The scary-looking radar and ominous clouds didn’t deter Geraldine and Adam from joining Ari and me for tonight’s Monday Night Intro Ride on our Northampton route. We had some pretty heavy rainfall move through earlier in the afternoon, but by ride time it was gone, and the roads were mostly dry (despite the 150% humidity), so we decided to green-light the ride.
Geraldine took a clip-related tumble as we prepared to cross Route 66, but bike and rider were fine, and she bounced back right away. I’m pretty sure Adam set a PR as he powered up the hill on Burt’s Pit Road, his “personal training hill”. After that we enjoyed the rollers on Ryan Road and Sylvester Road. Geraldine pointed out that the descent in the opposite direction is fun, which was a great idea — we may try this route in reverse next time.
After a quick photo stop at Robert’s Brook Reservoir, where we spotted a Common Merganser floating offshore (a somewhat unusual duck for this time of year), we rolled past Musante Beach, where we encountered the only precipitation of the evening — I counted 126 raindrops before it dried back up again as we headed through Florence on the bike path on the way home. Adam pointed out the new art installations along the bike path — three mini-galleries with rotating exhibits from local artists, which was pretty cool.
We arrived back at Sheldon Field at around 7:00 PM, entirely dry, and very glad we had made the decision to go ahead with this ride tonight.
Next Monday July 3, the ride is on, we will be riding the Hatfield route — hope to see you out there!
