CRW Rides are open to members and guests. Guests may attend two rides annually before being required to join the club. Please click the Register button to the left to join the ride. Helmets are required on all CRW rides. Riders are expected to adhere to CRW code of conduct, template 20240327
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Update as of Friday early AM: The route has been scouted and slightly changed to add some freshly renewed gravel and delete some recently paved over sections. The link below has the latest version of the route. Additionally, realizing that biking on gravel, flat or otherwise, can be more strenuous than biking the same distance on pavement, I've included a bailout version of the route for those who, by mile 30, feel they've fullfilled their daily gravel quota. Load both routes on your GPS device. If, at mile 30, the bailout looks really appealing, switch to that route on your GPS. Basically, to bail, go right. To continue on the original route, go left.
Although there are no stores at which we can buy lunch, there is a boat launching area at mile 20 with a view, seating of sorts, and maybe some shelter from the expected north wind. I suggest taking a snack break here.
We have enough signups to split into slow, medium, and fast groups. I'll try to do this at the start. But, I caution the hammerheads, the turns on dirt roads can be subtle. Lacking any directional intuition, the faster I go, the loster I get.
Ride Description:
It all began here over 400 years ago. But, unlike the reproduction Pilgrim village, a surprisingly large number of the original roads survive to the present day in some semblance of their original form. Let's explore some of them. Approximately 35 miles. More gravel than not, most of which is town maintained although the quality of the maintenance does vary. We'll be on real roads, not bike paths, so expect some vehicular traffic. This is a decidedly non techy ride but it's not for road bikes. Some of the roads are smoother than asphalt. Others, not so much. We will encounter one single track path connecting 2 roads. The challenge is not riding it, it's finding it. So easy to ride right past it. Here's what it looks like at about mile 31:
These are not heavily traveled roads which means no places to get food on route. Bring enough to eat to get you to the finish. Tons of places to eat/drink post ride.
Pace: I ride at a very sedate pace and it takes 3.5 - 4.0 hours for me to do the ride. That includes the usual wrong turns, bike/clothing adjustments, and general confusion. For the CX racers among us and those whose riding posture is typically outta the saddle, you can do it closer to 3 hours or less. I'll try to enable those of comparable pace to ride together. The navigation is pretty easy - after you've done it a few times.
Ride Start Location:
The parking lot of the Big Lots store in the Grove Shopping Mall at exit 13 off rt 3. It takes just under an hour to get there from the greater Boston area.
There is a vast amount of parking here. Here's the google maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/QtKXsLCNuPJSPFWVA
We'll park close to some coffee, sandwich, and brew establishments we may want to patronize after the ride.
If you need a rest room after the drive to the start, pull into the park-and-ride at the exit from Rt3. There's a rest room at the vistors center/Macdonalds. Then proceed to the Big Lots parking lot.
Ride Leader(s):
Gene Ho. email: ho.eugene@verizon.net phone: 617-610-1875
Link to RwGPS Route
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48943432
Bailout route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48997168
Don't upload to your phone or gps device until 8:00 pm of the day before the ride. I may make minor tweaks to the route up until that time.
