Wow, is it hot!  Well that's what we were saying the morning of June 25,  2005.  The week previous was very hot too.  So hot that we had considered  canceling the tandem bike ride.  We decided to have the ride.  We thought  that a somewhat shortened ride would be the way to go.  The ride was to  begin at 9:00 in Lincoln MA at the Commuter Rail Parking Lot and end at  the  same place.  There were several places to shorten the ride and still   enjoy  lunch in Carlisle Center.

 There were 4 tandem teams ready to ride shortly after 9 am.  My good  friend  Mike Katin with Lil Johnson, Joe and Kathy Marino, these were folks that  ride pretty hard.  I knew that Mike knows the area very well and could be  counted on to arrive at the lunch stop.  The other cyclists were Marie  Hennessey on a recumbent tandem with her captain Andy Stone from Rhode  Island.  John Taylor and myself brought up the rear.  We had a nice ride  to  Concord Center where we all met for a break.  Alice was driving the sag  wagon and met us at the green.  From the center of Concord, we rode to  Carlisle via a nice route UP Strawberry Hill Road.  What goes up...  The  pay  off was Pope Rd.  A very nice downhill with lots of shade.

 Let me say a few words about Marie's ride...  A recumbent bike has the  riders sitting down in what looks like lounge chairs with their feet in  front of them.  Marie had the ride of the day.  That bike can go down   hill  like a sports car.  Whenever we saw Marie, she was smiling ear to ear.  I  wasn't sure if she would get off the bike at lunch.  After lunch, we made  another stop at Concord Center. Alice was there again and by this time it  was really hot! She offered us wet washcloths to try to keep us cool.   Wow,  what a sight for hot cyclists!

 I have forgotten the number of degrees, but it was nearly 100.  More than  hot enough for me thanks!  On the way back to the start of the ride, we  passed Walden Pond.  I couldn't believe the number of cars trying to find  parking spaces.  Did I mention that it was HOT? We all arrived back at   the  parking lot where we had began our ride without incident.  Even though it  was a very hot day, smiles were everywhere.  This year's ride was not the  largest, but we had a great time.