Down Brown & Crossing Cisco - October 20, 2021

 RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 20 October 2021, Down Brown & Crossing Cisco

Ride Leaders:  Judith McMichael, Julie Dodd & Patrick Ward

33 or 29 miles, 10:00 am start from Stow, MA

Riders (35):  Judith, Julie, Patrick, Alan Cantor, Allison Easton, Barbara Martin, Barry Nelson, Betsy Harper, Celia Donatio, Dan Nelson, Dave Balaban, Dmitry Gorenburg, Don Mannes, Gary Williams, Herb Kavet, James Hsia, Jeanne McDermott, Jim Pearl, Joanne Samuels, Joel Bauman, Jonathan Kannair, Julia Zhogina, Kaz Zelny, Linda Nelson, Marc Baskin, Richard Vignoni, Rochelle Holman, Ron Marland, Sandy Gotlib, Susan Sabin, Tami Kellogg, Ted Finch, Tom Allen, Wing Chow, and first-timers Gary Anderson and Maya Mosyak.
Present at ride start:  Helen Greitzer.

Wednesday was a perfect day for the "Down Brown" ride, with beautiful sunshine, mild temps, and plenty of fall colors still on display.  The spirited group lived up to its billing, with at least half of the group going off the front from the start of the ride.  The majority of us regrouped for a short visit to Harvard Observatory on Pinnacle Road and then again at Bolton Orchards.  Most everyone had navigation, so we didn’t use human arrows.  Julie was the sweep and she escorted one rider back to the start after he chose to abandon the ride due to a health concern.  At that point, Barbara Martin took over as sweep.

Having completed her "medical" assist, Julie tried to use her Garmin and GPS to ride the route in reverse, but the Garmin kept directing her to the ride start or alerting her that she was off course.  Nevertheless, with directional help from a dog walker, she rejoined the route at Sugar Road and rode to the finish with Judith - plus, she added a couple of extra miles to her ride total.

There was a lot of animated socializing in the parking lot at the end of the ride, and a small group of the short and longer-route riders enjoyed lunch together at Emma’s.

Thanks to all riders for their participation and, especially, to Julie and Barbara for sweeping.

Report by Judith McMichael.

Billed as a fun ride in beautiful weather, the 29-mile "Crossing Cisco" route followed the traditional Wednesday Wheeler pace and human arrow system.  It all worked well for our fairly large group.

I encouraged riders to pass me, if they wished, on the climb up Stow Road and the long downhill into Littleton.  Although our group was spread out, I doubt that anyone felt at risk of being dropped, thanks to solid work by the arrows and Gary Williams as sweep.

We had no incidents, except when we regrouped at the entrance to Carlson Orchards.  It turned out that the somewhat irritated driver trying to turn in to the orchard was the owner himself!  Next time we regroup across the street.

Everyone appeared to enjoy the ride.  Several stayed for an outdoor lunch at the bicyclist-friendly Emma’s Café.

Report by Patrick Ward.