Compass Ride - December 1, 2021

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 21 December 2021, Compass Ride

Ride Leader:  Jack Donohue?   Sweep:  Jack Donohue

31 miles, 10:00 am start from Bedford, MA

Riders (6):  Jack, Beth Rosenzweig, Betsy Harper, Frank Aronson, Jim Pearl, and Rudge McKenney.

On Wednesday morning I had six signups, one bailed, and Frank joined later.  At post time, I had one MIA, which is way better than two last week, and five actual riders vs one last week.  So things were improving, but, looking at the group, I could see trouble ahead.  I knew that most, or all, of them were faster than I, and making them ride at my snail's pace wasn't going to work out too well.

So I came up with plan B.  Beth had volunteered to be an advance arrow, so I would sweep instead.  This was, as they say on Survivor, a "game changer."  So I made sure that everyone had the route on their GPS device so that, come what may, no one would get lost.  This turned out to be a good decision, since right out of the gate, going up the hill on South Road, I was off the back.  Caught back up at the traffic light, but was immediately dropped on the next hill.  Everyone played nicely though, waiting for me as required.

So the nominal leader was relegated to sweep, and everyone took care of themselves.  This actually worked pretty well, arrows appeared where needed, Beth doing most of the work in that regard.

As advertised, we passed roads named for all four points of the compass, North, South, East and West.  We even threw in East Riding Road and South Chelmsford Road for good measure.  Towns in Massachusetts aren't very original in naming their roads, so this wasn't hard.  The other favorite is naming the road for the next town over.  So if you're on "Concord Road" you can be pretty sure you're not in Concord, but will be soon.

For me, the ride was a trip down memory lane, since it went on roads I used to ride commuting first in Westford, then down Rte 110 a bit in Littleton.  We went on Robin Hill Road, famous as the former abode of Pamela and John.  "Hill" in the road name is very appropriate for them.

We also rode the Bruce Freeman rail trail for a bit.  We didn't see a single other person on the path, though we weren't on it for long.

So, a good time was had by all, even though we didn't strictly follow the Wednesday Wheeler protocol.

Report by Jack Donohue.