ABC Ride: Saturday, October 25 at 10:30 a.m. from Stone Park in Ashland
Joel Arbeitman
Hi everyone.
Our next Ashland Bike Club ride will be held Saturday, October 25 at 10:30 a.m. The ride will start from Stone Park near downtown Ashland.
GPS Address: Across from 27 Park Rd, Ashland
Route Name: ABC – The Upside-Down Moose
Ride
Rating:
Distance: Easy (22.0)
Elevation:
Moderate-Challenging (59)
Total Gain: 1301 feet
Steepest: 6.8%
Saturday’s
Weather
Saturday
promises a cool day with temps between 49 and 53. We’ll
start with tons o’
sun and end with tons o’ clouds.
Next week’s forecast? Don’t ask! We could see rain from Tuesday through Saturday. ABC rides are likely to become less and less frequent as the colder weather approaches. Ride while you can!!
The
Ride
I think
it’s safe to say
that this is the club’s (or probably any club’s) only
upside-down moose
ride. What’s up with
that???
The
route packs quite a
wallop in many ways. We
start off with a
roll along Ashland’s Trolley Brook Trail, then make our way
through the rolling
hills in Hopkinton State Park, then, a little farther along,
there are even
more uphills to climb as we cruise through Southborough on our
way to
Westborough. The reward? Ice cream at Uhlman’s
Uhlman’s is
closed for the season but we’ll still do a rest stop there. And, finally, we finish up
with some great
country roads as we make our way back to the start.
The distance is easy … the hills are rated moderate-challenging. Let us know if you actually see a moose during the ride. I plan to wear my Bullwinkle socks but that doesn’t count!
Great Mexican food is a post-ride possibility right very near where the ride finishes.
Here's a link to a map of Saturday’s route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/39188081
You
can
print our “official cue sheet” for the ride by clicking the link
above, then
click “More”, then click “Print Map and Cue PDF”, and finally
click “Print
Official”.
Off
the Route
Our regular “Off the Route”
section includes
helpful information about bicycle riding and other topics we
hope you will find
interesting.
Ashland Bike Club Radio
Radical Face – Welcome
Home, Son
Steve Goodman – What Have
You Done for Me, Lately?
John Prine – Hobo Song
Jesse Winchester – Yankee
Lady
Elton John – Sixty
Years
On
And now for something
completely different
While we always hope you plan to ride with ABC, we still
want to
keep you informed, from time to time, of well-planned
alternatives.
The MBTA and DCR have teamed up for a really cool event this weekend that seems like it will incorporate the Bruce Freeman Trail.
Read the details here è https://mass.streetsblog.org/2025/10/21/dcr-mbta-host-fall-rail-ride-to-concord-and-wachusett-this-weekend
Got
knee
pain? Does cycling help or hurt?
One of the most common ailments I keep hearing about is
knee
pain. I’ve had my
share. One thing that
helped me is an over-the-counter gel called diclofenac. It’s
an “NSAID” and it’s
a good way to relieve the inflammation that is usually the
cause of the pain.
A new
study was released
this week that talks about the best forms of exercise to
relieve knee
pain. Of course, at
times, rest is
probably the best prescription, but when you’re ready to
return to activity,
the article below has some tips.
Check
it out: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251019120521.htm
Is
the
latest “cure” for knee pain pure quackery or what?
This next one seems a little crazy. It’s probably a good idea
to wait for more research
or you could end up with knees that glow in the dark.
Check out this madness: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251015032316.htm
To recap Saturday’s ride, we will “meet” at Stone Park in Ashland (across from 27 Park Rd) at 10:30 a.m. Dress warm; it’s likely to be a little chilly out there.
As always, check your email after 9:00 a.m. on ride days to make sure we didn’t postpone or cancel the ride and … don’t forget those helmets!
See you soon.
Bullwinkle 