If you’re out and about on Sunday morning you’re likely to see groups of 25 or 30 brightly clad bicyclists all over the city. It’s the 3rd annual Tour de Newton!
This year it’s the biggest yet. We bumped the number of riders up to 750. Added a “Petite Tour”, a 5 mile, 3 village mini–route for beginners. Added the Contra Tour, a faster paced tour for more experienced riders. They’ll be riding the route in the opposite direction (clockwise) from the regular riders (counter-clockwise). That should add to the fun since now all the riders will cross paths with lots of bicycle along the way.
So if you’re motoring in the morning, please give them a break where you can. If you’re kicking around in the morning, looking for something to do, stop by your village stop and join your neighborhood’s Village Greeters in welcoming the endless stream of riders to your village, and cheering them on – a new group will be arriving every 10 minutes or so all morning long.
The originally scheduled Tour was rained out and postponed back in June. It’s looking like we’re going to squeak by with good weather in the morning, after the earlier morning showers and before the afternoon T’storms. Godspeed the Tour de Newton!
“So if you’re motoring in the morning, please give them a break where you can…”
I would add give them a BRAKE as well!
Look forward to seeing y’all out on the Ride!
I would add, give bicycles a break (and a BRAKE) everyday.
See you in West Newton.
What a great event again this yea The weather was cool and the rain held off long enough to finish. West Newton had close to 60 registrants who showed up and finished the tour around 1:30. Special shout out to two West Newton sponsors, Village Bank and Harris Cyclery, without which this event would not have been possible. Extra special thanks to all the folks at Harris Cyclery, which provided water, let riders use their rest rooms, did some bicycle repairs and checkups and provided the tables and space for our village. That’s why we call West Newton “Best” Newton.
This was a great event, saw riders throughout town today and stopped in to lend a hand for the Jackson Homestead launch.
We also had a very successful Newton Upper Falls Village Day today. It was a really nice Sunday in Newton despite the sketchy weather.
Led the Newton Corner riders for the the third year running. Had a great group including a bunch of surprisingly sturdy youngsters who had no problem with the 20 miles and were probably ready for more.
Was glad for myself for the postponement, as I missed the June date.
I echo the thanks to Jerry, Tom Gloria, Lois Levin and all the other organizers, leaders, greeters and riders – a special thanks to Janet Sterman and Meg, our greeters at the Jackson Homestead (and Kate Bresee of the Jackson Homestead too)!
Yes, West Newton did indeed rock the Tour de Newton this year.
A few of my favorite details from this year’s Tour:
Two runners ran the entire Tour de Newton route today on foot.
There are always assigned officers at a few tricky intersections but I heard a number of stories this year of police around the city seeing a TdN group coming and turning on their lights and escorting them through intersections. Aside from keeping everyone safe, the kids all loved it.
As for kids, there were more younger kids this year doing the entire 20 mile run and in some cases very young kids hitting the last mile looking fresh as daisies. This year was also the first year for the Petite Tour, a 5 mile, three village loop that attracted a lot of young kids too.
Thanks to everyone that creates this very special annual event. There are roughly 75 volunteers that make it all happen – all of the leaders and sweeps and all of village greeters. This year we had particularly great support from candidates and public officials including Ruth Goldman, Chris Steele as leaders and Susan Albright, Jake Auchincloss, Lynne LeBlanc, Jim Cote, Ted Hess Mahan, Jukie Malakie, Chris Pitts, Brian Yates, Rhanna Kidwell, Rick Lipof as greeters (my apologies if I forgot anyone).
There are two amazing people behind the scenes who did more than anybody to put together the event, not once but twice – for Junes’ cancelled event and then again for today’s. Best yet, aside from being forces of nature when it comes to organization both are perennially pleasant, optimistic and cheerful while doing it all.
Alicia Bowman is the bomb. She does it all – juggling infinite details, recruiting sponsors, sorting supplies, recruiting volunteers, dealing with vendors and is at the center of everything for months ahead of time.
Tom Gloria has been very involved since year one, but this year definitely went way above and beyond. He trained the entire leaders/sweep crew on weekend rides for weeks and weeks ahead of time, back in June and again in September and he also spray painted every one of those road markings over the entire 20 mile course.
Thanks to one and all but especially to all of the riders, in particular to those riders that rode for 20 miles for the first time in their lives today.
There are bike events all year round in nearly every town but there’s nothing quite like the Tour de Newton. It’s a uniquely Newton event – “Thirteen villages, one community.”
More scenes from the Tour de Newton:
In my book it takes two to make a tradition. By that measure Upper Falls has a new Tour de Newton traditon. Last year Jen Kohl brought a huge piece of paper and an easel and urged all the riders to sign their names. By the day’s end they had a great souvenir of the day.
This year Jen was back with more paper and markers. Here it is.. The big fun for returning riders was to track down their names on last year’s big sheet.
Over in Newton Corner, locals RM Mottola and Christine King stopped by the Jackson Museum later in the morning to check out the Tour de Newton scene. When they heard from greeters Janet Sterman and Megara Bell that snacks supplies were beginning to run low they decided to make a quick shopping trip on their own dime and resupply the snacks.
Just down the road the Nonantum crew pulled out all the stops as they always do. They had a giant cake from Antoine’s Pastries for the riders. When they arrived at Thompsonville, nine villages away where I was stationed, they were still talking about that cake.
The Nonantum riders made a big entrance wherever they went. Tom Gloria led their parade with a giant Italian flag waving high behind his bike, and a mobile sound system to announce their arrival.
He wasn’t the only one with a sound system. I sent off all the visitors to Thompsonville with my own special selection for the day.
Another TdN scene: the Contra ride, rode clockwise. Every one else rode counter-clockwise. Two groups of bikes, going in different directions, passed on the narrow pedestrian bridge over Rt 9.
Thanks to all of the organizers. A special thanks to the intrepid greeters who stood in the cold, wet air as we sweaty cyclists came through the villages.