On a warm and muggy afternoon, Adam, James, and Mackenzie joined me for a circuit of our Northampton loop. When we last did this route in July, we rode it in the reverse direction, but today we were back to the normal configuration, with a sizable little climb up Burt’s Hill Road to start things off, followed by some rollers on Ryan and Sylvester Roads, and a nice mostly-downhill return trip on the bike path to finish things off. James led the field with a strong effort up the climb, with Mackenzie not far behind. We did a little bit of paceline rotation practice on Sylvester Road, but the twisty road layout isn’t really well-suited for this. We’ll get some more practice with this next week on the quiet and straight back roads of Hatfield. The weather started off clear, but some dark clouds quickly appeared, and we started to feel a bit of rain on Sylvester. The rain continued intermittently for the rest of the ride, but never amounted to much more than a sprinkle, which actually felt quite refreshing.
Previewing our upcoming calendar, we will ride again next Monday, on the Hatfield loop. The following Monday, September 4, is Labor Day, with no ride that day. We will try to squeeze in one final ride on September 11, on the Easthampton loop, before shutting down for the season as evening daylight starts to wane.
