bs0412-4

Boxer Shorts December, 2004 - 4 of 4

Mike Andrews' 7th Annual 2004 CAPE RIDE

by Fred Kolack

Stop at Rock Harbor, by Fred Kolack

Saturday, October 16 was the date for the Autumn Cape Cod Ride. And what a beautiful day for such a great ride, too. Blue skies abounded, with temperatures between 59° and 64°. This has been an annually repeated event led by Mike Andrews [pictured below], first begun by Mike and Bob Pipes in 1996.

The ride started out, as scheduled, at 9AM, sharp. And then only took an additional 10 minutes to get all 17 motorcycle participants out of the IHOP parking lot (which is adjacent to the Bourne Bridge) and out onto Route 6W, due to the amount of traffic. Yep, we were on the Cape.

Mike led the "conga line" east on Route 6A, stopping hourly at a variety of bays, inlets and harbors to enjoy the salt air, stretch our legs, and soak in the salt water views of Cape Cod Bay, as we progressed eastward along the peninsula. After a couple of hours, the last four riders in the line (this author included) were inadvertently separated from the remainder of the crowd, somewhere in the wilds of Eastham or North Eastham, rather close to the historic site of Marconi's transatlantic radio transmitter site, which first sent wireless messages "across the ether" to Europe, in 1903. Only the similar "good vibes" of a cell phone brought me back into the fold at the Wellfleet Lighthouse, thus allowing the rest of this story to be told.

We then began the return portion of the tour, heading for the diversion of the Wellfleet Oyster Festival. We joined thousands of others, who came to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and the wares of local artists, a live jazz performance, and the opportunity to partake in a wide variety of fine foods, especially seafood, including some of the local oyster crop. Aficionado Mike Andrews claims (no, not clams) that, from personal experience, these are a much sweeter tasting raw oyster than those from other nearby waters.

A few hours later, the ride continued, by now reduced down to 8 participating motorcycles, and proceeded on back roads through Orleans, the Chathams, Harwich and Dennis, before picking up velocity for the conclusion of the ride on westbound Route 6.

Participants (presented here in alphabetical order) included Mike Andrews astride a Moto Guzzi Le Mans, Karl Best on a R1150RT, Ray Burke on a R100GS, Chris Dirienzo on a Yamaha FZ1, Deborah Pigeon from Martha's Vineyard riding an 1150, Geoffrey Edmonds on an R80, Bruce Ferguson on a K75, Rich Jones on a R1100GS, Fred & Rose Kolack on a K1200LT, Don & Vicki Lapierre on another K1200LT, Raul Laguada on a GS1150, Christo LoCascio on an 1150, Joe Merlino on an F650, Bill Morrison on an R75/5, Jack Murphy on an R1200C, Bob Pipes on a K75RT, and Jim Rogers on an R1100RS.

Thank you Mike Andrews for putting together and leading a fantastic ride!

Ride to Eat of the Year: The Old Cremmery, Cummington, Mass.

by Victor Cruz

Old Cremmery After the 11/7 ride to the Vanilla Bean in Pomfret, CT, a small band of hooligans including the leather-clad Tom Kemper and Blackstone native George Freitas (pictured here), New Hampshirean Jim Mason and his son and girlfriend, Triumph-howling Matt LaPlaca, past incumbent member Chris Metcalfe, newbie Martin Hensel and yours truly decided to exploit the great 60-degree day that day and ply the CT backroads.

We had no destination in mind but the shortness of daylight was a factor. I didn't want to be returning with a group in the dark like coal miners. I scouted a route the night before using my trusty Streets & Trips software so I knew the way, however Rtes 202 and 112 north in Mass were the wild cards. I was worried of leading the group on a bad ride. I told Tom Kemper that I couldn't vouch for 202 or 112. Those roads could have more holes than Dunkin Donuts for all I knew. Tom replied perfectly: "There's only one way to find out and we'll take it as it comes," or words to that effect. In the end, all worries were trampled upon. Everybody was totally surprised, delighted and taken aback by the quality of these scenic and curvy Mass roads discovered.

Pull out your maps and mark this path. You'll want to ride this ASAP. Take a right out of Vanilla Bean's parking lot (244) then a right on Schoolhouse Hill. These backroads eventually lead to Natchaug State Forest on a hilly and bendy way that is a blast to ride. Continue west until you hit 89 north to 190 west through Stafford Springs and the aberration of malls that is Enfield. From Enfield we did I-91 south for about 5 miles to Rte. 20 west past Bradley Airport; then 202 north at Ganby to Westfield, Mass. A cut through at Sunnyside road allows you to bypass downtown Westfield. We took Rte. 20 west from there, where you can see a mountain blasted in half courtesy of the Mass Pike. From 20 we picked up 112 north at the town of Huntington. And here is where the superb riding started in earnest. Rte 112 rises you up and across a mountain top where suddenly the trees clear to open farmlands and high views, then over you go with a dog leg right. Awesome! Rte. 112 gives you a break at Rt. 9 with the appearance of a diary cow standing on top of a white building: The Old Cremmery. It was getting dark and we were far from home, so we stopped for relief and refreshments only, but we all noticed the eats being devoured here by the patron wolves were obviously first-class eats similar to what they serve at Stone's in Ashland, our YB breakfast mecca. A country grocery store panel-glassed dining room self-serve coffee combo with a clean unisex restroom and cow on the roof. What more could you ask for?

Post Script: The great riding doesn't have to stop there. A local rider on a green Triumph ST begged us to try Rte.116 east.

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