Wednesday, 23 November 2016, Compass Rides & Day Before Turkey Day (DBTD) lunch
Ride Leaders: Jack Donohue & Larry Kernan
30 miles from Bikeway Source, Bedford, MA
Riders (25): Jack, Larry, Andy Brand, Barbara Martin, Barry Nelson, Bill Lane, Bob Apsler, Bob Wadsworth, Bob Wolf, Curt Dudley-Marling, Don Mannes, Doug Hobkirk, Francie Sparks, Fred Newton, Gene Ho, Ken Hablow (joined en route), Lindy King, Rich Taylor, Richard Vignoni, Roy Westerberg, Rudge McKenney, Susan Sabin, Tim Wilson, Tom Fortmann, and Wing Chow.
Remoted from home & present at lunch (2): Bob Sawyer and John Allen.
Also present at lunch: Mike Hanauer.
Like Foghat, I had promised a "slow ride" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcCNcgoyG_0), but then Larry piped up and offered a faster paced alternative. Of course, I figured my awesome charisma would prevail, but when the dust settled, two-thirds of the Wheelers present had defected. Fine, makes my leader job a lot easier. Barry volunteered to sweep, and off we went. We stayed together for the most part, no arrows needed. Whenever I saw Barry at the back in black, I would make the turn. I used stop signs as a strategic regrouping mechanism, by actually stopping.
One surprising thing was that there was a lot more traffic on the back roads than usual (usual being virtually none). Maybe there was a Black Wednesday which no one told me about, or maybe it was the hordes of working stiffs being released early from their dead-end jobs.
We ran into the fast riders at the Chelmsford Country Club - they had stopped for some reason, so we joined them. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for a group photo, but they had clearly already paused too long and resumed their ride before I had my camera at the ready.
We then enjoyed the new pavement on a couple of our compass points, West Street and South Street in Carlisle. A couple of more smooth Carlisle roads, then back on Rte 225 for the home stretch. I was somewhat remiss in not keeping track of folks towards the end of the ride - when we reached our cars, about half the cyclists were missing. Susan called Don and ascertained that the rest had decided to go directly to the restaurant, so a search party was not required.
Thanks to Barry for sweeping.
Report by Jack Donohue.
Ken Hablow was supposed to lead the brisk paced ride, but he had a flat shortly after leaving Lincoln. So I offered to lead the brisk group and Jack warned riders that there would be no arrows, no human arrows, and "no mercy" (my words).
Fourteen riders chose to join the group and we had a very enjoyable ride. The weather was good - very sunny, little wind, and warmer than previous days. We stopped at Chelmsford Country Club to regroup after one rider dropped his cell phone. Jack's group nearly caught us at that point and word has it that Ken almost rejoined the brisk group, but having already taken our obligatory photos, we got back on the road.
In the end, the group kept up a moderate pace of 14.6 mph and finished with a majority of our initial riders. Then it was time for our Day Before Turkey Day lunch at Holi Restaurant.
In 1621, the residents of Massachusetts Bay Colony sat down with the Indians to celebrate the first Thanksgiving. This past Wednesday, on the eve of Thanksgiving, 395 years later, the Wednesday Wheelers celebrated with an Indian feast. [Editorial note: Different Indians, you idiot!]
Fifteen of us enjoyed a great buffet. Among the diners were honored guest, Bob Sawyer, who pedaled over from Carlton Willard on his 95th birthday(!), John Allen who cycled from Waltham, and Mike Hanauer who traveled about three miles from Carlisle in his automobile.
Report by Larry Kernan.
Here is a link to John Allen's video of Bob Sawyer on his electrically assisted tricycle:
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| Bob Sawyer |
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| Bob Sawyer on his trike |
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| Wheeler pace riders |
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| Brisk pace riders sans Barbara |
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| Brisk riders sans Larry |
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| At Holi Restaurant |
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| The birthday boy at Holi |
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