Doug's 70th Birthday Bonsai Run - September 23, 2015

RIDE REPORT

 
Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Doug's 70th Birthday Bonsai Run
Ride Leaders:  Doug Hobkirk & Clyde Kessel
34 & 40 (?) miles, 10:00 am start from Nashoba Valley Ski Area, Westford, MA.
 
Riders - 34 mi (16):  Doug, Ann Northup, Betty Hoffman, Bob Armstrong, Chris Schuch, Cynthia Zabin, David Wean, Ilkka Suvanto, Jack Mroczkowski, Janet Miller, Jeff Smith, Jim Cant, Margie Lee, Richard Fortier, Winslow Green, and first-timer Mike Luzzo.
Riders - 40 mi (16):  Clyde, Barbara Martin, Barry Nelson, Bob Wadsworth, Curt Dudley-Marling, Dave Balaban,  Everett Briggs, Francie Sparks, Fred (Clyde) Newton, Jody Angevin, Rich Taylor, Richard Vignoni, Tim Wilson, Tod Cochran, Wick Doggett, and first-timer Bill Sheldon.
Present at (or near) lunch (5):  Charlie Learoyd, Francoise Bourdon, Helen Greitzer, Kathy Hobkirk, and Phil Hobkirk.
 
The shorter ride group set off shortly after the "supposedly" long riders.  Within 200 yards, we were joined by some guy named Mike Luzzo (Mike is a young teacher who volunteers with me at Household Goods Recycling).  We rode very, very fast (on downhills) and caught the long, slow riders at the end of Lost Lake.  How often do we see Everett Briggs looking confused?  Lost riders?
 
Everett sent us on our way after talking to Clyde.  Mike left us at that point to ride to Lincoln and have a picnic with his girlfriend, and Ann and Betty left to return on Rte 40, seeking to avoid the hills in Dunstable.  One mile later, we passed most of the long riders on the delightful Martins Pond Road, and then bounced along the dirt road at the end to get to Old Dunstable Road.
 
One big hill, then a pig farm (no pigs anymore?), and we rode through the forest primeval, checking the woods to make sure we didn't find any bears or moose.  We passed the neatest wood pile ever just before emerging into civilization, and a Dunkin Donuts at mile 22.  We traveled on scenic roads across Westford and over I-495, which I celebrated by hitting a savage hole and bursting my tube (I feared it might have burst my tire).  Chris took over and - poof! - everything was fixed, and Jack notified the highway department about the pothole.  Six flat miles and we were done, although apparently I gave Richard bad directions that caused him to miss the last turn. 
 
Lunch was beautiful. People wanted cake, so they sang Happy Birthday (first day ever that it was legal without paying a royalty).  Leader talked too much.  Birthday cake (from Shaw's in Stow) was surprisingly good.
 
Changes for next year's ride: Winslow suggested that we should have had more arrows through the roller-coaster and Lost Lake roads - too many possible side roads and driveways, and it's easy to make a wrong turn.  He's right, but I think there are too many locations for arrows.  I have some ideas that I will try. 
 
Thanks to David Wean for sweeping, and thank you all for making my birthday a memorable experience.

Report by Doug Hobkirk.

 

