Who are we? At our core, we are a group of Seven Cycles’ employees that meet each Sunday, for a group ride. In our hearts is a never ending love for biking and everything included; good company, laughter, country roads, climbs, and descents. We are the Club of Sevens.
I am so inept at updating this blog, that John Bayley took matters into his own hands. Thanks to him for putting this together:
"Come join us for an autumnal treat this Sunday, October 24th, leaving the Ride Studio Cafe at 8am. The usual Sunday morning ride will have a different format this weekend, as we make our way through Great Brook State Park, take in a little bit of "Deliverance" Appalachia when we ride right through a farm in Westford and then ride a short section of dirt road in Groton - much smoother than any road in Belmont, if that's a selling point!
All this is just an apéritif for the raison d'être of this ride though - the real, live bicycle roller coaster that is Lost Lake Drive in Groton. Have you ever had to battle with your inner chicken about slamming on your brakes on an uphill? Well, if you haven't you will today!
After enjoying both that thrill and views of fall colour reflected in the ponds on both sides of the road, we will thread our way back to Lexington via Chelmsford and Carlisle, with only the occasional gratuitous hill thrown in for good measure."
I'll be there. I can't wait to battle my inner chicken.
I live off of Mass Ave in Arlington, so the commute to the Studio is a straight shot. The road is a "false flat" as Neil would say, because it looks flat, but in reality is ever so slightly sloped up all the way to Lexington. On a day in which I expected to have dead legs, the false flat had no effect and my concerns of lethargy diminished. I got to the studio around 7:30 and waited for the group to arrive while Rob and Jillian opened up the store and fired up the coffee machines.
The rain was gone but the puddles were present so I wasn't sure who all would make the ride. We had a good group show up, John and Pamela on their Independent's, Neil and Joe, Jeremy and I. As has been the trend, there was a chill in the air so arm and leg warmers were all but required to fend off the goose bumps. When is the summer going to arrive? We did the same loop as always, and had a great ride. I got the feeling that John might be unstoppable on a bike, I don't really know what low end torque is but I'm sure he has more than me. Conveniently he is also a nice guy and it was fun to talk to him along the way, he has logged plenty of miles and has good stories to share because of it. I also got to speak to Pamela, between her and John they must have 15 bikes in their garage. Most impressive. Jeremy also had a strong ride, I think before too long he'll be hard to hold back.
After the ride we hung out and nursed coffees and discussed whether or not we should ride a little more. I was feeling anything but dead so I suggested the Giro loop that we had done a few weeks back, the one Graham led. It's not the longest loop but has some short, steep climbs which I thought would put an end to my second wind. I was so psyched that both Neil and Joe were up for it. Both guys are great to ride with for a variety of reasons other than just being hilarious. Neil can just crush the flats and his favorite, "false flats," while Joe can keep pace with anyone and is a good climber. They are just as likely to crush you, as you are them, which adds a little spice to the ride. More often than not, no one lays the hammer down, but it's nice to know that it could happen at any moment, and if it does, laughter and retaliation will ensue.
All three of us had energy and we did a decent job of crushing the hills. Past Wilson Farms, over route 2, up Belmont Hill, into Belmont center, up the water tower, down the water tower, up the water tower, down to Trader Joe's and finally up Charles street for a super short, super steep calf killer. A nice false flat to the studio and we were cooked. I think we'll make this an optional post coffee route each week for those with restless, hairless legs.
I woke up Sunday expecting to have no energy left in my legs. Saturday morning I participated in my hero's charity ride, www.calhounride.com, a 75 mile jaunt in the most underrated state in the nation, Connecticut. Most of the ride was near Simsbury which provided beautiful scenery, loads of hills, and plenty, plenty of rain. Prior to the ride I shook hands with another hero, Scottie Burrell, you might just remember him as the guy who had the best in bounds pass in Uconn's storied history. Need a refresher? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CxbjRXwhY
Great morning and a great event, I had an absolute blast.
I learned a few things on this ride:
1) In a down pour, my blue break pads paired with carbonrims make for little or no breaking. That's an odd feeling to encounter at 42 mph and an eye full of rain.
