CRW was hoping to get back to normal with the Cranberry Harvest ride. It had been two years since the club had a century ride. The Century Committee put in many hours to make the 2021 edition special and welcome back members to one of the club’s biggest in-person events. Despite working with the town for months, Middleboro declined to grant us the permit because of the “inconvenience this recreational and self-serving event places on the citizens, taxpayers, and voters of Middleboro.”

With less than two weeks until the ride date, we scrambled, put together new routes, and figured out new logistics. We crossed our fingers, hoping for good weather and colorful cranberry bogs.

Myles Standish park personnel were welcoming to the ride. They provided the staging and parking for the ride. The Mattapoisett Harbormaster was happy to have us use the town wharf with its spectacular water views.

Photos by Steve Carlson

We got great weather, but we got only a handful of cranberry bogs being harvested. If you looked closely you may have seen some of the trucks hauling the harvested cranberries to the Ocean Spray processing plant.

Photo by Doug Cornelius

Several hundred riders still came for the re-planned ride. We purposefully put one of the starting locations at a train station so riders wouldn’t need a car to get to the ride. From our counts, it looked like half the riders started in Kingston for the century ride and half started in Myles in Standish for the metric century.

Photo by Andre Wolff

There were plenty of cranberry bogs that were ready for harvesting. You may have noticed the ripe berries on the bushes and the flags marking the infrastructure. It looks like most riders noticed the cranberry bog being harvested just a few miles from the return to Myles Standish. We saw lots of this picture replicated by other riders.

Photo by Harold Hatch

Thanks to all the volunteers and riders who came out for the day.

We will have a lot of work to do for the 2022 edition of the ride with Middleboro out of the picture for future events. Please send us any feedback on the routes, rest stops, or anything else about the ride. century [at] crw.org ( )

This article was inspired by the WheelPeople Editor, who is trying to continue riding strong, and who deeply appreciates the wisdom of Coach Hughes.

By Coach John Hughes

Road Bike Rider Reader Eli asks, “I have a local route where I have an option at one point to take 1) a continuous long climb or 2) a series of short steeper hills with flat sections between. The hills in option 2) are steeper than the continuous climb in option 1). I find option 1) wears me out and I have to dismount. I don't know what to make of this. Currently option 1) is under construction.

Coach Hughes, I suspect pacing is the reason the sustained climb wears you out more than the multiple steep hills. There is a very slow pace at which you could do the sustained climb without stopping.  Try riding at an easy conversational pace. Of course you have to ride fast enough so you don’t fall over.

Eli follows up, “Yesterday my son (who is an accomplished cyclist) and I rode the detour route around option 1), which unfortunately has a much longer climb than my customary route! Previously I couldn’t do that climb on the detour. After about 1/4 mile I had to get off the bike and I walked until the road flattened out. I attributed this to declining capacity due to age.

“But no! Yesterday I was triumphant and rode the entire stretch of that climb without dismounting.

“Here is my take on why I succeeded yesterday after several prior failures. First, riding with someone else, I was less willing to give up and tried harder despite the feeling of slowing and tipping over. Perhaps more important, I followed my son up the hill, and he went real slow, slower than I thought possible, and not within my ride experience. To be clear I don't try to scoot up the hill, but I pedal as hard as I can to deal with the grade. At Alex's suggestion I went slower then I thought possible without falling over. This conserved energy and did not wear me down to the breaking point.”

“So I learned a new riding strategy, but don't know if it will serve me if I try that route alone. In any case, it was a very good day.”

Coach Hughes Any day you can ride with your son is a good day! And mastering the climb made it a very good day!

Eli climbing Farm Street in Medway,MA.

You mastered the climb using mental skills and our mental skills don’t decline with age. You used a new riding strategy. You learned a mental skill of pacing. You changed your motivation. You were “less willing to give up and tried harder.” You performed better riding with your son rather than alone— psychologists call this the group effect. You changed your belief about how slowly you could ride — this belief is what defeated you previously.  After riding with your son, you know you can do the climb. This should increase your confidence — don’t be skeptical about whether you can do it again. Use your new mental skill of pacing.

I wrote my eBook Gaining a Mental Edge: Using Sports Psychology to Improve Your Cycling because most cyclists can get greater improvement from investing some time each week in practicing mental skills than they could investing the same amount of time in training! This is especially true after age 40. In the eBook I demonstrate how sports psychology can be another tool in your toolbox to help you improve your cycling, just like effective training, good equipment and healthy nutrition. Gaining a Mental Edge is set up as a workbook with a progressive set of skills to practice and master. Just you can practice specific cycling skills you can also practice and learn specific mental skills. Winter when you are riding less is an opportunity to gain a mental edge. The 17-page Gaining a Mental Edge: Using Sports Psychology to Improve Your Cycling is just $4.99.

