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If you’re nearly any where in Newton this morning you’re likely to see groups of bike riders all over the city. The Tour de Newton has begun. 13 groups of riders from each of the 13 villages are now riding the 20 mile loop through all the other villages.
Here’s the West Newton crew just before the start.
And here’s Auburndale
and a blurry Thompsonville crew. Next time I’ll hose down that camera lense before the event.
.. and the Chestnut Hill group
I’m rather envious of the riders, but enjjoying seeing groups ce thru West Newton. Now awaiting Waban, Lower Falls and Auburndale. One fast West Newton rider, Francisco, is already back; he works at Harris Cyclery.
And I just realized still have one container of chocolate chip cookies left; was feeling bad for running out before final groups.
Great event, thanks to all who put it together and volunteered.
Let me re-iterate that postponement last weekend was the right call. The point of this was to bring the community together, and take a leisurely ride to enjoy the scenery and weather. Doing this in pouring rain would have defeated the purpose.
All done!! It was a great ride! Thanks Bike Newton and all of the organizers and volunteers!
I emailed Ted most of my pictures so hopefully he is tweeting them somewhere!!
Kudos to all the organizers and volunteers …the first TdN was a great one. Nice to see so many bikers out and about.
Great fun–and special kudos to all the kids who completed the full 20-miles! Woo hoo!
Thanks, greeters, for finding 13 unique ways to greet us…now to go use all those coupons….
Amy, thanks for the pix! I tried tweeting but couldn’t get it to work from Newton Centre where Ald. Danberg and I were checking in riders. Will try again later.
Terrific turnout, well organized, and kudos to all the riders. The Chestnut Hill group was last to arrive at Newton Centre around 1:37 p.m.
Thanks everyone for all the great work! Our Waban crew started out about 20 strong and finished up at about a dozen. Some very stalwart young kids in our crew and i hope someone posts the pics soon. Steve Siegel also has our full average speed stats….
Special thanks to the greeters at each village. Lots of great stories, and cookies.
Photos can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/doughaslam/10254755865/in/photostream/
Sorry for the very poorly posted link.
There are also a collection of great photos that can be seen simply by looking for #tourdenewton on twitter … I love social media … thanks to everyone who was reporting … I can only be at one place at one time, but one can really experience the whole city experience of this event from all the simultaneous postings from all over the city.
I posted photos of riders from 13 villages at the Newton Centre checkpoint here.
Thanks to the Newton PD for great help controlling traffic. Someday hopefully it won’t be necessary.
I didn’t participate in the TdN but was very happy to see all the cyclists out & about on Sunday. Fantastic! There was also a major positive spillover effect on traffic as a whole. As I was riding my bike through Newton on a 40-mile loop Sunday, drivers were exceptionally mindful, even courteous (usually it’s just the opposite).
Here’s some more photos from around the city