Rides from Concord - November 3. 2021

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 3 November 2021, Rides from Concord

Ride Leaders:  Alan Cantor, Ted Finch & Tom Allen

46 or 31 miles, 9:30 & 10:00 am starts from Concord, MA

Riders - 46 mi (6):  Alan, Frank Aronson, Gary Williams, Rochelle Holman, Tami Kellog, and Wing Chow.

Riders - 31 mi (14):  Ted, Tom, Barry Nelson, Beth Rosenzweig, Butch Pemstein, Don Mannes, Hugh Folsom, Jim Pearl, Kaz Zelny, Linda Nelson, Marc Baskin, Peggy Gelin, Selig Saltzman, and Susan Sabin.

A wonderful route with fantastic weather and the best riding partners anyone could ask for!

Report by Alan Cantor.

A group of (13 riders) left the Concord Visitor Center on a 31-mile ride, without its scheduled ride leader!  When the ride leader failed to appear at the ride start, Ted stepped up and offered a plan.  After a few miles, we stopped and saw a natural split in average speeds.  The faster group (five riders) stayed perfectly together without the need for human arrows.  It was a 40 degree, crisp, clear fall day enjoyed by this fun group. 

Report by Ted Finch.

After waiting in the Concord Visitor Center parking lot for about fifteen minutes after the designated start time for the 31-mile shorter ride option, the ride leader was declared MIA.  We decided to follow the route on our own as a number of us had the GPS route loaded.  After some indecision on the direction of the first turn out of the parking lot, we set out towards Lincoln for a designated rendezvous.

At that point, it became evident that we had two different pace preferences, so a faster group, led by Ted, set out ahead.  I led the group of nine that chose the standard WW pace.  The route was simple to follow once those of us with the RideWithGPS App learned to ignore the (seemingly random) voice directions that occasionally told us to take a sharp turn onto the road we were already on and then turn around.  [Tip:  always check your automatically generated cues.]

Weather was brisk and bright and everyone seemed to be adequately dressed, with the possible exception of one rider in shorts (see photo of our group at Sherman's Bridge).  Our group split at lunch, with some of us stopping at Verrill Farm for a sandwich and others heading directly back to Concord center.

Thanks to Kaz for sweeping, and to Jimmy White for an enjoyable route.  Sorry you missed it.

Report by Tom Allen.