Tuesday 4/11: There were a few of us who showed up for an easy group ride tonight, Patrick, Kathy, Bad Bob, Deb, Karen ?, and other man (Bob or Maryellen.. help I didn’t catch his name) and myself.  We did a new route for me, we headed out to Deerfield, turned onto Stillwater road, went over the bridge then we opted for Lower road back to Greenfield. (Kathy decided not to follow us and rode in Deerfield.)  We rode at an easy pace and enjoyed the nice weather and the scenery.  When we got back to Deerfield Street most of the group headed up Bank Row back to the shop, but I decided I would ride back towards Deerfield so that Kathy wouldn’t have to ride back alone.  As I was heading down Deerfield Street Bad Bob came out of no where...how did he do that and where did he come from?  I guess we were all supposed to come out there but missed a turn, I told them I shouldn’t lead!!  I am having so much fun! Submitted by Karen D.

 

Tuesday 4/11: Tonight we had 29 people show up for the ride at 5:30. It was a bright sunny day with the temps in the middle sixties. The plan was to do a ride down to Plumtree Road. My group of 12 riders left the shop and headed down to River Road in Deerfield. I led the group until we got to the first hill on River Road and then I let Jon Dehouwer take the lead. The pace quickened but I was able to keep on the back of the line. We rode down River Road for a little ways before Jamie and Walter dropped off to ride with Katherine. That left me and a group of 9 riders to continue. We rode to the end of River Road where we took a left across the bridge. I led the group over to RT. 47 where I took the right turn to head South. We saw Nice Kate at the intersection and waved to her, before we continued on. We all took turns riding into the fairly stiff headwind and when we got to Plumtree Road we turned left to head for RT.116. I goaded Parrott into taking the lead and he pulled all the way to the stop sign. As we neared the stop sign, Parrott took off across the intersection with the group right behind him. Unfortunately there were cars coming from both directions and soon there were squealing tires and my heart rate hit 350 bpm. We all made it across the highway, but there were some shaky moments. After we re-grouped, we headed for Sunderland Center. We made very good time with the tailwind on the way past the apartment complexes and we made a turn onto North Silver Lane. At this point the pace slowed a bit and the group chatted as we made our way onto RT. 47 north. We rode up the hill and made the left turn onto Falls Road. With the wind at out backs we sped along to the waterfall, where a sprint for the town line took place. Parrott went after Mark Newton and Mark nipped him at the line. After that we settled into a nice pace as we rode over to the Ferry Road Hill. After climbing the hill we headed for Turners Falls. Everything went fine until we got to the hill near Roberto's restaurant. Jon Dehouwer was at the front and when he ran out of gas he slowed down. Mark Newton touched his wheel at 20mph.  Mark went down in a heap and Ron Rancourt fell near him. I was behind them and saw what was happening, so I was able to avoid the crash. Mark hit the ground head first and rolled off into the dirt. I skidded to a stop behind him. Mark's helmet was cracked and he was shaken up and bruised pretty badly, but he was able to continue. We rode back to the shop and Tom Graney helped Mark doctor his wounds. Mark had some good sized scrapes and bruises, but he was OK.

 

