Concord to Boxborough - February 14, 2018

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 14 February 2018, Concord to Boxborough
Ride Leader:  Ken Hablow
36 miles, 10:00 am start from North Bridge parking lot, Concord, MA

Riders (22):  Ken, Bernie Flynn, Bob Wadsworth, Bob Wolf, Curt Dudley-Marling, Dan Krechmer, David Fay, Dom Jorge, Frank Hubbard, Gene Ho, Gerry Sheetoo, Glenn Pransky, Jack Donohue, Judith McMichael, Marc Baskin, Patrick Ward, Peter Megdal, Ray Komow, Rick Lawrence, Russ Keene, Selig Saltzman, and Wing Chow.

It was partly cloudy and slightly above freezing when twenty-two of us left the parking lot at 10:00 am.  The roads were dry at the start, with little or no ice.  As we rode, the sun came out and the temperature crept up and leveled off at about 46 degrees.  There was a slight south wind, but with the warm temperature (for this time of year) it was very comfortable.

We made our first stop at the South Acton fire station which has the cleanest restroom of the three Acton fire stations.  We continued on through West Acton where we picked up some very quiet back roads and ultimately rode to the top of Hill Road in Boxboro.  There was one more scheduled stop at Boxboro Town Hall.  With the warmup, the snow/ice that was left on the side of the roads began to melt, but there was very little water as a result.  We used occasional arrows, but the group spread out with consistency so the riders in front were always visible to the sweep. Stopping at the few traffic lights we encountered helped keep the group together, as did a few re-grouping stops.  Kudos to everyone for keeping a pace of about 13 mph.

At the end of the ride there was a group that went to Trail’s End Café for lunch.

Thanks to Rick Lawrence for sweeping, to those who arrowed, and to Jack for using his WW "app" to take attendance, as well as for taking the group photo