The most resilient tradition of the club's Memorial Day Weekend in Lenox, MA, is not so much the individual rides. Instead it is the steady growth in attendance, even by those who know the cue sheets are sometimes just a little off. 55 members joined together at the Seven Hills Inn in the Berkshires attracted by the buffet breakfasts and dinners, the chance to see familiar or soon to be familiar places with old or soon to be old friends. The group is the thing, and here's what they did.
There was, of course, the Al Rutsky crowd. Al has been to Lenox enough to make up rides as he goes along, sometimes starting with a cue sheet, sometimes not. He picks a destination, promises a comfortable pace and a constant chatter and whisks away some Cs and C+s, somehow accommodating all who want to come, from Elaine Hauser to a dozen other people who wanted to ride 40 or so miles. Then there was Jay Ambroson, who with cue sheets and area cycling map in hand helped a faster group enjoy and navigate a 60 plus mile ride.
Glenn Collins and Pieter Porsius continued their traditional ride ascending Greylock from the Northside, not cue sheeted, but known familiarly by both. They were joined by Artie Robertson, one of the club's most dedicated cyclists, eating, sleeping, and perhaps drinking cycling even more than the most dedicated A/B riders were. He wanted a new challenge, and thought the nine-mile ascent of the steep side of Greylock, part of an 80 or so mile ride, was it. The three of them broke one tradition: They finished with plenty of time for dinner. Pieter and Glenn take their time on this ride, and still did, but managed to need less of it.
The A-group decided on the newly cue-sheeted (I retyped a hand-written cue) ride to Williamstown. Phil and I knew part of it to be off. We even knew which part of it, dissuading others who wanted to ride it until we could correct it. The right on Columbia County Road was known to be wrong, and we thought we remembered, especially George Cymbalsky, that it was this right on Mill/Cemetery Road to 22 and 43 to Williamstown. We started down the road, stopped a car and asked directions, started off the road, stopped and decided that it was the road and went back to it. Then it became familiar and took us into Williamstown, passing one of Pieter/Glenn/Artie's food stops, and taking us past a bike shop.
I was going to purchase an additional water bottle, but George had extras, so I purchased the Western Massachusetts bicycle map that Jay Ambroson also had. It seemed like a good investment.
Alan Tankoos, George and I opted for the best pizza we had ever had on a Lenox-Memorial Day weekend ride. If it sounds like I'm equivocating, I'm not. It was good pizza that we ate on picnic tables overlooking a riverbank, a tradition worth continuing. Ross Selinger, also with us, ate somewhat lighter. Just around the bend, Phil, Maria, Mike Friedlander, Doug Beards, John Blusonis and Yvonne Konzet had "the best deli sandwiches" they ever had. For both groups, the cue sheeted directions back, perfect on all counts, resulted in a lengthy (we did close to 90 miles total) ride, but after the lunch stops, at least no one was hungry.
Sunday, the same groups (for the most part) rode different rides, with mine following Haroldo for a ride through Beartown State Forest, where we met up with some of our hiking spouses and girl friends, to Tyringham and Monterey, where we met up with the New York Cycle Club at a traditional deli stop to the god-awful Route 23 where we climbed our way to a new deli stop in Blandsford. We enjoyed lunch, air conditioning and direction-assistance for this uncharted territory from the deli guy. He directed us to a side road that intersected Route 20, which took us on a long, gradual ascent back to the inn.
After the ride, a meager few of us had time for a quick drive to a mini-brewery in Great Barrington, which promises to be an annual tradition in the coming years.
That night, some of us went to the theater next door, some to the movies (or they talked about it), some to Lenox for ice cream (Haroldo recommended a ginger-spiced flavor) and some just enjoyed the inn's surroundings. On Monday, there was a 19-mile ride for those who couldn't get enough, and questions about the club's next-away weekend (Labor Day Weekend in Londonderry, VT) for others who know a good thing when they see it.