Ride the Ladies of Massachusetts

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paulthenurse

paulthenurse

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So I've been flogging myself for the past several months in a (losing) effort to keep adipose tissue in check. One of my regular activities is riding the bike. I used to ride pretty regularly till I stopped at a light, didn't clear my foot off the pedal in time and took a dixie right in front of a passing car. It missed my head by inches, and scared the crap out of me. I put the bike in the garage and it stayed there for years. So now I'm back on the horse and logging miles (True, they are gym miles but at least I'm getting my arse ready for the saddle.

One thing I've always had in the back of my mind is a ride that I've called "The Ladies of Massachusetts." There are 7 towns/cities in Mass that have womens names. Marion, Sharon, Chelsea, Lynn, Beverly, Shirley, and Lee. A quick Mapquest search shows that it's around 250 miles in total from Marion to Lee staying off highways and hitting all 7.

I talked to my brother and we're thinking about doing it in August. Anyone have any interest in joining us?

PTN
 
Wish I lived up there but alas...congrats on getting back in the saddle. After a spill like that it certainly ain't easy.
 
He's an animal and wants to do it in two days. I'm thinking three. At least.

A short first day of 44 miles from Marion to Sharon. I live in Stoughton, (the town next door) we can crash here (tents) on the first night. Then it's 88 miles to Shirley, hitting Chelsea, Lynn, and Beverly. Joe lives in Sturbridge, we can crash there on night 2. Then its 118 miles to Lee. I know for a fact that they have hotels in Lee. With hot water. I'll check on masseuses.

I don't know how to do it yet but I bet we can set this up as a charitable ride, pick a charity and get donations. Haiti? Pine Street? Home for Little Wanderers? etc.

PTN
 
I may be interested in this. Keep me posted.

Back in 2003, I organized and participated in a 1,500 mile ride from Boston to Jacksonville FL to raise money for cancer research. We did 100 miles per day. I had never been a cyclist but just thought the trip would be fun. I haven't rode much at all lately but want to start again.

EDIT - 125k per day can be done but it would be intense. Lots of hills in western ma.

How good of shape are you guys in? How fast do you think you'll be averaging?
Carrying equipment really slows you down. For my trip we averaged about 15mph or so but I was in better shape back then. Something like this would really give me the motivation to get training.
 
I am interested. Sounds like a good cause, or at least a good kick in my seat. I know that I will be traveling for part of August, but let's try to work it out.

And I would love to travel south (do you guys have southern drawls?) to your Utopia thing this weekend, but alas, family life beckons.
 
Hey PTN, can I drive the support boat behind your bikes on the ride out to Martha's Vinyard?
 
(The crowd gasps in disbelief as PTN doesn't rise to the bait, Is this really going to be a SERIOUS thread?)

I realize that western Mass is going to be a biatch. The longest day mile-wise with those killer hills. But lets be real, it's not the Pyrenees, its the Berkshires. Yes, they are much more of a hill challenge than any of us here in eastern Mass come close to and I fully expect to get my butt kicked by them, but that is part of the challenge. One of the biggest reasons I'm talking about doing this in August is to get time in the saddle and be ready for the ride when it gets here. It's all about the training and logging the miles.


It's snowing here today which means no bike for me, so I'm going to go vote then head out to WaWa and ski till my thighs burn.

PTN
 
So I take it you've never heard John Forrester's Song, "Entering Marion?" It's about 20 years old.



If you can't make out the words to well, this version is clearer, but the guy above wrote it.



Every year I drive out to Cape Cod for the last part of June.
Leave the city by ten and you're there in the late afternoon.
On the way there's a village called Marion that you pass through.
The first time I approached it, I'll always remember the sign that came into view.

It said, "Entering Marion."
And I thought, "What a fun little sign!"
But the feeling of entering Marion
Had a kick that was hard to define...
A rapturous rush, a physical flush,
Chills up and down the spine.
For the few minutes I was in Marion
All Massachusetts was mine.

(spoken) Well, it got to be kind of an annual thing...the event that would start each vacation off with a bang!

Then one year--who knows why?--I decided to try a new route.
So I got out my map and I traced one I thought was a beaut.
After driving all morning, I came to the top of a hill,
Where a sign stood before me that promised a new kind of thrill.

