By Lorenz J. Finison, Club Historian

For CRW's 60th anniversary, WheelPeople and Club Historian Lorenz J. Finison are taking a look back through the club's history. This article was originally published in April 2016's issue of WheelPeople under the title "The Early Days of the Charles River Wheelmen: Part 2."

In 1969, the C.R.W. Newsletter reported that "touristy Rockport was dazzled by a League of American Wheelmen Roundup parade led by Dr. Paul Dudley White," a heart specialist, advocate of bicycling since the 1930s, founder of the Committee for Safe Bicycling in 1957, and activist for bike paths. At Rockport: "Little Miss Heart paraded with twenty high wheelers and other antique cycles, five unicycles, and hundreds of other bicycles." A "showstopper" family group rode tandem: Charles and Alma Harris with their two daughters, 2 1/2-year old Bonnie and 5-year old Louise. "All wore matching blue and white jerseys and Bonnie rode in a backpack on her daddy's back while Louise rode in a child's seat on the back of the tandem."

As the Newsletter exulted: "Not many people at the bandstand will forget the performance put on by the antique cyclists and not many will forget the New England clambake served outdoors by the ocean with the smell of the sea air. The highlight after the clambake was a speech by Dr. White. The luxurious Ralph Waldo Emerson Inn was filled to capacity that night with tired cyclists." White's presence connected in other ways. The Bicycle Institute of America, representing the bicycle trades, had commissioned Norman Rockwell, the famed illustrator, to provide a portrait of Dr. White, and prints were auctioned off for over a thousand dollars to benefit the Heart Fund. The cyclists got great media coverage including twelve minutes on the WBZ-TV show, New England Today.

A year prior to the Roundup, C.R.W. president Ralph Galen was elected L.A.W. New England States director and biked 1,000 miles to the L.A.W. national meeting in Marion, Indiana. The L.A.W. had been mid-west dominated since its revival in the 1950s. A proposal surfaced during the fall to put the next annual Roundup in New England.  C.R.W. co-founder Fred Chaffee started exploring venues, and settled on Rockport. The L.A.W. president at the time, mid-westerner Hartley Atley, suggested that Galen not only do the local arrangements, but do the whole program too, since Atley would be frequently out of the country. Galen pushed back, suggesting that "now you are asking me to do what in my opinion you should be doing yourself." Within a few days, Atley resigned and made way for Galen to organize  the Roundup, and to be elected L.A.W. president. He was the first L.A.W. president from New England since the early 1900s.

The Rockport Roundup represented opportunities to ally with other cycling organizations. And C.R.W. made the most of these connections. Headliners and organizers included: Eugene Cummings, President of the Northeast Bicycle Club (the main racing club in the area, started by Dick Ring and Buddy Dodd in 1957); John Moore, an industrial arts teacher, and advisor to the Cyclonauts Bicycle Club of Hampden (started as a teen club in 1965, and rode a double century meeting up with members of the C.R.W. in 1968); and "Tip" O'Neill, Cambridge Congressman, and auctioneer for bikes donated by Columbia and Schwinn to White and Rockwell.  Dan Henry of the New York City Cycle club and inventor of the "Dan Henry" road arrows, auctioned off the Norman Rockwell prints. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Town of Rockport issued proclamations for "bike day" in honor of the occasion. Of the bicycle dealers present, Ben Olken stood out as the most consistent booster of cycling organizations since he opened the Bicycle Exchange in Harvard Square in 1933. He supported the American Youth Hostels, White's Committee for Safe Bicycling, and the Charles River Wheelmen. The Bicycle Exchange was a central place for C.R.W. communications and new member recruitment.

In theory, cycling bonds would be cemented further in after-roundup trips to Nova Scotia (led by John Likins, an electrician-in-training, and Stuart Bradford, a young biologist faculty member at UMass-Boston). The tours included C.R.W. members, but cyclists from other parts of the country too, eager to take the "Blue Nose" from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth and cycle far beyond. Twenty-eight cyclists joined, but as one leader remembered it, the tour was "loosely structured due to different interests and capabilities," and the rain and gloom of the Nova Scotia coastline.  Likins went off with C.R.W. photographer Henry Soron to Peggy's Cove and Halifax, and then out the Annapolis Valley and back via the south shore to Yarmouth. Ralph Galen and John Vanderpoel ended up on Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail. The rest went out to Smith's Cove or Digby and did day trips, including a century ride down Digby Neck and back.

Boston was in the midst of a bicycling Renaissance! In the fall following the 1969 Rockport Roundup, C.R.W. members joined Dr. White, Boston Parks and Recreation Commissioner Joseph Curtis, and a representative from the Mayor's office to initiate the "first of what [the Commission] hoped would be many rides, with a ride starting from City Hall plaza on October 14." The C.R.W. members included Mary Jane Condon, Ralph Galen, Harry Kriche, Ronald Sinjian, and Cutler West - a wealthy retiree from Polaroid. "The park commission wanted help from C.R.W. and other cyclists for future rides and other activities like laying out bike routes and paths." A Boston Herald story about the event featured bicycling as a means to physical health coupled with bicycling as a means to environmental health - to reduce air pollution.

