Circling Wachusett Foliage Ride - October 13 , 2021

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 13 October 2021, Circling Wachusett Foliage Ride (with remote start option)

Ride Leaders:  Richard Vignoni, Wing Chow & Judith McMichael

39 miles, 10:00 am start from Sterling, MA

    or 63 miles, 8:50 am start from Bolton, MA

Riders - 39 mi (11):  Wing, Richard, Ellen Gugel, Francie Sparks, Frank Hubbard, Harriet Fell, John Ho, Kaz Zelny, Mike Barry, Ray Komow, and Robin Frain.

Riders - 63 mi (12):  Judith, Adam Walpert, Beth Rosenzweig, Bob Apsler, Elizabeth Wicks, Gene Ho, Gerry Sheetoo, Jerry Skurla, Lindy King, Maria Noya, Rochelle Holman, and first-timer Jonathan Kannair.

Eleven remote-start riders, led by Judith McMichael, headed out of the Forbush Mill Road parking lot in Bolton for the eleven-mile journey to join up with the core riders in Sterling.  After a brief orientation talk, a spirited-pace group, led by Wing Chow, started out over the many hills of the core loop.  Five minutes later, a more relaxed-pace group of twelve riders, led by Richard, followed in their tracks.  FYI, three riders were on e-bikes.

Lunch was bring-your-own at the bottom of the ski area.  A few riders went up Mile Hill Road.  Upon their return, we headed back to our cars in Sterling, where Judith gathered the remote start riders and led them back to Bolton.

The route lived up to its billing as being very hilly and beautiful.  The weather was near perfect, making up for the foliage that was not yet near its peak.

Report by Richard Vignoni.

It was a beautiful day and a great-looking route, then it all went awry.  The very first climb broke my group apart.  I decided to lower my pace and wound up between the very-spirited riders and the rest of the group.  Nine miles in, I waited for the riders behind me to catch up.  Informed that there were more stragglers, I had a snack and waited some more.

I then recalled that I was a co-leader and made all haste to catch up to my group.  I managed to reach the very-spirited riders as they climbed to the ski lodge parking lot.  At this point, my group split into two - those who stopped for lunch and a few that wished to continue riding.  So I led this much smaller group back to the start in Sterling.

[Coordinator's note:  All's well that ends well.]

Report by Wing Chow.