Seven Hills Wheelmen

MAJOR TAYLOR CENTURY 2007

Perfect weather greeted this year’s Major Taylor Century riders and volunteers on Sept. 23. Under sunny skies, 149 cyclists tackled the Blackstone Valley hills: 90 on the century route (100 miles), 53 on the metric century (62 miles) and 6 on the quarter century (25 miles).

There were riders from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut -- the three states where the riding took place -- as well as New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania, plus a rider from California who was moving to Boston. She arrived with her trailer of belongings. Thirty-five of the riders were members of Seven Hills Wheelmen and/or 10th Gear Christian Youth Cyclists.

10th Gear Christian Youth Cyclists planned and executed the event flawlessly, with just a little publicity and bookkeeping help from Seven Hills Wheelmen. Huge thanks go to the following volunteers: Arlen Hall, Rose Hall, Traci Dube, Andrea Consoletti, Gregg Consoletti, Paige Consoletti, Brandon Hall, Alicia Phillips, Deb Cogdill, Nola Stefancyk, Gary Stefancyk, Brad Shelley, Carl Rubin, Alex Rubin, Mark Morawiec, Wesley Morawiec, Shelby Morawiec and Donna Leard. Gratitude also goes to Charles Thompson of the Whitin Community Center for accommodating the start/finish, and Glendale Oil Service in Rhode Island and Mary Whittier of Whittier Farms in Sutton for the rest stop sites.

The route was tweaked this year in two places, to avoid sewer construction in Millbury and a busy stretch of Routes 122 and 140 in Grafton. This added some climbing, and eventmeister Arlen Hall said his DeLorme mapping software computed the total amount of climbing for the 102-mile distance as 7,400 feet!

All riders were entered in a raffle, and the following prizes were awarded. Ski/snowboard recondition from the Ski Shop Plus in North Smithfield, R.I., Joe Viens of Lincoln, R.I., and March Schleinitz of Uxbridge; $25 gift certificates from Bicycle Alley in Worcester, Chris Ball of Brighton and Brian Lentrichia of Acton; $15 Road ID gift certificates: Adam Dermarderosian of Bedford, Lynne Tolman of Worcester, John Schmidlein of Waltham, Peter Damarco of Wakefield, R.I., T. Scomaracca of Bellingham and Charlie Fitzgerald of Coatesville, Pa.

Net proceeds totaled $2048, and the amount was divided per agreement as follows: 10th Gear, 60 percent; Seven Hills Wheelmen, 25 percent; Major Taylor Association, 15 percent.

Photos are online at www.10thgear.com. You can also reach the photos from www.sevenhillswheelmen.org/centuries.htm and www.majortaylorassociation.org/events.shtml.

Mark your calendar for next year’s Major Taylor Century: Sunday, September 21, 2008.

MAJOR TAYLOR CENTURY 2005

Riders, volunteers, Mother Nature and the Red Sox all did their part to make Oct. 2 a glorious day for the Major Taylor Century. Cyclists from eight states pedaled on three scenic Blackstone Valley routes devised by 10thGear Christian Youth Cyclists. Praise and gratitude go to Seven Hills Wheelmen members Arlen & Rose Hall, leaders of 10thGear, for coordinating the event for Seven Hills.

Typical of the club’s “invitational” centuries, most of the riders were not Seven Hills members. Of 145 registrants, 21 were either Seven Hills or 10thGear members. The largest number of riders chose the 100-mile route, and smaller groups each did the metric century and the quarter century. The youngest rider, 10 years old, rode the quarter century with his dad.

The route was tweaked and probably had a little less climbing than the previous year, when one rider logged total elevation gain at 6,532 feet. A detour to avoid sewer construction in Manchaug confused some riders, but a smooth home stretch on new pavement in Mendon, avoiding the roller coaster of Route 16, made up for it.

By mid-morning, it was comfortably warm under clear, sunny skies, and riders took advantage of a new amenity, the “bike butler,” at the first rest stop. Riders could drop off an outer layer of clothing, in a bag numbered to match their rider number, and have volunteers take it back to the finish. After the ride, volunteers had hot dogs on the grill and the Red Sox game on the radio, on a day when Boston was crushing the Yankees to advance to the playoffs.

Photos from the century appear at http://www.10thgear.com -- follow the Major Taylor Century link from the home page. Thanks to Arlen Hall, Traci Dube and Pete Banach for the pictures. Also, rider Todd Davis put up a nice picture of the covered bridge on the Connecticut part of the route with his Oct. 3 blog entry at cycling.finial.com .

Net proceeds totaled $1,331, and the amount was divided per agreement as follows: 10th Gear, 60 percent; Seven Hills Wheelmen, 25 percent; Major Taylor Association, 15 percent.

Kudos to the hard-working crew of century volunteers. “I was impressed with the number of youth volunteers,” Arlen said, noting that many of them earned community service credits for school. He listed the following century volunteers who are youth participants in the 10thGear cycling program, or friends of participants: John Dawson, Nick Desisto, Casey Couture, Rylie Rockwell, Ashley Boucher, Trap & Andy Yates, Wesley Morawiec, Andrew Rice, Joe Ross, and Alex Anketel.

The adult volunteers besides Arlen & Rose Hall were Traci Dube, Andrea Consoletti, Mike Dawson, Brenda Yates, Joe Ross, Mark Morawiec, Donna Leard and Gary Rice. From Seven Hills, Lynne Tolman, Greg Tutunjian Pete Simmons and Dennis Fitzgerald worked on publicity, with help from the Blackstone Valley Heritage Homecoming organization, and treasurer Sue Hall handled the insurance.