Taking a cue from such activism, Division of Family Health Services program director George Gulick, along with Re-Creation '70 and Ecology Action, organized an October 8, 1970 "Ride Your Bike to Work Day,” to include Curtis and led out by Paul Dudley White. Curtis told the press that “the city has proposals before the federal government for funds to construct new bike routes through the city, provide racks and build bike stops with benches, shelters, trees and planting.”

The Bike-to-Work Day rally featured two cycling engineering workers from the Boston Naval Shipyard – both African American – Charlie Lee (an ex-Tuskegee airman) and Wilbert Mason, unusual in the largely “white” world of bicycling in the 1970s. Both were members of the Charles River Wheelmen, and both ran for the C.R.W. Board in 1971. Mason was elected. Also in 1971, World War II veteran Frank Williams, a black electrical engineer at Boston Naval Shipyard, and participant in the Nova Scotia tour, chaired the bulletin mailing committee for C.R.W.

Days after the Bike-to-Work event, Gerry Wright, an environmentalist and founder of a transition house for youth, Dynamic Action Resident Enterprise (DARE), organized yet another Bike Day ride into Boston to converge on Boston Common. Streams of riders from all over the Greater Boston region coalesced. Wright went out to the Old North Bridge in Concord to gather up riders for the commute to Boston. Ralph Galen rode his 1886 model high wheeler, and Commissioner Curtis promised that the city would make a major effort to provide "more space for cyclists." Cutler West, a commuting cyclist and C.R.W. member helped to pay the expenses for the Common event out of his “Bicycle Foundation,” which sought to encourage “utility as well as recreational cycling.”

Earth Week in April, 1971 also included a Bike to Work Day, sponsored again by the Division of Family Health Services and held in conjunction with the opening of a Green Belt Bikeway which stretched, in theory, from the Boston Common to Franklin Field.

That fall, to promote commuting, a competition was organized by Randy Selden, founder and head of the Association for Bicycle Commuting, and Lou Antonellis, the city bike coordinator. Nine auto-bike pairs assembled at various locations in a “morning race to the office.” Everyone had to observe the rules of the road, including stopping at all red lights. Final score:  bicycles 7, autos 2. Among the pairs were the two Bailey brothers, founders of C.R.W. George Bailey took on the new undersecretary of human affairs Donald Scherl, from near Coolidge Corner, Brookline, and made the trip in 16 minutes, beating Scherl by five minutes. His younger brother Bruce competed on a ten-speed bike against newly elected city councilor Larry DiCara, from Di Cara’s home on Codman Hill avenue in Dorchester. DiCara took the Southeast Expressway and Bailey cycled up “Dot Ave.” Bailey made it to City Hall in 26 minutes and won by three minutes.  “Bailey described his route as ‘hairy.’ ‘I didn’t cheat. I stopped for every red light. If I didn’t, I’d have been wiped out.’” In a letter to the Boston Herald, the previous year, DiCara, despite his opposition to the overbuilding of highways, had ridiculed the idea of the Green Belt Bikeway. He called it an “insult to the citizens of the city,” and a “needless and costly luxury,” especially considering that it would “benefit only a few and some would not be citizens of the city.” His letter prompted a response from David Gordon Wilson, C.R.W. member, MIT engineering professor, and member of the Paul Dudley White's Committee for Safe Bicycling: “Compared to what?  The Southwest Expressway [I-95 extension]? The Inner Belt [I-695]?” Both of these highways were resisted by strong community-based organizing, including some C.R.W. cyclists like George and Bruce Bailey, and indeed, by DiCara himself.

The bicycling Renaissance invigorated other organizations too, most importantly expanded Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and American Youth Hostel (AYH) cycling options, and connections to charity. Charity rides spread rapidly in 1969 when the Massachusetts Teachers Association sponsored "Ride-a-Bike," to aid the Massachusetts Association for Retarded Children (MARC).

In September, 1971,  and for several years after, Donna Haines, C.R.W. member, AYH ride leader, and Tewksbury school teacher, promoted AYH/MARC rides. C.R.W. members frequently joined in with these rides and actively championed them. What was the difference? One former AMC bike leader, Warren Sass,  summed it up in one word: "accomplishment." In his view, the  "accomplishment" bikers all gravitated to the C.R.W." Accomplishment in a broad sense was a feature for all the clubs, as witness the care in doling out distance badges in this era. But the balance between physical accomplishment, sociality, naturalist/environmentalist and charitable interests in the ride and beyond it differed amongst the groups.

The C.R.W. was certainly the beneficiary of enthusiasm generated by the environmental movement: it was in on the beginning of the bicycle Renaissance.  In 1972, George Bailey, reflecting on the history of the still-young C.R.W. indicated that membership was over 300,  and "is still increasing and its activities are broadening. It has members whose interests range from casual cycling to racing, from family tandems to single thousand-mile journeys.  The membership also includes a far broader range of interest, background and viewpoint that did its predecessor, the Boston Bicycle Club, with its singularly 'Social Register' membership."

