Paused at a light and uncertain which direction to go, I got lucky. A solo rider sidled up next to me and introduced himself. He was riding a 10 speed Raleigh with the shifters on the down tube and I thought to myself "Probably not too serious of a rider but maybe he knows the way to go to get out of here."
Turns out that Steve is a serious rider, or once was; nowadays he's hampered by too much work and too little time. Once, he told me, he had a fancy road bike but now he contents himself with the 10 speed. He ended up showing me a terrific ride, including the ascent of Mt. Asnebumskit, a nice climb, though short. I was riding the Crux so indulged in a little dirt road at the top of the ridge, a route that took us down the other side a short ways to a clearing that offered a fine long view to the west including views of the Kettle Brook Reservoirs.
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| The weird building on top of Asnebumskit |
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| It felt like being back in the 1970s up there |
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| Tower Style |
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| Steve hoofing it up the last slope |
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| The art of the spray paint can |
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| The view west toward the Kettle Brook Reservoirs |
The return loop brought us to a small back road that ran around the back side of the Worcester Airport. In fact, it curved around the far end of the airport. The only "security" visible was the rusty chain link fence with barbed wire around the top. Not exactly Post 9/11 secure, that's for sure.
Ride Summary (#72): Wasn't really going for speed, just exploration. Steve could really fly on his Raleigh, though, so we kept a descent pace. I ended the loop with about 25 miles under the tires.
***
There's a group rides that leaves Barney's Bike Shop at 6:00 PM on Monday nights. I'm not one for group rides, I rarely even do them but given that I'm new to the area and looking to learn new routes I decided to join the one Monday, Sept. 8. Barney's is about four long city blocks from Elm Park and Shad HQ so I decided to just rush down there on the road bike (instead of being a weenie and driving there). My tactical error, however, was electing to go the direct route, down Park Ave., a heavily-traffic'd city road, two lanes either direction. Ugly business.
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| Park Avenue |
I made it without incident but vowed that the next time I joined the group ride I would get there via smaller neighborhood roads.
A few guys were there already when I arrived about ten minutes before six and by the time Peter the owner of Barney's closed the shop there were about 20 guys and one woman (Catherine or Katherine, I never found out). I introduced myself to a few, it seemed as if most people knew each other. I met George (Croatian? I couldn't place his accent), and Seth (a burly guy, intelligent, a solid rider as it turned out), and the woman C/Katherine.
The ride was fast. At first I wondered if I could keep up and I found myself with the stragglers in the back of the group. But that was just along the 5 miles or so of relative flat, busy neighborhood roadway. Eventually we got out to the Holden Reservoir and when the road started to climb, I started to pull forward. I passed a few guys and settled in for the climbing, earning respect (I imagined) as I went.
These guys don't exactly do a loop; they ride out to the end of the road past the reservoir, then turn around and come back. Some folks continue on back home but others can turn onto Bailey Rd for more climbing and a slightly longer over all ride. I went with that group. More climbing. I felt good. Besides, given that the ride was limited in scope by imminent darkness, I had no reason to conserve energy. I booted it with the guys and kept pace.
We probably ended up averaging close to 17 mph but my own stats were skewed by having ridden around a few miles prior to hooking up with them. I did record the ride on Strava, though.
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| The view from the parking lot beside the bike shop. The ride heads this way. |
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| Gathering behind the shop |
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| At speed along the reservoir |
It was a good ride and a good experience and I'm going to do it again tonight (am scribing this a week after the ride). They say they ride into October so I'll have a couple more opportunities Although these days the light fades rather quickly; sunset tonight is 6:55 so we'll be coming home in dusk, as we did last week. Lucky for me, the return route brings us through Newton Square which is just a block up from Elm Park so I didn't have to fight my way home along Park Ave.
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| Almost back; corner of Highland and Park This guy is a pro racer as it turns out I overheard some conversations Besides, he rode like an arrow and was obviously better than the rest of us. |
Ride Summary: About 18 miles over all. The actual group ride was about 15 and Strava indicates we averaged 17.1 mph. That's damn fast for me.
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