After being urged on by Doug, the long and fast group headed out at a foolhardy breakneck pace and everything was fine until Bill who is visiting from England and is a very very strong rider blew past an arrow and was lost and Barbara the sweep called one of the Clydes and one of the Clydes tried to get Everett to go chase Bill who is visiting from England down, but Tim who is also a very very strong rider went instead.  Meanwhile Bill who is visiting from England had realized his error and turned around and was picked up by the short and slow group until Tim got there and escorted Bill who is visiting from England back to the long and fast group which wasn’t so fast anymore because of the delay and then the long and not-so-fast group continued on until Barry took an alternate route to avoid the dirt path and planned to join us on Rocky Hill Road and then the other Clyde who was arrowing accidentally sent most of the long and not-so-fast group in the wrong direction, down a dirt road which wasn’t part of the plan but was a short cut which would have been good except there were now several hanging arrows because of the short cut and one of them was Bill who is visiting from England and when the short group found him hanging they suggested he head back to find Everett who was also hanging but Everett had already phoned one of the Clydes to ask why he was hanging and say he would go try to find the missing group but Bill who is visiting from England was already heading back to Everett who wasn’t there anymore so Bill who is visiting from England was lost again and one of the Clydes was on the phone with Barbara and Everett at the same time and couldn’t get it straight where the rest of the group had gone but finally the rest of the group caught up to one of the Clydes who was riding backwards with Tim who is also a very very strong rider to try to find everyone and while we were all milling around trying to decide what to do, the short and slow group passed us leaving a little bit of information behind and the long group which by now wasn’t even not-so-fast anymore became the long and slow group and everyone decided that lunch was getting real real late and decided they would rather be the shorter and slow group and turned around to retrace the route back to the start and maybe find Bill who is visiting from England and then we did find Bill who is visiting from England and we all stayed pretty close together for the rest of the uneventful ride back to the start.  Meanwhile Barry was waiting on Rocky Hill Road but the shorter and slower group never got there because they turned around, so Barry did the rest of the ride alone.  There were no flats.

thanks to Barbara Martin for sweeping.  
 

Ride report by one of the clydes.    

Dudley Rambles - September 16, 2015

RIDE REPORT

 
Wednesday, September 16, 2015, Dudley Rambles

Ride Leaders:  Susan Sabin, Clyde Kessel, & Ken Hablow
23, 34, & 40 miles, 10:00 am start from The Chat, Wayland, MA.

Riders - 23 mi (8):  Susan, Arthur Teepe, Dick Ivers, Duane Roth, Eli Post, Jeff Smith, Nina Siegel, and Skip Perry.

Riders - 34 mi (14):  Clyde, Alan Lazar, Chris Schuch, Doug Hobkirk, Greg Stathis, Ilkka Suvanto, Larry Kornetsky, Rick Carlson, Rick Lawrence, Roy Westerberg, Tom Allen, Tom Lucas, Winslow Green, and first-timer Tod Cochran.

Riders - 40 mi (13):  Ken, Bernie Flynn, Bill Umphrey, Bob Wadsworth, Bob Wolf, Fred Newton, Francie Sparks, John Gilman, Jody Angevin, Rich Taylor, Steve Bader, Tim Wilson, and first-timer Mike Byrne.

Present at ride start:  Walter McKay.

Present at ride start & lunch:  Helen Greitzer.

Present at lunch (3):  Edie Baxter, Jacque Smith, & Mike Hanauer

The 23 mile relaxed-pace ride, with so many turns and so few people (eight), kept running out of arrows, and therefore made several regrouping stops along the way.  There were many compliments on the route, all of which go to Brett Serkez, who designed it.  No incidents, no flats. 

Thanks go to Arthur Teepe, our sweep.

Ride report by Susan Sabin.

On the 32 mile medium ride, as always, this ride leader started off by missing a few turns.  But it was a beautiful day to be out on a bike and there were no complaints.  We did have two incidents, one where a cyclist made a quick u-turn without looking behind and was nearly run over by the two cyclists behind him.  This could have been a serious accident, so please take care when making sudden moves.  The other incident occurred near the end of the ride when a cyclist took a spill while rounding a curve.  He was able to get back on the bike but the ride leader went ahead for a car and came back to pick him up.  The rider had shoulder pain and went for X-rays which showed no breaks.  He should be back riding with us momentarily.

Thank you to all the arrows and to our sweep, Rick Carlson.

Ride report by Clyde Kessel.

After the three rides split at the 8 mile point, those on the 40 mile long ride pretty much stayed together.  We made several stops to collect people and relieve the arrows.  We made a Dunkin Donuts stop at mile 24 so a few could refuel.  We bypassed the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, but opted to take a scenic detour on Water Row.  We got back in plenty of time to meet up with the riders on the shorter routes at lunch.

Thanks to Tim Wilson for sweeping.

Ride report by Ken Hablow.