Bailey may have exaggerated the differences. The Boston Bicycle Club of the 1880s was more upper middle-class professional than of the truly wealthy elite. It included doctors, dentists, lawyers, newspaper men, and politicians. If you could have added a large dose of engineers to the mix, it would have looked like the C.R.W. founders. In the 1890s bicycling became more varied in its class membership, and clerks of various kinds took up the sport. Like now, however, cycling did not extend to factory operatives or others of similar social position.  

Bailey claimed that:

The present club has held its share of the inevitable cocktail parties, but it has reached out beyond these environs. Dr. Galen himself brought a group of inner-city youngsters along on the 1968 Wheel Around the Hub. The boys found the experience a great success.

Now the Wheelmen look not only to continued cycling activities but to greater political involvement. Efforts will continue to involve larger numbers of bicyclists, and safety programs to eliminate or modify dangerous road fixtures will be encouraged. A bicycle path program and the reservation of sections of public highways in some areas may well be workable - programs which follow the example of the Cape Cod National Sea Shore. In many other ways, the Charles River Wheelmen will endeavor to add new dimensions to the goals set by their historic elder pacemakers in the promotion of self-propelled ground transportation.

The year 1972 closed out very well for cyclists. C.R.W. had increased in membership from a struggling 35 in 1967 to over 300 at the beginning of the year. Rockport rider Bonnie Harris, was now six years old. On October 1, wearing her C.R.W. cap, she climbed on the back seat of a tandem with its sprocket “welded up high enough to accommodate her first grade legs,” and set off with her father Chuck on a 138 mile three day “Pedal Against Pollution” from Pittsfield to Boston.

In Amherst the cyclists heard an impassioned speech about bikeways from Olympian racer John Allis, and then rode to Marlboro where the C.R.W. came out to escort them to Boston’s Government Center. At the end, Bonnie hopped off her tandem and told the waiting press, simply: “Cars are no good.”

The Pedal Against Pollution represented a flowering of environmentalist bicycling. Despite Allis' championing of bike paths to achieve that end, however, paths were by no means universally accepted as practical wisdom or philosophy. The C.R.W. founders were almost all commuting cyclists, and yet the club was dedicated to recreation. How these conflicting allegiances, practices, and priorities interacted is another story to tell.  Stay tuned for Part 3.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The article is based on Finison’s book: Boston’s Bicycling Renaissance: Cultural and Political Change on Two Wheels. University of Massachusetts Press, 2019. The book is a follow-up to Boston's Cycling Craze 1880-1900:  A Story of Race, Sport, and Society. University of Massachusetts Press, 2014. Many of the source materials are in the Bicycle History Archives at UMass-Boston Archives. A footnoted version of the article is available at: Bostonscyclingcraze.blogspot.com

Please join us at Pedal Power in Acton for a ~90 minute clinic on basic bike maintenance. We will be led through this workshop by shop owner Joyce Reischutz and her veteran mechanics. Topics will include: 

1. Pre-ride safety check 
   
2. Fixing a flat tire
3. Adjusting brakes
   
4. Basic drivetrain adjustment
   
5. Q&A Session!

Where: Pedal Power Bike Shop, 176 Great Rd Acton, MA 01720
When: 7:00 pm, Thursday June 11th

Bring your own bike (optional). Event is free for CRW members. Space is limited to 10. 

Please reach out to John O'Dowd (bikejon@verizon.net) with any questions.

Directions:
From RT 2, at Concord rotary take RT 2A west (Great Rd) for 1.5 miles.

From RT 495 take Littleton Common exit onto RT 2A east for 5.7 miles 

Please join us for a celebration of the life of Eli Post. 

When: Sunday June 14

Time: 9:30 for 24 miles, 9:00 for 40 miles
           Bench dedication at 10

Where: 24 mile route: Byam Elementary School, Chelmsford                                    40 mile route: Robbins House Parking Lot, Concord

We will dedicate a bench for Eli along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in Chelmsford MA near Heart Pond, and reflect on his contributions to Charles River Wheelers.

Eli was the living embodiment of CRW. He was a core member of the club, serving as president, VP of Rides, editor of Wheel People, and of course ride leader.

He was a great motivator and encouraged others to give back to the club. He dedicated many hours improving how the club ran, organizing newcomer rides, making sure Wheel People had quality content, and even manning the hot dog grill after century rides. His contributions are too numerous to list here.

After the dedication ceremony at his bench, we will ride the back roads of Chelmsford and Westford together, as engaging in a club ride is the best way to commemorate his service to the club.

Register here

By John S. Allen, CRW Safety Coordinator

Safe and cooperative operation of a bicycle—or any vehicle—requires cooperation with other road users, making it possible for many vehicles at once to travel in reasonable safety, faster than walking speed. The traffic law is often the first and only thing people think of in this context—but the traffic law only codifies the rules of the road, and the rules of the road rest on the foundation of the more basic rules of movement, which are based on logic, the characteristics of vehicles, and human abilities

Human abilities

Safe and cooperative operation of a bicycle—or any vehicle—requires cooperation with other road users, making it possible for many vehicles at once to travel in reasonable safety, faster than walking speed. The traffic law is often the first and only thing people think of in this context—but the traffic law only codifies the rules of the road, and the rules of the road rest on the foundation of the more basic rules of movement, which are based on logic, the characteristics of vehicles, and human abilities

We humans are social beings who can cooperate with one another. We have a fine ability to judge time and spatial relationships, but we have a perception and reaction time and eyes only in the front of our heads—looking forward is easier and more convenient than looking to the rear. 

