The Day Was Sultry

It was time to do a long ride. Fairhaven to Buzzards Bay MA. Forty seven miles round trip and with stops and lunch break, it took just about five hours.

 The word that fit the best for the first two hours was "sultry", just like in the movie "Throw Mama From The Train". A constant threat of rain hovered over the area and every once in a while that telling wind, then the calm before the storm teased the area. No moisture materialized unless you count the sticky clothes from the humidity.  In the early a.m. it was at 98% and by ten it had dropped to 75% humidity. By two p.m. it began to rise noticeably along with the temperature.  A couple of hot spots recorded temps in the mid nineties.

For shorter rides the town of Wareham is the usual turn around point, but an early start made continuing to Buzzards Bay too enticing to pass up.  A two mile stretch of road from Wareham to Onset was recently repaved and cyclists were not part of the engineering on this section.  The sidewalk however provided ample room and actually a safer alternative to the road.  Nary a pedestrian was encountered and there were only two other bikers using the walkway.  Although sidewalks are not recommended and can be more dangerous for bikers than the road, there are exceptions.

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Onset Village a coastal town just off the tip of the Cape Cod canal is a bicyclists paradise.  Quiet beachfront roads, salt water taffy, lobster and a bounty of beaches, at times make it difficult to continue riding. The center is small, quaint and so different that being on  a bike is the ideal way to see most of the stuff if your only passing through.

Onset Village Bakery

The Hippie Store

Plenty of room on this low traffic beachfront road

Taffy

An Inn on Main St. in Onset Ma.

Beachfront homes

Independence Yacht Club. Come on in

Independence Yacht Club.  Keep out

Some are well off.  Some live within their means.

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It was easy riding through Wareham and Onset on the back roads but now it was time to do something different. Riding on busy RT. 6 can get dicey.  The traffic ebbs and flows and it's the kind of place where drivers take offense at a bike adding four of five seconds to their drive.  It didn't deter this rider from snapping a few photos while riding into Buzzards Bay. 

The village of Buzzards Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Bourne in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. The population was 3,549 at the 2000 census. It's the home of Mass Maritime Academy, which got a bit of fame during the pirate standoff on 2009 off the coast of Somalia.  The captain and a couple of the officers were graduates of the school. Rt 6 was the only way to get to the Cape from the south, NY, Conn, NJ and the traffic on this two lane road very often came to a standstill.  The time it took to cross  the bridges from Wareham was the stuff of legends.  It was not unusual for a two hour drive over the five mile stretch. It's mostly  locals now since the four lane RT 25 extension was completed a few years ago. But some of the honkey tonk still remains.  The last obstacle into the village is the rotary, or roundabout.  If you have ever driven one you know how crazy they can get. Today was easy with the low traffic as was RT 6.  

The entrance to the bike path on the canal was closed because of construction of the parking lot. Lunch at the gazebo was made entertaining by 90 year old Frank.  Frank told of his tales of running hunting excursions in the winters in Northern Maine.  He is also very opinionated on immigration, the government and working people who scam the government by working too slow.  

Next ride will have to be in another direction and probably will be a country setting very much unlike the last couple of ocean front and ocean town rides.  It may be time to head inland.  We'll see. The ocean "is" kind of nice in the summer. 

Not to busy US RT 6

Still some honkey tonk left

Racing the engine to the bridge

Pehhh

Frank at 90 and very opinionated.