Season Opener Bedford-Concord-Carlisle March 25, 2015

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, March 25, 2015, First Ride of the Season - Bedford-Concord-Carlisle

Ride Leader:  Jack Donohue
27 miles, 10:00 am start from Depot Park, Bedford, MA.

Riders (16):  Jack, Bernie Flynn, Bob Wolf, Butch Pemstein, Clyde Kessel, Dave Slade, Dom Jorge, Francine Sparks, Irving Kurki, Ken Hablow, Pat Ward, Richard Vignoni, Roy Westerberg, Selig Saltzman, Susan Sabin, and Tom Allen. 

We hit a veritable heat wave with temperatures ending up in the high 40s late in the ride.  A number of Wheelers were on their bikes for the first time in a while.  Fourteen of us set out from Bedford, and were joined by the Lincoln contingent (Bob and Ken) on Monument Street in Concord.

Our first regroup was at the Visitor's Center off Monument Street.  It's usually a good place for a rest room break, but, alas, we were a bit too early.  We then wound our way through the back roads of Concord and into Carlisle, where we had a nice downhill on Bingham which has some fresh pavement, and on to Carlisle center.  Another traditional rest stop, the portajohn at Fern's was unavailable, and the library was closed, so we had to improvise (enough said).  Back into Bedford, I gave the group the option to shorten the ride, but everyone opted for the additional miles, a loop around Davis Road.  Back at the start, we headed out for lunch at Bruegger's, some of us electing to ride there since it was only a half mile away.

Thanks to Butch who did yeoman's work as sweep, even sweeping the small group that rode over to Bruegger's.

Lost and Found:  Someone lost an eyeglass mirror in front of Bruegger's.  Butch has it - contact him (bdpesq@rcn.com) to get it back.

Ride report by Jack Donohue.
Attendance by Tom Allen.

Pictures on Facebook

Snowshoeing along the Charles River Link Trail - March 18, 2015

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, Snowshoeing along the Charles River Link Trail

Snowshoe Leaders:  Susan Sabin & Don Mannes
~5 miles, 10:00 am start from Donnelly Drive, Dover, MA.

Snowshoers (7):  Susan, Don, Janet Miller, Margie Lee, Marie Keutmann, Rich Taylor, and Tony Lee.

The day started sunny and blustery, but, once we got into the woods, the sun warmed us and the trail, through field and woods with eventual views of the Charles, kept us interested.  Once we entered the campus of the Medfield State Hospital, Tony quipped, “Wow, this alone was worth the price of admission.”  It is a surprising and impressive place with a century's worth of hidden stories.

Everyone opted for the shorter route on the way back to our cars.   Almost at once, the leaders tested the group’s cohesiveness and cooperation by bushwacking through the woods . . . seemingly lost (who, us?).  Everyone passed this test with flying colors and, in spite of the added excitement, we got back to the start in very short order.  Lunch at Go Fresh in Medfield center was surprisingly good.  

One fly in the ointment, which we didn’t know of until after the walk:  Carol and Bob Anderson were involved in a three car accident on the highway on route to the walk start.  Carol reports that no one was hurt. 

Report by Susan Sabin.

Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge Snowshoe Outing - Wednesday, March 11, 2015

SNOWSHOE REPORT
 
Wednesday, March 11, 2015, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge snowshoe outing

Snowshoe Leader:  Sander Nydick
~6.5 miles, 10:00 am meet up at Stow Shopping Center, Stow, MA.

Snowshoers/xc skiers (7):  Sander, Kim Wach, Marie Keutmann, Rick Lawrence, Roy Westerberg, Russ Keene, and Steve Cohen.

Present at start (1):  Tom Allen.

Present at lunch (2):  Helen Greitzer and Janet Miller. 

On a warm day in March (temps in low 50s) with, perhaps, as much as six feet of soft snow left over from this snowy winter, six hardy individuals with snowshoes and one with cross country skis traversed about six and a half miles in the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge.  I was correct about suggesting snowshoes in my last update.  One potential hiker without snowshoes wisely abandoned the hike after a few minutes.  Because of the deep snow and the leader's slowness, a hike that should have taken two hours took about three and a half hours.  The Refuge is very scenic and everybody seemed to enjoy it.  The hike encompassed a loop that started at the White Pond Road parking lot in Stow and included passing the Visitor's Center in Sudbury.  We passed several structures that once housed munitions during World War II - part of the Refuge during that era was part of the Natick Army Base.

After we returned to our cars, most of the WWs went home.  Russ and I met Helen and Janet at the Boston Bean Coffee House in Maynard for lunch and conversation.

Report by Sander Nydick

XC Ski Outing at Great Brook in Carlisle - March 4, 2015

Snowshoe Group There were 3 snowshoers today, Clyde, Jack Mxkcwrsky and Sander Nydick.  After a short warmup walk across the cornfields, we crossed to the south side of Curve St into the wetland where Clyde fell into a hole up to his waist.  After Jack helped extricate him, the group crossed over the frozen wetland and brook into the southwest portion of the park where we saw numberless deer tracks, some small unidentified animal tracks, a deer feeding station and millions of snow fleas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_flea.  After that, we recrossed the brook and Clyde’s leach field (no one fell in, thankfully) and finally Curve St.  From there, we went over Cranberry Hill and finally back to the ski barn.  Along the way, we encountered hard packed trails which were walkable with boots, virgin snow where we made our own trail (in this heavy snow, you don’t sink much but it is still hard work) and everything in between. It was really great to see Helen at lunch!  Welcome back Helen, if only for a little while. Can spring be far off? ​

Spring Ski Outing Following a light overnight snowstorm, ten Wednesday Wheelers enjoyed a spring ski outing at Great Brook Farm.  The Group included Ilkka Suvanto, Robin Maitland, Dave Slade, Barbara Martin, Pat Ward, Janet Miller, Sandy (Gardner) Gray, Everett Briggs and Marie Keutmann.  Our 11 K of skiing covered a majority of the trail system.  We stayed together for the most part during our ski.  Skiers were courteous on the downhills allowing ample spacing for safety.   The snow was fast at the beginning due to a light frozen topcoat from Tuesday night's storm.  As the morning progressed and some sun showed through jackets were unzipped for a long awaited warm springtime outing. Thanks to Janet Miller for sweeping.We drove to Omega Pizza in Chelmsford for lunch.  There we were joined by Edie Baxter, Jacque Smith,  Mike Hanauer and Clyde's snowshoe group.Thanks to Clyde for suggesting Omega and for co-leading. RidewithGPS file for today's ski: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/4174905