Cape Ann Artists ride - September 9, 2015

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, September 9, 2015, Cape Ann Artists ride
Ride Leader:  Selig Saltzman
32 miles, 10:00 am start from Fisherman's Monument, Gloucester, MA.

Riders (13):  Selig, Andy Lewis, Bob Wadsworth, Chris Schuch, Dale Ferguson, Dick Harter, Fred Definis, Ilkka Suvanto, Jack Mroczkowski, Lei Wang, Maurice King, Steve Robins, and Tom Allen.
Present at lunch:  Helen Greitzer.

The ride included the usual sites of artistic, historical or scenic interest.  Some of the repeat riders knew the ride leader's descriptions from memory.  The heat was not overwhelming because of a wind off the ocean for more than half the ride.  With a small group we mostly stayed together.  Being small, we were able to be accommodated at Willow Rest for good sandwiches, although a few riders deserted the group to go to Charlie's for lobster rolls.

There were no mishaps.  One rider (Steve Robins) remoted from Watertown!  Thanks to Fred Definis for sweeping, to Tom Allen for being the designated cell phone contact, and to Helen for meeting us for lunch.


Ride report by Selig Saltzman.

Rides from Bolton - September 2, 2015

RIDE REPORT

 
Wednesday, September 2, 2015, Rides from Bolton

Ride Leaders:  Ken Hablow & Patrick Ward
46 & 36 miles, 10:00 am start from 14 Wattaquadock Hill Road, Bolton, MA.

Riders - 46 mi (19):  Ken, Annemarie Altman, Barbara Martin, Bernie Flynn, Bob Apsler, Dave Balaban,  Dom Jorge, Elizabeth Wicks, Francie Sparks, Frank Hubbard, Fred Newton, George Stromberg, Jack Donohue, Kim Wach, Larry Kernan, Rich Taylor, Richard Lawrence, Richard Vignoni, and first-timer Mary Kernan.

Riders - 36 mi (13):  Patrick, Ann Northup, Bob Wadsworth, Dick Harter, Edie Baxter, Eli Post, Jacque Smith, James Hsia, Janet Miller, Jim Whinfield, Kathy Horvath, Kaz Zelny, and Susan Sabin.

The long ride split off from the short at about mile 14 and headed up Linden Street and around the Wachusett Reservoir, through Boylston, Sterling, Lancaster, Clinton, and back to Bolton.  There was a moderate amount of climbing, but because of the hot temperatures we stayed fairly close together.  We stopped several times to re-group, so the arrows did not have to stay in the hot sun for too long.

We stopped at the Honey Farms in West Boylston for a liquid refill, then 10 miles later we stopped at Meadowbrook Farm for lunch.  Several riders continued back without stopping and some lingered over a loooong lunch.  The rest of the group was itching to leave so, before leaving, I made sure that the lingerers knew their way back.

It was a pleasant day, although hot, with enough tree-shaded roads to keep us comfortable.  Thanks to Jack Donohue and Larry Kernan for sweeping.

Ride report by Ken Hablow.

We all knew that the forecast was for temps in the 90s, but as soon as we left the parking lot we were greeted with mostly sun-dappled, shady roads that made for an enjoyable ride.  The group kept together well, helped by flawless arrowing.  This enabled us to sail through some tricky turns and patches of construction.

The group got a bit smaller as Eli and Jacque opted to bypass the Highland Street climb in Berlin.  The rest of us were rewarded with the long, scenic cruise on Peach Hill Road.  Feeling the rising temperature, three more riders opted for the fast downhill to the parking lot, from the medium/short split point at mile 20, on Wattaquadock Hill Road.

The rest of us enjoyed some fast and scenic downhills to Rte 110, then managed the sunny climb up that road and Prospect Hill Road before taking a lunch break in the shade outside the Harvard General Store.  At that point we had only a smooth and shady cruise back to the ride start in Bolton center.

Riders praised the scenic route and said they enjoyed the ride.  I certainly did.  Many thanks to everyone for their arrowing, and to Dick Harter for sweeping.

Ride report by Patrick Ward.