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Thanks to Gene Ho for leading the Early Spring Ride - Concord to Boxboro!

By John Allen, CRW Safety Coordinator

There are several ways you can be better prepared in pothole season. 

It depends to some degree on your choice of a bicycle.

A pneumatic tire can be crushed just short of the rim and sustain no damage. The fabric of the tire flexes and the air inside compresses harmlessly, as this slo-mo video shows.

Fatter tires are more pothole-tolerant, and as recent research has shown, supple tires up to 47mm wide are no slower under real road conditions than skinny tires. Gravel bikes have this advantage. The trend in road bikes also has mercifully been away from ones where tires only up to 25mm wide fit under the fork crown – and the late Sheldon Brown suggested as an alternative replacing typical road wheels with the slightly smaller 650B wheels: the bottom bracket of many bicycles is higher than it has to be, so this is workable. With disk brakes, wheels of different sizes can fit without any other modifications. An older rigid-frame mountain bike can offer the advantage of wider tires at a lower price and a moderate cost in added weight. Good road tires are available in mountain-bike sizes too, and there’s nothing wrong with equipping a mountain bike with road handlebars. 

Vigilance and vision training

Keeping the eyes moving, and scanning the road surface every few seconds, is essential. It took a couple of years after I first took up cycling as an adult, before I got good at seeing potholes in time. I dinged up a few rims. 

With practice, it becomes possible to focus attention more broadly, observing the entire visual field consciously rather than peripheral vision’s only providing semi-conscious cues to look in one direction or another. I trained myself over a period of a couple years to focus my attention in one direction while my sharp central vision looked in another. A rear-view mirror, particularly a helmet mirror, avoids the need for full head turns, allowing more attention to the road surface. 

Seeing conditions matter. Dappled light or shade under a tree can be especially difficult. A good headlight with a flat-topped beam pattern casts a long, even beam of light onto the surface ahead. A headlight mounted lower down, at the fork crown, will reveal irregularities in the road surface better. Slow down if you aren’t sure that you can see well. 

Avoiding tight groups

You might consider avoiding drafting or any type of riding in a tight group. A large percentage of crashes on CRW rides occurs when a rider behind fails to notice a hazard, or touches wheels with the one ahead. The hazard also occurs when riding close behind a motor vehicle, even at low speed. My worst experience with a pothole occurred when I was close behind another cyclist on a group ride. It cost me a concussion – 15 minutes of my life when I appeared and acted normal, but which I do not remember, and the scary realization following this, that I didn’t remember my route home. Fortunately, I recovered within a couple hours. It could have been worse.

Give yourself room

Perhaps it’s obvious, but your options to avoid potholes are much improved if you are away from the edge of the road. Again, a rear-view mirror is helpful. A glance into the mirror will reveal whether there is any traffic (bicycle or motor-vehicle) behind you, and afford you the sense of security to use the space you need. If there is traffic behind, the mirror makes it much easier to negotiate using lane position and hand signals.  

The rock dodge maneuver

If you notice a pothole well ahead, you can steer around it normally, or slow and wait for an opportunity to divert and ride around it. Sometimes, though, you don’t see a pothole until it is right in front of you. CyclingSavvy and Smart Cycling teach the rock dodge maneuver – steering quickly to one side (usually the left) to avoid a pothole, then regaining balance by steering quickly the other way. This can be so quick that the bicycle just zigzags to one side, then the other under you, and you continue to ride in a straight line. It’s good to practice this in a parking lot, though the real experience is a bit hard to duplicate when you know in advance what you are going to do. Still, you can ride along and intentionally yank the handlebars to the left, then the right. Sooner or later, a pothole will give you some serious practice. 

Unweighting and jumping

For a surface that is just bumpy, you can rise off the saddle; your arms and legs are a suspension system. After all, the bicycle is light – you are most of the weight. And jumping over a pothole or other surface hazard is often an option. Cyclists who use clipless pedals or toe clips and straps have an advantage, because it is possible to stand up, then pull up on the rear of the bicycle. A single jump works well if you are going fast. At slow speeds, you haul up on the handlebar and then lift the rear wheel. Timing is important, and it takes practice. Skillful mountain bikers accelerate to lift the front wheel, but you won’t need to do this when you are not riding over tall obstacles such as fallen logs.  

If you do damage a tire or rim

The classic example of pothole damage is the pinch flat, where the tire was crushed against the rim. It is also called the snake bite, because it leaves two holes in the inner tube. 