It said, "Entering Beverly,"
Which was lovely and not overbuilt.
And the pleasure of entering Beverly
Far outweighed any feelings of guilt.
I could say I'm contrite but it wouldn't be right,
For the truth is that later that day,
I found myself entering Sharon.
It was there. So was I. We enjoyed it. Hey, what can I say?

By the next year I'd try any route, just for novelty's sake.
I was cursed with a thirst that no single township could slake.
Oh, at the wheel I looked calm but inside I was running amok,
When a sign in the road dead ahead sent me straight into shock:

"Entering Lawrence."
My God! I was out of control.
And I'd no sooner finished with Lawrence
Than Boom! I was entering Lowell.
Then I backtracked and re-entered Lawrence,
Then Quincy and Norton as well.
Around midnight I pulled into Athol
And flopped in a fleabag motel.

I slept fitfully in my clothing
And awoke in a pool of sweat and self-loathing.
Lying there, feeling lower than carrion,
A name came clear as a clarion.
I jumped in my car
And before very far--

I was entering Marion.
How totally, wonderfully great!
How grand to be entering Marion
After tramping all over the state.
Every sleaze-bucket burb,
Every tryst by the curb
Had really just helped me to find
I'm happiest entering Marion.
I guess I'm the Marion kind.
Oh yes, I'm the Marion kind.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Found Dana! Ok, so we take a ride on her, too! Can't do much planning now, getting out into the boonies where I don't have iPhone coverage.

But you guys have convinced me, breast cancer is the best and most natural fit for our charity. (insert witty remark here!)

I'll contact the breast cancer people and see if they can offer any advise.

PTN
 
paulthenurse said:
Found Dana! Ok, so we take a ride on her, too! Can't do much planning now, getting out into the boonies where I don't have iPhone coverage.

But you guys have convinced me, breast cancer is the best and most natural fit for our charity. (insert witty remark here!)

I'll contact the breast cancer people and see if they can offer any advise.

PTN
Click to expand...

When I did my ride for the AICR, I spoke with one of their reps and they set up a charity "account" for us. It wasn't a specific bank account for us but she just collected and tracked the donations. When I collected checks, I submitted them directly to her attention.

All individuals received a receipt from the AICR for tax purposes.
 
I think riders should have to stay in pairs.

I'd go with you, but I can't pedal a flat 10 miles any more - I tried it.
 
I knew I had heard of Dana. My wife used to teach at a private school near the Quabbin, one of the dorms was named "Dana."

Here's a picture of the town.

1649984_900.jpg


It IS kinda freaky to think that there's whole towns under the reservoir. Think they took down or removed most of the buildings; wonder how much is left down there?
 
No, this is a (gasp) serious thread.

So in answer to all of you who PM'ed, Yes I am serious and Yes you can participate. But the only really practicle way to keep up on what is going on is to subscribe to this thread and participate by posting on the thread. Keep track of your progress and your miles. If we are ll in it together we can encourage each other and kick each other in the pants to get off the couch when we need it.

Is anyone capable of putting together an Excel spreadsheet so that we can keep track of guys miles and stuff. I tried to put one together for myself, I am running, swimming, skiing and biking these days and I wanted to keep track of everything and I just frustrated the hell out of myself in the end. I also wanted to keep track of basic fitness stuff like weight and resting heart rate, etc.

One other thing that shouldn't need to be said but times being the way they are it probably does.

This is a bike ride that my brother and I are going to do. We're going to try to raise some money for breast cancer research when we do it. Anyone who wants to is welcome and encouraged to join us. But by doing so you release both of us and Homebrewtalk.com from any liabilities for injuries, death, bad breath, hemorrhoids, toe nail fungus, the heartbreak of psoriasis or any other malady's that befall you while training for or participating in the ride. You should start with a call to your doctor and get his/her OK to do this. Get an OK from SWMBO while you are at it. If your wife takes off with the pool boy cause you are out on the bike every day off, I really don't want to hear about it. (I'll sit and drink a few beers with you and talk about what a rotten biatch she is but that's the extent of my responsibility.) By participating in this thread and joining us on this ride you agree to the above.

