a car in the rain);

~ connecting with six mountain biking women from Connecticut for a Fabulous dinner;

~ another 10 miles of bike paths in Noho (this would be a local name for Northampton);

~ independent bookstores and coffee shops;

~ and, of course, dykes EVERYWHERE in Northampton!