Wednesday 4/12: Tonight I had scheduled a ride at Wendell State Forest. This is usually a well attended ride and I was surprised to find only one other rider in the parking lot when I got to the ranger station. Matt Ballard and I went out on essentially the same route that we took the last time we were here, but in the opposite direction. I was pretty whipped from several long days at the shop so poor old Matt had to drag me along. We headed down the hill from the ranger station and I had Matt take the lead on the Pine Tree Trail. I was lagging way behind when Matt got to the hardtop road. We took a left and headed for the Wickett Pond Gate where we headed right onto Wickett Pond Road. When we got to the Maple Leaf Trail, Matt again took the lead and I was a little closer behind him on the first section of the trail, but when we got to the up hill section in the beech forest, Matt pulled away from me. I decided to bushwhack across the switchbacks and I was waiting for Matt at the top of the hill. We rode the rest of the way out to Baker Road together and then we headed down the hill to the Nipmuck Trail. Matt went onto the trail first and that was the last I saw of him until I got to the other end of the trail. I was able to ride up the hill (my preferred direction) but at a pretty slow pace. I find that the trail is perfectly graded going up the hill, and I like the fact that I do not have to slam on the brakes at every corner. At the end of the Nipmuck, Matt and I headed over to the Wickett Pond Trail. This trail is in great shape, even though there are some sections of mud, and I was able to ride the entire length. I got my foot jammed on a punji stick and it pinched one of my toes. OUCH!! My toe was pretty sore but that had no effect on my capabilities to ride with Matt. Matt and I rode together over to the Carlton-Dirth Trail where we turned our lights on for the first time tonight. Actually, I could have ridden with out the lights but the extra illumination helped me spot some dips and rocks on the trail. It is important to pay extra attention to the trail or road when you are tired. It is when you are inattentive and tired at the same time, that accidents occur. Well, there were no accidents today because I was taking my time on the last section of single track. I arrived at the ranger station shortly after Matt did (and I was thankful the ride wasn't any longer) and we still had some daylight left at 8:00. It was a great ride even though I was not up to my usual energy levels. Thanks Matt!!

 

Thursday 4/13: It was a fairly warm day today, with bright sunshine and gentle breezes. I had the ride planned for 6:00 and the route was Cave Hill. This is a 35 mile ride and I figured that we could easily do it at a 17mph pace, which would get the group back to the shop before dark. I am still not rested enough to ride with the "A" team, so I planned to do the sweep for that group (lead from behind, as I like to put it). MaryEllen had a group of 9 riders for her trip while I left the shop with a group of 12 riders for the longer ride. I led the group over to Turners Falls and then took up the sweep position. When we got to the top of the Third Street Hill we re-grouped before heading out to Montague Center. I stayed in the middle of the group for most of the way over to North Leverett Road and only once did I get out on the front. I got the group across RT. 63 and then got in the middle of the pack for the ride to Cave Hill. We hadn't gotten too far before Curt came along side of me to report that Captain Laurin had fallen off the pace. No need to say it twice!! I quickly pulled out of line and joined Curt to drift back to Jamie. Once we had Jamie in tow we headed up the hill to Cave Hill Road. We set a reasonable pace on the hill and managed to get to the bottom before the 7:00 cutoff. (If we arrived at the bottom of the hill after 7:00, we would have had to turn right and do the shorter ride to get back before dark.) We made the left turn and headed for Leverett Center with me in the lead. I pulled for most of the way with Jamie and Curt taking short pulls to give me a rest. After we got to Bull Hill Road I took the lead again and we headed for Rt. 116. Once we got onto 116 we had to ride into a headwind. I stayed at the front for most of the way and Curt took a longer pull through Sunderland Center. We rode through So. Deerfield and headed back to Greenfield via RT. 5&10. It was pretty windy on the return and we barely made it back before dark. We ended the ride with a 19.5 mph average, which was pretty good considering how tired I have been lately.

 

Easter Sunday: It was a bright sunny day today, with 60 degree temps and light breezes. We had our annual Easter breakfast at our house. We had 10 guests for breakfast and a couple hours after we finished, we headed over to the shop to get ready for the ride. We had a small group of 17 riders for the ride and we broke into two groups. My group had Jamie, Curt, Michelle, Doug Favreau, Rob Burnett, Jon Dehouwer and Stan Kolpa and we decided to do the Whatley-Conway ride. We set a pretty mellow pace down through Old Deerfield, but when we got out onto Mill Village Road, we found our pace slowed by the increasing winds. It was pretty breezy for the rest of the way to Whatley and Jamie had some difficulty with the pace. We kept the group together all the way to Haydenville Road where I sent Rob and Jon off to do their own pace over to the reservoir. The hills were pretty tough for Jamie so we kept the pace reasonable enough for him and picked up the speed on the flatter sections. We made our way over to the reservoir where we met up with Jon and Rob. On the way to Conway we somehow lost Rob off the back of the group. It turns out that he got a flat and stopped to fix it. Jon went back to help him and they finished their ride at Deerfield Academy where they are students. After the boys left, we continued on over to RT. 116. I led the pack down the hill at 30 mph and we made the turn onto Lee Road. After everyone arrived, we headed back to the shop via Old Deerfield. It was a really nice ride on a beautiful spring day.