Tubeless tires are almost invulnerable to common punctures. Mountain bikers like them because they can run at low pressure without getting pinch flats. But on the other hand, you may be less aware of rim damage without a pinch flat to warn you. Tubeless tires can create a mess if they do let go; removing and replacing a tire is messy too. You need to carry an inner tube in case a tubeless tire does puncture. It’s your choice. 

It is possible to pull out an aluminum rim that has been slightly dented inward by a pothole impact, though that requires a special tool and wheelbuilding skill. Never just tighten the spokes where the rim is indented – that only indents it more. If the rim sidewalls have been spread apart, rim brakes lurch, and there’s no way the rim is going to get back to smooth braking, so it needs to be replaced. Fortunately, most aluminum rims these days have parallel sidewalls and usually do not spread when dinged.

A disk brake may offer a false sense of security when the rim is damaged, as rim damage also loosens spokes. It’s best to check, and err on the side of safety. Carbon-fiber rims and one-piece wheels generally need to be replaced if damaged.

It comes with the territory

Potholes are an unfortunate fact of life in springtime in New England and I hope that I have been able to offer some useful advice!

Marci Cohen, husband Jack Vinson, and their tandem bicycle.

1. Where are you from originally?

I grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs. I went to college in Philly and lived there after college.

2. When did you start cycling, and what got you into it?

I didn't bike much as a kid; I wasn't into sports and I grew up in a hilly neighborhood. I discovered biking as an adult, initially for transportation when I lived in Center City Philadelphia. I got into biking for fun with my then boyfriend Jack Vinson. We bought a tandem and got married, in that order, including planning our honeymoon around riding our tandem to see the Tour de France.

3. When did you join CRW, and what brought you to the club?

I joined in 2021. Bikes clubs had been a big part of my cycling and social life during my 12 years in Chicago (1996-2008), but I didn't get back into organized riding until my kids were older. We heard about CRW from doing a ride with Pamela Blalock in '95 or '96; we were living in Western Mass, and Jack had connected with her via a tandem listserv. My neighbors Keren Hamel and Tsachi Avrahami were already doing rides with CRW when we started riding with the club.

4. Do you volunteer for CRW, and if so, in what way(s)?

No, I'm too busy doing library-related volunteer work.

5. What type of cycling do you enjoy the most?

Definitely a roadie; no gravel or mountain biking for me! Mostly for leisure but sometimes combined with transportation riding, such as the 13 miles round trip to a regular volunteer gig. And I'm not competitive, so I'm never striving to be the fastest, most hardcore hammerhead. However, I always appreciate new scenery.

6. What’s your favorite ride or route?

At the first sign of spring, I want to do a 30-mile loop from my house in Arlington past Ponyhenge in Lincoln. But I also enjoy longer rides that get away from traffic. We've been biking out and back to Worcester each fall to take our daughter at WPI out to brunch, about 92 hilly miles round trip.

7. What has been your favorite moment or experience with CRW?

Gene Ho led a ride around Gloucester on a sunny summer day than explored every beautiful nook and cranny of the coast. We had a leisurely outdoor lunch near the end.

8. What advice would you give a new CRW member?

The great thing about cycling is that you can enjoy it without being the best, fastest rider. Riding is always more fun that not riding, and riding with others on a club ride is more fun than riding alone.

9. What’s a fun fact about you (cycling or non-cycling)?

Cycling: There is terminology for tandems. Riding in the back, I'm the stoker. I've been the captain, riding in front when my kids were stokers.
Non-cycling: I'm an engaged retired music librarian. When I'm not riding, I'm often doing library-related volunteer work, writing about music, and going to see bands.

10. What do you enjoy most about being part of CRW?

Exploring new roads with other riders.

11. Anything else you'd like the club to know?

I'm not on Strava. I'm happy to not record and publicly report every ride.

By Jim Salvie, CRW Counsel

Spring is in the air! Birds are singing, the sun is shining, it’s getting warmer! So naturally, it’s time to think about... insurance?

Do I Really Need Insurance to Ride My Bike?

Unlike auto insurance, there’s no legal requirement to purchase cycling liability insurance. But common sense tells us that it’s a good idea. Let’s face it: cycling has its risks. Among those risks is that you could get hurt, or conceivably that you could hurt others (a pedestrian, another cyclist), or you could damage something (another cyclist’s bike). All those annoying insurance company ads aren’t completely wrong: insurance really can mean peace of mind.

What Kind of Insurance Protects Me if I Get Hurt, or Damage my Bike?