2) Campagnolo's racing bibs are my new favorite's I simply can't imagine a more comfortable bib, wet or dry.
3) Larabar's Cherry Pie bars are the next level better than delicious. Succulent? That's an easy word to type but an embarrassing one to say. Actually I'm blushing, maybe it's not so easy to type either. I'm going to demand that the Studio carries these bars so I can eat one every Sunday, while I feel important.
4) As a first time leg shaver, I learned that a skinny pair of shiny, hairless legs makes me feel that much closer to being a real live cyclist. After about 5 years of contemplating, I took the dive and can't believe I waited so long. Before doing so I asked Joe Wignallfor some guidance and he said, "just don't do it the night before a big ride, you won't be able to sleep becuase it feels so weird." He was right, I tossed and turned all night. Of course I was going to see Jim Calhoun the very next day, so I could have just been excited. As an added bonus, for the first few nights of hairless-ness, I woke thinking someone else was in my bed.
This was the longest ride of my season so I expected to be pretty spent Sunday morning. I woke up early, jumped on my still wet Elium SL and headed over to the Studio.
Good news bad news friends. A while back, before we were even riding, I was asked to help raise some money for a friend that is participating in the Run to Home Base 9K tomorrow morning. The race starts precisely at the same time as our group ride so I have to skip out on the ride. Two weeks in a row, I know. On the bright side, I'll spend a little bit of time walking on the warning track out in left field. I can't wait for that.
My team of trusty back up leaders, Neil, Joe, Matt, Rob, etc., like a perfect storm, are also all out.
So, the "leaders" of the ride are out, however, I'm sure others will show, many of them who know the route. If you do show, enjoy the ride, it's supposed to be beautiful.
At 6'1" I have found myself just outside of the typical test bike/prototype range at Seven Cycles. If you are Joe Wignall or Neil Doshi or Graham Dimmock or Bryan Hollingsworth or Matt Sutton or pretty much anyone else who works at Seven you'll find a variety of these bikes to test in your size. Of course maybe that's the point of a test bike, to have one in a size that most people can use? I suppose it doesn't matter anyway as I already own the world's finest bike and rarely have interest in riding anything else. One of my responsibilities at Seven is to answer phone calls and emails, so it's important for me to be knowledgeable on as many aspects of the company as I can. One question that comes up a lot is "what are your carbon bikes like?"
Until Sunday I had only ridden a few prototypes that were too small and for too short of a time to really form an opinion. You can imagine my excitement when I learned that the Ride Studio Cafe was going to take a Diamas SL that was very close to my size and were going to let me demo it for the Sunday ride. As it turns out anyone can demo a bike for the ride, but at the time I thought I was special.
It's so fast that pictures always come out blurry.
Equipped with 10 speed Campy Record parts, Zero G brakes, and a older pair of Mavic Ksyrium's I had nothing to complain about, a rarity. If push came to shove I'd complain about the silver braking wall, but I'll just internalize that for now. I adjusted the saddle height, 'chrew on my pedals and was ready to brave the cold and the wind awaiting us outside.
I have been riding my Elium SL for about five years and am thus very familiar with how it feels. Light and lively, a touch muted, and it soaks up the bumps. I have found full metal frames to "feel" faster than my bike even though the speedometer reads the same. Sort of like how my college car, an '85 Nissan Maxima that weighed more than all of my cars prior or since weigh together, felt on the highway. If you weren't paying attention you'd be rolling along at about 95 mph but thinking you were treading water. I'll make no excuses, I am a someone who prefers power steering a the float of a big body Caddie over a two door coupe. I'm fragile and like to be cradled. To each his/her own. With this in mind, my Elium SL is a perfect fit. At least I didn't have any pre-ride biases going into the test ride of the carbon fiber Diamas SL.
We were off.
Two pedal strokes in and already the Diamas SL yielded a totally new feel, just totally different. The suspension/chip seal absorbing feel of my Elium was there, but the "fast" feel of a metal frame was present. I don't mean it felt like a metal frame, but it shared the "snappy" feeling of a frame that wanted to be pushed. Unfortunately the wind and the cold didn't make me want to push, I wanted to curl up on the couch under a blanket and dream of football season. See, very fragile. Over the course of the ride few things became clear to me:
1) First off, on a windy day a low profile (medium profile?) rim like a Ksyrium SL proved to be no benefit to me, I was getting tossed around like a rag doll.
