ABC Ride: Wednesday, May 28 at 10:30 a.m. from Mooney Park in Southborough
Joel Arbeitman
This Wednesday, May 28 at 10:30 a.m. from George Mooney Park (214 Parkerville Rd) in Southborough, we’re planning a ride through Southborough and Westborough.
GPS Address: 214 Parkerville Rd, Southborough, MA
Route Name: ABC – Not Strictly Southborough VI (get the right version)
Ride
Rating:
Distance: Easy-Moderate (22.6)
Elevation:
Moderate-Challenging (52)
Total Gain: 1169 feet
Steepest: 8.3%
WEDNESDAY’s Weather
The forecast looks great for riding with temps between 70 and 75
degrees
under mostly cloudy skies. A steady breeze is a possibility.
While the weekend forecast can always change, right now Saturday looks … what else … rainy! Sunday, though, is looking good. Stay tuned …
The
Ride
This
ride always gets
extremely positive feedback, but you’re going to have to earn
all the great
views with a bit of hill climbing. The route
is kind of a roller-coaster although most of the hills aren’t
too bad.
Wednesday’s route takes us past the mansions of
Southborough. Overall,
the ride is fairly short by ABC
standards, but it still provides a challenging workout.
Southborough is a very quaint town with lots of forested areas and lots of beautifully landscaped properties. Many of the roads have a definite country feel to them.
If you’re still hungry after stopping at Uhlman’s (CASH ONLY) for ice cream, a post-ride lunch is a possibility.
You can see a map of Wednesday’s route here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/39626932
You
can print our “official cue sheet” by clicking the link above,
then click
“More”, then click “Print Map and Cue PDF”, and finally click
“Print Official”.
As always, you can download a copy of the route to your phone or
GPS device.
The rest stop at Chestnut Hill Farm
Off the Route
Our
“Off the Route”
feature includes various topics we hope you’ll find
interesting and useful. Please
let us know what you think.
Ashland
Bike Club Radio
Townes Van Zandt – No
Lonesome Tune
Wanna
Try a Bike Tour?
We ride some really great routes
on our
ABC rides. The routes are designed for safety, they are
scenic, and, perhaps
most importantly, we get to ride them with really great
people.
A couple of our ABC’ers are planning to do a little out-of-state cycling this summer on spectacular bike routes.
Linda Burnett is going to be doing an Erie Canal Ride from Buffalo to Syracuse leaving Boston on July 11 and returning on July 17. She has room in her car for one other rider and has room on her bike rack for either an e-bike or a regular bike.
And ABC’er Tony Mistretta is signed up for the Cycle the Hudson Valley tour that runs from August 4 through August 9. Check out this very-well-done video about the tour.
If you’re interested in learning more, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with either Linda or Tony. If you’re planning to travel and ride, why not go with someone from your own bike club?
Most
Sunscreen Products are Junk – Is Yours?
The UV index for Wednesday
is
currently a 10 which is as high as the rating system goes!! Plus, we’ll be riding at
a time of day that
the sun is highest in the sky.
This
seemed like the perfect day for an article about sunscreen
products. We all know
applying sunscreen is important
for our midday rides but we don’t usually give them too much
thought. We just
grab something with a high-enough SPF rating and we’re good to
go.
Well, you better take a look at the article linked below. Most sunscreen products are worthless and some are even dangerous because of the chemicals that get absorbed into your skin.
Have a read: https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/20/health/2025-safest-sunscreens-wellness
Do you really need sunscreen at
all?
Most of our ABC rides take place during the time of year with the
most
direct UV rays at the most direct sunlight time of day. We ride for many
different reasons but surely
good health is among them. It’s quick and easy to apply
sunscreen. It doesn’t
cost much.
But do you really need it?
Check out the answer here: https://www.popsci.com/health/do-i-need-sunscreen-every-day/
Be sure to check your email after 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning to make sure we didn’t cancel or postpone the ride and don’t forget those helmets.
See you soon.
Joel