 

Monday 4/17:

 

Tuesday 4/18: Tonight we had a ride scheduled for 6:00 and we had a group of 29 riders show up. The plan was to do the 40 miles down to NoHo and back. It was a cool night with a fairly stiff wind blowing from the North. I thought that if we went down River Road we could get enough of a push from the tailwind that the trip back would not be that tough. I led the group over to River Road via the usual Hope Street route and as we were climbing the first hill, Lauren came by to tell me that Curt had a flat and was by himself. At that point I told the group to continue on and I turned around to help Curt. I found Curt as he was walking across the Cheapside Bridge. After he crossed the road, I helped him put the new tube in and we headed out to chase down the group. We rode down RT. 5&10 to South Deerfield at 25 mph or better and made the turn onto North Main Street. I was thinking that we could catch up with the group on River Road so I pushed pretty hard with Curt right behind me. When we got onto River Road in Whatley I thought that we might see the group either just ahead of us or maybe they would catch us from behind. I asked a man on the side of the road if he saw a pack of riders and he said they were 3 minutes ahead of us. After learning that, Curt and I decided to head down Depot Street and maybe we could catch them on the way back through Whatley. Curt and I kept a pretty good pace but we never saw the group until they got back to the shop. It seems that Liam, Mark Newton and several others decided to come back on RT. 5&10 instead of going through Whatley and Curt and I actually beat them back to the shop. It was a good thing Curt and I didn't wait.

 

Wednesday 4/19: Excited for a warm night of ridge riding, I rolled up to Bikes Unlimited only to discover that no on was there. Had everyone left already? Was I too late, despite sneaking out of work early to enjoy some trails? When I popped my head in to the shop Bob's bellowing answered all my questions. No one else had shown up. El Presidenté? El Presidenté falta! That's Spanish for expressing my utter loneliness. Well, at least I had Bob. Except after pulling the road crew for six hours through a freak sandstorm at 45mph the previous day, Bob was too tired to join me. He gave me a good jawbone and massager muscle warm-up though, as I didn't hit the trail until 6:30, full of Bob's stories, ranging from the Iditarod to his brief stint as a Russian secret agent, codename Bearcub.

Full of woe and an existential solitude, I began my ride up the ridge behind the shop. The trails were in great shape, the weather was nice, I had plenty of light; everything was wonderful. I made my way south on the white trail, wonderful for its smooth, swooping, grandeur. I ran into some other riders heading the other direction, but decided to go explore the section of the ridge on the other side of mountain road.

I ran a mixture of the red and white trails until eventually I was at the junction of the light green trail and some dirt road that parallel to the cliffs of Sachem's Head. I sighed, not out of solitude this time, but out of sadness that from Sugarloaf through to Turners Falls along the ridge line, the rock is so darn choppy and crappy--worthless for rock climbing, yet so visually PRESENT. My wife often becomes moderately cross as we drive past the Southeastern flank of Sugarloaf on River Road and I feel the need, yet again, to decry the crumbly arkoses of that huge cliff, so obviously in need of my hands and feet all over its side, yet unable to sustain it. Trap rock ledge, the Greenfield ridge and Sachem's, the Pocumtuck rock, sadly, all not worth climbing. Ah well, at least there's fantastic biking to be had.

And with that I headed south on the green trail only to find myself under the power lines watching some crazy mountain biker riding back and forth trying to successfully make the climb. He offered to show me where the good singletrack was, and let me go first, heading further south on the green trail. Perhaps you folks will smile at my inexperience in this region, but my riding has been mostly at Bachelor street and on Pocumtuck, so I wasn't expecting this luxurious, twisty downhill. I even managed to not kill myself and catch air worthy of a mountain dew commercial flying over the big drop off on the way down. I thought I carved that whole section fairly nicely, but then my new friend and I began climbing. A lot.

