RIDE REPORT
Wednesday, 5 October 2016, Not Carlisle
Ride Leader: Jack Donohue, assisted by Ken Hablow
33.3 miles from Bedford Depot, Bedford, MA
Ride Leader: Jack Donohue, assisted by Ken Hablow
33.3 miles from Bedford Depot, Bedford, MA
Riders (24): Jack, Ken, Andy Brand, Barry Nelson, Chuck McWilliams, Fred Newton, Ilkka Suvanto, Janet Miller, Jeff Smith, Lindy King, Mike Byrne, Patrick Brennan, Rich Taylor, Rick Lawrence, Robyn Maislin, Romaine Randall, Roy Westerberg, Selig Saltzman, Steve Bogue, Steve Maislin, Tom Allen, Tom Lucas, Veronica Vedensky, and Wing Chow.
Present at lunch: Helen Greitzer.
Tom Lucas's good bike was at the bike shop for repairs, so he showed up on a single speed and elected to do the bike path instead and meet us for lunch.
Cameo appearance by Butch Pemstein, who discovered he had a flat and decided to abort.
Starting at Bedford Depot is always a problem, since the gathering place is not well defined. I usually end up waiting at the circle of benches where there is a water fountain and bathroom. People seem to congregate by their cars for some reason, and the only people to appear were Tom Allen, who rode up on the bike path, and Rick Lawrence. Despite the fact that the ride announcement clearly said "Bedford Depot," many of the participants seemed to have fond memories of parking across the street next to Bikeway Source on a previous ride. I spied riders over there and dispatched Tom and Rick to herd them over - their attempt was largely unsuccessful. I was tempted to stand on ceremony and stand my ground until they came to me or hell froze over, whichever came first, but relented. Tom reported a Ken sighting, so I called him and asked that he use his stentorian voice to tell the masses to get their butts over here. That worked and, after collecting names, it was time to ride.
The group was a bit large, so I was trying to encourage people to break up into smaller groups leaving a gap between groups. This has rarely worked in the past, since people, seeing a two second advantage by joining the group ahead, will blithely abandon their assigned group. Ken, as usual, was looking for a faster group, so I let him siphon off the speed demons and do his own ride. This left me with a manageable sized group, so the gap concept was abandoned. In fact, however, we did have a bit of gap for most of the ride, with each group in sight of the next. We needed few arrows, and those who assumed the position didn't have to wait very long.
I was going to do one of my tried and true routes, but instead I came up with a completely new route. It could have been called the "One-third Century" ride since it came out to exactly 33.3 miles. Or it would have if my little excursion down a short stretch of dirt road hadn't been outvoted. The route probably had more new pavement than my "Smooth as Silk" ride and was pretty traffic free, the major obstacles being road construction and the lawn service van slalom course.
Robyn and Steve got to revisit their old house on Annursnac Hill Road. Strangely enough, they don't miss doing that climb every day.
Most everyone on the ride went to Ken's Deli for lunch (not our Ken, another Ken), joined by about one hundred high school kids (don't they have cafeterias any more?). I was envious of Jeff's beer, but I figured if I had one, I would definitely need a nap. There was a Kaz sighting at lunch.
Thanks to Tom Allen for sweeping.
The group was a bit large, so I was trying to encourage people to break up into smaller groups leaving a gap between groups. This has rarely worked in the past, since people, seeing a two second advantage by joining the group ahead, will blithely abandon their assigned group. Ken, as usual, was looking for a faster group, so I let him siphon off the speed demons and do his own ride. This left me with a manageable sized group, so the gap concept was abandoned. In fact, however, we did have a bit of gap for most of the ride, with each group in sight of the next. We needed few arrows, and those who assumed the position didn't have to wait very long.
I was going to do one of my tried and true routes, but instead I came up with a completely new route. It could have been called the "One-third Century" ride since it came out to exactly 33.3 miles. Or it would have if my little excursion down a short stretch of dirt road hadn't been outvoted. The route probably had more new pavement than my "Smooth as Silk" ride and was pretty traffic free, the major obstacles being road construction and the lawn service van slalom course.
Robyn and Steve got to revisit their old house on Annursnac Hill Road. Strangely enough, they don't miss doing that climb every day.
Most everyone on the ride went to Ken's Deli for lunch (not our Ken, another Ken), joined by about one hundred high school kids (don't they have cafeterias any more?). I was envious of Jeff's beer, but I figured if I had one, I would definitely need a nap. There was a Kaz sighting at lunch.
Thanks to Tom Allen for sweeping.
Report by Jack Donohue.
Ken led a breakaway group of eight riders at a more spirited pace. With all the riders compatible, we never needed arrows or a sweep - we stayed together for the entire ride. We rode at an average 14.3 mph pace and got back to Bedford at 12:30 pm.
Report by Ken Hablow.
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