Your health insurance is your primary protection in case you are injured on a ride. Virtually all health insurance plans include some form of hospitalization plan that will cover you in an emergency. Some people include the name of their insurance carrier and their plan ID number on their Road ID or other emergency identification, in addition to emergency contact information.

If you do not have health insurance through employment, you should contact the Massachusetts Health Connector at www.mahealthconnector.org. The Health Connector is the Massachusetts marketplace for insurance provided under the federal Affordable Care Act. If you have income limitations, the Health Connector may be able to help, as might the Massachusetts Medicaid plan, or MassHealth. You can contact MassHealth at www.mass.gov/orgs/masshealth.

If you’re over 65 and enrolled in Medicare, some of your hospitalization costs will be covered by Medicare Part A. To cover more costs, you must have a private “Medicare supplemental” policy or be enrolled in a Medicare Part C “Advantage” plan.

If you are injured on a ride due to the fault of someone else, such as a motorist or another cyclist, you may be entitled to reimbursement from that person’s auto insurance (if a motorist) or their cycling insurance (see below).

Your homeowners or renters insurance policy will offer some protection for the value of your bicycle if it is lost, stolen or damaged, under the “personal property” part of the policy. Be sure to keep the receipt from the purchase of your bike so you can prove when you bought it and its value: if you ever make a claim, you’ll have to provide information about the bike. These policies will usually have high deductibles, however, along the lines of $2,500 or $5,000.

To make this coverage worthwhile, particularly if you have a fancy, expensive bike, you might want to talk to your insurance agent about a special “rider” to cover your bike. (An insurance rider; not a bike rider!) Your insurance agent may call this “scheduled coverage.” Usually for a small fee, a “rider” can eliminate or greatly reduce those deductibles, and also make filing a claim a lot easier since you will specifically cover the bike for a certain value.

Fortunately, most homeowners and renters policies will pay replacement cost, for your bike, not fair market value, but be sure to review that with your agent.

What Kind of Insurance Protects Me if I Hurt Someone Else?

As cyclists, we view ourselves as vulnerable road users and are usually most concerned about all the things out there that can hurt us. But let’s face it, a bicycle traveling at 20 mph can do a fair bit of damage to another bicycle, a pedestrian, or even a stationary car (it happens).

Again, your homeowners or renters insurance policy will usually provide some coverage, though it’s a good idea to check with your insurance agent about how much and what kind of coverage. Typically, though not always, a homeowners or renters policy will provide some limited coverage for another person’s medical bills, personal injury, or damage to their property, as well as for your legal defense, but coverage limits may top out between $100,000 and $300,000 unless you pay more. That’s not much in a personal injury lawsuit. Check the personal liability section of your policy and the policy’s exclusions, and talk to your insurance agent.

Very often, damage caused by riding a motorized vehicle, including an e-bike, will be excluded from a homeowners or renters insurance policy. If you are a frequent cyclist, you should talk to your insurance agent about obtaining an umbrella insurance policy to increase those liability coverage limits. An “umbrella” policy is an add-on policy that provides additional coverage in $1 million increments, and it only kicks in when other insurance coverage is exhausted.

But Doesn’t the Club Have Insurance that Protects Me on Club Rides?

Yes and no. The club does have insurance, but it offers protection only for the club itself, or riders or other volunteers who are acting as agents for the club (such as ride leaders).

If Rider A is involved in an accident with a pedestrian while on a club ride, the club’s policy protects the club and the ride leader from liability, and provides for their legal defense, but Rider A must have their own liability insurance to get the same protection. From the insurance standpoint, it’s the same as though Rider A was on his or her own solo ride. Let’s hope Rider A talked to their insurance agent about that umbrella policy!

The exception, however, is that the club does have a supplemental medical insurance policy that may cover certain “gaps” in Rider A’s health insurance, such as deductibles or co-pays.

But most importantly, have fun out there, and let’s hope for a safe, fun and liability-free Spring!

Reflecting on Member Feedback

Before our March Board meeting, the Board and Senior Leadership Team gathered for a working off-site focused on the 2026 member survey. We reviewed your feedback and discussed ideas to better align our programs, events, and overall member experience with what matters most to you. This work will continue to shape our priorities for the season ahead.

Preparing for the Season

At the March 8 Board meeting, we focused on maintaining strong momentum as we head into the riding season. We heard updates across club programs, including ride leader training, volunteer recruitment, winter activities, and upcoming workshops.

Key Initiatives in Progress

Planning for this year’s Century ride is underway, with continued work on routes and logistics.

