Category: Club information

All about the club

2025 Rides

The Coastal Loop and Marshfield Hills rides have started again for 2025. The Halifax routes return in April as well.

PMC:  Steve Ropes and Wesley Brooks are each riding the full Pan Mass Challenge this year.  Steve’s page is at https://profile.pmc.org/SR0383.  Wes’s page is at https://profile.pmc.org/WB0117.

QUABBIN: We will roll the Quabbin loop on 5/4/25.  This ride gains our highest VAM rating of the year.  This is a fun tour.  Please register on Strava. The Tour goes on some good rollers around the Quabbin.  We will meet for lunch at the Steaming Tender after the ride.

WESTPORT: Our club century will be on August 3.  This is essentially a self supported tour.  We will stop at coffee shops and convenience stores.  We hope to have several speed groups that will stay together and support each other.  Please register on the strava.

P2P: We will have our annual club ride  from Plymouth to Provincetown on August 30.  Please register on the Strava Page. This will be the 8th consecutive year.  Many thanks go to Steve Ropes for making 2024 P2P a success.  Tracy Hubbard, Liz Malone, and Vito Visconte have helped for many years as well.  We are always looking for new people to help run the club events.  Help make it your own!

Upcoming Events:
Quabbin (5/4/25): https://www.strava.com/clubs/186760/group_events/1902667
Westport (8/3/25): https://www.strava.com/clubs/186760/group_events/1960952
P2P (8/30/25): https://www.strava.com/clubs/186760/group_events/1940335

P2P

https://www.strava.com/clubs/186760/group_events/1371346

PURCHASE YOUR TICKET AT CAPTAIN JOHN’S WEBSITE.

The club’s annual ride to Provincetown. We ride through the Cape and the take ferry back to Plymouth. Parking is at the Jenny Grist Mill parking lot. This ride is for all abilities. You must be able to reach Provincetown by 4PM. We will ride in groups, together.

There will be a SAG.

Ride starts promptly at 7 AM. Please be in the parking lot by 6:45am. You need to have your bag in the SAG car. You will get your bag at the beach at the end of the ride. We ride past Ptown to the end of the land. We will reach the beach. The swim is worth it. Watch for sharks !!

There will be several different speed groups. You should be able to maintain a 16mph average in order to make this an enjoyable ride for you to experience. Slower riders will be in smaller groups. The ferry leaves later and allows you more time to complete the ride. We expect to have 2 major groups with rotating pacelines at 16 and 18 mph.

For our route we will use the service road. We will take the new extension to the rail trail. The GPS file will go to the end of the cape at Herring Cove beach. The annual tradition as started by the V is to make a swim in the water. There are free showers at the beach.

The SAG wagon will transport 1 SMALL bag for each rider. You can have a change of clothes and a towel.

The return ferry is at McMillian Pier.

You must register for the event prior to the ride on the Strava Event. Purchase your boat ticket at https://www.captjohn.com/

P2P 2022

We are going to have a great P2P for 2022. Everything is on the way back to normal. Please register! We must have a headcount for this ride.

https://www.strava.com/clubs/186760/group_events/1113233

The club’s annual ride to Provincetown. We ride through the Cape and the take ferry back to Plymouth. Parking is at the Jenny Grist Mill parking lot. This ride is for all abilities. You must be able to reach Provincetown by 4PM. We will ride in groups, together.

There will be a SAG.

Ride starts promptly at 7 AM. Please be in the parking lot by 6:45am. You need to have your bag in the SAG car. You will get your bag at the beach at the end of the ride. We ride past Ptown to the end of the land. We will reach the beach. The swim is worth it. Watch for sharks !!

There will be several different speed groups. You should be able to maintain a 16mph average in order to make this an enjoyable ride for you to experience. Slower riders will be in smaller groups. The ferry leaves later and allows you more time to complete the ride. We expect to have 2 major groups with rotating pacelines at 16 and 18 mph.

For our route we will use the service road toward Hyannis. We will turn off this road and head to Route 6A. We will take several roads from 6A, which will bring us to the rail trail. We will travel on lightly traveled roads from this point to the extension of the Rail Trail. We will take the new extension to the rail trail. The GPS file will go to the end of the cape at Herring Cove beach. The annual tradition as started by the V is to make a swim in the water. There are free showers at the beach.

The SAG wagon will transport 1 SMALL bag for each rider. You can have a change of clothes and a towel. When we reach the beach, then you grab your bag, swim in the ocean, shower, and organize for the luncheon in Ptown. We will roll to the Lobster Pot Express in town prior to boarding the return ferry.

The return ferry is at McMillian Pier.

You must purchase your own ticket from Cap. John’s Boats for the return ferry trip. You must register for the event prior to the ride on the Strava page. Please use the link.

Paceline Tips

SSB runs different rides with the touring group and more structured rides from casual riding along the road to 8,000-mile-per-year riders that crave paceline riding.

  • Stay on the right side of the road way. If you see an upcoming obstacle slowly move to the left of the obstacle.
  • Keep your speed smooth and steady. Don’t jam on the brakes – feather them. Don’t coast – soft pedal. Be predictable in everything you do.
  • Stay about half a wheel back from the rider in front. If you don’t trust the rider in front – or yourself – increase the gap a bit.
  • Don’t overlap wheels. In other words, don’t let your front wheel be alongside another rider’s rear wheel. Stay behind their wheel. Don’t be off to the side.
  • Listen and watch for signals, especially in larger groups:
    • “Car up” means there’s a car ahead in the opposite lane; “car back” means one is about to overtake.
    • “Runner up” means there is someone running towards the paceline.
    • Left and right turns are indicated by the standard hand signals: left hand out for left turn, left hand up or right hand out for right turn. Stop or slowing are indicated by right hand down, palm back.
    • Pointing down means “road hazard”: a hole, storm drain, or whatever. Sand and glass usually elicit verbal comment. A rider to the left of the paceline pointing to a space between bikes is saying “Lemme in!”
  • If the situation does call for increasing speed, do it gradually. Speeding up quickly stretches out the line like a spring, stressing everybody as it comes back together.
  • Turn the pedals 30 times at the front. More is not necessary and perhaps counterproductive.
  • Stay out there too long and you’ll find that it’s the most common way to get dropped from your pack; you’ll be too tired to stay connected to the end of the train, and you’re history.
  • When you’re making your way back, stay close to the line – you’ll still get some benefit from the draft. Soft pedal. Keep pedaling but easy.
  • When you’re pulling off the front, do not slow or stop pedaling as you begin to pull off, lest the person behind you run into your wheel. Save enough energy to make sure you’re continuing to “pull” off the front of the line.
  • Finally, you made it to the back again. Time to sit in, eat and drink, shake out your hands.