Characteristics of vehicles

Vehicles move most easily in a straight line and have physical limitations on how sharply they can turn and on stopping distance. This leads to our first rule of movement:

First come, first served

The bumper sticker saying “I may be slow, but I'm ahead of you” puts it rather well. And in this context:

Safe following distance

Drivers must look ahead of themselves most of the time, to steer their course. The speed capabilities of vehicles differ greatly. A vehicle ahead may have to slow or stop suddenly to avoid a hazard. Vehicles can brake much more abruptly than they can accelerate. 

For all of these reasons, the driver of a following vehicle is held responsible for avoiding a collision with a leading one. Imagine the opposite: that the leading driver would be required to accelerate and increase the risks ahead to avoid one behind, if acceleration is even possible. No thanks! Overtaking is allowed only where safe. This also reflects the human abilities and limitations described earlier.

Driving on the right

To avoid colliding with traffic from the opposite direction, drivers keep right—or left, in some countries. This is the only rule of movement which is completely arbitrary. It can work either way, as long as everyone follows the same rule.  

For the remainder of this discussion, we will assume that vehicles keep right.

Speed positioning

On a two-way roadway, stopped traffic is at the edge, slow traffic closer to the center, and overtaking traffic may cross the centerline. On a one-way roadway, or one with more than one lane in a given direction, overtaking on either side may be permitted, but overtaking on the right is generally restricted in order to keep speeds more consistently slower at the right edge. 

Because attention is focused mostly ahead, the driver of the overtaking vehicle must take the initiative, must evaluate the situation and determine when it is safe. The driver who is being overtaken must not prevent safe overtaking by speeding up. If overtaking is not possible for a long time, the leading driver must pull aside when a safe opportunity arises.

Priority to through routes

Now we begin to address traffic that moves in different directions. 

For the sake of efficient traffic flow, a vehicle entering a roadway from a private driveway or parking spot must yield to traffic already on the roadway. Traffic on a minor road yields to traffic on a major road, as usually indicated with a stop sign or yield sign. Some other countries, notably France, use the priority for the vehicle on the right more broadly, even when it requires yielding to a vehicle on a minor road 

Changing lane position

Changing lane position may be necessary to change to overtake a slower vehicle, to prepare to turn, or because the usable roadway narrows—for example, when there is a double-parked car ahead.  

In all of these cases, a merge to the new lane position is carried out in advance of the need to be in the new lane, when it is safe to look to the rear for overtaking traffic, and as traffic permits –when another vehicle behind is not approaching in the new lane or lane position.

Turns are prepared with a merge to the right before turning right, and to the center (or the left side of a one-way roadway) before turning left. Once having reached the correct lane position for a turn, the driver can focus attention on traffic to the front, in the intersection, avoiding the need to look both backward and forward at the same time. 

Understanding lane positioning is especially important for the operator of a bicycle or motorcycle, who needs to choose not only a lane, but also a position within a lane.

Intersection yielding rules

The fundamental rule for intersections is that turning vehicles yield to through traffic. Right-turning vehicles yield to traffic coming from the left. Left-turning vehicles yield to all other traffic, because they are not only turning, but also cutting across the path of through traffic. 

When two vehicles arrive at an uncontrolled intersection at right angles at approximately the same time, the one on the left is required to wait, as it has an extra half road-width in which to stop.

In rotary intersections, all traffic in the circular roadway comes from the left, and that rule for uncontrolled intersections applies. That s how rotaries can work without traffic signals.

A T intersection, a yield sign or stop sign is at least in theory not needed, as traffic entering from the “vertical” leg of the T can only turn right or left. 

Signaling

A turn signal may be a courtesy, a warning, or a request. Signaling a left turn informs another driver that it is unsafe to overtake on the left. Signaling a right turn informs a driver in the cross street to the right that it is OK to proceed. When a driver is intending to change lane position, a turn signal is a request to another driver to extend courtesy and make room. 

Brake lights or a slow signal made with the hand provide a warning that a vehicle is slow or stopping, Especially for bicyclists and other operators of slow vehicles, a slow signal may indicate that it is unsafe to overtake.  

Many signaling laws date back to before 1950 when motor vehicles did not yet have electrical turn signals, and all hand signals had to be made with the left hand extended out the driver’s window. Many jurisdictions now allow bicyclists to make a right-turn signal with the right hand. This makes a lot more sense, because the hand points point to where the cyclist is going. Massachusetts also allows the slow signal with the right, and that can work better too if the bicyclist is to the left.

Traffic controls

Signs, signals and markings may be needed to refine or even overturn the default rules when a street is wide, traffic is heavy or fast, or sight lines are short. A yield sign or “tiger tooth” pavement markings indicate that cross traffic has priority. A stop sign or flashing red light requires a yield, but also a stop, sometimes necessary for safety. Other signs indicate special rules such as speed limits, or warn of hazards. 