Also, a special thanks to Charles Thompson, director of the Whitin Community Center in Whitinsville, for providing the start/finish location and use of the facilities. Thanks to Mary Whittier of Whittier Farms in Sutton and Bill Andrews of Glendale Oil Service in Rhode Island for the use of their businesess for the two rest stops. And thanks to the Village Congregational Church of Whitinsville for the use of tables, chairs, coffee makers and other stuff. Seven Hills member Dennis Fitzgerald, doing business as Doctor Sox, sold cycling apparel at the start/finish.

10thGear will put its share of the proceeds toward next year’s summer bike trips for youth. Kids going into Grades 6-8 will bike a six-day loop from Whitinsville to Falmouth and back in July. Later that month, high schoolers will begin an 11-day bike tour in Niagara Falls, N.Y. In August, 10thGear will have a nine-day, self-contained tour featuring Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.

MAJOR TAYLOR CENTURY 2004

The Major Taylor Century on Oct. 3 was a big success, with the sun shining all day on about 150 riders from at least four states who pedaled the three new Blackstone Valley routes devised by 10th Gear Christian Youth Cycling. Seven Hills Wheelmen member Arlen Hall, leader of 10th Gear, deserves heaps of praise for coordinating the event.

Photos are at http://www.ltolman.org/majortaylorcentury2004.htm .

Typical of the club’s “invitational” centuries, most of the riders were not Seven Hills members. Of 157 registrants, 24 were either Seven Hills or 10th Gear members. More than half the riders chose the 100-mile route, and about a quarter each did the metric century and the quarter century.

Net proceeds totaled $1,558, and this was divided per agreement as follows: 10th Gear, 75 percent; Seven Hills Wheelmen, 15 percent; Major Taylor Association, 10 percent. Next year’s 10th Gear bike trips include a 6-day loop trip in July from Whitinsville to Portsmouth, N.H., for youths entering Grades 6, 7 and 8. In August, the 10th Gear high schoolers will take a chartered bus to Montreal or Quebec City and bike back to Whitinsville in 11 or 12 days.

Besides recruiting and managing an enthusiastic crew of volunteers from 10th Gear, coordinator Arlen Hall had a hand in making the cue sheets and painting arrows on the route, setting up online registration on the 10th Gear web site, assisting with publicity, getting the food, setting up and cleaning up. Other kudos go to 10th Gear volunteers Bob Yates and Gary Rice, who both helped with signs, route markings and cue sheets; sign makers Karen Snow and Andrew Rice; rest stop volunteers Lone, Henrik and Thomas Krarup; Lee Burdos; Gary and Andrew Rice; Rose, Brandon and Chris Hall; Dean Rheaume; Mark Moraweic, and Donna Leard; registration people Rose Hall and Traci Dube; food person Rose Hall; setup crew Matt and Ryan White, Bob Yates, Arlen & Rose Hall and Traci Dube; cleanup crew Mark Moraweic, Donna Leard, and Arlen & Rose Hall. Lynne Tolman of Seven Hills Wheelmen and Spaulding Aldrich of the Blackstone Valley Heritage Homecoming Committee did publicity. Seven Hills treasurer Teri Lema did bookkeeping.

Seven Hills member Dennis Fitzgerald, doing business as Doctor Sox, sold cycling apparel at the start/finish. American Express Financial Services raffled off a bike helmet (the winner was Richard Bean) and a bike computer (the winner was Michelle Piselli), and the Major Taylor Association sold posters.

Rest stop locations were provided by Whittier Farms, 86 Douglas Road, Sutton, and Glendale Oil Service, Old Victory Highway, Glendale, R.I. A very special thank you goes to Charles Thompson, director of the Whitin Commmunity Center, for providing facilities at the start/finish. Coffee makers, tables and other equipment was provided by the Village Congregational Church of Whitinsville. Arlen Hall also sends thanks to the many members of Seven Hills Wheelmen who provided suggestions and advice on the event.

MAJOR TAYLOR CENTURY 2003

How did it go on Sept. 28? It rained. A total of 34 riders braved the elements. Everyone got wet. It was fairly warm, though. Several riders completed the metric century, while some riders familiar with the area cut it short by taking a direct route back to Finn Park in Rutland from the Petersham Common rest stop.

“Not one rider complained about the rain, and every person had a smile on his face when he returned,” said Seven Hills Wheelmen’s Andrea Kaufman, coordinator of the Major Taylor Century. “They were just happy to be out cycling.”

Andrea had help from numerous other volunteers who also earned thanks for various tasks before, during and after the century: Robert Dubin, Mike Duclos, Dick McNamara, Don Ekross, Mike Bordogna, Chris Fuhrmann, Mike Blaney, Kim McCoy, Tom Swenson, Steve and Barb Fuller, Barry Cole, Sue Hall, Paul Miller, Peter Howard, and Lynne Tolman.

In addition, volunteers from 10th Gear Christian Youth Cyclists in Whitinsville donated PowerBars and PowerGel and cheerfully manned the rest stops: Arlen Hall, Rose Hall , Brandon Hall, Kim Russell and Carrie Walker. Seven Hills Wheelmen thanked them with a $175 donation toward their upcoming trips (see www.10thgear.com ).