Just Rolling With It

When I woke up this morning, I had a feeling my Cyclopath ride would be cancelled. I knew the chilly overcast skies, and the possibility of rain, was enough to keep our fair weather gang indoors, but I headed out anyway, just in case someone showed up. (Aaaand... no one did.) I waited a bit and rode to the Beverly-Salem bridge, thinking Ducky might be waiting there... but no Ducky. (Sigh.)

Already heading over the bridge, I considered turning around to head home, maybe looping The Willows and Marblehead on the way, but as I approached the light, I said to myself, "If the light changes, I'll keep going"... and it did. So I kept going -- not really sure where I was headed to.

Twenty minutes later, I heard a few text messages pinging from my back pocket, so I pulled over to see what was up. Jen El-Sharif had included me in a group text message the night before, planning an 80 mile ride today, and a few others were planning to join her. At the time, I was already committed to a breakfast ride, but at 7:30 a.m., I no longer had a plan.

So, I returned the text message and managed to make my way over from North Beverly to Bradley Palmer State Park to meet Jen, Amy, Lisa, and Lila. Since my original plan had been a breakfast ride with the Cyclopaths, I hadn't eaten anything before leaving the house, and was really low on energy. Thankfully, Lila knew it, and arrived at the park with food for me! She's just the best. (Thanks for the rescue, Lila!)

We headed north through Topsfield and Middleton, along quiet back roads towards New Hampshire. It was fun riding with the girls and it was a great route!! After a while, Lila and I split off from the others and headed back together, ending up on a dirt road and not really knowing our way back. Hahaha!!! Somehow, despite feeling a bit lost, we still managed to retrace our route back to Topsfield.

I ended up with 56 miles by the time I got home -- some of it slow and pokey in the morning, when I hadn't yet figured out where I was going. No speed records today. I also managed to get another flat in Marblehead, (third one), just two miles from home. They really need to clean the streets!

Long Day for Just 50 Miles

Spiders Lisa & Michelle changing the
first of two flats today.

Today was just one of those days. I started my morning at 6 am, riding over to Salem with Anne and Arlene. Skies were gray, and a light rain began to fall shortly after we arrived in Salem, but undaunted, eight of us decided to head to Manchester -- and if the weather held out -- would continue on to Gloucester, where I planned to join the SpiderOne group as they came up the same route an hour and a half later.

My plan was to ride with both teams today. Thank you, Cyclopaths, for trying to make that work for me.

Not a mile out of downtown Salem, we heard our first clap of thunder. And then another. Before long, rain started falling heavily, and everyone turned around to head to Red's for breakfast, (ending up at AJ Kings soon after, instead.)

Since I knew SpiderOne would head out rain or shine, and I needed the miles, I headed to the B&S facilities to wait out the storm. It was still early and no one was there, but the overhang on the door made a perfect shelter as I waited for the others to arrive. With the storm delay, S1 didn't leave Salem until 8:15. (Already my morning was dragging.)

We headed up to Manchester, where a few riders split off to head back, while five of us continued on towards Gloucester. I fell into a moderate pace with two women I'd never ridden with before, but were really nice, Lisa and Michelle. (I didn't even try to keep up with Brandi and Jeff, ahead of us.) Unfortunately, Lisa got a flat outside of Essex, and we lost B & J, as it took us a while to fix the flat. (And unfortunately, Lisa got a second flat minutes after changing the first.) Luckily for us, good friend Bruce Kapsten happened to be driving by, and came to our rescue and changed the second flat. (Thank you Bruce!! You are a sweetheart!) We eventually got back on the road, and continued on. I think I got home at noon.

Two flat tires, very wet roads, a few crazy drivers, a long, long morning... but I met two new friends, so all was not lost.

Lost Adventures on the PMC

Grabbing a banana at Gillette

After we caught up to the sea of riders, (not too difficult), we continued on a quick pace to Gillette Stadium, arriving much earlier than I anticipated (even with the late start!) We caught up to Phil and Ben Rotner and ran into Cyclopaths Ethan, Jeff and Arthur, who all started their ride in Bourne. We all chatted and I took a photo or two, (not many on Sunday), and then we hit the road.

After crossing Route 1 in Foxboro, I knew in my head that we were supposed to bear right towards Walpole, but saw a stream of riders heading straight. There were no directional arrows or signs anywhere. A large pack of 20-30 cyclists were on the side of the road, checking their Garmins and making phone calls to figure out the direction. A second group of riders passed us, so we decided to continue on.

Ha ha ha... we got "lost".