Traffic signals establish different times for different traffic movements. Lane markings may establish zones where overtaking is or is not permitted; designate lanes for different destinations; or restrict use to particular types of vehicles, but in the latter case should never overturn the obligation to merge to the lane appropriate for the destination. 

Yielding to pedestrians

Generally, drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, though traffic signals may establish a different priority. Drivers may or may not be required to yield between crosswalks, depending on applicable laws, and especially not close to a crosswalk.

Summary

To sum up:  vehicle operation can be described as a form of continually mutually-improvised group choreography based on the rules of movement, which reflect human abilities and characteristics of vehicles to optimize safety and efficiency of travel. The traffic law rests on that foundation, codifying the rules, setting qualifications for operation of vehicles, establishing penalties for violations, and determining fault in the case of a mishap. 

A Caveat

The traffic law does not teach skills needed for safe operation. Skills must be learned elsewhere, through instruction, practice and experience.

By John Springfield

In April I was pouring over maps, looking for a long rail trail, preferably paved.
Lo and behold, I discovered the Ohio-To-Erie Trail, a 300-mile abandoned railroad route going from Cincinnati to Cleveland, Ohio.

Except for a 15-mile stretch south of Cleveland, the whole route was flat and paved.

Now, when to go?
In early April it was still snowing in parts of the Northeast.
But the second week of April presented Ohio with an unusual warm spell.
So, I rented a car and drove my bike to Cincinnati.
I had to drive through snow squalls on the New York Thruway.
Was this a mistake? Would the Ohio trail be covered with snow and ice?

Luckily, Cincinnati was snow free.  In fact it was quite warm (60s).

The Ohio-To-Erie trail incorporates a bunch of rail and community trails.
I started on a riverfront trail in downtown Cincinnati and headed northeast.
I linked up with the Little Miami Trail and stayed on it for two days.
The Little Miami is a linear state park and well maintained.
As advertised, it was flat, paved, and shaded by a tree covering for many miles.

The first few days i had perfect riding weather.
I went through quaint towns, dined at local cafes, and enjoyed the car-free trail.
Since this was a former train route, many towns had converted the train stations to visitor centers.  Some displayed old cabooses along the way.

As I approached downtown  Columbus, the route took me along the Scioto River.
Here is where the signage was a little confusing.  But after a few wrong turns I quickly returned to the quiet path. 

Northeast of Columbus the trail became the Heart of Ohio Trail.
I particularly liked this area as I traveled through Westerville, Galena, Sunbury, and Centerburg.  Going through these towns transported me back to the mid west of my youth.

As I biked through an Amish area I encountered a few buggies.
(The buggies are permitted on the rail trail.)

There were some areas where construction had me backtracking.
But I guess they have to work on the trails sometime!

I watched the weather forecasts as I headed north to Cleveland.
Fortunately, all the rain came at night.  So far, I avoided daytime rain.
However, a strong wind/rain band from the southwest was predicted.

So I decided to take the fastest route to Cleveland by using roads instead of the trail.

After biking  the traffic-free bike trail for 7 days, using the roads took some adjustment.
I ran into a series of rolling hills.  My cardio system was not pleased.

But once I spied the tall buildings of Cleveland, all was flat again.
I located one of the "Cleveland Script" signs and took a picture.
To get to my downtown hotel I biked the trails along Lake Erie.
I passed by parks, a yacht club, and an industrial area.
Then there was a series of bridges to get over to downtown.

After I checked into my hotel, I washed up and fell asleep for an afternoon nap.

When I awoke I turned on the news.
To my surprise I had just missed a major hail storm with golf-ball chunks of ice!

Anyway, this was one of the most enjoyable trips I have taken.
The trail was flat and peaceful and the temperatures stayed in the 60-70s.
And let's not forget the friendliness of the mid western diners.

For daily journal and photos:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/OTE2026

By Ken Schwarz, Century Coordinator

Is riding a century something you’ve always wanted to do, but it just seemed like too much? Almost every first century begins the same way: with a promise you make to yourself. The good news is that keeping that promise is much easier in the company of like-minded cyclists working together to reach that goal. Read on and decide whether you’re ready to make that promise to yourself today.

Introducing the CRW Century Training Program!

Make no mistake: riding 100 miles in one day is a real challenge. But with proper planning and preparation, it can be the kind of big ride you can end with a smile, not a sufferfest!

This summer, CRW is launching a Century Training Program: a series of supported training rides and guidance to help members complete their first CRW Cranberry Century in October. It isn’t a race plan, and it isn’t about suffering. It’s about learning the skills that make long rides feel manageable, and building the specific kind of fitness that lets you finish strong and enjoy the day.

Who the program is for

The program is designed for riders who today can ride about 30 miles comfortably but haven’t gone all the way to 100. You’ve been on group rides, maybe many of them, but not for the whole day. Or maybe you’ve done a metric century but want a better experience—more joy with less gruel? If so, this program could be for you. If you have time for one long ride on the weekends and a couple of shorter spins during the week, you should be able to do it.