Now you guys know why all of the law schools I applied to returned my applications with a curt "Thanks but no thanks." Maybe I should have TexLaw review my legal disclaimer but I'm afraid he'd hurt himself laughing and sue me so I'll just leave it the way it is. You get what I'm saying here, we're all adults and responsible for our own actions.


PTN
 
the_bird said:
I knew I had heard of Dana. My wife used to teach at a private school near the Quabbin, one of the dorms was named "Dana."

Here's a picture of the town.

1649984_900.jpg


It IS kinda freaky to think that there's whole towns under the reservoir. Think they took down or removed most of the buildings; wonder how much is left down there?
Click to expand...

About all thats left is foundations
They even moved the cemetery.

Knowing where the foundations were would be key for some good fishing there though.
 
Went to the Y today. Swam 3/4 mile in 25 minutes, went upstairs to the gym and rode 10 miles in 27 minutes. Then I got on the treadmill and burned the paint off with 1/2 mile in 9 minutes.

Then I did some speed work and went to a nearby drinking establishment and polished off two beers in under three minutes while I waited for my hamburger with blue cheese and grilled onions. The subtleties of my exercise program need some refinement.

PTN
 
Well guys, the ladies might let us ride but we're gonna be big time saddle sore when they're done with us. I've been doing some map work. Picking arbitrary points at teh center of each downtown I mapped out routes between the girls, staying off busy roads. (Impossible to do in Chelsea, BTW!) Marion to Sharon comes in at 47 miles. Sharon to Beverly is 45, including going through Chelsea and Lynn. Beverly to Shirley is a very disjointed 50 +/-. (The roads don't go in the right direction, they all seem to go in a generally Northwest to Southeast direction and we need to go Northeast to West Southwest.)

That is all do-able.

The biatch comes from Shirley to Lee. Staying on roads that are safe and avoiding the worst of the mountains I got 126 miles, including a 1600 foot elevation net gain, most of that net gain found around Mile 85, where a 4% grade just goes on and on for miles and miles. I called Joe up with the numbers and he laughed at me. And I quote, "When you get to the point where you can do 75 miles in the saddle for two days in a row and still walk afterwards you let me know. Until that point you're honestly never going to be capable of making that last section. Not trying to burst your bubble but that's the honest truth. You'll just bonk."

Hmmmmmm.


As Gimly said in LOTR, "Certainty of death versus small chance of success. What are we waiting for?"

I did 10 hard miles yesterday at the Y, my legs are still sore today. Swam 3/4 mile this afternoon to switch things up.

PTN
 
Like I said at SAUC2, I'm interested. August is quite a ways off for me to commit to anything, and thru-hiking the Long Trail was/is on the calender for that month, but I'll start training now to get saddle tough. I think that we may want to route plan to hit brewpubs for a sampler stop (I taste sponsors :D ), though I understand the obvious problems this may entail. One problem I have is I don't have a road bike... anyone else gonna mountain bike it, or just be slow?
 
It's a damned good thing I'm as good looking as I am, 'cause I'm not that freakin' smaht.

Ain't no reason we can't go the other way, West to East. Start out in Lee with a long ass first leg (but it's mostly down hill,) ease thru the middle of the state and end up with a nice swim in Buzzards Bay. We could even do it in three days this way since we wouldn't need to save ourselves for a final killer day. What do you guys think?
 
Hippie said:
Like I said at SAUC2, I'm interested. August is quite a ways off for me to commit to anything, and thru-hiking the Long Trail was/is on the calender for that month, but I'll start training now to get saddle tough. I think that we may want to route plan to hit brewpubs for a sampler stop (I taste sponsors :D ), though I understand the obvious problems this may entail. One problem I have is I don't have a road bike... anyone else gonna mountain bike it, or just be slow?
Click to expand...


While I'll certainly manage to find a pub or four over the course of the ride I want to keep the ride focused as a charity ride, not a beer ride. That said, I'm all over the idea of being charitable to myself in a pub in the evenings.

Sorry, I don't have another road bike, but I don't expect to be setting any speed records, no matter what I'm peddleing

PTN
 
I am so badly out of shape, there isn't a prayer in hell that I'd be ready to do anything even CLOSE to a ride like this by summer. Not a prayer. I might buy myself a bike in the spring, but I'm in horrible shape and not sure how I'll be able to rectify that in any reasonable amount of time. Out.
 

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