About five or six miles in, we caught up to a group of a dozen riders and joined them for the return trip to Wellesley -- retracing the route we took DOWN to Gillette. (One of the riders in the group knew the way.) I told Will that we could either head back to Gillette and get back on the right route, or stick with the pack no matter how fast or slow they rode. Will agreed to stick with the group. (I wouldn't have been able to get us back to Wellesley on my own -- there were at least two or three points where I could have made another wrong turn.)

The pace was a little too fast for Will, but he gutted it out and kept up for most of the way. Just a few miles from the finish, our "Lost Route" merged with the official return route and we saw a stream of PMC riders on the street ahead. Hooray! Ironically, Jeff, Arthur, Phil & Ben pulled up behind us a minute after the merge! Too funny.

Unfortunately, Will started getting leg cramps, about a mile or two from the finish and needed to pull over. (We lost pace with our "lost" group at that point, and didn't get a chance to say thank you to our ride leader! He saved the day!)

Will loses our wager, dons a skirt.
Crazy PMC!

Will was toast. Since we were just a mile from the finish, I was able to slow the pace down for him to coast back in to Wellesley. He conceded that I had a better ride and he should have trained harder. It was nice to cross the finish line with him... and he looked over at me when it was all over and said, "OK, where's the skirt."

Ha ha ha... I wagered that if I beat him to the finish line this year, he'd have to put on a skirt after the PMC. (Of course the skirt travelled with me to Patriot Place and back for this special moment.) He put it right on, posed for pics, and wore it all afternoon in the PMC tent. Ha! What a sport!

It was a GREAT ride, despite the missing route markers and getting lost. Definitely a fun, crazy and memorable PMC -- The best one of eleven.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Caught by the paparazzi
AKA Will with a camera

The Sunday Shuffle went off without a hitch. Mike covered Chip's lax game while I drove Will out to rugby. His two hour practice gave me a good opportunity to get in the longer ride I missed yesterday -- so I headed out towards Beverly, Hamilton and Wenham. I got totally lost at one point and happened to stumble onto Rt 35 for the way back. Odd how that happened. Fortunately, I returned back to the park in time to see Will coming off the field. Lucky break. Despite all of the back road rambling, I only logged in 28 miles on the day. Could have sworn it was more.

Back on the Bike, 40 miles

It was great to get back on the bike last Saturday for a Cyclopath ride -- my first group ride since the crash! (Will chose to sleep in late after a week of football practice. I guess he needed the rest.) Thirteen of us headed out to Boxford for breakfast at Wayne's, (AKA The Boxford Community Store.) It was a fun morning with many laughs.

After breakfast, the gang decided to loop out to Bradley Palmer State Park. I chose instead to head back to Swampscott, hoping to get back early so Chip and I could go kayaking -- or in Chip's case, Stand-Up Paddleboarding. Probably our last weekend to get out on the water.

Cyclopath Margie and I missed a turn in Topsfield and came across the Topsfield Linear Common trail that took us out to the Wenham Rail Trail. Continuing on, we discovered that it ended at the bottom of the 97 hill. Being lazy and not wanting to climb the hill, we ventured further on to the Danvers Rail Trail, which took us through a swamp conservation area along a rough trail. The ground became rougher and rougher under our skinny road tires the further we ventured, until eventually we had to get off our bikes to walk, about 150 yards. The trail ended on Rt 35 in Danvers, which we took for a few miles until it intersected with 62. As we rode into Beverly near the Beverly train depot, we came across our fellow Cyclopaths who had ventured out to Bradley Palmer State Park, in the end finishing at the same time, with similar mileage, as Margie and I. Weird how that happens...

Independence Day Ride

We had a glorious 40 mile ride to Boxford and Ipswich to celebrate the 4th of July. Bright skies, dry roads, and no rain in sight! What a relief! Our gang of 18 headed to Wayne's for breakfast -- and then most ventured on to loop Bradley Palmer State Park. Somehow en route we missed a turn and ended up in Ipswich! (Thanks, Drew!) Awesome ride.

Cyclopath Adventures

My training rides have been going well and I've been able to get in quick rides during the week before Mike heads to work. Longer rides are reserved for Saturdays as I continue to train with the North Shore Cyclopaths. Last weekend our quick 30 mile Boxford ride became 40 when our pack split up shortly before breakfast -- and we got hopelessly lost in the back roads of Boxford. Thankfully, Cyclopath-Ethan came to our rescue. :-)

My chain is clean -- I'm riding easier. Newsletters are almost done! (Really!!)