We also continued discussions on club gear, with further evaluation of vendor options and a focus on improving flexibility and availability for members.

Looking Ahead to Our 60th Anniversary

As part of our 60th anniversary, we began exploring updated branding concepts. Members will have an opportunity to provide input before any decisions are made.

Moving Forward

Overall, the meeting reflected a consistent theme: listening to members, strengthening our programs, and continuing to evolve CRW for the future.

Thank you to everyone who contributed feedback and supports the club through volunteering and participation. We’re looking forward to a great season ahead.

—Amy Juodawlkis

Make sure you have the dates in your calendar!

North to New Hampshire: May 31
Travel from Wakefield, MA to scenic New Hampshire and back on our beautiful spring century ride.
Register HERE.

Climb to the Clouds: Aug 16
Push yourself to the uppermost limit and climb Mount Wachusett on this intense summer century ride.
Register HERE.

Cranberry Harvest: Oct 18
This autumn century ride will take you past the gorgeous cranberry bogs in Plymouth, Rochester, Wareham, Carver, and Acushnet.
Register HERE.

Doug Cornelius on his tour of Massachusetts.

1. Where are you from originally?
I grew up in Brockton, went to law school in Boston and now live in Newton.

2. When did you start cycling, and what got you into it?
I biked around my neighborhood as a kid. I remember my cool Huffy and skidding to stops. Before kids I was mountain biking and adventure racing. Then I switched to road biking when my friend’s mom got cancer and I biked my first Pan-Mass Challenge in 2005.

3. When did you join CRW, and what brought you to the club?
I first joined the CRW in 2005 when I was training for the PMC. There was a regular ride out of Nahanton Park in Newton on Saturday mornings. That got me ready for my first PMC.

4. Do you volunteer for CRW, and if so, in what way(s)?
I’ve been a ride leader for several years. I ran for the board a few years ago, but that was a contentious election year, so let’s not talk about it.

5. What type of cycling do you enjoy the most?
Looking at my Strava stats (it doesn’t count if it’s not on Strava), my riding miles are mostly split between bike commuting and road biking. Some gravel riding. Some fat biking. I’m a year-round bike commuter. Riding in the cold of winter makes you appreciate those warm summer days. Even in the cold, there is no better way to start your day than by riding your bike. Even if it’s just to your office.

6. What’s your favorite ride or route?
I love the midnight marathon bike ride that covers the marathon route in the middle of the night on Sunday before the race. I lead that CRW ride from Newton City Hall out to Hopkinton and back to the finish line. (Sign up and join me. Register HERE.)

7. What has been your favorite moment or experience with CRW?
We had a great X-Mass in July adventure ride in 2022. We rode from Mt. Wachusett to Mt. Greylock. Stayed overnight at Bascom Lodge. Then down Greylock and back to Boston Harbor. We bonded over the craziness of that ride weekend:  Riccardo, Ryan, Guillermo, Bryan, Alex, Eric, Martin, and Ramon.

8. What advice would you give a new CRW member?
Make sure you say hi to people at the start of a ride. Everyone is willing to talk. That might be the person pulling you across the finish.

9. What’s a fun fact about you (cycling or non-cycling)?
In 2025 I biked to all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. I’m the chair of the board of MassBike, the state-wide cycling advocacy and education group. I realized that despite living most of my life in Massachusetts, there were many parts of Massachusetts I had never been to, never mind on a bike. I started in Abington on January 1. I spent my weekends throughout the year mapping out rides to towns in the Commonwealth that I knew very little about. I ended up finishing that quest on Nantucket in early November.

10. What do you enjoy most about being part of CRW?
CRW has a great variety of rides. There is opportunity for almost any type of ride and type of rider.

11. Anything else you'd like the club to know?
I’m a fierce cycling advocate. You can be one too. Reach out to your municipal officials. Show up for meetings and ask for safer roads for biking. Feel free to drop me a note and I can get you in touch with our council of advocates at MassBike.

Thanks to all of the people who competed in this year's Winter Challenge! Below are the tabulated results.

The objective of this year's Winter Challenge was to ride as much as possible. There were four winners: David Wilson and Renee Whynes with 70 rides each, and Barry Nelson and Linda Nelson with 60 rides each.

Three additional winners were selected at random: Doug Cornelius, Joe Costa, and Micheal Weintraub.

All winners got the ROCKBROS Mini Electric Bike Tire Pump Portable 100 PSI with Type-C Charging.

Congratulations to all!