Therefore, why would anyone want anything less than this?
2) Sele Italia makes a saddle shape that I get along with. I consider myself an SLR guy, but have been using their entry level Filante Flow on my commuter and other than being rock hard, it fits just as well. Both the Filante Flow and the Diamas SL's SLR Flow have the cut out, or whatever we're calling it these days, and I have decided that I do in fact have an opinion on the matter. I don't like'm as much. I'll stick with the non cut out thanks.
3) Carbon Fiber has it's place. I can see what all of the fuss is about. I was hoping to go into the ride and bolster an uneducated opinion that I was a metal and/or metal and carbon guy. I came out thinking, "yeah, I can see it." This isn't to say that I liked it better than my Elium SL, far from it. My bike is custom for me after all and fits like a glove. The ride is familiar, predictable and makes me want to crush hills. Up hills that is. The Diamas SL has a world of potential, but this one was a little too big, the handling was a little too cautious, and the silver braking surface kept me up all night.
4) Dan's the man. While I was getting thrown all over the loop and struggling to keep up, Dan set the pace and kept me in sight. I can't remember the last time I let the wind get to me in such a humiliating fashion. A few marg's the night before probably didn't help either but still. Thanks to Dan for keeping me around in the front half, the wind must have died down enough for me to stick with them the second half.
5) Brett from Philly. First timer to the ride, somehow he heard about the group ride and showed up on a sick Kuota. Philly must be full of nice people, I know because I have only met nice people. I haven't met Will Smith but he strikes me as a good guy as well and he likes to let the Alpine blast.
6) Bad news for my participation on this Sunday's ride. Thanks to a trip to the Rising Star of Connecticut to see Pearl Jam crank it up, I'll be in no shape to ride Sunday morning and likely won't even be in Massachusetts. Why would I go to Hartford to see them when they are playing in Boston just two night later? 'Cause I'll be there too. If you are like me and lost touch with Pearl Jam after the third album, I would suggest at the very least downloading "You Are" off of the Riot Act album and just tear into it. You can thank me later. I'm hoping to convince Neil to lead the ride this week, but no matter who leads just know that there is a ride.
Like seeing the sun after an afternoon matinee, I had to squint to see the alarm clock. Last night I stayed a little longer than I should have at the Ocho de Mayo party so I woke in horror that I had over slept and missed the group ride. The clock showed 7:00, I was going to make it on time.
Over to the dresser only to deal with a more and more pressing issue in my life, a lack of options. My dresser is pitiful, and my closet is worse. Outside of a pick up basketball game (in which I'll come dressed to impress) I simply have nothing to wear. So with minimal interest I slid open the drawer. I own two pairs of bibshorts and three jerseys. One pair of bibs is acceptable and the other is wearing thin to the point that people have commented. The good pair was in the basement in the hamper, the thinning pair was right in the drawer. I was only thinking of myself when I slipped into them, plus I'm sure I can get one more season out of them before they are totally see through.
The top drawer didn't deliver much optimism either. Three jerseys looked back at me, like they always do; my tried and true Seven jersey from 2003 with the capital letter font, my sick but too small Pez Cycling News jersey, and a full zip Velo News jersey that is simply unattractive. As you might imagine I reach for the Seven jersey more often than not. Blue was calling my name though so this time I grabbed the Pez jersey and I was out the door.
Outside I was greeted by a fierce, bone chilling wind, but with all of my dilly dallying I had wasted precious time off the clock so I got in the car and headed to the Ride Studio. I checked the temperature on the way, 40 degreees. It could be brisk.
The wind was so strong that it blew my 4007 lb. car over a lane on one memorable gust. With a full water bottle, my bike and I weigh about 165 pounds. Would I be blown over? Time would tell.
Waiting at the Studio were Sutts, Neil, Dan, and a new guy in town from Philly named Brett. Sutts finished up his coffee and we were off. Same loop as the last two times with the new ending Dan introduced us to last week.
