Every weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Bobby Mac leads a group of members of the team as well as a large number of charity riders and others that come to join us on a loop that’s 62 miles at its longest. The loop is known to all, starting in Arlington and going out to Bedford via the bike path before going in a set of circles around Concord, Carlisle, and Billerica. It’s a great loop as it leaves people conveniently near the end of the bike path at all points and so if they feel they can’t go further, it’s easy to go back.
Those of us who have been doing the loop for a few years, though, start to look for a little something different. But the group which breaks off and heads in different directions is without fail the fast group and as fast groups do, they are willing to drop you. Therefore, Kate and I have been talking for months about leading a no-drop ride for anyone that wanted to come along out to Harvard, MA. Further west than people usually go with a little bit more climbing and a lot more pretty.
This Sunday, that ride happened and we took twenty-eight (!) Quaddies for a 70 mile ride out to Harvard returning via Bolton and Stow. The weather was perfect as we got sun and highs in the upper 70s. Thanks to a few suggestions, we managed to not lose anyone and I think that everyone had a great time. For the most part, we kept to small backroads and I made sure that the route had a few good climbs for everyone to feel like they got to work enough. Regroups were frequent, but relatively short and mostly to ensure that no one missed an important turn even though we did have cue sheets.
The group assembled outside of the Harvard General Store
Thanks to everyone who came out and made the ride a success. One thing I learned is that it gets a lot harder to lead a ride once you get past the point of 6-8 people. And also, having arrows could have been helpful in terms of needing less regroup points. But having the regroup points helped everyone to get to know each other a little bit better and build up a bit more of the sense of team for beyond those who come out and race. So we’ll likely be doing another similar ride before the end of the season — suggestions for other destinations welcome.
