The weather forecast was iffy, with a front moving west to east, but the morning started out nice and bright, and things looked good!  We all met at MotoMarket at noon. As I pulled up, so did George, and right after him Kit. Todd was there, getting ready to teach a class, and told us that somehow Mike Maynard, Mike Petisca, and his girlfriend had shown up around 10am, thinking the ride was leaving at 10:30am!  So they had already given up on us and left to go on their own ride!  Doh!  Shortly Bob Lee and Amanda showed up, and finally Bob V.

We followed a route that was provided to us by Mark Holbrook, so we knew it was going to be a great one! The ride went great, the weather held, and the roads were fantastic.  Although we did feel like we were in an MSF video.  Every hazard that there was, we ran into, from steel plates, goose and goslings, more chipmunks than we could count, errant bicyclists, dogs, etc.  You name it it was thrown at us.  While riding along Pearl Hill Road, we did have a minor "oops".  I was leading with Bob V. right behind me.  I had picked up the pace a bit, and came into a tight left  hander.  I scrubbed off speed, and made it through the turn without a problem, but as I looked in my mirror, I saw Bob run a little wide, get into the dirt, and just tuck the front end. Nothing major, scuffed some bodywork, but that was about it.  We made sure everything was good to go, and continued on our way. At one point, while riding along Rindge Road, we encountered a closed road.  In true biker form, we road around the barriers, and continued on our way.   :-) 

We got to about the 1/2 mark, just north of Wachusett at the intersection of route 2.  It was now about 10 to 3, the time I had told people the BBQ was going to start.  We decided to abbreviate the ride, and jump onto the highway, and make our way home.  We got back to my place by about 3:30, and fired up the BBQ.  Dane showed up, the Rob and Anne-Marrie, and then Rich and his wife Jean. Unfortunately Mike and Mike never showed.  What happened to you guys?  Fun was had by all, sorry you missed it!  Next time!

In case anyone is interested, here is the route and here is a BIG map of the route.