Smarter riders than me, each had arm warmers, leg warmers, gloves, hats, etc. Me? I had a wind breaker and shoe covers, amateur. Before leaving Lexington Center my gloveless hands were numb and my nose was running but that didn't stop the wind from blowing. I brought the camera to document the ride as usual, but my hands just wouldn't function and it was safer to keep both hands on the bars anyway.
I was riding a Seven Diamas SL as the Ride Studio had one in my size, equipped with an old pair of Mavic Ksyrium SL's. Over the past three years I have ridden nothing but deep dish rims (it's a tough life) so it was a serendipitous occasion to be riding a pair of low profile rims on the windiest day of the year. Or so I thought. It turns out I was getting blown all over the road. This was the kind of wind that I can't beat; it punished me all morning long. Dan was nice enough to set the pace and wait as I dragged behind. I was so slow I didn't get to chat as much as normal and have no stories to share because of it.
When the ride came to a close, I was utterly exhausted and couldn't get home for a warm nap fast enough.
Up next will be some thoughts ont he Diamas SL. Thanks again to the ride participants for coming each week. I promise to bring warm weather next week.
KB
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Relaxing ride today, we did the Sudbury loop, in the warm sun. Only a small group today, just Neil, Matt, and I.
Matt was on his Bridgestone, and as usual was held back by Neil and me. I have a suspicion that if he were by himself, he’d average well over 25 mph. Neil was on top of this as well, so like a genius he rode his single speed to keep the average speed in a reasonable range.
We saw loads of cyclists on the road which got us to thinking, just how many triathletes are there in Boston? Pretty much every bike we saw, easily over 20, were equipped with aero bars. I would never admit this out loud, but I’d love a tri bike. There is something about a one piece aero bar, a rear disc and a deep dish front that does it for me. I’ve always wanted one, even when I was a kid on my first twelve speed. That’s right, two more speeds than anyone else on the block. I acquired a disc wheel “cover” that somehow clipped on to the rear wheel and looked drum tight. I tore up and down Main Street, or so I thought. I think eventually the clips fell off as did the cover and that was it for my tri dreams. Anyway, there were a lot of tri bikes on the road today.
There were also a couple other bikes of note:
And a blast from the past!
We also rode right past a doe, a deer, a female deer:
Finally we came to Concord center for a much needed breakfast stop. Typically I find that if I just have a yogurt before a ride I can go for fifty miles without hunger. Today I swallowed the left over Colgate residue in my mouth and paid the price. To quench my hunger I ordered up the often talked about, rarely seen “breakfast sandwich.” The flavors this morning were Bacon, egg, and cheese or Sausage, egg, and cheese. I went with the bacon and a large lemonade. My breakfast looked a little like this:
And what did it look like under the wrapper?
This sandwich packed a wallop. I have had more than my fair share of heat lamp cooked breakfast sandwiches, but this particular sandwich didn’t exude the crusty bread, the mealy bacon, or the stinky egg. Instead, the cheese tasted fresh, the bacon was mostly lean, and the English muffin was soft and moist. Making matters even better, it sat well during the ride home. I can highly recommend the bacon, egg, and cheese.
After breakfast we headed home. Neil broke off in Lexington, and Matt and I powered home on Mass Ave. Another good ride.
A Saturday night wedding dinner in New Jersey went longer than expected, forcing us to spend the night with my folks in Connecticut instead of driving home direct to Boston. I know what you are thinking, "That's two rides in a row that KB is missing!" I'm aware.
So, I am out for the ride. The weather in CT is cold, grey, and wet so hopefully it's the same in Watertown. Well not hopefully, you know what I mean.
Sorry for the late update, I hit the hay at 2 and just now remembered to post the cancellation. Another reason I should step up to an Iphone. On the bright side, it is Father's Day so I'll probably go out to breakfast this morning with my pops.
I'll be out of town, slumming it up in Myrtle Beach for the next couple of days.
No need to fear, Joe Wignall has graciously stepped in to be the contact for Sunday's ride. http://www.sevencycles.com/people/joe_wignall.php
Feel free to contact him with any questions. Oh, and go ahead and bring your "A" game, I bet the avergae MPH is a little higher this time around.