RIDES are the heart and soul of CRW, and RIDE LEADERS are its backbone. Our ride leaders are at the core of what makes CRW an outstanding bike club. 

Have you ever thought about leading a ride with CRW? Do you have questions about what is involved? We are offering Ride Leader Training on April 16th from 7:00 - 8:30 PM for anyone who wishes to learn more about what it takes to lead a club ride.

There are a lot of reasons to consider leading rides:

• You’re the boss!  Leading rides means you get to do the kind of ride you like, including start location, pace, distance, destination, theme, social activities, etc. 
• You can choose to lead a group at a specific pace or have people ride on their own.
• Pick a great spot for lunch, arrange for ice cream or other treats at the finish, and find other creative ways to make your ride interesting. 
• Leading rides is also a great way to give back to the club.  We’ve all benefited from others who are willing to organize, post to the calendar and lead rides for us.
• Leading rides is a fun way to meet and make friends in the club.

Anyone who would like to lead any ride for CRW this season is required to attend this year’s ride leader training and complete subsequent ride leader training tasks. A recording of the Zoom session will be made available. 

Oh, and did we mention that leading rides comes with benefits? You get to join century rides for free, there are great parties for ride leaders, and the seasonal thank you gifts are amazing!

Limited offer! The first 25 CRW members to register will get a custom CRW water bottle. All who become ride leaders this year will also get an official CRW ride leader Halo head band.

Come join our family of ride leaders and make CRW an even better club!

Register HERE.

This event is for CRW members only.

By John Allen, CRW Safety Coordinator

This article is especially for ride leaders.  It describes a problem which you may encounter as you plan a ride, and potential solutions.

Many traffic lights are triggered to turn green by metal detectors buried in the roadway. These do not reliably sense bicycles. In another article, I showed how you can try to make these work when riding alone.

As you vet a ride, you need to check whether the metal detectors work. If you are riding alone, the testing can unfortunately place you in a scenario where you must either 

• wait for a car to roll up behind you and trigger the signal, 

• or cross lanes of traffic to the side of the street and push a pedestrian beg button (if there is any)

• or cross the intersection against a red light. 

The problem is most troubling if you are away from the right side of the street – going straight where there is a right-turn lane to your right, or turning left from a dedicated left-turn lane. 

The video below shows my own experience of this problem. I positioned my wheels directly over the wire cuts visible on the road surface, the best place to trigger the detector, but I waited till the third time traffic from my direction got the green light before a car came up behind me and I got a green left-turn arrow. 

When riding in a group, two or more bicyclists can position themselves to strengthen the signal at the metal detector. So, I recommend riding with a friend to check this out as you vet your ride. 

The detectors which are most likely to cause problems have the wires in the pavement in simple rectangles, like those in my video. Bicyclists who approach the detector double file and place their wheels over the wires on both sides will almost always trigger the detector. To the detector, they look like one bigger vehicle. It may help to reach across and hold hands with your companion. 

For this strategy to work during the ride, participants need to understand it, and to arrive at an intersection two or more at a time. Instruction can be in the pre-ride talk, Ride with GPS cue, or ride information online. Teamwork works best with a led group, where the leader can direct participants where to wait at each intersection. It is tougher on a show and go ride and hardest of all on an invitational ride such as a CRW Century, where many participants are not club members. 

If the detector has a wire cut down the middle as well as one at either edge, it works best to place the wheels directly over the middle wire. This will usually work for a single bicycle. 

Carbon-fiber wheels with folding tires (no metal) will not trigger a detector, sorry! I have suggested that carbon-fiber rims should have a thin loop of wire running all the way round. You could arrange this yourself, if you care too. It has to be a complete loop, connected into a circle. Maybe someday someone will sell conductive rim tape, but I’m not holding my breath. 

You might also route your ride to avoid the problem. It will rarely occur with right turns, as right turn on red is usually legal. It is less likely when approaching an intersection on a busy street than a quiet one, because a car is more likely to trigger the detector.  But CRW rides are more usually on a quiet road crossing a busy one. We like those quiet, scenic rural roads!

Left—a detector loop with a center wire cut. Upper right: a video detector. Lower right: marking sometimes seen to indicate where to wait – though not always correctly placed. Image credit: cyclingsavvy.org.

Increasing numbers of intersections are being equipped with video cameras for vehicle detection, and you will recognize them looking down toward you from overhead signal masts. These are generally reliable to detect bicycles, except that you may need to tilt your bicycle and aim the headlight up at the camera at night. CRW generally does not run rides at night, but I might as well tell you anyway.