ABC Ride: Saturday, July 25 at 10:30 a.m. from Haskell Field, Sudbury
ABC Riders
The next Ashland Bike Club ride will be held this Saturday, July 25 at 10:30 a.m. The ride will start from Haskell Field in Sudbury.
GPS Address: 38 Fairbank Rd, Sudbury, Ma
Route Name: ABC – Verrill Farm for Hill Haters
Ride Rating:
Distance: Easy-Moderate (23.3)
Elevation: Easy
(35)
Total Gain: 815 feet
Steepest: 5.4%
Saturday’s Weather
The forecast for Saturday calls for a perfect riding day with temps ranging from 75 to 79 degrees under totally sunny skies.
Once again, next Wednesday’s forecast looks like another rainout. Perhaps that still might change but … ride while you can!
Saturday’s Ride
Saturday’s route is one of the flattest we could
find.
Earlier versions of this route used to take us to Lake Boon before heading over to Verrill Farm. This version of ABC’s Verrill Farm route eliminates the trip to Lake Boon and also avoids Hudson Rd. As a trade-off, we’ve added some highly scenic roads in the Water Row area of Wayland and a few new roads after the Verrill Farm lunch stop as well.
With an average gain-per-mile of just 35 feet, it’s hard to find on-road routes anywhere in Metrowest much flatter than this one. This route is “almost” bike path flat. Are there hills? Sure … but, overall, this one falls into the “easy” category and should be no problem for most ABC riders.
Here's a link to a map of Saturday’s route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/52200325
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 interesting topics we’ve come across that we think are worth
sharing. Please let us know what you
think.
Ashland Bike Club Radio
Roy Orbison – Candyman
Jess Klein – Shootout at
the Candy Shop
Juice Newton – The Sweetest
Thing
The Rolling Stones – Sweet
Virginia
The Grateful Dead - Candyman
The Carnage on Our Roads Must End But …
The US cast the only vote against a road safety declaration
recently voted on in the UN. We still see 40,000 fatalities a year in the US
including drivers, passengers, cyclists, pedestrians, and others who choose to
play Russian roulette on our nation’s roadways. That figure does not include
the countless others who are seriously injured nor does it do much to capture
the life-altering suffering of those left behind.
How could anyone vote against a road safety declaration? Even if it’s mostly symbolic, what kind of symbol does voting against it send? Voting for more deaths is unconscionable.
Read the article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinero/2026/07/21/the-us-alone-votes-against-a-road-safety-declaration/
Not All are Pleased with Mayor Wu
With the recent death of safety and cycling advocate Louisa Gag
while riding her bicycle in Boston, Mayor Wu’s role in improving cycling safety
in the city has been called into question.
Some ABC’ers know the Mayor and have great things to say about her.
Writers of the following two articles, however, do not.
Did Wu Fail to Act? - https://mass.streetsblog.org/2026/07/14/wu-administration-shelved-safety-plans-for-mission-hill-streets-where-driver-killed-louisa-gag
To recap this Saturday’s ride, we’ll meet at Haskell Field in Sudbury at 10:30 a.m.
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.
Joel