What you’ll learn

A century goes well when a few fundamentals are in place. Over the summer we’ll focus on:

• Pacing: riding at your optimal effort level for the day and climbing hills without exhausting yourself early.

• Durability: building aerobic endurance, muscular endurance, and contact-point comfort (hands, neck, butt, feet).

• Fueling and hydration: eating and drinking in a way that keeps your energy stable and your spirits bright.

• Self-sufficiency: what to bring, what to practice, and how to handle the inevitable hiccups.

• Group riding skills: get comfortable riding with others to gain drafting benefits while maintaining safety and control.

How it works

The program comprises a series of nine supported weekend rides starting August 17 and running through the October 18 Cranberry Century event.  The rides will start at 25-30 miles and gradually build your capacity and make the pacing and hill-climbing skills needed for a century feel like second nature. 

Details like exact dates, routes, and meeting points will be shared with participants as we near the program start. Routes will piggyback on existing CRW rides. Training rides are designed to be no-drop whenever staffing allows, with leaders and sweeps helping the group stay together.

Coming soon: “Your First Century” article mini-series

Over the next three months, we’ll publish a practical mini-series of articles to support program participants and all CRW members alike:

• July - Prepping the body & bike: confirming bike fit and comfort, progressive ride plan, long-course endurance pacing habits.

• August – What to bring: the right layers, repair kit, lighting, charging discipline, and navigation redundancy without overpacking.

• September – Century countdown: the checklist for the week before and the day of the ride, including fueling, stops, handling the blahs, and smart decision rules.

What you can do now

In July we will open the program for new century riders who have signed up for the Cranberry Century. If you are interested, now you can:

• Block your calendar so that you can ride progressively long weekend rides every week from August 17 through the Cranberry.

• Join the CRW Slack space, and follow the #century-training channel. Feel free to drop your questions here! 

• Let Ken Schwarz (ken.schwarz@crw.org) know that you would like to participate. The more visibility we have for interest, the better we can recruit the ride leaders we’ll need.

• Start noticing your “comfort ceiling.” Where do you feel discomfort or stiffness? In your neck? Your hands? Take notes from your next 30-mile ride and share them with Ken; we’ll look to address them in the July issue.

• Make that First Century Promise today!

Hello CRW members.

Are you guessing at how to do things on Ride with GPS? Do you find the help pages to be confusing or just not giving you the answers you need?

There is help for you!

Tsachi Avrahni is CRW's Ride with GPS manager and he's making himself available to answer your RwGPS questions!

To maximize efficiency he will take your questions before the webinar. Contact him at tsachi@avrahami.com at least one day before the event.

Event Info:
When: Wednesday June 17 at 7:00pm
Where: Your computer! A link to the event will be sent the day before to all who sign up
Cost: Free to CRW members

Put an end to your ride planning aggravation and join us for an evening of RwGPS enlightenment. Tsachi will show you the way!

text to come.

Come help us make North to New Hampshire Spring Century (N2NH) a success!

Volunteer signup is open.

To volunteer, click on this web link: https://volunteersignup.org/TTWWC (or copy it into your web browser) to access the signup sheet, and follow the instructions on the page. Information on the 2026 century series plus the volunteer signup link is also available on the CRW website: Charles River Wheelers - Centuries.

CRW Member Benefit: Volunteer for N2NH and you ride N2NH OR another 2026 century free of charge! Here's how:

• Commit to a volunteer position by signing up.
• Contact Mark Nardone (mark.nardone@crw.org) for a volunteer registration code. For N2NH, you'll receive a N2NH volunteer registration code. If you want to apply this benefit to another 2026 CRW century, contact Mark before registering for that event.
• Attend a virtual volunteer meeting a week or so prior to the event (1 hour). Date and time are TBD.
• The benefit is not transferable to other riders.
• The benefit applies to 2026 centuries only.

We are looking for:

• 1 more volunteer at the American Legion Park waterstop in Georgetown, MA
• 2 volunteers to help with the after party
• Ride leaders, especially for the 50 mile route
• Ride sweeps for all distances.

For more information about the N2NH century, click HERE. Contact century@crw.org if you have further questions.

We're getting ready for a great event, and hope to see you there!

By Lorenz J. Finison, Club Historian

For CRW's 60th anniversary, WheelPeople and Club Historian Lorenz J. Finison are taking a look back through the club's history. This article was originally published in March 2016's issue of WheelPeople under the title "The Early Days of the Charles River Wheelmen: Part 1."