We were back on the Ridge trail, emblazoned in blue, and it became clear that my unforeseen riding partner was in far greater conditioning than I.

The next hour involved me constantly out of breath, in great pain, and embarrassment as I struggled to keep up. No sooner would I arrive at a trail junction where he was patiently waiting than, "Have you ridden this? No? Oh, it's great, let's go--nasty climb though." We rode back around the ridge on a succession of trails, eventually getting back on the ridge trail heading south again to Sachem's head. I love getting spanked like this--I felt like so much better of a rider afterwards. This section is wicked technical, yet I was giving it more energy and commitment than I would have alone, clearing the majority of the trail. (I will say, neither of us were able to successfully clean the Hans Rey Memorial stupid big boulder crevice drop off thing half way up to the head). Once we reached the platform at the head (after 50' of off-camber snaggly rock riding instead of on the trail), I finally had the chance to catch my breath.

Patrick was his name, and turns out to be one of the Bike World riders. He was interested in joining the Bikes Unlimited guys on rides, and found it amusing to learn that I was the Bikes Unlimited crew for the night. What an ambassador.

We rode back primarily on the blue-blazed ridge trail, really hammering, making the fastest descent of the northernmost section of the trail that I've ever attempted. And it was great. It really made me remember a couple of things that I constantly forget, and need to focus on--1.) Sometimes it helps to be in a larger chainring for the technical stuff, as I was able to muscle through stuff that I often crapped out on due to the difficulty of pedal-kicking your granny (that sounds wrong, somehow) 2.) I need to lay off the brakes A LOT. You just lose all your momentum, even if you're making little corrections on descents. Body English and a death-defying grin are all you need, not a 6" rotor and twitchy fingers.

Back at the shop, Patrick wanted to know what the hose on the exterior of the building was for, to which I answered: "Bob uses it to keep his pet alligator, Trixie, cool in the summer."

See you tonight!

-In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

Shea Craig

Thursday 4/20: Tonight we had 41 riders for our trip north to Bernardston. It was a warm, windy (what's new) and sunny evening and I decided to make the loop a little shorter, due to the fact that we did not get everyone back before dark. I kept the 40 mile option in the plan, but offered a 35 mile and 25 mile route as well. I had a new rider (Mike Levin) join us and I wanted to help him get used to group riding, so I planned to ride with the "B" group tonight. I left the shop and headed over to Wildwood Ave. with a group of 28 riders and soon we were out on Bernardston Road. I began the hill on Bernardston Road at 19 mph and pulled off about half way up. The group split up on the climb, with several packs of 8 to 10 riders forming. I stayed in the middle of the packs and after we got to the top of the hill, I went back to the last group and pulled them up to the middle pack. This gave me a group of 15 riders to work with. We motored along Rt. 5&10 at a 20 mph pace to Church Street in Bernardston center where we took a right onto RT. 10. I stayed on the front of the pack until we got over the RT. 91 bridge. After I pulled off, I had the group form a double pace line. I worked with the new riders to get them used to the type of paceline we use and the group picked up speed on the way over to Northfield. We caught up with the 5:30 group as we crossed the Bennett Meadow bridge and we also picked up a couple of riders who dropped off the front pack. Shea and one or two other riders who went with Jeff VonDauber and his pack were now in our group. We made the turn onto RT. 63 where Carl (where's my chain at?) Lynde had to stop to make a repair to a missed shift. Dougie said some naughty words about what we should do in regards to the situation, but I was silent on the subject. We pedaled on and after a little ways, Carl was back in the fold. We rode along RT. 63 in a double line until we got to the hills where we had to ride single file. The group got pretty stung out on the hills and I drifted back to bring up the riders who got dropped. After the group got back together we watched Dougie and Tom Silko duke it out for the Erving town line. Tommy won the lightly contested sprint and we all then headed up the hills leading to Millers Falls. Our group was "compacto" when we got to the center of town. Some of the riders decided to head home via Millers Falls Road while the majority of us took the left to ride down to Montague. After making the left, we caught up with Russ Loomis who was off the front group. Dougie and Tom were content to ride behind Russ for the trip down to Rt. 47, while I spent my time going back to pick up riders who had drifted off the back of the pack. As we got near Lake Peasant (home to Bee Boy and Nice Kate) we picked up Flyin' Brian who was also dropped from Jeff's group. We all made the turn onto 47 together and began the ride back to Greenfield. It was a struggle to keep the line going and I had to do some coaching to keep the pace up. I wanted to get the riders who were on the front to drop off so that the fresher riders in back could do some pulls, but in the end it seems that most of the riders in the back were pretty much done themselves, so I went to the front with Shea and we did some pacing for the group. When we got to the Fire House, the group got split up and only a few of us were together going down the Third Street Hill. At this point the sun was setting and I pressed on with whomever was with me at the traffic lights on Ave A. The group made our way across the river and up the Esleeck Hill to Greenfield. I ended up riding with Stan and Shea over the top of the hill. We finished the ride together with a 20.5 mph average.

