gthomson

What's the weather like in Cape Cod at this time of year? I haven't been there since my honeymoon, 28 years ago. We brought our bikes and had a great time riding the trails along the beach. Please post lots of pic's please, would like to see what it looks like again.

top506

We've done this ride when it's been 60s and sunny and also done it when it was 40s and raining.

Top

nlerner

i.e., spring in New England.

gthomson

oh, I've only been in the summer and figured it would be warmer.

jimmuller 

We took the tandem out for our first ride of the year! Did about 30 miles, so we are ready for the CCRT! Sharon is already gathering ingredients for the oatmeal cookies, all natural, gluten-free, organic , made without ingredients!

top506

Is that the "rude bridge that arched the flood"?

Top

jimmuller 

Ayup.

I once asked a park ranger at the Buttrick House (the site of the Colonial commanders that day back in 1775, it is up there on the hill on the other side of the river) about Emerson's poem. The "shot heard 'round the world" should be the one fired by someone unknown earlier that morning in Lexington. She replied that Lexington had the first shot but Concord had the best poets.

rumrunn6

fwiw - great fishing for GIANT sunnies around those pilings. just don't do it from shore. they have a rule about only fishing from a boat

T.W.O.

The weather is looking pretty good for the Cape Cod opener on Saturday! Looking forward to seeing you guys.

ScottRyder 

I'm probably out, I have a minor head and chest cold (first time in two years). Don't think its Covid as I've been vaxed and boosted but I will take a home test. I just don't feel like riding with a mask on.

I'm still coming down for the day, maybe I'll ride by myself locally.

Scott

ADguy 

I’m in. Looking forward to meeting you all.
We should have a nice tail wind for the ride out.

jimmuller 

Scott, sorry you can't make it. We plan to be there unless something untoward occurs, heaven forbid. @ADguy, @T.W.O., we don't know you yet but we are looking forward to meeting you! We heard from Prowler that he is planning to be there too.

jimmuller 

We did it all yesterday! All 22 miles Dennis to Wellfleet, then all 22 back again! it was a great trip

Just to to prove that it actually happened, here are some pics.

At the start. L to R: Jim (ADguy), Steve's friend Rhonda, Todd (prowler), Steve (T.W.O.), Mark a.k.a. Top (top506), Sharon, myself (jimmuller). BF member @spiker showed up at the start just provide encouragement.


Some interesting bikes, Jim's Peugeot and Top's Gitane.



At some point in the ride we realized that all the bikes except Rhonda's were French! Steve rode a beautiful Motobecane but somehow we didn't get a pic of it.

Of course we had to spend time telling tall tales. Here are a few at the start, at Nickerson State Park, and in Orleans.




By tradition someone always has a mechanical problem on these CCRT rides. We began to worry that this tradition might fall by the wayside when we hadn't had any just a few miles from returning to the cars. Then good fortune struck! We came upon two damsels in distress! Well, actually only one was in distress because of a flat tire. How many bike mechanics does it take to change a flat tire? It was actually good fortune for us and for the distressed damsel. That's her standing to the left in this next pic.




Top won the cool-wardrobe prize. Here's a better view.


The weather cooperated, mostly. It did not rain! Not even one drop. However it was windy. Brutally windy on the return. Headwind, crosswind, more headwind, more crosswind. You name it, we got it. And did I mention that it was brutally windy? However even with the wind we all made it back to the start. If count the faces you will see the same number as at the start! Isn't that great?

rumrunn6

wow you guys are inspirational

Prowler 

As usual, my trip to the Cape included other stops and rides. Thursday morning I drove to Plainville, CT and rode the Farmington Heritage trail. That trail now has a parking lot at the southern end, right at Robertson Airport, so it's now a 24.5 mile trip to the MA state line. A perfect spring day to cruise the whole thing and back. Friday I was on the Cape and toured the Old Colony Trail and the bike route around Chatham, MA with a lunch stop at the Chatham Lighthouse and the CG station. Thoughts of the many historic rescues in the unforgiving waters off the cape there, and the lives lost in the attempts.

Saturday was the Season Opener as described above. I was glad I could stay on the Cape that night vs driving 7 hours home to Pennsylvania. Sunday morning I went to Valley Falls, RI and enjoyed the Blackstone River Trail. I don't see any mentions of that trail here on BF so it may be a well guarded secret. I greatly enjoyed it all. Four perfect springs day of weather. Rained a bit during the night, twice, so the days were excellent. About as close to a perfect road trip as I've had.



Blackstone river on the left. Blackstone canal on the right.



