DebW
05-02-2009, 05:30 PM
Had a 63 mile biking adventure today. A friend who work as a bike mechanic and lives without a car invited me to go to Royalston, MA to see the waterfall. The day started with a 3 mile bike to the commuter rail station in South Acton and a train ride out to Fitchburg. While we were on the train, another woman with a Dahon folding bike got on. She saw my Peter Mooney bike and my friend's I.F. and told us that she works at Belmont Wheelworks with Peter Mooney. We introduced ourselves with the bike shops we each work at. How odd is that, 3 women bike mechanics meeting on a train? (Actually, she said she maintained the website, so maybe she's not actually a mechanic.)
We rolled out of Fitchburg about 10 am heading for Royalston. One big long hill leaving town. Actually, the whole route was pretty hilly, though parts were just rolling. A few stretches on somewhat busy roads, but mostly low traffic. One long stretch of very bad pavement. We cycled through Ashburnham and Winchendon into Royalston, 28 miles. As we got near the waterfall, we did about a mile of dirt road, then locked the bikes to a tree and hiked. It was about a mile to the waterfall, which is on the Tully Trail in Royalston Falls Reservation. Ate lunch there and hung out about 30 minutes. Since we had a train to catch at 5:30 we couldn't stay too long. The ride back had one killer climb early on that had me struggling in my 30 front-32 rear. My friend did it in a 36-30. All the other hills went a bit easier. We got back to the train station at 5:10 and had a snack before getting on the train. The last bit was a 3 mile ride back to my friend's house where I'd left my car.
The weather turned out to be pretty nice. The forecast had had a 20% chance of rain, but that passed before we started riding. Temperatures in the low to mid 60s. I wore shorts, jersey, and arm warmers which went up and down several times. My friend carried an Arkel pannier that converts to a backpack - a very fine piece of gear. I tried something new and carried a REI Flash 18 (http://www.rei.com/product/778466) daypack that inverts into a stuff sack and could be strapped on my rear rack. It worked well but takes some time to invert, repack, and strap on. Plus you can't easily access things while it's strapped to the bike. But if you were going to lash a stuff sack to your rack anyway while touring, this would give you the option of having a day pack along.
We rolled out of Fitchburg about 10 am heading for Royalston. One big long hill leaving town. Actually, the whole route was pretty hilly, though parts were just rolling. A few stretches on somewhat busy roads, but mostly low traffic. One long stretch of very bad pavement. We cycled through Ashburnham and Winchendon into Royalston, 28 miles. As we got near the waterfall, we did about a mile of dirt road, then locked the bikes to a tree and hiked. It was about a mile to the waterfall, which is on the Tully Trail in Royalston Falls Reservation. Ate lunch there and hung out about 30 minutes. Since we had a train to catch at 5:30 we couldn't stay too long. The ride back had one killer climb early on that had me struggling in my 30 front-32 rear. My friend did it in a 36-30. All the other hills went a bit easier. We got back to the train station at 5:10 and had a snack before getting on the train. The last bit was a 3 mile ride back to my friend's house where I'd left my car.
The weather turned out to be pretty nice. The forecast had had a 20% chance of rain, but that passed before we started riding. Temperatures in the low to mid 60s. I wore shorts, jersey, and arm warmers which went up and down several times. My friend carried an Arkel pannier that converts to a backpack - a very fine piece of gear. I tried something new and carried a REI Flash 18 (http://www.rei.com/product/778466) daypack that inverts into a stuff sack and could be strapped on my rear rack. It worked well but takes some time to invert, repack, and strap on. Plus you can't easily access things while it's strapped to the bike. But if you were going to lash a stuff sack to your rack anyway while touring, this would give you the option of having a day pack along.