See you in two weeks.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday morning I was 1.2 miles away from home, heading over to join the club of Sevens (ten minutes early I’ll point out), when the tell tale signs of a flat tire slowly started revealing themselves. “Am I riding in sand? Why can’t I control my bike? What’s that clanging sound?” It’s been a long time since I have had a flat. Probably six years. Call me lucky, call me light on equipment, just don’t call me gifted with a CO2 cartridge. I got the tire off in record time, 5 minutes or so, found the hole, swapped tubes, put the tire back on, and prepped the CO2. I’m a big fan of CO2 for their size, but truth be told, I am .200, or one out of five when it comes time to actually use them. I should say I was one for five, now I am a Papi-esque .166. As I have become accustomed, the CO2 went off in my hand and the tire stayed flat. My frustration, coupled with my frozen hand is the only excuses I have as to the lack of photo documentation. I walked home, 1.2 miles with my tail between my legs.
I had some time to kill on my walk back, so I called Joe Wignall to see if he’d come rescue me. He was in Rhode Island. I called Neil next, after all, he had been to every ride previously and was likely on his way over anyway. Nope, he was home watching the French Open, trying to get enticed to play a little tennis. I plan to recruit Neil to be my next hired gun to dominate the Tennis North East league, http://www.tennisnortheast.com/. I’ll guarantee a second place or better performance if he ever actually acquires a racket. Next up, Rob Vandermark. By this time I was heading down the hill to the house so I no longer needed rescue, I just needed to find out if people were waiting or if I’d have to hunt them down. Turns out they were nice enough to wait.
On to the ride.
Again, a stunningly beautiful Sunday. Mid 70’s, no wind, just ideal. We had a tight nit group: Jon Henig:
Rob Vandermark:
Graham Dimmock:
That's Jon, Rob, and Graham I said:
I know what you’re thinking; the streak of one new rider per ride has come to an end. Sad day indeed. I’ll do my best to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Graham was the leader of the group today, and he took us on a different route to Walden Pond, then on to Concord for a muffin, then home. Due to my tardiness it was an abbreviated ride of about 35 miles.
We rode up through Bentley College, and over to Trapelo Road for some short steep hills.
Did anyone know that there was a pond off of Trapelo Road and Lexington Street called Hardy Pond? I had know idea. I forget how hilly Trapelo Road is, up and down, up and down. Short steep climbs too, just short enough that you can attack and before any real pain sets in, you’re cresting the top. Once the route crosses over I-95 it turns beautiful, we crossed over Cambridge Reservoir, and up into Lincoln.
Before long the asphalt turns red and the Decordova Museum (http://www.decordova.org/) passes by on the right. I wonder when they decided on red asphalt? Why red and not purple? Who gave the "ok" on this? I guess it is a nice change from the norm, but I can’t say I have seen it anywhere else, so why Lincoln? My three second search on Google revealed nothing. Nothing!
We passed Walden,
and high tailed it to Concord for some grub.
That looks like a man who wants some grub.
This time I went with a blueberry muffin and a large lemonade. Both hit the spot. No one ordered the breakfast sandwich however, so the mystery continues. My research has shown that one part muffin and two parts lemonade turn your stomach to cement in just one mile. But just three miles later, that cement turns into a PED like substance, see for yourself! (Quick side note, this is also the caption and win photo of the week. Wayne won the Chunky bar, but I ate it on the way home, so his will be delivered next week)
That pose there required every last bit of energy the muffin provided so I looked like this:
the rest of the way. It wasn't worth it.
I’m off next week, but will be back in two. In my absence feel free to contact Joe Wignall or Neil Doshi for ride details. See you soon.
Sunday was my favorite ride yet, a repeat of the Sudbury/Wayland loop. We didn’t have as many people as last week, but the pace was spot on, so all of us rode together with the only exception being the occasional king of the “mountain” ego race. This loop has only the smallest of hills but that’s enough to stroke this guy’s ego. The sun was out in full force, a growing and welcomed trend. Does anyone remember last year when the weekends brought rain and the sun shined brilliantly from 9-6 on the weekdays? I do. I prefer this year’s pattern.
