by Jonathan O’Keeffe » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:57 pm
We had a healthy crowd at the start this morning, with lots of people gathered for both the C-Ride and the A/B Ride. The A/B group set off at 9AM with ten riders — myself, Joe, Frank, Tim C, Roberto, Ron, T, Peter, Kevin, along with Darren making a special guest appearance from New Hampshire. I plotted a route to take us eastward across the river to the Quabbin, where we haven’t been yet this year.
We sped across newly-paved Bay Road in Hadley and Amherst, checking out the new roundabouts at Atkins Corner, and then had a high-speed chase up and down Harris Mountain Road. A few back roads brought us to Belchertown, followed by a bumpy stretch down Rt. 181 to Cold Spring Rd. After some rolling hills and great scenery, we crossed Rt. 9 onto the big climb of the day overlooking the Quabbin Reservoir. I was near the back, so I couldn’t see all of what was happening up front, but Darren, Joe, and Tim were definitely tearing it up. We regrouped at the rotary and headed up to the tower for a quick break and some scenic views before heading down across the Winsor Dam and back out to Rt. 9.
We stopped back in Belchertown to fill our bottles and plan the rest of the day. I was looking for a shorter day and planning to head back to NoHo, while Roberto wanted some extra kilometers and more climbing. I led half the group back towards NoHo through Amherst and Hadley, while Roberto took the other half climbing further up Gulf Rd into Pelham and Shutesbury, climbing the steep Prescott Rd wall and descending the S-Curves. At the point where I split off, my group had 50 miles @ 18.2 mph, with 3,500′ of climbing.
by darren_phaneuf » Mon Sep 03, 2012 10:56 pm
Thanks for mapping out such a nice ride, Jonathan. It was nice to finally make it down to ride with you guys again–your Saturday morning rides are simply fantastic. Thanks to Roberto for offering a longer version too and Tim and Joe for setting such a great pace. The ride was exactly what I needed. I hope to make it down to for a few more of these rides before the end of the year.
