Cycle the City and The Emerald Necklace - July16, 2025

 RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 16 July 2025, Cycle the City and The Emerald Necklace

Ride Leader:  Gary Williams

24 miles, 10:00 am start from South Boston, MA

 

Riders (13): Gary, Ann Whaley-Tobin, Bill Perry, David Wean, Frank Aronson, Gene Ho, Mike Barry, Rene Sokolow, and first-timers Arthur Gleiner, Christine Corr, Jeffrey Orlin, Marci Cohen, and Shawn Corr.

This was, by far, the largest group of riders we've had in the history of this urban WW ride.  Originally scheduled as a 32-miler, we elected to shorten it by approximately eight miles, due to the heat and humidity.  In hindsight, we probably should have started a little earlier.

Nevertheless, our intrepid crew headed out in an orderly fashion for a trek through many of Boston's neighborhoods, with historic stops along the way, including the sites of the Boston Tea Party and the infamous molasses flood of 1919, the Bunker Hill Monument, the USS Constitution and, finally, the Arnold Arboretum at the rides' halfway point.  It was here that we learned that one of our riders was feeling the effects of the heat, so we took a vote and unanimously decided to cut out a section of Jamaica Plain, Franklin Park, Mattapan, the Neponset River Trail, and Dorchester.  Instead, we went from the Arboretum onto the Southeast Corridor Trail through JP, Roxbury, Mass Ave., and Andrews Square, before returning to Castle Island.

Many riders expressed enthusiasm for this ride and we all regretted that it had to be shortened.  I promised, therefore, to lead it again, perhaps in September.

Report by Gary Williams.