5/7 Saturday Ride

SMR: I'm thinking Freeport/Brunswick for tomorrow, 8:00 start. If that's where you went last weekend, tell me now!

4/30 Saturday Ride

I had to travel for work this weekend, so it's a group choice ride. We'll start getting longer and hillier after this to get ready for  Memorial Day, so keep that in mind. Wheels roll at 9:00.

4/23 Saturday Ride

Pinelands. 9:00. Be there.

(it's been a really long day)

Road ID Sale

Cheap insurance, folks, and currently 25% off! You know I love you all, but I don't know whom to call in case of emergency: this will tell me (and EMS). Especially if you ride alone, please consider adding one of these to your kit.
http://www.roadid.com/

4/16 Saturday Ride

It looks to be perfectly sunny, if a little on the cool side: how do we feel about Mitchell Hill? I have a wedding in Boston in the afternoon, so I can't be out too terribly long. A base of 42 miles with options to add on, for those who wish to. Let's plan to get wheels rolling at 9:00.

Also, keep in mind the destination rides (Boothbay and Kennebunk): do we have any interest?

4/9 Saturday Ride

Well, it's been a cold, windy, wet week: I have had enough of the indoors! It will be 40° by 10:00--face it, you're used to that now. Who will I see at the shop? 10:00, route TBD.

Spring Season Begins!

Don't look now, but it's beginning to look like winter is going to shuffle it's disappointing self off and leave us to get back to the fun of the road, so here are the pertinents as they now stand:

SEASON START AND RIDE TIMES

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CCCP Club Rides officially start April 1! Weekly rides will be starting at 5:30; we will adjust the length as light allows, but it seemed too difficult for people try to make an earlier start time. Please be sure to have lights and dress for falling temps.

Saturday rides will start at 9-10:00 until the weather starts warming up. Let me know in the comments if you have a preference. I will not be in town on Sat, April 2nd, so I will leave it to Bruce and Greg to make the call on an official ride (weather permitting).

DESTINATION RIDES

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We had an offer from Paul last season to do a destination ride up in the Boothbay area, and I was thinking a similar jaunt down to the Kennebunks would be fun. Since rides like these would work better with smaller groups, planning them for the early season seems a good idea. I think we'll still have a manageable number through middle-late June. I want to use the weeks prior to Memorial Day as lead-up training for the White Mountain Ride but, properly placed, we should be able to do one before and one after. I'd like to get some input from you: good idea/bad idea? Other destinations? Let's hear it!

Watch this space, friends: there have been a few impromptu rides over the past few weekends, so be sure to keep an eye out here and on FB for alerts.

Sunday Ride?

UPDATE: 10:00 is looking better.

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Sunday around noon is looking pretty darn mild...anyone up for a ride?

Happy New Year!

Well, doggone it, I guess the snow had to come sometime. Now that we have salty schmutz on the roads--and our temp will not rise above 32° before noon--I think we have to call an official end to the 2015 season.

If conditions favor spontaneous rides between now and whenever the snow pack melts for the season, I'm happy to post here, but keep an eye on the club's Facebook page for the most ride alerts. I plan on getting some fat tires out in the snow, so you may see an alert or two from me.

Thanks for a great season, folks--I look forward to 2016!

12/26 Saturday Ride

I am out of town for Saturday, but the weather looks to be pretty good for December 26, so who's showing up at 9:00?

12/19 Saturday Ride

Well, I guess we finally have to admit it's December: it will stay 32°-40° during ride time tomorrow. This in mind, a shorter ride should be in order...35-ish miles? I know--what a piker! We can go to Westbrook, out to the Fairgrounds, Cape... bring your ideas.

Wheels roll at 9:00

BTW: who has a fat bike and is waiting for the snow to fall? Or a mountain bike and is still ready to ride in the woods? I have the most wonderful trails by my house, and they are getting an expansion...

12/12 Saturday Ride

I have to get in just 70 more miles to reach 5000 for the year: who wants to help me shatter my Personal Best by rolling 40 or 50 miles this Saturday? It's December 12th, the roads are clear, and it's supposed to be about 44°-50° at ride time: what can you say about that except "WOO-HOO! Let's go!"

OOB? Pinelands via the back roads? Brunswick? We missed the Raymond hills this fall, but I'm pretty ok with that. I'm open to suggestion, I just want another good day on the bike. Who's with me?

12/5 Saturday Ride

I will be having more fun than humans should be allowed tomorrow: starting my 24-hour road trip back home from the Midwest. As such, whoever is riding tomorrow's Dealer's Choice will be having a better day than I! I look forward to next weekend and just hope that it still rideable!

11/27 Friday Ride?

I don't know about you folks, but I can only get away with one ride this weekend, and Bruce's Post-Turkey Calorie Burner on Friday at 10:00 looks to be a lot warmer than Saturday at 9:00 (52° as opposed to 40°). Who's in?

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Black Friday Ride
10 a.m. Friday
Approx. 50 miles, moderate pace
Meet in parking lot behind Back Bay Bike

In the 1890's, the Maine Historical Society reports, the bicycle was "the perfect fit for the new American fashion," especially after the "safety" bike replaced the "boneshaker" in the 1890s.
Temperance advocate Frances E. Willard wrote in 1895, "... the bicycle was perhaps our strongest ally in winning young men away from public-houses, because it afforded them a pleasure far more enduring, and an exhilaration as much more delightful as the natural is than the unnatural."
Thus the members of the Portland Wheel Club gathered for the first annual Thanksgiving Friday Ride in 1997. That was before the day became known as "Black Friday." Indeed, it was normally a work day for Americans, except that many stayed home due to "illness." In Portland, however, those who did not work traditionally took a long bicycle ride as a digestive aid after over-indulging at the Thanksgiving table. The photo below is believed to depict just such a gathering.
The annual tradition has continued uninterrupted for over a century, except for a brief 116-year hiatus, and all are invited to participate in this great tradition. Help keep our young men out of the publick houses!

11/21 Saturday Ride

I am traveling again this weekend, friends, so it's another Dealer's Choice ride. It looks to be a little cool tomorrow, but maybe Thursday's rain will prove inspiring: it's November in Maine and we're still riding! Wheels roll at 9:00.