by Jonathan O’Keeffe » Sat May 28, 2011 10:10 pm
We had a big group this morning, with about 20 people rolling from the Academy at 9:00 AM. We decided to head east and north today, aiming to climb the S-Curves up to Shutesbury, and to continue on to Wendell and Montague. Amy flatted less than a mile into the ride, slowing down the start a bit, but we regrouped and headed over the river and north on 47, where I almost wreaked havoc with a short-notice right-hand turn onto Stockbridge Road. Sorry about that!
We continued into North Amherst, detouring around the deplorable road conditions on Pine Street by using Summer and State Streets to get to East Leverett Road and the base of the Shutesbury climb. The group fragmented at this point, regrouping at the top before the descent to Lake Wyola and another climb up to Wendell. The descent down Montague Road to Millers Falls is always a blast. We stopped to refuel, and headed south past the Bookmill. The group broke up after several of us stopped to assist with a dropped pump; we pushed hard, led by Roberto, but could not reconnect with the main group. We finally hooked up at the Sunderland bridge, but I was spent at that point at that point, and headed back to Amherst.
From NoHo to Sunderland, I ended up with 45 miles @ 17.7 mph, 2,800′ of climbing.
