June 3, 2015
Sturbridge to Boxborough
We woke to a sunny and bright day. Warm even! Like probably above 50°F. Nice change for us! So off to breakfast at the Village Eatery, where they serve a very healthy portion of food. And we barely had our order in before a bevy of women from, we presumed, WomanTours arrived.
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"Where was Leslie?" we asked. Off elsewhere, apparently, but it started the conversation as she had obviously shared her encounter with us yesterday with them already. Today was a rest day for them, but we are all headed in the same general direction and enjoyed trading war stories from the road. Their group had diverged westward through Washington, DC and north, whereas we had taken the Jersey Shore. But we are both headed for Bar Harbor, so we may very well run into each other again.
After breakfast, our next course of business was to recover our route and continue north. We were about 10 miles south of our original course, so we plotted a path to East Brookfield, which turned out to be a very pleasant ride in spite of some hills.
Jerry and I had played with the limit screws on my front derailleur the night before, and it was working fine when we ran it through the gears (without any load). But today, it refused to drop down into my granny gear when asked. With some jiggling and backpedaling, I could make it work, but that wouldn't do on a climb. So at our stop in East Brookfield, I searched for nearby bike shops and found CK Bikes in Hartford, which happened to be on our route. After a couple of phone calls and voicemails, we were all set for a drop-by and walk-in. We all had minor issues, so it would be a productive stop.
Hartford was still some 40 miles away, and it was late in the morning already. Fortunately, CK Bikes was open till 7:00 PM . . . we likely wouldn't get there before 5:00. In the meanwhile, there were other adventures and scenery to catch.
Our route took us mostly through country roads with low traffic volumes or good shoulders. We made a quick stop for lunch at a Subway in Holden and continued on. I was anxious to get to the bike shop and had been riding in my granny gear all day, hesitant to take it up a chainring, knowing I might need it on a good hill. It did limit my top speed to about 14 mph, but yesterday had been tough on my legs in the middle ring all day, and I didn't want to wear them out!
Eventually we turned onto River Street, which becomes River Road, and the scenery became really nice (as the name might imply).
Then we came upon this, not once but several times.
We were already well into this, and turning back is rarely an option, so on we pressed. As it turned out, we came across a more formidable barrier protected by a ranger (a very young ranger) who appeared to be napping as we rolled up. Seemed the road ahead had been washed out, but it was OK for bicyclists if we watched out for potholes and such. We assured him that was not a problem, and we sallied on.
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At this point we changed our route slightly to take advantage of the scenery and followed the reservoir around to Clinton, MA. From there, MA-110 took us straight to Harvard, where Ron of CK Bikes took good care of us. My problem was as simple as too much tension in the shifter cable for my front derailleur. I also picked up a spare tube to replace the one used to repair my flat. Happy had a new screw put in for his rear rack (but it will eventually need to be re-tapped), and Jerry had his freewheel and cassette lubricated, as a "chirp" had developed over the course of the day.
It was about 5:00 PM when we arrived and 6:00 before we headed on, but it was a gorgeous late afternoon experience. Ron filled us in on the local bike scene and asked about our trip. We did most of the work outside opposite the town square, which was on a decent incline, so I was able to test out the gears both unloaded and fully loaded before leaving. I gladly climbed to the church on the opposite side of the square and then further to the town fire station. Shifting problem solved!
After saying our goodbyes, we pedaled on to Boxborough and our hotel for the night. We then went into Acton for some excellent pizza to top off the night.
Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 2,307 miles (3,713 km)
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