Sports

PatchSnap: Wheelmen Take a Break

Telling Needham's stories one picture at a time.

Patch met up with a few members of the Charles River Wheelmen cycling club on Tuesday evening after they had finished a 22-mile ride and were enjoying coffee and conversation at the on Highland Avenue.

The riders—Rick Lawrence of Sudbury, John Mannix of Jamaica Plain and Fred Kresse of Needham—said the club meets a few times a week for rides of varying lengths around the area.

On Saturday mornings at 8:30 a.m., they gather at Nahanton Park just over the bridge in Newton for a fitness ride of anywhere between 19 and 50 miles. The ride is known in the area and is a longstanding tradition—going forward in rain, shine, sleet or snow every Saturday morning for the past decade or so, Kresse said.

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Admittedly, the wintertime rides don’t draw quite the crowd the summer rides do—as Kresse puts it: “There are about four or five guys who go about five miles and then go to Starbucks for coffee.”

Even in the summer, several of the cyclists meet up at Starbucks after the weekend rides where they grab a coffee, sit on the bench outside and “look at women, cars and dogs,” according to Kresse.

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“…And solve the world’s problems,” Mannix added.

Learn more about the Charles River Wheelmen at crw.org.


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