Dear cyclists,
I am a 17 year old high school student living in Amherst. I love biking and want to meet new people to ride with, but the group rides that start in Northampton are a little inaccessible after school or work. A ride starting from Amherst sure would help me a lot and I hope it could fill some other people's needs as well.
I can lead a ride Friday at 1pm and Sunday at 1pm if the weather holds out.
The Route (25ish miles):
Starting at the parking lot outside of Cushman Market and Cafe, we will head up Leverett road all the way to the center of Leverett, passing the school and safety center before summiting cave hill road. Coming down the back side of cave hill onto North Leverett road for a long way until we hit Wyola. At this point we shall turn left and face the final climb of the route: Locks Pond road. After that is a quick descent down the S curves and coast back down into cushman. This is a hilly route, probably between 1500-1700 feet of climb, but the roads are all fairly quiet and shaded during the climbs (spare the final accent on locks pond), so it's really not so bad. I usually keep an average speed of 14-15mph, so I guess this would fit into the "C" ride category.
Below I include a picture of the map. Ignore the part south of Cushman, that's the ride to and from my house.
Would another time work better? A different location/ route? Let me know!
Best wishes,
Noah