We met at the Seven parking lot and waited for the group to gather. I snapped this picture of my bike while we waited:
Two things came to mind, three really, nope four: 1: Why has no one told me my bars are rotated way too high? It’s possible the angle of the picture makes it look worse, but this was unsettling nonetheless. I’ll be addressing the matter before this week’s ride. However, in the future please let me know when such atrocities present themselves. 2: I think it’s time to cut off the extra 1 cm of steerer tube I have above the stem. I just don’t see myself raising the stem 1 cm in the next ten years, so why have it there looking like a chin rest? 3: I haven’t done a review of our new titanium seat post yet! I will soon, with detailed pictures to boot. 4: Pet peeves are not a big thing in my life. I’m pretty laid back and I just don’t get annoyed by that many things. A good example of a pet peeve of mine is when someone leaves you a voicemail and says, “Hey Karl, I have a question I need to ask you, so give me a call back when you can.” What is the question? What’s the draw back to asking me the question over voice mail? Time to think about it if not researching an answer? ASK the question. Ask the question, just get it out in the open, you’ll feel better. So as you can see, while I don’t have many pet peeves, I do get pretty fired up over them. Another pet peeve is white athletic socks. Don’t get me started. Look at the Fab Five.
Could they look more mint? Nope. Black socks is always the right choice, at least if they are going to be seen. Where am I going with all of this? Well, a growing pet peeve of mine is the silver braking surface on bike rims. Look at the picture of my bike. Outside of the hideous saddle bag, and the aforementioned handlebar issue, it’s the silver braking surface that jumps out at me. Yuck. This isn’t a knock on my wheels, (I love the wheels) it’s just something that wheel manufacturer’s need to figure out.
If the braking surface was gray or black, I wouldn't be looking for carbon wheels.
I think when I was working at the North Haven Bike Shop while in high school, Mavic made a pair gray rims, they were way ahead of their time. What happened to them? Outside of carbon wheels, there is no other option. I suppose it must have something to do with the brake pads wearing through any anodized colors. I lose sleep over this. Maybe it’s time for some carbon wheels after all. Even for me it’s hard to believe that these are the things I worry about. On the bright side, at least I don’t have to worry about bike fit and performance, that part is dialed.
Back to the ride report.
The streak of having one new rider per ride was extended another week as Matt Sutton, no relation to Ian Sutton, joined for the first time. This brings me to some bad news, I did the worst job yet of taking pictures. At the end of the ride I downloaded the shots, all twelve of them, and I got one shot of Matt’s backside, he’s the one with the banana in his pocket, I’ll leave the jokes up to you:
And in this video, he’s leading the pack:
If you turn up the volume you might get a laugh out of it. Let the record show that Neil finally remembered that we are in fact supposed to turn right at this particular intersection.
Riding past Hanscom Air Force Base we were pedaling into a heavy head wind. I could ride up a day long hill with a smile, but five minutes in a head wind and I struggle and get grumpy. It was about this time when Rob Vandermark sailed past, which got me to thinking. I wonder if when an employee gets a Seven, and Rob is reviewing specs, if he makes changes to the design that he knows will make me, say, struggle in a headwind. I doubt he would do this to the general public, but I could see him doing it to me and maybe Joe or Neil. A little payback for all of our wise cracks during the work week courtesy of the master. These are the things I think about in a head wind.
We followed the Battle Road back to Lexington, then rode up past Wilson Farms.
Another quick aside. If you are like me and are searching for the world’s finest glass of chocolate milk, look no further than Wilson Farm’s. I think it’s actually produced by Shaw’s Farms but it’s sold at Wilson’s and it has ended my search. I now search for the second best chocolate milk.
Up we went, cresting at the Belmont Country Club. Then down, down, down into Waverly Square where we all went our separate ways. All in all, a great ride.
This Sunday we’ll meet again in the lot and plan to leave at 8:30 on the dot. We’d love to have you there.
The Club of Sevens has raised the ante after our picturesque 50 mile loop. The day, the ride, the weather, the group, simply could not have been better. In attendance were the regulars, Neil Doshi (still leading with a 100% attendance rate), Rob Vandermark, Jenna Weikerth, and Graham Dimmock. Keeping my goal alive we had not just one new addition but THREE.
