June 23, 2023
Day 49: Burlington to Revere Beach
Emotions were heightened for our last day. The ride itself did not look to be remarkable at just 17 miles through the back streets and a cycle track of the northern Boston suburbs.
A late (8am) start was scheduled, with all the riders leaving together, then regrouping to be escorted for the last three miles. In retrospect, a group start might not have been the best idea. A large bolus of cyclists can be a problem on urban roads and our concentration was not the best. At any rate, the group split shortly after the start, which was probably for the best.
We still managed one of our few crashes of the tour. A flag was dropped, riders slowed and the wave of braking passed back through the group so that Lee and Lisa came off, which was really upsetting. Lee seemed fine, but Lisa took a while longer before she was ready to start riding again. We learned the following day that she had fractured her clavicle, but still managed to ride about 10 miles to the beach!
A mile or so before the beach we paused at some traffic lights. A lady came out of her house in her dressing gown to collect something from her porch and asked us where we'd come from. When we told her she exclaimed that it was "Fncking Awesome!". We liked her.
There were loads of friends and family to give us a boisterous welcome, which was great. I was overwhelmed by the moment (not blubbing, but not far off) and so pedalled 50 yards up the promenade to gather myself and reflect on my own. That ended when two people came up to ask what was going on (There were 23 cyclists on the prom, all in matching gear and whooping a great deal). They were sufficiently impressed.
Revere Beach is in a bay, so the beach is like a bad day at Cleethorpes. The photos show only flat calm murky water. The seafront buildings were blocks of flats and there were no cafes or shops selling tat. We dipped our wheels. Chad managed to pedal over the wet sand into the sea. Lots of photos were taken.
Back on the promenade the crew gave us towels to get the sand off our feet (Thank you!) and there was the best packed lunch of the tour. We sat on the promenade wall, chatting and enjoying the moment. This was a good way to relax for a while, whilst starting to internalise the whole experience.
We said our goodbyes to those of us who would not be coming back to the hotel, especially to Barbara, who had been such good fun. It was nice to meet her husband and daughter.
The crew shipped us back to the hotel. I showered and fell asleep immediately. Woke in time to spruce up ready for a very enjoyable seafood meal downtown with Spencer and Chad. We gilded the lily with a walk to North End in search of a dessert. We ended up with three huge and chewy sweet calzones, a bottle of Moscato and an amore Montepulciano each, so I slept in the taxi back to the hotel.
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Today's ride: 17 miles (27 km)
Total: 3,477 miles (5,596 km)
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