Diverged Ride T-Shirt Fundraiser: Outdoor Ally

In addition to raising funds for trails and roads through the Diverged Ride -- and the Digression Ride -- we're also offering a limited edition t-shirt.

Price:  $35

Join us to protect the trails.  Be an Outdoor Ally with us.  And, please join us for the Diverged ride at Ride Studio Cafe on April 22.  It's our funnest ride and it's for a really important cause. Purchases can be made on our provisions page.

Purchasing the Outdoor Ally t-shirt and riding Diverged with us helps ensure that trails like this are available for all of us for many years to come! 

Digression Ride 2017 Beneficiary: The Sherborn Forest & Trail Association

OBC recognizes how lucky we are to be based in an area of the country that is so committed to protecting the trails that we love to ride.  As our 2017 season kicks off, we are eager to support the work that these local groups are doing by donating proceeds from the upcoming Digression Ride to these dedicated groups. Overland will be donating half of the proceeds from the Digression Ride to The Sherborn Forest and Trail Association to help continue their important work from which we all benefit.  
The Sherborn Forest & Trail Association has been protecting and maintaining the open spaces of Sherborn and surrounding towns for the past 50 years.  As an entirely volunteer organization, all monies raised go directly to the purchase of additional open spaces in Sherborn, to maintain these public lands and to programs promoting enjoyment of the forests.  

The Association is deeply committed to protecting access to trails and preserving trail connections. To this end, they host trail maintenance and clean up days throughout the year, engaging locals to help maintain safe, clear, well connected trails throughout Sherborn and neighboring towns.

In addition to the trail maintenance that the Association provides, they sponsor a variety of outdoor recreational events to engage local residents in utilizing the open spaces they protect.  Guide-led walks through the public lands of Sherborn, canoe excursions, horse rides, mountain bike rides, and a hunter pace for local equestrians are among their regular calendar offerings.

We encourage you to learn more about the important work that The Sherborn Forest and Trails Association is doing, and support their efforts, as we all benefit. 

Thank you to all of the volunteers of The Sherborn Forest and Trails Association!

Maneha's Treasure: Mayfair Farm

After a long day of digging deep and testing oneself in the saddle, riders turn the final corner and are met by a truly bucolic scene offering the warmth of a campfire, an overflowing food buffet set out under twinkling lights of the barn and the bleating of lambs as they welcome you to Mayfair Farm.  Each year, OBC partners with Mayfair Farm, in Harrisville, New Hampshire, to provide an authentic overnight farm experience for riders of the Maneha 250. 

Owners, Sarah and Craig, heeded the call of farming in 2011 when they moved their family to Harrisville to run a diversified family farm and kitchen.  Mayfair Farm sustainably and humanely raise both pigs and lambs, alongside two orchards of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, and pears.  Their farm store offers a wide selection of their own lamb, pork, sausage, in-season fresh fruit and maple syrup, along with homemade pastries and prepared foods like chicken pot pies and quiches.  They support other local farms by selling eggs, honey, chicken, beef, jams and soaps.  They sell online, too!  With their on-site commercial kitchen, Sarah and her team -- including her lovely mom -- offer true farm-to-table catering and events with an emphasis on seasonal, local menus.

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Mayfair’s farming focus is on raising old style pig breeds and Dorset cross lambs in the woods and on pasture.  A mix of heritage and old style breeds, their pigs enjoy year-round access to the outdoors and spend the temperate seasons pastured in the New England woodlands. There, they forage and romp, eating nuts, roots and non-GMO grains raised and milled specially for them.  Mayfair Farm pigs live the good life!

