B2 Adventure Ride

The B2 Adventure Ride took place Sunday, April 29th and here's what went down.

Rules:

• Teams of 3, picked by the store staff, no whining.
• Each team gets the same cue sheet, 3 gps coordinates, and grainy photos of said location.
• Teams leave at 3 minute intervals, all are tracked by Glympse, teams have to stay together.
• There are random discarded bike parts hung at each location, each team takes one and goes on to the next.
• Timing is performed by the shop staff using computers, smartphones and possibly an abacus.

So, my team:

• Me: 53, marginal fitness, some local road knowledge and a deep love of neon colors on the road.
• Tom, 60-something, short, wiry, can plot the best course between any 2 points on the north shore in seconds. His Garmin just records his travels.
• Ashely ("Red"), 32, red hair and matching alabaster skin tone, able to swear more than the average sailor.

I’m not going to describe the other 6 teams, they are irrelevant.

We go out 5th, convene in the parking lot and head to the furthest waypoint, near the parking lot across from Agassiz Rock on School St. Manchester. Legs are fresh, rain is minimal, we stay together and make good time, we are the first team to this point!!  We pick off a broken shifter and head for the next stop, Bradley Palmer. School St./Southern Ave, Lakemans, 1A for about 200 yards, Waldingfield Rd, left and onto BP, and we find # 2 near some horse jumps, as a pair of horse people ride up!

Last one, we pedal on to the Danvers reservoir, on 35. We take the wrong entrance and have to ride
along the grassy, muddy embankment back to the gps spot, a “waterfall” outlet, just like the photo!

We also get to see a bald eagle perched way up!

I grab a battered pedal, we discuss the best way back to the shop, turn right and head back.

About 2 minutes after leaving waypoint #3, the skies opened up, and we get drenched during the last 10 miles back to the shop. We manage to stay together, Tom takes the longest pulls, he’s the tough guy in the bunch. We ride up to the shop in a tight group, and I almost crash when I hit a pothole in front of the shop!

Fun!

We did not win, one of the teams DNF’d, so we were not last, yay…. We had fun and at least Ashely and I had sore legs for a day.

2n Glenn