Ride Report Wednesday July 20, 2016
The ride leaders thank Mike for hosting and I wish to join them. Mike opened up his home to us, made arrangements to provide food and drink and gave up riding for that day. We would be a better club if there were more who did likewise.
Short Riders (15): John Allen, Steve Bogue, Harriet Fell, Betty Hoffman, Marie Keutmann, Elsa Lawrence, Tom Lawrence, Janet Miller, Jack Mroczkowski, Ann Northup, Romaine Randall(sweep), Nancy Smith, Ilkka Suvanto(leader), David Wean, Eli Post
Long Riders (29): Dave Balaban, Andrew Brand, Patrick Brennan, Donald Buchholtz, Robin Callahan, Rick Carlson, Jack Donohue, Richard Fortier, Bill Haynes, Cynthia Holthouse, Chuck Huizenga, Stuart Kaufman, Clyde Kessel(leader), Bill Lane, Robyn Maislin, Steve Maislin, Neil Martin, Butch Pemstein (sweep), Susan Sabin, Pat Schindeler, Brett Serkez, George Stromberg, Veronica Vedensky, Richard Vignoni, Patrick Ward, Philip Weiss, Roy Westerberg, Robert Wilson
36-mile ride report for July 20
Just for a little variety, we took the back way out of Mike’s house riding on 150 yards of good dirt road. This put us behind the unsuspecting short group who left after we had and pretty soon we caught up to them and started to ride through. About the same time, a late arrival who was trying to join the short group caught up with us and then got a flat tire. Since he hadn’t yet caught the short group’s sweep, he became the responsibility of the long group and stayed with us for the rest of the ride. Thereafter, things went quite smoothly though we did hurry past the honey wagon we saw. Around the halfway point, the leader deviated over Vose Hill to reduce the mileage on 225 and 27. The leader thought it was an excellent tradeoff but some of the riders didn’t seem to agree. There were several stretches of fine new pavement, notably Treble Cove Rd in Billerica which had absolutely brand new lines painted sometime since noon on the previous day. The leader received many compliments on the lovely shaded ride but they really belong to Mike Hanauer who designed the route. Thanks to all the arrows and Butch for sweeping and especially to Mike for putting on such a good party including cookies at the start. - Clyde
22-mile ride report for July 20.
With about a dozen riders we stayed together for most of the ride. The roads were well shaded and generally in good condition although at one point some sharp stone gravel cut a rider's tire resulting in an instant flat. He managed a quick 10-minute repair by inserting a dollar bill into the slashed tire. After a long rest stop at Great Brook Farm we finished the ride at about an 11.8 mph average overall. One rider did take a tumble on the last turn after getting a bit too close to the leader's rear wheel, but no harm done to either the rider or bicycle. Thanks Romaine for sweeping. Great to be greeted by Mike with a delicious banana smoothie. - Ilkka
Party Report for July 20:
A perfect sunny day with many newly smoothed roads canopied with shade producing trees, and followed with a festive lunch -- or was it a feast. Is that cycling, or is that really an idyllic life? The question is for all of you to ponder. My thanks to Clyde and Ilkka for leading the rides and to the many others who lent a hand during the rides or with the after-ride party. The party seemed to be well enjoyed by all. Included were appetizers, lasagna, salad, watermelon, and the now traditional banana-lemon smoothies -- all disappeared with velocity. A special shout out and thank you to Roy Westerberg for his wonderful home brew too. Finding a brew that might be better than my cherished Arrogant Bastard, discovered at WW favorite The Chat, should make Roy proud (if not rich). It was good to see Brett Serkez too, back home where many of us believe he belongs.To a great ride, a great group, and some great teamwork! All So Appreciated! - Mike
Bob and Carol Anderson came for lunch. Mike Hanauer hosted party.
More pictures HERE
On this ride, Butch once again tried to get everyone to break up into smaller groups and leave a gap between groups so that cars could pass. This as usual failed miserably. I backed off to let a gap develop, and immediately the rider behind me who had lots of energy since they were drafting me, decided to make a breakaway and chase the group ahead. Then the next up did the same thing. I quickly realized that if I persisted with this I would be riding alone, so I gave up.
ReplyDeleteIMO, the only way the gap concept is going to work is to tell each rider they have to pick a group to ride with and STAY WITH THE GROUP. If they have a lot of energy, fine, they can take a pull for a while but STAY WITH THE GROUP they are in.