After our Maneha riders have changed into warmer clothes to ward off the chilly late spring evening in the mountains, they choose just the right spots to set up their tents and then head back down to the barn for a homemade feast by Sarah and her team.  In between visits to the food buffet, riders enjoy mingling with the pigs, penned up in the barn.  When they do wake from their often noisy slumbers, you may just be met with one jumping up on the fence to give you a snout close-up and a cheery snort.  We’re hoping that Peanut Butter, a crowd favorite, will be there again this year to hang with us.  The evening continues with riders drinking beer around the campfire in the shadow of Mt. Monadnock while sharing tales of the day, marveling at the lambs and Mayfair’s friendly sheep dog, Thelma.  Riders slowly trickle up to their tents to rest their tired legs and lay their heads down for a good night’s rest under the stars in preparation for the return leg of Maneha the next morning. 

Before even the sun rises, our cow bell alarm rings.  Riders wake to another overflowing buffet, this one full of homemade granola, pancakes and freshly scrambled farm eggs.  Breakfast boasts views of Mt. Monadnock from the plateau on the top of the farm’s tallest hill.  The warmth of Sarah and Craig’s hosting is found in the details of hot coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, warm pastries, and friendly early morning smiles. 

For Maneha riders, the stay at Mayfair Farm is part of a remarkable riding experience with the farm offering a place of rejuvenation, a connection to animals, and the solace of nature.  We look forward to the challenging two days of riding, to the amazing meals we will share at Mayfair Farm and the connections we will forge.

Diverged Ride 2017 Beneficiary: The Lexington Conservation Stewards

The Lexington Conservation Stewards is a group of over 230 volunteers who work closely with the Conservation Division to care for Lexington’s conservation land.  They protect and maintain the trails that many of us ride on very regularly.  We so appreciate all that The Lexington Conservation Stewards do on behalf of our cycling community and to show our support, OBC is donating half of the proceeds from The Diverged Ride to their efforts.

To continually improve the quality of Lexington’s conservation land, The Stewards:

• Provide annual maintenance of trails and meadows
• Build bridges and trails
• Control invasive species
• Clean up waterways
• Host conservation events
• Improve conservation infrastructure
• Ensure the health of the wildlife habitat and ecosystem

Among many other projects, two current trail projects include:

• New Shire Trail Easement
• Whipple Trail Improvements

If you are looking to get involved, they host Stewardship Saturdays where you can work with a volunteer group on a specific project – check out their site for 2017 spring and summer dates. 

Thank you to all of the volunteers of The Lexington Conservation Stewards – you rock!
 

Beware The Ides of March (but why?)

William Shakespeare single-handedly stressed out humanity for the last 418 years with this simple phrase from his play, Julius Caesar: "Beware the ides of March."  But why should the Soothsayer's wise foreshadowing of the great Roman Emperor's demise in the play concern us?   

In the year 46 B.C., on March 15th, Julius Caesar was assassinated.  That is a good reason for Julius Caesar to be wary. But why should we feel threatened by March 15th every year?  The ides were once a happier time, and we think we should embrace those times, rather than dwell on the murder of Dictator Perpetuus.  

During the late Roman Republic, a New Years festival not unlike our modern day celebrations was held on the Ides of March down by the Tiber River, roughly a mile from Rome.  In the Roman calendar, the year had only ten months - 355 days - beginning with March. The ides marked the first full moon of the new year.  Revelers celebrated with food, wine, and dancing.  They also offered sacrifices to the Roman goddess Anna Perenna, for happiness and prosperity in the coming year.

Every year about this time in the Northeast we start to yearn for the longer, warmer days.  Some winters last longer than others, but right about the middle of March, regardless, is when we begin our outside riding in earnest. We have grown tired of layering up for outside deep winter rides and have used up all of our patience and Netflix on the rollers.  We truly wish for a ride outside where just bib shorts, a short sleeve jersey, leg warmers, arm warmers and a vest will suffice.  We choose to celebrate the ides rather than fear them.  Daylight saving time has just begun, the Spring Classics are just around the corner, and some of our favorite rides, like Diverged and Digression, are quickly approaching.

As we type, the East Coast is getting a late winter storm; we are predicted to get a 19 inch dusting of snow.  It better be gone by tomorrow. . . we've got some outside riding to do. Et tu, Rider?