In 1965, George Bailey, an electrical engineer, train-cycle commuter, and Sharon planning board member, browsed the cheap book bin at a Boston used bookstore.He found a Scribner’s article about the Wheel Around the Hub (W.A.T.H.), of 1879, a great recreational tour organized by the Boston Bicycle Club. Wide publicity resulted in the 19th century explosion of bicycling - the Craze. Many years later, beyond the 1900-1960 bicycling Bust, and on the cusp of its Renaissance, Bailey organized a reenactment in honor of Sharon’s upcoming bicentenary. The ride was covered by WBZ-TV's 11 PM news, and other media. A dozen "rugged young people" including Bailey's son Duff and daughter Janet and Sharon classmates set out from Sharon on a rainy October 12, for a round trip to Roxbury. The rest of seventy participants, including Lucy Bailey and three-year old Tom, traveled by car and bus to the Eliot Church at the corner of Warren and Walnut streets, where its predecessor had left almost a hundred years before. Following that route, the cyclists rode past Jamaica Pond, then wound their way out to stop for a tip-of-the-hat to Cobb's Tavern, the Boston Bicycle Club's 19th Century cyclists' country clubhouse, and they pedaled on to banquet at the site of the W.A.T.H.’s overnight stay, now the Sharon Community Center, on Lake Massapoag.

W.A.T.H. Re-enactment. George Bailey on right. Note the lack of helmets and the "ordinary" clothing. (Source: Boston Record-American, October 13, 1965).

George's younger brother Bruce was an avid cyclist as a young boy growing up in Sharon, delivering papers and biking to lawn-mowing jobs. Years later he began to bicycle from his home in Milton Village to his mechanical engineering job at MIT. The commute along Dorchester Avenue was none too comfortable in the early 1960s and after a couple of near crashes he switched to a route around Jamaica Pond.

Some of George and Bruce's fellow cyclists, including Cambridge orthodontist Ralph Galen and ex-newspaperman and long-time American Youth Hostels (AYH) leader Fred Chaffee, began to band together in a new group, since the other major recreational club, the Cambridge Sports and Cycle Club, had by that time passed from the scene. According to legend, Galen supplied the "Charles River" and Chaffee the "Wheelmen" in the "Charles River Wheelmen."

Ralph Galen came late-in-life to bicycling. He jumped into it with great gusto. In the early 1960s he discarded a second family car and began to commute from his Lexington home to his orthodontic office in Cambridge. Ralph was an active AYH ride leader and in 1966 an AYH council member. The Bicycle Exchange in Harvard Square was a communications hub for cyclists to post ride notices in those days and the owner, Ben Olken, introduced him to Bruce Bailey. They ventured out, as a new circle of recreational riders began to coalesce.

Fred Chaffee had been a Worcester AYH leader for a dozen years before he moved to Cambridge in 1958 and joined the Boston Council, AYH. By 1965, more cyclists joined the cause, not yet a movement, and looked for longer rides. Fred led a group of four other century clubbers (lawyers Albert Margeson and Frank L. Jones, Paula Sommer, an instructor at Worcester State College, and Raytheon engineer Eliot Sommer), all AYH ride leaders, out on a precursor to CRW's founding ride.

In October, 1966, the Belmont Citizen announced that a new "adult cycle" club would sponsor a "First Bike Tour." The notice emphasized that the ride  and the new club were for those "interested in serious cycling." The organizers wanted to contrast what they proposed with AYH's focus on viewing nature, youth and family cycling, and its more leisurely pace.

The cyclists, mostly experienced AYH ride leaders, gathered at Ralph's office, 131 Mount Auburn Street, "on a bright and cheerful" October 16, 1966, and headed for an 83-mile round-trip ride and picnic to Ashland State Park. Bill Fripp, a freelance writer for the Boston Globe, was on hand to cover the event. Bruce Bailey volunteered as the ride leader.

"At Ashland Center, the sunny Sunday turned into a torrential rain storm. The intrepid twelve sought shelter under the eaves of a former train station. While waiting for the rain to abate, Ralph was elected President of the new club, Fred as Secretary, Bruce Bailey as Ride Leader, and his brother George as club Historian. Of the twelve present, eight decided to join the group as dues paying members. To build a treasury, the new club charged a dollar per ride."

Pictured are eight of the riders on CRW's founding ride, from left, Eliot and Paula Sommer, Framingham; Bruce Bailey, Milton; Paul Watson, Arlington; Albert Margeson, Melrose; Leon Leach, Lexington; Frederick Chaffee, Belmont; and Ralph Galen, Lexington. (Source: William Fripp, "Charles River Wheelmen Set Rugged Pace," Boston Globe, October 30, 1966).

With the return of balmy weather, the Ashland State Park picnic was a huge success, thanks to wives Ruth Galen and In-soon Ko Chaffee, soon-to-be owner of a popular Cambridge Korean-Japanese restaurant, Matsu-Ya, a frequent stopping place for tired riders. Neither Ruth nor In-soon was a cyclist, but supported the new club.

Fripp reported on CRW's physical fitness ethos: "'The code is Spartan on the Wheelmen's trips, and lollygagging is not tolerated. On the Ashland trip we had to leave the laggards behind,' Galen said, without much sympathy." And more: "Wheelmen must own a 'lightweight, multigeared cycle and be in good physical shape,' Fred Chaffee of Belmont, cofounder of the group, said. He said he doubted if any of the members smoked. Galen used to smoke heavily but gave it up when he found he couldn't make some of the big hills.

