We left Pulaski Park a little after 5:30 PM with 11 riders. Despite brief periods of rain earlier in the day, the roads were dry and the sun was out. In fact, it was a gorgeous evening. The only challenge was the tremendous headwind!
We did the Around the River Loop. At the edge of Hatfield, Michael joined us. We stopped at the Hatfield Center Store to regroup. Some riders had noticed lawn signs advertising the Lions Club Annual Bike Tour, which is coming up on June 11th. Michael mentioned that he rode it a few years ago and the ride is fun. There is a pasta dinner afterwards. Several people were going to look into the ride.
As we continued up River Road towards Sunderland, the wind picked up. In Whately, the group got split up a bit. I went back for a few riders, while Michael and Tom took the group ahead. They waited for us at the entrance of the Whately baseball field.
After crossing the famous blue bridge in Sunderland, Route 47 was easier. We were able to get a little tailwind for that extra push towards Northampton.
We regrouped around mile 20 at an old watermill just off of 47 on Mt. Warner road.
We navigated the bike path in Northampton as we returned to Pulaski Park. On the bike path, we ran into an intimidating skunk! It eventually backed down when it saw our NCC kits.
In total, we rode 27 miles with almost 500 feet of climbing. We averaged 14 miles per hour.