4/22: The mighty mighty Northeast Roadmasters Cycling Team has kicked off its racing season. I did the Turtle Pond road race on April 22, starting in the Cat 4/5 over 37 race. Basically the race is 2-1/2 laps of rollers on beautiful roads near Concord NH, with three ascents of a short but steep climb, the last time for the finish. My goal was to finish with the lead group, which turned out to be pretty easy. I found myself out front at one point bringing back a breakaway, which was fun, if not smart, since there were some teams who should have put their shoulder to the wheel and done the heavy lifting... they were probably sniggering at the dummy doing their work for them, but it was a good learning experience. Out of the 65 or so people who started, there were still about 35 of us at the base of the finish climb. Now I'm not a climber for sure, although this climb was less than a climb but more than a roller. Still, it was heartening to pass other riders who were totally blown, going sideways and backwards. I finished 24th, felt great.

Ready for more.

Last weekend, John Bentley and I did the Palmer Road Race. Because John is perpetually tardy registering for things, we ended up in different groups - I was in the 4/5 A field along with Carl Ditkoff from Incline Training, while John raced the B field, along with Rob, who we didn't see at the race, but who finished strong! The A field started 3 minutes ahead of the B field, but we had a couple of big teams in our field who sat on the front and decided that we'd take it relatively easy at the start. Unfortunately, about halfway through the first lap, the B field, which was actually racing, saw us up ahead, put the hammer down and passed us while we were neutralized. But, having done all that work, once they passed us, they more or less sat up, and we were stuck behind them for the rest of the race. As soon as they passed, I knew that the race was pretty much over; that there would be a mass sprint up the finish climb - longer but not as steep as at Turtle Pond. Even so, guys would attack up the rollers, and we'd all accelerate with them, only to bump into the back of the B field ahead of us and be told to soft pedal. What's up with that? As we finished the second lap, there was a

4 minute stretch were we held back and were averaging less than 15 mph - this in a race! - while the B field pulled away so we would be able to race the finish. At the base of the finish climb, Carl went off the front way early, blew, the field swarmed up the climb, I wasn't especially motivated since we'd hadn't been racing, so I finished in the middle of the field, taking care to show my number to the finish camera. All to no avail - somehow I didn't get picked up at the finish, so I get credit for doing the race, but no place. No big deal, right?

Then it turns out that the US Cycling Federation maintains rankings in every possible configuration, and lo and behold, not only am I ranked 46th nationally among all Cat 5 racers, but I'm 2nd nationally of Cat 5s over 50 (ok, secret's out, I'm an old guy). Now this is faint praise indeed, basically means that at my advanced age I can still turn the pedals and still find my way home at the end of a ride. But it makes me wish I'd gone a little harder at the finish - maybe I'd be numero uno.

hmmmm..... And if that weren't bad enough, I had to listen to John ALL THE WAY HOME about how the B field had kicked our asses and passed us.

