For the second week in a row, we fielded a group of eleven riders for our Monday Night Intro Ride. Newcomers Alex, Rick, and Jen joined Jerome, Mark, Tony, Sheri, Shelby, Justin, Ari and me on our Easthampton loop on a lovely (but windy) late-spring evening.

A long opening stretch on the bike path took us to through Easthampton and out to Route 5/10. We enjoyed some fast descents on fresh pavement on Pomeroy Meadow Rd before turning on Oliver St toward the Park Hill Rd climb. I told Shelby (who has been hauling in boatloads of PRs this year) that I was expecting a PR from her on the climb, and she obliged by riding past our stopping point at the Big Red Frame to ride through the end of the Strava segment at the top of the hill, before turning around to come down and rejoin us. To commemorate this effort, I created a brand-new segment  that ends at our actual stopping point, so we can get real data on this climb.

After our photo-op at the Frame, we were treated to a flyover by a couple of C-130s from Westover, along with a murmuration of starlings flying alongside as we started our descent. We rolled through downtown Northampton and arrived back at Sheldon Field around 7:15 PM, with 18.5 miles at 12.0 mph.

Next week we'll be back in the flatlands on our Hadley loop on Monday 6/22 at 5:30 PM -- come out and join us!