Wednesday, 26 June 2019, Not Quite Haverhill
Ride Leader: Tom Allen
34 Miles from Ipswich River Park, North Reading, MA
Riders (20): Tom, Adena Schutzberg, Aliza Edwards, Bruce Lederer, Carol Hartigan, Cindy Chin, Dave Balaban, Don Mannes, Doug Chin, Everett Briggs, Gary Williams, James Hsia, Judith McMichael, Julie Dodd, Margaret Coughlin, Mike Barry, Randy Stern, Sally Chapman, Susan Sabin, and guest of the leader, Anita Paton.
Present at start: Rochelle Holman.
On short notice I was able to offer a ride that is always a crowd pleaser: thirty-four miles of very scenic and lightly trafficked roads through Harold Parker State Forest and on to North Andover.v We had warm and humid weather, but fortunately the sun remained hidden and we remained comfortable.
Crossing busy Rte 114 (Turnpike Street), we were able to take the officially closed and perpetually flooded (and aptly named) Brook Street to save several hundred yards of harrowing riding on Rte 114. Arriving at the rest stop at Ingaldsby Farm, we enjoyed some of their fresh strawberries and other goodies, as well as their well-sequestered restroom. From there, our rested legs tackled the 100 foot climb on Uptack Road and then quickly surrendered all that stored potential energy on the downhill side. As we continued south the roads became, remarkably, even more scenic as we passed woods, ponds, and horse stables.
Wending our way back to North Reading we arrived at Ryers Store lunch stop at just about 1:00 pm. About half of us stayed for lunch at Ryers and enjoyed their sandwiches and salad bar.
Rochelle Holman arrived hoping to ride, but experienced a flat just out of the gate and returned to her car. Dave Balaban arrived at the start about a half hour after we all left. Following the posted route he managed to catch us up at about mile 20. Way to push it, Dave!
Thank you to Susan for serving as sweep, and to the gang of enthusiastic arrows.
Report by Tom Allen (who's not in the photo).
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