ABC Ride: SUNDAY, June 1 at 10:30 a.m. from 5 Groton St, Ayer, Ma
Joel Arbeitman
This weekend’s ABC ride has been moved to: SUNDAY
This SUNDAY, June 1 at 10:30 a.m., the Ashland Bike Club will meet in Ayer in northern Massachusetts for a round-trip bike ride on the spectacular Nashua River Rail Trail.
GPS address: Next to 5 Groton St, Ayer, Ma between Park St and Pearl St – park in or just outside the parking garage – (the entire parking garage is free on weekends and evenings – on weekdays, very limited free garage parking is available for trail users).
Directions (see map below) – coming from Park St, turn right onto Groton St and then turn right into the parking lot immediately before the rail trail crosswalk.
Note: the entrance to the garage has a very low clearance. If you have a very tall vehicle or if you transport your bike on top of your car, be extremely careful.
Special scenery tip: Try taking Route 111 (exit 75) off Route 495 through Harvard to get to and from Ayer. It’s a little bit slower but much more scenic!
Route Name: ABC – Nashua River Rail Trail (do NOT use version II)
Ride
Rating:
Distance: Moderate (25.9)
Elevation:
Easy (20)
Total Gain: 518 feet
Steepest: 2.3%
The
Weather
SUNDAY’s
forecast is
calling for a partly cloudy day with temps in the low 60s. It
should be a bit
breezy so you might want to bring a windbreaker or light jacket.
SUNDAY’s
Ride
The Nashua River Rail Trail is one of the most scenic rail trail
rides we
do. ABC’s autumn version
of this ride
offers spectacular foliage viewing.
Nashua
River Rail Trail
The Nashua River Rail Trail travels along a flat and scenic landscape with many opportunities to see wildlife. The trail passes wetlands, ponds, woods, swamps, and farmland where a variety of wildlife can be viewed, such as beavers, herons and swans. Ideal for casual and beginner cyclists, the trail was built on a former railroad right-of-way.
The paved path is level for nearly its entire 12-mile distance. The last mile of the trail crosses the border into New Hampshire so be sure to brush up on your cow-mooing technique. You can read more about the Nashua River Rail Trail by clicking here.
Because this is a bike path, we’ll try to keep our pace down so that riders of all skill levels can be accommodated. The round-trip ride, including a short out and back on the roads to go to lunch (.75 miles each way), totals 25.9 miles.
We’re planning to have lunch at C&S Pizza (click for menu) in Pepperell which is a very popular lunch stop with the club. Outdoor picnic tables are available. For “just a sub shop”, the food here gets excellent ratings from club members.
Here’s a link to a map of SUNDAY’s route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27659980
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 “Off the Route” feature
includes a variety
of topics we think are worth sharing.
Ashland Bike Club Radio
The Elegants – Little
Star
Update on Erie Canal Trip
ABCer Linda Burnett, who is doing the Erie Canal Tour from
July 11
to July 17, has asked those interested in joining her to
contact her directly:
Phone or Text: 617-335-2824
Email: li...@lindaburnett.com
Linda has room for one passenger and one bike whether it’s an e-bike or a regular bike.
Rim Brakes Versus Disc Brakes
The bike industry has been pushing disc brakes like they
are going
out of style. Maybe
they should go out
of style. The sales pitch is that they are much more effective
when the roads
are wet.
The video below provides a great big “not so fast”. It looks at which braking system is better in an insane amount of detail. This video is more for the techie geeks in the crowd but it makes a really good case that rim brakes, not disc brakes, are far superior for many different reasons.
Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99BS5ju8IiI
Share Your Two Cents with
MassDOT
This could be a tough ask.
Most of us don’t take the time to “speak directly to
our state
government”. We have
all kinds of
comments we could make about what would make bike riding safer
and more
enjoyable but, when we have a chance to share our ideas, we
speak to each other
but not to MassDOT. Perhaps
that is because
we don’t feel it will make a difference.
Perhaps that is because we’re not experts and our
comments wouldn’t be
taken seriously. Perhaps we just want to ride and take what
we’re given.
MassDOT is asking for your feedback on how to spend the more than one-billion dollars it has available for transportation funding. Let’s take a few minutes to tell them what we think.
Here are just a few ideas. First, fix the potholes!! Someone is going to get killed because the condition of our roads is deplorable. How about more bike paths? How about more “separated” bike lanes? How about doing everything possible to start the transition away from cars and toward more bicycling? How about adding more bathroom facilities and water stations to existing bike paths?
There are lots of ideas but they will never happen if we don’t ask for them!! Right now, we have a great chance to do just that.
This article that tells you how to share your ideas with MassDOT (deadline Thursday, June 12): https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/2025/05/28/have-an-opinion-on-upcoming-capital-projects-in-massachusetts-heres-what-to-do-money-mbta-massdot/83873308007/
To recap this SUNDAY’s Nashua River Rail Trail ride, we’ll meet just outside the commuter parking garage in Ayer at 10:30 a.m.
Don’t forget to check your email after 9:00 a.m. on SUNDAY to make sure we didn’t cancel or postpone the ride. And, as always … don’t forget those helmets.
See you soon.
Joel