The Wheels of Chance

Last week I had the chance to combine work with some cycling – what could be better. I had to attend a mid week research retreat at the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) down in Woods Hole and as it started late on Tuesday and finished on Thursday morning I decided to take a couple of days vacation and ride the 90 miles from Boston to the base of Cape Cod. So I called my friends Virginia and Chris, who live in Falmouth, and begged a bed so I could catch up with them and also avoid having to spend a couple of nights in the one of the Lab’s dorm rooms.

TUESDAY

I packed some clothes and the sundries required for a long ride into my Carradice Nelson Longflap and Acorn handlebar bag and set off at 7:00 am. I took the familiar route to the south through Newton, Dedham and Milton. I passed the Readville train station and took the Neponset Valley Parkway to Route 138. I rode south until I came to Stoughton where I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and a bagel. This bit of SE Massachusetts has been hit hard by the recession and I passed lots of blankly staring windows in fairly new  office buildings. Route 138 is a busy road too so the riding was just a case of putting miles behind me until I reached my planned lunch stop in Wareham. I pushed on until I hit Rt106 and turned East towards Bridgewater, Rt 28 took me through Bridgewater and I got off the main road at Summer St. The road was quiet and I relaxed a bit and enjoyed the scenery. That is until I saw a large complex of buildings looming the horizon. They looked distinctly nasty, cold and forbidding and I stopped to see if they were on my map. And yes they were……I was looking at Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane. It was almost as if the buildings had soaked up all the misery of the years and were displaying it for all to see. I shivered a little and pushed on towards Middleborough, anxious to put the hospital behind me. At Middleborough I got onto Rt 28 and arrived in Wareham around noon and had lunch at a small diner.

I was now getting close to the Bourne Bridge and so I put on a bit of speed through Buzzard’s Bay and past the old railway bridge across the Cape Cod Canal.

Then I saw the bridge ahead, but I couldn’t see how to get onto the footpath. There was a restaurant to my left and a steep overgrown embankment up to the footpath where other frustrated pedestrians had worn a path.

So I did a bit of off roading and dragged my bike up the hill and lifted it over the small guard rail and onto the foot path across the bridge. Of course once I was up so high I could see the entrance to the footpath just a few hundred feet behind the restaurant. I carefully walked my bike across the bridge as the path wasn’t that wide, there was a strong cross wind and there was also a two feet drop to the road surface on my left. I got back on my bike at the State Police barracks at the bottom of the bridge and made my way to Country Road and started the ride down to Woods Hole. County Road was quite and had some nice gentle hills and I was enjoying the ride until it began to rain. I stopped outside a Quaker Meeting House to read the simple message on the chalk board outside.

I put on the Stowaway, pulled my cap down and pushed on arriving at the MBL at 3:00. I registered for the conference and chatted with some of the early arrivals before a dinner of lobster, steamers, corn and potatoes.

I didn’t stick around for the social afterwards as I wanted to see my friends Virginia and Chris so I rode a couple of miles up the Shining Sea bike path to their house. I was welcomed with a lick from Beckett the dog, shy hellos from the kids, Faye and Gus, and hugs and beer from Chris and Virginia. We talked and drank until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and I rolled into bed around 9:00.

WEDNESDAY

Work

THURSDAY

Virginia, Chris, Faye, Gus and Beckett saw me off in the morning after lots of good coffee, yogurt and cereal. Thanks for the hospitality guys!!!! I followed the Shining Sea bike path as far as Rt 151 and then got back on County Road towards the Bourne Bridge. The weather was dry, but overcast and I kept my jacket on to keep the wind out. I pretty much retraced my ride up to Middleborough where I stopped for lunch in the “Central Cafe” which is a bar with really neat old booths. As it was cold outside I stayed there a little longer than strictly necessary and had a couple of coffees….

Back on the bike my lunch kicked in after about an hour and I made good time back through Bridegwater, Stoughton and Newton arriving back home around 4:00. My odometer read 89 miles, 8 hours total trip time with 6 hours of actual pedaling time. I was quite please with myself, but after a hot shower the fatigue hit me and I fell asleep on the sofa with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and exhaustion.

Filed under: Riding Days