President's Ride Preview - April 27 2022,

 Wednesday, 27 April 2022, President's Ride Preview

Ride Leaders:  Mary & Larry Kernan

39 miles, 10:30 am start from Bedford, MA

Riders (18):  Mary, Larry, Betsy Harper, Bill Widnall, Butch Pemstein, Celia Donatio, Clyde Kessel, Curt Dudley-Marling, Dale Ferguson, Ed Hill, Everett Briggs, Glenn Pransky, Kaz Zelny,Rochelle Holman, Selig Saltzman, and first-timers Hal Stuart, Jamie King, and Terry Snyder.

Present at lunch:  Helen Greitzer.

Our ride started off on shaky ground as several riders showed up early, most of whom apologized profusely and one of whom complained bitterly that rides are supposed to start at 10:00 am.

It was a cooler than expected day and we warmed quickly as Larry led the start with a climb up Page Hill.  Although the group quickly separated along the climb, frequent stops along the way kept us together throughout the ride.

 

We were pleased to be visited by two illustrious alums, Bill Widnall and Jamie King, both past CRW presidents.  Bill was on his first outing of the season and peeled off early, with a promise to join us for future rides.  Jamie seems to have remembered how to ride a bike that doesn’t have a throttle and everyone who knew him from yesteryear was happy to see him.

Having gone down by one, we then left Dale about five miles later.  He had a flat just as we were crossing Rte 2 and quickly assessed that it would take him a while to change the tube, having recently put a motor on his bike.  As Dale is an able mechanic, we trusted his assessment and he demurred after one rider offered to have his wife pick Dale up and return him to the ride start.  Dale did get back safely and we’re grateful that he let the leaders know.

Now down by two, we continued at a spirited pace with many assisting as arrows including Everett, Celia, Betsy, Rochelle, and others.  Our numbers went up by one when we found Hal, who'd arrived late at the start and rode the route in reverse until he found us.  The number went up again when we were joined by Terry, though we’re not sure if we should count riders or bikes - Glenn had ridden their tandem alone from the ride start, until Terry joined in, meeting us in Wayland.  Shortly after that, we met up with Clyde.  At that point the leaders lost count and simply included in the group anyone in between the leader and the sweep.

The ride culminated with a windswept picnic in the leaders’ backyard.  It was BYO lunch, with beverages and cookies provided.  Better planning would have included hot chocolate.  Helen also joined us for the picnic (should she be included in the count?) and some gentle arm-twisting ensued to encourage others to help by leading future WW rides.

Thanks to Curt for sharing sweep duty with Mary.

Report by Mary Kernan.