By Nina Siegel and Harold Hatch
The CRW CLASSICS Ride Series 2025
Welcome to the first edition of The Classics! This ride series is meant to highlight some of the “best of the best” routes that have been created by CRW Route Developers/Ride Leaders over the club’s nearly 60 year history. Familiar to long-time club members, some routes have been running annually since 2010 while others haven’t been offered recently. This season we are focusing on rides that feature 3 or more routes. With beautiful roads and multiple speed and distance options including a welcoming 10-12 mph pace these routes offer something for everyone in CRW.
Be on the lookout for upcoming WheelPeople articles featuring the Route Developer and/or Ride Leader and what it is about their ride that makes it special to the club. You’ll find notifications in Chain Link and club social media channels when the rides are posted on the Events Calendar. Please join us as we celebrate what our Club has to offer in its long history of riding.
AND NOW – OUR FIRST CLASSIC FEATURE!
Meet Lindy King. Lindy is leading her “Hills Are Your Friends” Saturday, April 19, 2025 out of Groton, MA – her home turf. Lindy keeps a busy schedule. Between her road cycling, Zwift training, and her non-biking life including her practice as a Massage Therapist (for which she is still sought out by many of the bigger charitable rides for her healing powers, even after she herself has ridden all day)! We finally had a chance to meet up with Lindy on Zoom March 16, 2025.
Lindy atop Mt. Greylock, Pain in the Mass (Fundraiser)
Could you tell us a little about yourself? How long have you been riding with CRW? What kind of rides do you enjoy the most?
In 1986 I moved to Boston for Grad School; met people who liked to bike; and soon after joined CRW on some rides. My first weekend bike trip with CRW was from Mendon, MA to Mystic, CT. I’d never done that kind of distance.
It was a lovely, hilly ride, with lots of riders. At dinner I met Jamie King – he invited me to sit next to him and it really was love at first sight. Two years after meeting we were married. (CRW Magic: Lindy met her husband on her first CRW trip!!!)
We lived in W. Roxbury for 11 years and did a lot of volunteer work with CRW, including running weekend rides, developing the Wednesday evening rides program and leading weekend trips such as the Tour of New England and Hills & Hollows. I edited the print edition of WheelPeople (there was NO internet remember!) Jamie was President for a while and VP of Rides too. He ran the 325-BIKE answering machine in our basement. People would call and listen to the list of upcoming club rides that Jamie recorded every week
We then moved to Groton and started family life. Two great kids but distance biking takes a back seat to busy kids. I found the Adventurides bike club and I could fit some short rides and learn the backroads in the time I had. I rode every road in Groton and environs. I was so thankful to have found that Club! Eventually the kids started doing their own thing and I was able to return to CRW and do longer rides.
History of "Hills Are Your Friends" route: What makes it special so that you want to continue to lead it?
This ride – all the loops, even this new 4th loop added for the 10-12 mph pace, has a few good hills for everyone! I strung together all the roads I enjoyed riding. I like to have 3 loops to bring many riders together of varying abilities. It’s beautiful to bring together so many friends, and to make new ones on rides! The rest stop in Hollis is perfect for this ride with plenty of space to be social.
The name “Hills Are Your Friends” came from my friend Bill from Adventurides. He always used to say that and I love riding hills!
Pre-pandemic we’d have well over 50+ riders every weekend on a ride. It’s very different now, with smaller groups doing a variety of different rides each weekend. Back in the day I arrowed many rides and centuries and became the infamous queen of the “pink” arrows. Gone are the days of arrowing rides. “Hills Are Your Friends” is not arrowed :-(
Lindy cares about sharing her knowledge. She turned her Groton routes into the Groton Collection in the CRW library. She’ll help you understand what’s important in developing a route, leading a ride, having great road skills, being unfailingly polite, and having many bikes!
Lindy is high energy and low key with a great laugh and didn’t let on until the end of our interview that she has ridden all the big rides: Boston-Montreal-Boston, Paris-Brest-Paris, 24 hour time trials, Brevets and so many more. Her annual mileage now, without a commute, is still a very respectable 10,000 miles. And though she knows this club has many kindred souls, don’t give her any guff when she’s out riding on the road.
We hope you enjoyed learning a little about Lindy and her “Hills Are Your Friends” Route. Come out on April 19th to ride with her and fellow club members for a great day of riding.
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Ride a Classic route or two this season and find out exactly why they are such enduring Club rides. Explore new territory, scenic views, and the best snack stops all while riding with great people the way you like to ride.
Some of the exciting routes that we’ve planned so far include:
- Hills are Your Friends – Lindy King – April 19
- Brake for Beavers – Bob Zogg (Route Developer) Harold Hatch (Ride Leader) – June 1
- Blue Moon – Barry and Linda Nelson – July 6
- Northern Lighthouses – Sandy Gray (Route Developer) Nina Siegel (Ride Leader) – September 7
- Bagels and a Witch – Melinda Lyon – October 26
Check out the CRW Ride Calendar and choose your next ride – which will become your Classic?
If you would like to have one of your routes featured as a CRW Classic please reach out to either Nina (ninasiegel7@gmail.com) or Harold (haroldhatch@yahoo.com).
Let’s Ride!
