by jonathanbrody » Sun Aug 14, 2011 8:21 am
We had a great ride today! We started with 10 (Ken, Sonja, Andrew, David, Clayton, Chris D., Rich, Morgan, Joe L. and myself) and thanks to David G. we got to some new territory starting with heading out 5 to Elm St./ River Rd. through Hatfield to Sunderland. There Sonja and Ken split from the group as it was Sonja’s first club ride and was ready to ride at a different pace. We think she got bit by the bug as she plans to get to the C-Ride on Wednesdays and maybe soon on Saturdays? We continued up River Rd. at a bit of a slower pace due to some miscommunication around David’s bathroom break and him having to chase us for a number of miles – sorry David. Once we regrouped we actually rode into Don and Jeff B. and the pace went through the roof to 25 right before the first hill. Rich and I fell back, but then Morgan and Chris took their own BR break. We caught David and the rest of the group who were waiting at the Tuesday Time-Trial turnaround. There we regrouped, continued up River Rd. to the Greenfield Bikepath where we ran into dozens of riders, maybe practicing for the Greenfield Triathalon. We went up and over Poet’s Seat onto High St. and into downtown Greenfield where we saw Mike and Phillip H. We braved the rotary and headed towards GCC where we took a left onto Shelburne Rd. What a beautiful road and an awesome climb. Rich and I fell back as the strongmen battled it out on this gorgeous – but massive – tree-covered switchback. At the top, we descended Zerah Fiske Rd. to Bardswell Ferry Rd., which may be one the best descents and most beautiful stretches of road we have ever been on! We headed onto Shelburne Falls Rd. to Conway where we regrouped and decided to split as Rich needed to start his water consumption marathon, with one group (David, Joe, Clayton, Andrew) heading over 116 to South Deerfield and Rich, Chris, Morgan and myself riding together on the Thursday night route from Conway (Webber, Mountain, North Farms, Bridge Roads) sprinkling the ride with social commentary and debate — thanks, Morgan, that was fun — I hope I didn’t offend? Just as Morgan and I were about to fix all of society’s problems, we rolled into town with about 54 miles, 3800 feet of climbing, and a speed of about 18mph taking into account our cramping/ recovery pace. Again, awesome ride!