Tom

 

After Thursday's ride we did not ride again until Monday when I did an abbreviated ride with Bad Bob, Tom G., Karen D., Christina, Denise and Jack Dunbar. It started to rain so I took the Dunbar's and Bad Bob on a short loop over to Cherry Street while Tom, Karen and Christina went on a loop out to Barton Road. Tuesday night's ride also got rained out.

Wednesday 4/26: It was a beautiful evening with cool (60's) temps, clear skies and a strong breeze from the northwest. I left the shop a little after 6:00 and headed for Eaglebrook School. We parked at the lot next to the swimming pool and got our gear ready. Joining me was Shea, Matthew and Hammerhead, Chris W., Eric M., and late arrival Bee Boy. While we were waiting for Her Majesty to get ready, Ed Ralicki pulled into the lot on his bike. He was just finishing his ride and he reported that the trails were in good shape. I however, was not in as good shape as the trails and I knew that this was going to be a tough ride for me. After Bee Boy got his butt in gear we headed out for the trails. Eric and Shea led the group and mercifully kept the pace pretty mellow. I managed to ride with the group over to the end of the Mud Mile where Bee Boy crashed in the sand. I got around him and headed for the hardtop road to ride up the hill to the plank bridge that leads to the Crystal Cave Trail. I kept a slow but steady pace on the hill and although I was the last one up, I managed to ride all the way to the top where the group was waiting. I took some photos before the group headed out and I followed them down to the Pool Road. As I rode along the trails, I met up with Bill Hamer who was riding in the other direction. After saying "Hi" I continued on to the end of the trail where I took a left to follow the group to the Over the River and through the Woods Trail. Again I was the last rider onto the hill but again I rode up the hill to the mud hole where the group was waiting. I walked around the mud hole (my physical conditioning precluded my riding through the muck) and ducked under the fallen tree (only Gnomes and Hobbits can ride under this one), Once on the clear trail I got on my bike and rode up to Bruiser where the group was waiting for me. We headed up the hill to Pine Nook Road where we took a left and headed to the DA cross country trails. I began the climb up the first pitch and made it most of the way before slipping on the slick rock about three quarters of the way up. After getting back on my bike I rode by myself all the way up to the turn onto Phillip's Hill Trail. Everyone was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill, but I did not stop. I rode past the group and up the hill at a steady but slow pace. I made it up to the road where I stopped to catch my breath before finishing the climb to the rock. I took some photos at the rock and then headed out with the group. Soon after we got going I snagged a branch and it pulled my cable stop off my right rear seatstay. This rendered my rear derailleur useless. I rode the rest of the trail with only my front chainrings for gear selection. When I got to the turn to the power line descent, the group was waiting again for me. I headed down the hill and managed to stay on my bike all the way to the bottom. After everyone arrived we headed for the dirt road to begin the return to the parking lot. I did very well on the flatter road but when I got to Pine Nook Road I had to walk up the hill. I was not able to push the 26x12 gear up the climb. All in all it was a great ride. I was really slow on the hills but I was able to ride up them all and that, at the end of the day, was a real success for me.

