"Down Brown" and "Crossing Cisco" - May 15 , 2019

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 15 May 2019, "Down Brown" and "Crossing Cisco"

Ride Leaders: Julie Dodd & Patrick Ward


40 or 29 miles, 10:00 am start from Stow Shopping Center, Stow, MA


Riders - 40 mi (17):  Julie, Barbara Martin, Bernie Flynn, Curt Dudley-Manning, David Cooper, Dmitry Gorenburg, Dom Jorge, Gary Williams, Gene Ho, Herb Kavet, Jerry Skurla,  Kaz Zelny, Ken Hablow, Russ Keene, Veronica Vedensky, Wing Chow, and first-timer Mike Barry.

Riders - 29 mi (22):  Patrick, Adena Schutzberg, Al Berardi, Beth Rosenzweig, Bob Wilson, Bruce Lederer, Cindy Chin, Don Mannes, Doug Chin, Doug Hobkirk, Fred Newton, Merle Adelman, Nancy Cahn, Richard Fortier, Robyn Maislin, Roy Westerburg, Selig Saltzman, Steve Miller, Susan Sabin, and first-timers Don Kennedy, Jorge Bomsosme, and Richard Teague.

Kaz Zelny volunteered to be the all-important sweep for the 40-mile ride.  The parking lot was chilly, cloudy and windy.  The pre-ride discussion included what to wear and when the sun would come out.  It never did.  I felt rain drops in Bolton, but the weather stayed dry.

My Garmin and I got confused when the ride crossed over the return route.  The answer is to listen for the cues and watch the map, but once you are on the wrong leg of the route your devices recalculate; only the route experience of Ken Hablow got us all pointing in the right direction.  This added over a mile to the long ride and added some confusion when we passed the 29-mile riders up the road.

At the start I promised a fun, long downhill on Brown Road.  The many nice rolling downhill segments raised the question: “Was that Brown Road?”  The ride separated into two group as the faster riders moved forward. Thanks again to Kaz for sweeping the riders; he shepherded a group of five riders to the finish.

Report by Julie Dodd.

The weather felt too chilly for the middle of May, but the large group doing the 29-mile route had an enjoyable spring ride nonetheless.  We made the rolling climb up Stow Road in Harvard, enjoyed the views atop Harvard ridge, and swept by the potholes on the long descent on Oak Hill Road in Littleton.

The arrows peeled off at every turn and the group stayed together well.  Many thanks to Beth Rosenzsweig for taking over the lead for a while, at my request.  She also got my "Outstanding Arrow" award.  And thanks to Adena who, of course, earned another "Outstanding Sweep" award.
   
Several of us lunched at Emma's Café which had set aside a private lunch room for our group.

Report by Patrick Ward.