This year, you can visit historic homes of Newton (and at least one modern LEED certified home) on Historic Newton's 28th annual house tour, and leave no carbon footprint! Each biker reduces the carbon footprint of the tour by at least 20 pounds, and gets to see Newton at a slower pace.
The tour is Sunday, May 23, 12 - 5pm.
Historic Newton will have bike-route maps and directions on hand at the Jackson Homestead. Bike Newton plans to lead a bike convoy. If you want to take part in the convoy, meet at 11:30 am at Jackson Homestead. The first 10 to arrive for the bike convoy will receive a $5.00 rebate on the house tour tickets, courtesy of Bike Newton.
If you want to bike on your own, show up at Jackson Homestead at any time during the tour hours to pick up a map and directions along with your tour tickets.
Distances between the homes (which are kept secret until the day of the tour) vary between 0.6 miles and 2.8 miles. Total mileage: 12.0. The route ends roughly one mile from Jackson Homestead. Organizers have put as much of the route as they can on secondary streets and tried to limit steep hills, but the fact is, Newton is hilly, and some major arteries couldn't be entirely avoided. The entire route can be biked by an intermediate biker capable of riding short to medium stretches of busy arteries. There is one short, steep hill that many bikers may need to walk.
Happy Biking!
4 comments:
Ooh. I LOVE this. Simply Love.
Sadly I have an event in the afternoon to do. How long do you think it will take if I join at 11:30. I guess I could always beg off if I need to.
MV, you're welcome to join & hop off the convoy anytime you want.
I don't really know how long it'll take. The longest leg (2.9 mi) may take 20 min. (moderate pace) - 1/2 hr. (leisurely). The other legs are much shorter (10-15 min), but the key ingredient, which I don't know (I've never done the tour) is how long people tend to stay at each house. Total *biking* time I'd figure at about 1 hour, 30 min.
yes, I was thinking the time at house variable could vary greatly. Well- unless that day is insane, I plan to be there although I am nervous as I have never ridden in a group before. Worried I've been a horrible cyclist all this time, or I'll be too slow, and I often don't bike anywhere I haven't mapped out well, but safety in numbers and you'll nicely tell me if I have been riding like a jerk without knowing it right?
:-)
I won't be the one leading the ride (I'm all booked up that day, unfortunately), but all I have to say is I'm not all that used to riding in groups, either. The only thing that's all that different is communicating & regrouping at turns & intersections. Yes, safety in numbers. Drivers might grumble at having to slow down for a group, but at least they see us!
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