Thursday 4/27: It has been somewhat cooler these last few days than it was last week and I keep wondering where the warm weather is. But I have forgotten that last year we had a whole month of off and on rainy, cold weather and so put into perspective, what we have now is downright balmy by comparison. Tonight we had temps in the 60's, cloudless skies and a southwest breeze blowing fairly briskly. The original plan was to do the MT. Warner ride via River Road in Deerfield and finish through Montague. Some of the riders were not too keen on doing the hills on River Road so I changed the route to do the ride in reverse. We left the shop promptly at 6:00 and headed over to Turners Falls. We took the L Street route over to the Fire House where we made a right to head for Montague Center. I was in the lead as we rode past the fish hatchery and I stayed on the front until we got to the turn onto Ferry Road. We had a group of 15 riders which included the "Boys from Blatterboro" (more on this later) and we all headed down the hill to Meadow Road. After we got onto Meadow Road I had Jeff lead the faster riders off ahead of us. Jeff and company shot like a rocket off the front and were soon out of sight. After he, Steve Power, Terri M., Rob and David Bradford went off that left me with 9 riders. We motored down Meadow Road to Falls Road in Sunderland where Socks tried his first town line sprint of the year. He did not get it but it animated the group and our pace went up considerably with Socks getting spit out the back. We rode down to RT. 47 where we turned right to head south. As we neared the center of town we saw a large group of riders coming north. It was Tom Graney, Jaap, Georgie Boy and their crew on the back side of the Sunderland Sweep. We waved as we passed them and headed for the center of town. I must admit that my "traffic skills" were not on form tonight and I was pretty sloppy going through the lights tonight (both in Turners Falls and in Sunderland). After the group got back together we headed south with me at the front. Just before I headed down the road, who should ride up along side of me? None other than Socks. Seems the dear boy caught up with us as the group waited for the traffic light in the center of town. I paced the group down the road at 25 mph and pulled off a mile or so later. We rode down to the Hadley town line when, guess who, decided to do the town line sprint. Well, Socks didn't get that one either but we all had fun watching him and Tommy Silko go at it. After the sprint we rode the rest of the way to North Hadley in a rotating paceline. We had a pretty good pace going as we entered the hill on MT. Warner. The group pretty much stayed together as we peddled up the hill at 17 mph. We re-grouped at the top of the hill and headed down the other side. When we got to the stop sign at Maple Street we turned left into a brisk headwind. This slowed the pace to around 20 mph and we rode single file out to RT. 116. After we got going on 116 we formed a double pace line for the ride to Sunderland. Just before Bub's we had Tommy Silko take a flyer for the town line. Due to the rumble strips on the side of the road, everyone wisely decided to let Tommy have this one. After the sprint I found myself on the front again, this time with Bob Croake as my partner. The ride back to Sunderland center was a vigorous one with everyone taking a pull at the front. Curt was feeling particularly frisky and after we passed the Clifside Apartments he asked me if I wanted to go to the front and hammer the pace a bit. I agreed and we passed from the back to the front and took the pace up to 25 mph into the wind. I did not last all that long before I ran out of gas near the creamy stand and had to pull off. That was OK because we were near the center of town and we had to slow for the lights. We actually made it through on the green and after getting through the lights we headed for the bridge. As we neared the bridge, Curt came flying around the group and went solo for the town line. Where is Socks when you need him? Anyway after getting across the bridge we decided to head back through South Deerfield. As we headed up the hill to Sugarloaf Street, Silko, Malcolm, Four Sticks, Tommy and Bob Croake decided that they had to use the little boys room. I could not believe it, but those "Boys of Blatterboro" stopped at the rest area to relieve themselves. I continued on with the rest of the crew. As we headed up Sugarloaf Street we were joined by Walters and Gary who were heading back home. We were soft pedaling to allow the Blatterboro group to catch back on and we had a nice chat with Walters and Gary. We rode up North Main Street to RT. 5& 10 where we made a right turn. The sun was setting and I wanted to get back to Greenfield as quickly as possible and I also did not want to have to deal with trying to get across the highway at the end of Old Main Street in Deerfield. After turning onto 5&10 I looked back and I could see the Blatterboro group coming along, so I dropped off the back of my group to help pace them back onto the pack. We made the "catch" at the bottom of the hill near Magic Wings and soon we were all pacing ourselves back to Greenfield. As we neared the Cheapside Bridge, the pace went up again and soon the sprint was on. Curt, Tommy, Four Sticks, Shea and Mark all went for the line and I think Tommy took it. After the sprint we rode over to Washington Street and headed back to the shop via Hope Street. We managed to get back to the parking lot just before dark. We finished the 42 miles with a 21.5 mph average, which was pretty good considering that we had some traffic and re-grouping during the trip.