This being the big league of pedaling, the fast-riding Wheelmen equip themselves fittingly. English and Swiss imports cycles in the $115-250 bracket, special snug riding shorts lined with chamois, brightly striped shirts, cleated cycling shoes." And, "On the night before a trip members work over their cycles with the dedication of a sports car driver preparing his entry, and technical assistance on wheel balance and lubrication is invaluable."According to Galen, in contrast to groups like the AYH: "We were looking for long distances and adult companionship." At least in its early days, Galen might have added, adult largely male companionship. And, the CRW founders were almost all college-educated professionals.

Several more events put CRW in the cycling public's consciousness, including their participation in Expo '67. Galen and Dwight Doyle paired up to bicycle to Montreal. An electrician-in-training and son of a Boston physician, Doyle was another active AYH leader and a frequent single and double century rider.

The stay at Expo '67 included presentation of a CRW jersey, signed by sixteen cyclists, several of whom accompanied the pair as far north as Hudson, New Hampshire. The signers were: Bruce Bailey, Albert Margeson, Fred Chaffee, George Bailey, Charles A. "Chick" Mead, Raymond P. Bailey, Bill Springer, Bill Wade, David Wilson, Judy McSwain, Sumner Brown, Niall Doyle, and several others. The famed entertainer Maurice Chevalier was made an honorary member of the Charles River Wheelmen. CRW got a nice thank you note from the Canadian organizers, who appended this thought: "who knows one day we may see an endurance bicycle race between Boston and Montreal, thus strengthening the good relations that already exist between our two nations...."

On their way back, the Expo '67 pair did a Mount Washington climb along with Bruce Bailey and John Vanderpoel.

George Bailey organized two more W.A.T.H. reenactments. These tours were two day affairs, just as in 1879 and they offered an overnight stay in Bailey's barn. Bailey, and AYH ride leader Frank Jones led the October 22-23, 1966 tour. The October 1967 W.A.T.H. re-enactment included the "First Annual CRW Business Meeting."

"Bicycle Tour" flyer advertising "First Annual CRW Business meeting." (Source:  Ralph Galen Collection, University of Massachusetts-Boston Archives: Bicycle History Collections)

On the second day, the re-enactors stopped for lunch at Hugo's in Hingham (Kimball's in Cohasset was the traditional stop but destroyed long ago), and paid a visit to the Adams House in Quincy, thus completing the reenactment of the original W.A.T.H. route.  It is instructive that the W.A.T.H. events, with first-day routes from Roxbury to Sharon, went unnoticed in the Bay State Banner, a fledgling black newspaper in Boston. A clear difference in Banner priorities, CRW outreach, or both.

The "First Annual CRW Newsletter," reported a "wonderful" year. It applauded the Expo '67 venture, the Mount Washington climb, and the publicity in the cycling magazines and local newspapers. But Galen also noted some potentially troublesome problems. Among them was the small membership (35 and declining), some of whom were inactive. In addition, he reported that: "Considerable effort has been made to slow the fast riders down so that a ride is in effect a ride, and not ten or so independent riders going off on their own."Finally, Galen reported an overture from Dr. Eugene Gaston, a brain surgeon and head of the Northeast Bicycle Club (a racing club started in 1957), who proposed that the two clubs join together.  Galen reported that: "My first reaction was negative, as it is now. As I told Gene, I feel a little like the 'jealous wife' about the Charles River Wheelmen. On the other hand, what is best for the club should be the objective of each and every member. Should we join forces, form a cycling association with all of the area clubs, or go it alone?" CRW went on alone. Both inter-club and gender relations would prove challenging and CRW continued to struggle with the contradictions between being a club of "serious" but not racing cyclists, and the need to grow the membership to survive.  And, could it/would it grow beyond its roots in a cohort of doctors, lawyers, and engineers?

CRW's earliest banner headline was "Healthful Fellowship Through Cycling," and the message of personal health and cycling quickly got to the public. Galen was featured along with Maggie Lettvin, a local fitness guru, at a 1968 "anti-pot" [belly] rally on Boston Common.  He subbed for cardiologist Dr. Paul Dudley White, and "explained the importance of physical fitness and discussed bicycling as a means of retaining or gaining health." The play on the word "pot" was deliberate, as the Herald explained: "While some 200 spectators at the Parkman Bandstand were told by experts how to slim pot bellies, the hippie colony stayed on its own grass across the Common. "The rally was cosponsored by the Boston Physical Fitness Council and the Boston Junior Chamber of Commerce. Also instructive in this pre-Earth Day event was the use of the term public health, but shorn of any mention of a significant part of that field: environmental health. That was soon to change.

Galen's activism was rewarded with election as president of the resurrected League of American Wheelmen at the L.A.W. Rockport Roundup in 1969 - national cycling leadership had at least momentarily returned to its roots in Boston.  We will return to the Roundup and its importance in CRW's history in a following issue of Wheelpeople.

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The article is based on Finison’s book: Boston’s Bicycling Renaissance: Cultural and Political Change on Two Wheels. University of Massachusetts Press, 2019. The book is a follow-up to Boston's Cycling Craze 1880-1900:  A Story of Race, Sport, and Society. University of Massachusetts Press, 2014. Many of the source materials are in the Bicycle History Archives at UMass-Boston Archives. A footnoted version of the article is available at: Bostonscyclingcraze.blogspot.com