CRW Souhegan River Tour
Sunday I did the CRW Souhegan River Tour, or at least part of it.
These zipcars are getting expensive and as this one starts “not too” far away, I just decided to ride to the start, ride the ride, then ride home. It worked out well. So I did the 100k (62 mi) ride, and with the journey to and fro, it ended up being about 108 miles. I don’t think the shorter version even follows the Souhegan River at all. (It starts and ends at Acton-Boxborough High School in Acton.)
It was a nice ride, and well organized, but the 100k is not as pretty as the 100 mile version I did last year. There are significant hills on the portion that’s cutoff of the 62 miles version. It was warmer this year, at least in the middle. The weatherman said it would be mostly cloudy all day, so I left my suglasses at home. It was crystal blue skies for most of the day.
I ran into Nancy and Merle from TdC and a friend of theirs (Lisa?) who had done Outriders a few years ago. I rode with them and some others for pretty near the whole thing which is something I rarely do. But I wasn’t in any particular hurry and Merle sets a good pace, so it was good. I also met a guy named Reece (wearing a Reece’s jersey) who is a newly transplanted Chicagoan. His wife is here doing her residency in emergency medicine at MGH and B&W, so he’s here working remotely for Fisher Scientific. He gets out riding more often than I do, it seems, at four to five days a week. Who has the time for that? Especially now that it’s getting dark sooner. We chatted about a lot of things: Chicago, zipcar, Boston, Charleston (his hometown), and so on. It’s sort of weird having someone to talk with during a ride since I usually go by myself.
Seeing as it was supposed to be cloudy, I didn’t even bother to take the camera. I’m not sure I’d have taken many pictures anyway, as I seem to have tapered off with all of that, but still.
I left the house around 7am and got home a little after 4. I took the subway from Charles/MGH to Alewife and back to cut off some bad bits of biking. The bike path at the end of the Esplanade is really not very good, and in some places non-existant. Besides, it cuts about 5 miles off the route.
I tried using the Bento box, but I don’t really like it. It rubs my legs whenever I stand, and it doesn’t really hold enough to make it worthwhile. Maybe it’s good in a race, but not so much for a simple ride.
Anyway, it was a good ride. I’m tired today, but a good tired. I ate and drank right, so had no problems. CRW puts on a good spread afterwards. Then rode home and walked the dog.
