Annual Circling Wachusett Foliage Ride - October 19, 2022

 RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 19 October 2022, Annual Circling Wachusett Foliage Ride

Ride Leaders:  Richard Vignoni and Judith McMichael

63-mile Remote Start ride, 8:50 am start from Bolton, MA

39-mile Core ride, 10:00 am start from Sterling, MA

Riders – 63 mi (4):  Marc Baskin, Wing Chow, George ???, and a mystery rider.

Riders – 39 mi (17):  Richard, Judith, Bill Lane, Celia Donatio, Ellen Gugel, Elizabeth Wicks, Gene Ho, Herb Kavet, Joanne Samuels, Judith McMichael, Julie Dodd, Ken Weber, Lindy King, Marie Keutmann, Renee Rees, Robin Frain, Sue Amsel, and Zach Woods.

Two sets of two remote start riders arrived at the core ride start, bringing the total number of riders to twenty-one.  The group included four long-time WWs (Bill, Joanne, Marc, and Richard), five e-bikes (up from two last year), and several first-time Circling Wachusett riders.

The hilly nature of the ride tends to spread-out the riders.  Consequently, we decided on having a faster group which was led by Judith, and a slower group led by Richard, and we did not use human arrows.  We also decided to move the lunch stop from the ski area to the visitor center and re-route onto Pine Hill to rejoin the original route.  The change of lunch venue and the associated re-routing tweak will become a permanent part of the route.

After the somewhat lengthy ride orientation talk, the faster group headed out, followed by the slower group.  The route lived up to its billing as being very beautiful, very hilly, and having little car traffic.  The foliage with fallen leaves on the sides of some of the less travelled roads added to the beauty.  Some of the riders biked the extra, hilly miles to the summit, then re-joined the others at the visitor center.   As the ride progressed, the temperature moderated and, with bright blue skies and the foliage, it made for a great day of biking.

Report by Richard Vignoni.

Doug's Annual Bonsai Ride - October 12, 2022

 RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 12 October 2022, Doug's Annual Bonsai Ride

Ride Leader:  Clyde Kessel

34 miles, 10:00 am start from Littleton, MA

Riders (21):  Clyde, Barry Nelson, Butch Pemstein, Cynthia Zabin, Dave Balaban, David Wean, Dmitry Gorenburg, Frank Aronson, Gary Williams, Gerry Sheetoo, Herb Kavet, Hugh Folsom, Joel Bauman, Marc Baskin, Marie Keutmann, Renee Rees, Ron Beland, Roy Westerberg, Sue Amsel, and first-timers Craig Tulig and Dan Ginsburg.

Present at Lunch:  Helen Greitzer.

What a day for a ride!  It was chilly when Hugh and I started out in the Carlisle/Chelmsford area to ride to the start, but by the time 10:00 showed up, it was warm enough to shed everything not needed for common decency and safety.  I was supposed to drive to the start with the beverages (for lunch), however, I hit a skunk with my car last night and really didn’t think my car would be welcome at Bonsai West.  So, Helen (bless her soul), added the beverages to her list of sandwiches and brownies and brought 15/16 of the entire lunch order single handed. (Well, she did get help carrying it from her car to the picnic area.)  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

After a short safety talk which no one could hear because of all the traffic on Rte 2A, we twenty cyclists launched from Bonsai West, pretty close to 10:00 am.  Our plan was to be back at 1:00 pm.  We were missing two riders, but, as the mantra goes:  “Arrive on time or ride alone.”  As a result, Marc rode alone and didn’t catch up until 1:02 pm!  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The actual ride went very smoothly:  no one got lost, no arrows left their posts, we got spread out enough for safety (but not so much that the arrows got sunburned), no one crashed going down Island Pond Road, we saw goats at the goat farm on Martins Pond Road (also a real estate appraiser), but didn’t see the pigs at the pig farm on Davis Road.  We finally got to the playing field on Nutting Road with 2 porta-johns.  Ahhhh . . . . . just in time.  Strangely, one had been serviced that very day and the other hadn’t - mystery.  In any event, we made it all the way with no wrong turns (a first!!).  The lead riders pulled into the Bonsai West parking lot at 1:00 pm, exactly on time.  Marc, who had been chasing the group for 2 1/2 hours finally caught up to us a couple of minutes later.

Helen, the heroine of the day, showed up within five minutes with 15/16 of the sandwich order, her famous brownies, and cider and water (she did get help carrying it from her car to the picnic area).  The gate to the garden area was chained and padlocked shut, but we soon found the secret passage into what could surely be called the Garden of Eden - we enjoyed 15/16 of a luncheon, surrounded by bonsai trees.  A couple of us searched and found a 75-year old tree.  Later on, a different couple of us found a 200-year old tree.  Impressive!

Kudos to Marc for remoting all the way from home!!

Thanks to the many arrows, to Butch for sweeping, and to Helen for bringing her famous brownies and 15/16 of the lunch (well, she did get help carrying it from her car).  Also, thanks to the cyclist who took our trash away, leaving the area just as we had found it.

Report by Clyde Kessel.

To the End of the World and Back - September 28, 2022

RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 28 September 2022, To the End of the World and Back

Ride Leader:  David Wean

27 miles, 10:00 am start from Hingham, MA

Riders (16):  David, Adam Walpert, Bob Apsler, Butch Pemstein, Cynthia Zabin, Don Buchholtz, Francie Sparks, Frank Aronson, Gary Williams, Gene Ho, Joe Tavilla, Marie Keutmann, Richard Vignoni, Ron Beland, and first-timers Amelia Bye and Susan DiMatteo.

After the first few miles on the road, we began our tour de parks. After starting with Weymouth's Osprey Overlook Park, we climbed through Great ("more than just pretty good") Esker Park and meandered through Hingham's Bare Cove Park.  These three parks frame the Back River estuary which divides Hingham from Weymouth.

Continuing by road into and out of downtown Hingham, we made our way to World's End (admission fee, but fortunately we had enough Trustees memberships between us*), where we enjoyed water views while riding the Olmsted-designed dirt and gravel carriage paths.  Some rode this on gravel bikes, and at least one on a road bike with 23mm tires.  From there we had smooth pavement to the lunch stop, cruising Jerusalem Road and Atlantic Avenue in Cohasset, passing "some okay houses," and enjoying lunch and snacks from the several choices in Cohasset center.

After a couple more road miles, and one last hill, we rolled along the stone-dust Whitney Spur Bikeway, which led us back into Wompatuck State Park to finish the ride.  Low average speed, but high average enjoyment.

* For some reason they cannot explain to me, the Trustees of Reservations will allow a member to drive a carload of nonmembers in for no additional charge, but when the same member brings the same number of nonmembers along on bicycles, the nonmembers are each charged the $6 entrance fee.  The ever-vigilant ranger at the gate had us pass by her as we showed our member cards of various levels, allowing the appropriate number of guests in with each of us.  For two years now, they've ignored my requests for a fairer policy.

Thanks to Butch for sweeping until the lunch stop, and to Ron for sweeping the last five mies back to the ride start.

Report by David Wean.