Boston-area cycling team with a shared passion for Buzzards Bay bikes for clean water
On the morning of October 1, 2017, with the sun cresting the horizon, Toffer Winslow wheeled his bike to the Sakonnet Point start line in Little Compton, Rhode Island. A veteran of the Buzzards Bay Watershed Ride, Toffer was excited and confident to begin his 100-mile journey. Alongside him were his teammates: Erik Nelson, Jonathan Simmons, and Craig Hartigan, all newcomers to the event. Together, they formed the team Moes Go Coastal.
From left to right: Craig Hartigan, Toffer Winslow, Jonathan Simmons, and Erik Nelson of Moes Go Coastal.
As the starting gun went off and the crowd let up a cheer, the group clipped in and headed out, winding their way along the Buzzards Bay coast towards Woods Hole on Cape Cod.
This wasn’t the first time Toffer, Erik, Jonathan, and Craig had biked 100 miles together — and it wouldn’t be the last. The four men, all from suburbs of Boston, regularly exercise as part of Moe’s Early Morning Crew, a group of more than 90 avid cyclists. This year, they’ll return for their second annual Buzzards Bay Watershed Ride as a team.
But why travel all the way from Boston to Buzzards Bay? “[The] team thought we should add into our riding community a mix of big, organized, supported rides,” Toffer explains. “I’ve participated in the Watershed Ride in the past, and I’ve always thought it’s a really pretty ride — well organized and well supported. So we decided to take the Moes to the coast, and that’s how we came up with Moes Go Coastal.”
Since Moe’s Early Morning Crew rides together consistently throughout the year, Toffer, Erik, Jonathan and Craig didn’t have to do much out of the ordinary to prepare for the 100-mile Watershed Ride. But the team sees their participation as far more than just exercise. “The nice thing about cycling is there’s all sorts of community stuff wrapped around it: you ride with groups and do organized fundraising rides,” Toffer says.
Individually, each teammate has his own reason why the Watershed Ride is special to him. Jonathan and Craig both have summer homes on the Cape, where Erik often visits them. Toffer, a longtime supporter of the Coalition, has a family home near Quissett Harbor, and his uncle, Chip Morse, served as vice chairman of the Coalition’s Board of Directors.
Early that afternoon, the Moes Go Coastal team cruised across the finish line in Woods Hole, completing their 100-mile Ride and raising more than $1,400 along the way. “I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Coalition,” Toffer says. “I have a super positive impression of the organization, and this Ride was just consistent with that. One of my favorite things is the food truck at the lunch stop: it was the best food that we’ve had!”
Toffer is hopeful that 2018 will bring an even bigger Moes Go Coastal team. “Because I ride a lot in the Boston area, I view the Ride as an opportunity to help raise visibility of the Coalition’s work and spend a fun day with friends doing what I’d otherwise been doing.”
Join Toffer and the rest of the Moes Go Coastal team at the 12th annual Buzzards Bay Watershed Ride on September 30.