ABC Ride: Saturday, October 14 at 10:30 a.m. from Claypit Hill School, Wayland
Joel Arbeitman
Hi everyone.
The Ashland Bike Club’s next ride has been scheduled for this Saturday, October 14 at 10:30 a.m. from the Claypit Hill School in Wayland.
GPS Address: 40 Adams Lane, Wayland, Ma
Route Name: ABC – Wayland, Lincoln, Weston VII (get the right version)
Ride
Rating:
Distance:
Moderate (23.7)
Elevation:
Challenging (54)
Total Gain: 1286 feet
Steepest: 7.1%
Saturday’s
Weather
Saturday’s
forecast
calls for a partly
cloudy day with temperatures between 55 and
60.
The
Ride
Almost
every road selected for this route offers spectacular scenery. If you’re a scenery junky
like me, this
ride’s for you!! The
ride starts in
Wayland and meanders through Lincoln, Weston and Natick before
returning to the
start.
This version of the ride, version VII, includes a round-trip roll along Sandy Pond Rd in Lincoln with a few curious twists and turns.
The ride has four built-in rest stops. These stops give slower riders a chance to catch up with the group and they provide all riders a chance to drink a little water and to socialize. They also decrease the average waiting times for our human arrows.
A post-ride lunch at the ultra-funky Dudley Chateau (20 Crest Rd, Wayland) on their “chatio” is a possibility. The four-mile drive takes about 10 minutes.
Here’s a link to a map of Saturday’s route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40632877
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 that we think are worth sharing with the ABC cycling
community. Please let
us know what you think.
Cycling for Real Beginners
ABC loves to encourage new bike riders and those who
haven’t
ridden in decades. We
can’t accommodate
everyone, though. Riders
should be able
to cover 25 miles, including some hills, and maintain a pace
between 11 and 12
mph. That’s much too
difficult for most
beginners to do … at first.
But distances and speeds that seem impossible when you’re first starting out can be achieved with a little practice. The first ride might just be ½-mile. The next ride one mile and so on. When you make bike riding a habit, you’ll be amazed by how quickly you can progress. Within just a month or two, you’ll be riding ten or maybe even 20 miles or more.
Of course, if riding with ABC is your goal, you might also consider an e-bike. Many of ABC’s e-bikers would not be able to cover the distances we ride or keep pace with the club without a little e-assist. E-bikes “level the playing field” (and the hills) and ABC is very supportive of them.
Here’s an article that gives beginner’s a few tips to get started on their cycling adventures: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/ask-a-cycling-coach-ive-not-cycled-in-years-how-do-i-get-from-the-couch-to-30-miles#section-1-start-by-starting
The New Massachusetts Law about
Drivers and
Cyclists
This past April (2023), a new law went into effect to make
cyclists safer on the roads. Among
its key
provisions are that drivers must provide at least a four-foot
buffer between
their vehicles and cyclists on the road.
Are there exceptions? NO!
But what if there just isn’t enough room for cars to pass? The new law gives drivers two choices:
1. Wait until they can pass with at least a four-foot buffer
2. Go over the center-line, even a double-yellow line, when it’s safe to do so.
So, even if a driver has to follow one or more cyclists for many, many miles, those are their choices.
Thus far, there has been some, but far too little, public education about the new law. Laws have very little effect is no one knows they exist.
We cyclists need to understand, though, that while the law is the law, a car is still a car. We need to do all we can to build a positive relationship with the drivers who share the roads with us. It’s of little value to be right if you’re dead right.
Laws or no laws, the real issue is that attitudes need to change so that all of us on the roads are working together for everyone’s safety.
The woman described in the article below seems to need a major attitude adjustment.
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-9-october-2023-304367
Please remember to check your email after 9:00 a.m. on Saturday to make sure the ride was not cancelled or postponed due to weather or other reasons and … don’t forget those helmets.
See you Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Claypit Hill School in Wayland. Don’t miss this one … it should be great!
Joel