The power that tamed the Blackstone river, enabled the canal and created much of the wealth in the valley




A day in the 40deg's with blustery winds but oh so lovely to be out and about.

T.W.O.

That was a great ride and a great time! Thanks for organizing, Top!

T.W.O.

Here is a pic of the '76 Motobecane Grand Jubile that I rode on Saturday. The reputation of the metric 531 frames as being a smooth, comfortable ride is well deserved in my experience. I'll have to snap a photo of Rhonda's Veloce.

jimmuller 

T.W.O., prowler, great pics. Thank you all for participating.
Todd, I used to ride part of the Blackstone River RT every day when I was commuting to Rhode Island. Also Sharon and I once did it with some friends who were living in RI for a while. Nice trail indeed. That pic looks like the rt116 bridge. You should know that every route up the west side of the Blackstone River valley is STEEP. No, make that STEEEEEEP. I know because I tried all of them.

ADguy 

Here’s the only good photo I took on Saturday’s ride: Mark, Steve, Rhonda & Todd, waiting for Sharon, Jim & me to catch up on the two Peugeots…
As a first timer on this ride and relatively new forum member, I had a great ride, and really enjoyed meeting all of you. And, a special thank you to Sharon for the extra cookies and energy bar - next time I’ll remember to bring more than water. All the best!

Flying G

Looks like you had a great time in spite of the brutal wind! My wife and I were a hairs-breath away from driving over to join the ride but we got tied up in some last minute things that weren’t nearly as fun as riding bikes on the Cape! We’ll try to join next year and I’ll ride a blue Super Corsa to blend in with the French crowd. We reside in Monument Beach in the spring and fall and if anyone would be interested in riding the Shining Sea Bike Path to Falmouth or the Canal Path to Sandwich and back, please let me know.
Great to know that there are more C&V types in the area!

ScottRyder 

Sorry I couldn't make it, probably for the best as I was hacking up a few bits and pieces of what not. But thanks to all the incredible photographs and comments I felt like I was actually there! Question, what's happing at the Wellfleet end of the trail, has that extension been completed yet?

And some catch up:

This week I'm starting a probable 5 month long interior home renovation on my 60 year old house. I'm acting as the general contractor which so far has been going pretty smooth. I have a deadline of September 15th, then a family from the Middle East is moving in with me thru at least the holidays. Sounds crazy at my age, I've been happily living by myself of 20 years. They'll be a 5 and 1 year old mixing it all up. The best part is that the mom is a clean freak and the husband is a wonderful cooker of middle eastern recipes. He's promised to take off my excess weight which will be a good thing. The other good part it I can start traveling more with them minding the house and my pets. So after a summer of hopefully bike riding (and weight loss) I'm already getting pumped up for the fall CCRT ride.

I'm down to just four bikes now, the collection has moved on to other owners. I still have my '86 Fuji Opus III, the '84 Paramount, '73 Mirella I(wall hanger) and my '73 Fuji Finest which I turned into a bit of a gravel grinder.

My commercial photography business hasn't recovered since the beginning of Covid, so I consider myself mostly retired from that end of the business. However, my work is selling quite well in the fine art market. Which is strange because that's where it all started. There is some talk still of doing another bicycle book with Rizolli but the author and I have different ideas of what it should be. He wants to a book on domestic Japanese hand builts, I'd like to explore the historic British builders and shoot some on location in the UK.

If anyone wants to join me on the Nashua River Trail some weekend, let me know. Jim and Sharon, is that near you? It's a good trail for me to get in shape on.

Oh, and one more thing, I picked up a really cool water bottle from Velo Canteen. They're re not cheap ($45) but the look incredible on a vintage machine.

Cheers everyone!

Scott

.

polymorphself 

We need both, really.

jimmuller 

Hi, Scott. Good to see your name pop here!

Sharon and I have ridden the Nashua River RT quite a few times. It isn't too far from us. We have always started in Ayer but I expect that you start at the northern end.

This summer is pretty hectic with music and vacations but we should be able to find a good weekend. Guaranteed to make it rain that weekend!

ScottRyder 

Jim, my sister lives in Bolton and I usually ride with them. So we start in Ayer as well. I'll be ready to ride in a few weeks, let's touch base!

Scott

panzerwagon 

Passing through the area on a summer road trip with the family, and remembered this thread. Whilst camped at Nickerson SP, decided on a whim to spend an afternoon doing the CCRT up to Wellfleet and down to Dennis. It was a blast on the old univega alpina— wish we had trails like this in Texas.

Thanks for the inspiration!


CCRT