Coach John Hughes earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200-km randonnée and the Furnace Creek 508, a Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifier. He has ridden solo RAAM twice and is a 5-time finisher of the 1200-km Paris-Brest-Paris. He has written nearly 30 eBooks and eArticles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore at Coach John Hughes. Click to read John’s full bio

Hello, and welcome to my stories of why it is imperative to sign up for every ride. Is it a pain given that you go on the same ride every week? Indeed. But if I had not clicked that form, I would not be covered by CRW’s third-party insurance and I’d be paying all the out-of-pocket medical costs for a recent spill. 

But I’m smiling for more reasons than that as I stand next to the flowers CRW sent as I begin to recover with a 10mm titanium plate and 9 screws in my left olecranon (elbow/ulna).

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Nina is enjoying the flowers from her CRW friends, but wearing a cast on her arm.

This is the second time I’ve had an accident while leading a CRW ride. Both times I was covered by CRW insurance.

Both times were beautiful days for a ride. October 20, 2018: I was leading and on a flat section in Wayland—BANG! I have no idea what happened, but woke up in an ambulance at Newton-Wellesley Hospital with Barbara Jacobs, Bike Thursday Ride Coordinator with me. Barbara never left side and told the docs what happened and I am so grateful, because I was had no idea what occurred. It was never determined what caused my accident but the result was this: I fell over, hit my head, was unconscious for five minutes (riders clocked the time) and had a brain bleed in two places. CRW people stayed with me while I was on the ground and took care of my stuff; Barbara made sure my husband, Duane Roth, was contacted and stayed with me until he arrived. CRW insurance covered every penny of my out-of-pocket costs—just under $5,000. (Sadly, no insurance coverage replaced my two favorite bike jerseys, which were cut off.)

September 23, 2021: I’d been tapped to co-lead Bike Thursday with Amy Wilson and Brenda Barry. We were looking forward to a wonderful day as rain wasn’t in the cards until late afternoon; best buds were on the ride; picnic was all set with serious triple chocolate brownies and vegan/GF/DF lemon cookies I’d baked along with perfectly ripe peaches Amy brought.  In training for the Cranberry Harvest Century, I biked to the start with Judy Gertler and Phyllis Evan while Brenda brought all my goodies in her car. Oh yeah, we were ready for serious après-ride birthday party fun!

After the usual welcomes, route info, and safety speech at our typically fully subscribed ride, I led the first group out from North Bridge. We were riding a fabulous 13+ average speed for two thirds of the ride. Then the clouds started to spit, and soon the rain came down in earnest. We stopped under some trees, decided to shorten the ride and continued.  I swapped leader duty with Deb Caban, a Ride Leader, who knew the shortcut. As we remounted I reminded all about careful braking and leaving room between riders due to rain-slicked roads.

The rain was warm, so I didn’t mind it; I was determined to enjoy myself through the hopefully short rainfall but soon it was coming down in sheets and my glasses were full. 

Then it happened. I hit an invisible water-filled pothole because it matched the rain-slicked road! My bike came to a complete stop but I didn’t. I fell to my left, trying not to hit my head and face first on Westford Road or drop too far out into traffic (if there was any, though last I’d looked it was clear); I pulled my torso up and to the right (thank goodness for years of yoga) as I slammed the road with my left side first. Elbow and arm took the brunt, hip next, and then my head did hit and the wind knocked out of me. In 2 or 3 seconds John Caban, our sweep, also a Ride Leader, hit my rear wheel and I watched him fly over me. Could not believe it! John hit the road also but picked himself up with minimal scratches and checked on me in moments. Luckily I was conscious the entire time, knew something was wrong but not what.

A motorist called 911 while John called Deb, who was just ahead of us; she sent Jane Fallon, a new Ride Leader, nurse and also an absolutely perfect person in a crisis. She rode back and arrived in moments. Jane did triage while John contacted my husband. EMTs arrived and the hustle and bustle took over. During the time I was on the ground the second group came by, also taking the shortcut. By that time the rain had stopped. Jane came in the ambulance with me. Deb continued and took our group safely in, John stayed with the bikes and waited to be picked up.

The key points here are (1) while caring for the downed person, communicate with the group and (2) someone should go with your rider to the hospital.  If the injured person cannot ask just go with them. It will be done for you. Jane stayed with me until Duane arrived. An aside: I gave Jane my phone. In my first accident I had my phone and while I was out of it I emailed some blather to my family and upset the whole lot of them…do not do that!

The moral of the story: Accidents happen. You can’t always avoid them. Be extra cautious riding on wet roads and leave more space between riders than you think you need.  And sign up for all CRW rides so you are insured. 

And last, what happened to the third group? They had no rain and rode the whole route.

But equally important is our CRW Ride Leaders who took on more that day and made sure riders and bikes were where they needed to be and eventually most riders had a picnic and treats except for our vegan/GF/DF friends as the cookies were unlabeled. I won’t make that mistake again. I am very happy to ride with such a Club and call these folks friends.

See you on the roads in the spring but likely not in the rain.

There's nothing better than getting out for a ride, but on a rest day a video can almost take us there. Enjoy our monthly virtual film fest.

Alex Post is a CRW member who lives in Virginia, but regularly visits MA to bike with his dad. He has also led rides for CRW.