Big Lakes, Big Lakes!

 

Oh, we had a great ride around Vassalboro and China last Sunday.  Beautiful weather, a fine group, and a splendid post-ride gathering!  Our thanks to the Lipmans for leading the ride and opening up their home to us and providing a wonderful meal.  Hopefully the fine cycling weather will continue into this Saturday as we close out Bike Month with a classic tour around the Big Lakes, starting from Tom's Bike Boutique in East Winthrop.  As always, we hope you can make it!

Saturday, May 30th - EAST WINTHROP

"The Big Lakes Tour" - a ride along the shorelines of Lakes Maranacook, Annabessacook, and Cobbosseecontee.

START: 9:00 AM at the parking lot of Tom's Bike Boutique, 2208 Rt.202 in East Winthrop, across from D.R Struck's Nursery.

DISTANCE: 25-30 miles.

TERRAIN: moderate with some hills.

HIGHLIGHTS: Some nice lakeside runs along backroads through Winthrop, Monmouth, and Manchester.

LEADER: Denise Crowell, denisecrowell@roadrunner.com.

BCM Calendar Link: http://www.bikemaine.org/event2/kvbc-big-lakes-tour

 

For more information on the Kennebec Valley Bicycle Club, contact Jim Merrick, 293-3784, hjmerrick@gmail.com, or follow us on Facebook.

Big Lakes, Many Colors

After manning a booth at the Fryeburg Fair on Friday, I camped overnight at the fairgrounds and awoke to dark, rainy conditions, and no chance to make it to the KVBC Ride in Chesterville.  But I was feeling my oats (or maybe it was the fried dough) and I decided to get in a ride anyway, heading out to No. Conway and tackling Hurricane Mountain Road, said to be one of the toughest climbs in the White Mountains - and definitely a bit challenging in a cold rain.  But I survived the cardiac stress test of the climb, and the constant braking on the descent, and now I can say, "Been there, done that."  Turns out that despite John Lanoue's gracious planning and efforts to lead a Fall foliage tour, the weather wouldn't cooperate and the KVBC ride was washed out.  This Saturday we will hope for a bit dryer conditions when we meet in East Winthrop for the Big Lakes Tour at 9:00 AM.  If we don't get a lot of heavy rain before then, the foliage may be near peak, and it should be a great ride.  See you then!

 

Saturday, October 11th - EAST WINTHROP

"The Big Lakes Tour" - a ride along the shorelines of Lakes Maranacook, Annabessacook, and Cobbosseecontee.

START: 9:00 AM at the parking lot of Tom's Bike Boutique, 2208 Rt.202 in East Winthrop, across from D.R Struck's Nursery.

DISTANCE: 25-30 miles.

TERRAIN: moderate with some hills.

HIGHLIGHTS: Some nice lakeside runs along backroads in near peak Fall foliage through Winthrop, Monmouth, and Manchester.

LEADER: Denise Crowell.

 

For more information on the Kennebec Valley Bicycle Club, contact Jim Merrick at hjmerrick@gmail.com or check out the KVBC blog at: http://postedroads.blogspot.com.

Back for the Big Lakes Tour

Heading Out from East Winthrop

It was raining about as hard at the ride start in Vassalboro last Saturday as on the start of any bike ride I've seen - no doubt the weathermen who forecast "100% chance of rain" were muttering, "I told you so." But as the 10 o'clock ride start rolled in, so did Marty and Scott (who rode from Waterville, no less) so Jeanine and I decided we had a quorum, and off we went.  Within 4 miles the rains tapered off, the skies cleared a bit, and the pavement started to dry out.  Not quite trusting our good fortune (and with a nod to our co-riders who had to ride back to Waterville) we cut the ride short to about 15 miles after a fascinating tour of some historic graveyards.  Many thanks to Jeanine for leading the ride (and making the rains hold off for the better part of the tour).  This Saturday we will hope for a bit dryer conditions when we meet in East Winthrop for the Big Lakes Tour at 9:30 AM.  It's another great ride and I hope you can join us!

Saturday, May 18th - EAST WINTHROP

"The Big Lakes Tour" - a ride along the shorelines of Lakes Maranacook, Annabessacook, and Cobbosseecontee.

START: 9:30 AM at the parking lot of Tom's Bike Boutique, 2208 Rt.202 in East Winthrop, across from D.R Struck's Nursery.

DISTANCE: 25-30 miles.

TERRAIN: moderate with some hills.

HIGHLIGHTS: Some nice lakeside runs along backroads in Winthrop, Monmouth, and Manchester.

LEADER: Denise Crowell.

For more information on the Kennebec Valley Bicycle Club, contact Jim Merrick, hjmerrick@gmail.com or check us out on Facebook.

The Large Lakes

Heading into Winthrop

We had another really fine ride last Saturday, stringing together a remarkably flat route through three towns (Livermore, Fayette, and Chesterville) and three counties (Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Franklin), including a delightful run along the Chesterville Esker and back again.  We'll see if three's a charm this Saturday when Denise takes us on a tour of the three big lakes in Winthrop, Monmouth, and Manchester - another great route.  And BCM's popular Womens' Ride is Sunday in Freeport, so we have some great riding in store!

Saturday, June 2nd - EAST WINTHROP

"The Big Lakes Tour" - a ride along the shorelines of Lakes Maranacook, Annabessacook, and Cobbosseecontee.

START: 9:00 AM at the parking lot of Tom's Bike Boutique, 2208 Rt.202 in East Winthrop, across from D.R Struck's Nursery.

DISTANCE: 25-30 miles.

TERRAIN: moderate with some hills.

HIGHLIGHTS: Some nice lakeside runs along backroads in Winthrop, Monmouth, and Manchester.

LEADER: Denise Crowell.

Big Lakes Tour

We had a splendid tour of Litchfield last Saturday - great roads, fine weather, beautiful scenery, and a happy group of ten riders. Many Thanks to George for leading the ride and marking the route, and to Chris for the wonderful cookie stop. We have a fine stretch of weather forecast ahead and Denise has planned a new ride for this Saturday starting in East Winthrop. If you are going to be around for the long weekend, come on out! Otherwise have a great holiday weekend, and we'll see you in June (Vassalboro ride on Saturday the 5th).

Saturday, May 29th - EAST WINTHROP

"The Big Lakes Tour" - a ride along the shorelines of Lakes Maranacook, Annabessacook, and Cobbosseecontee.

START: 9:30 AM at the parking lot of Tom's Bike Boutique, 2208 Rt.202 in East Winthrop, across from D.R Struck's Nursery.

DISTANCE: 25-30 miles.

TERRAIN: moderate with some hills.

HIGHLIGHTS: Some nice lakeside runs along backroads in Winthrop, Monmouth, and Manchester.

LEADER: Denise Crowell.