Newcomer #1 Wayne Maceyka:
That’s Wayne on the right, clearly Wayne is pretending to hold a bowl of chips and salsa while Neil demonstrates how to eat them. Wayne is a good friend of mine and of Seven Cycles and it was a pleasure to have him along. He also likes to blog: http://www.renewacycle.com/ check it out.
Newcomer #2 Jake Bridge:
Jake showed up on his most recent build, a beautiful Axiom Steel fixie. Jake is our IT whiz and commutes to the office from Lowell. Could he keep up on a fixie? Turns out he had to back it off a bit. The leather fender flaps are surely mint to those who appreciate fenders, I wouldn’t understand. As a side note, Jake, like me, is a lover of tamarind.
Newcomer #3 Denise Caruso:
I knew Denise was going to tear it up long before she showed up for the ride, after all she is a born and raised a Nutmegger just like me. Hailing from the ‘Shire, she is no stranger to beautiful cycling roads. She was test riding an Axiom as she is in the shopping phase for her first Seven, a fine position to be in as far as I am concerned.
Newcomers, welcome to the club.
Eight strong, we headed out of the parking lot on the way to Concord. I’d guess it was 73 degrees, just enough to get a nice farmers tan base to build on for the rest of the year.
Here is the Nagog loop:
If you would prefer to call this loop the "Second grader's rendition of a withered old man with a large nose tripping over his tangled legs loop" that's fine, but I'll continue to call it the Nagog loop.
Heading out:
Every ride I say the same thing, “I’m going to wait and take pictures once we get to Concord or further where it’s more scenic.” However, I have been forgetting. This trip I did a little better, but still not great. What I like most about the pictures though, even when I do a poor job, is that in every case, people are smiling. See for yourself:
But the best smile? Your number one participant, Mr. Neil Doshi himself:
Priceless. Surely that smile has won some awards. Why wouldn't we be smiling? The sun was out and we were logging miles. Heading out of Concord we rode past Nagog Hill Orchard:
Then around Nagog Pond:
If only we were drinking egg nog, or near a bog, or saw a frog, or even listening to the Troggs,
then we really could have had some fun but unpredictable rhymes.
We headed back on 225 to Bedford, passing parades and patriotic folks all along the way. Once we got back to Belmont, we parted ways. When the smoke cleared we had done around 52 miles and averaged about fifteen and a half miles an hour.
The Club of Sevens is starting to take form, come join us:
Quick update on Monday's Memorial Day Ride, Jenna Weikerth:
Has plotted a new course. I don't know all of the details yet, but I believe we'll be out in Acton, Carlisle, Bedford, etc. Pretty area, for the most part. I can't wait.
Short and Sweet ride on Tuesday morning. Cold enough to wear "tights," long sleeves, gloves, a hat, and of course a mint pair of shoe covers. I say "tights" because I learned this morning that my tights aren't really tight. In fact, they were flapping in the wind which is surely the reason Joe Wignall and Neil Doshi sailed passed me on every down hill. Pitiful. Maybe someone is having a close out sale on tight tights, or will be soon. Anyone? Anyone?
We met up at the coffee shop and headed out just before 7:00 AM. The route was undetermined so we opted for the often traveled "Winchester Loop" which has a nice moderate climb and two lovely downhill's. Just lovely. Of my five goals, one was achieved this week in that we had a new rider, actually two join us for the ride, Joe Wignall:
This is typically how you see Joe on a ride, from the back.
and Graham Dimmock on my right here, but I wouldn't say this is typical:
Both proved to be more awake than I was. Completing the group was Jenna Weikerth, Rob Vandermark, and the aforementioned Neil Doshi. Neil still leads with participation having not missed a single ride.
Action Shots:
And a look at Joe's mint deep dish rims:
What's not so nice about this loop, is that it's 10 miles long. Yup, it was pretty quick. For extra credit Joe, Graham, Neil, and I went up Spring Street in Arlington, aka the Water Tower. Joe won the first King of the Mountain challenge although no one gave him a real test as we were too tired. As I mentioned we had just rode ten miles.
Next week's ride, thanks to Memorial Day has been pushed to Monday. See you then!
