Memorial Day Weekend: Ride #'s 52 & 53: Rabbit Hunting on the Slopes of The Wachusett; Downpours in the Princeton Hills

With the Dampness, Saturday morning
May 24

Memorial Day Weekend is a big deal here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. For most Americans it means a day off from work Monday, backyard cookouts, American flags, and parades. Oh yeah, and veterans. The obligatory photographs of Arlington National Cemetery will appear on the websites of major news outlets. War inna' Babylon.

For me, I Shad, the prospect of a three day weekend, whether it's Memorial Day or Labor Day, means riding and eating BIG. So far, as I compose this entry mid-way through Sunday afternoon and post ride #53 (an epic storm-lashed Wachusett summit ramble, more on that to follow), I've notched two rides and eaten amazing Italian food in Waltham.

So, to the details. Ride #52, Saturday morning after the rain stopped, was a spirited but brief Sholan Loop. It actually hadn't been in the cards at all because the morning was supposed to be rainy but then it cleared by 9:00 AM or so and it occurred to me that I could actually sneak in a quick pedal. Doing so was particularly important because ND and I had reservations at La Campania, a fine Italian restaurant in Waltham, MA that we've both been meaning to try for more than a decade but have never gotten around to doing so. Until Saturday. I knew there's be pasta involved, and wine, and bread, and olive oil, and who knows what else? So getting out for the quick 1 hour loop was, if nothing else, a psychological cushion that would allow me to indulge without self-recrimination.

Ride Summary: 18.5 miles (29 K), 16.3 mph (firing!), cool, damp, overcast. No road kill to report. A straight hard power pedal with limited time. Strava stats.

Sunday morning, May 25
warmer than yesterday, brighter
sun promises

There was more time for riding today, Sunday, the midpoint of the weekend. The entire day was mine, though I didn't need it all. I just needed a few hours to make an assault on The Wachusett. As always, getting to the base of the climb involved plenty of climbing.

Climbing out of Lemonstar's suburbs

The benign, sun-dappled road west

Let's be clear. There are many approaches to the mountain when you start out as I do from near the center of Lemonstar. Different routes into the Sterling and Princeton Hills allow for more or less climbing, more or less mileage; it's a choice of plenty.

But inevitably you arrive at the Mount Wachusett visitor's center and parking lot and the beginning of Summit Rd. All routes of mountain access coalesce here; if you're riding to the top, you're passing through the Park entrance. For my purposes, I can get to the Park entrance from a few different directions. Today, for a change of pace, I decided to make the mighty climb up from the Westminster side. This route takes you past the Mt. Wachusett Ski Lodge at the mountain's true base. It's essentially starting at the bottom and climbing to the peak. And that's exactly what I did. And felt strong doing it.

The Westminster Approach

The Westminster Climb's Gradual Beginnings

Not only that but I enjoyed a bit of rabbit hunting on the way up.

Rabbit hunting, for a cyclist, for This cyclist, is when you espy one or more riders up the road from you and heading in the same direction you're going. Immediately, those riders become rabbits and you become the predator. You do everything in your power to hunt them down, reel them in, and dispatch them. So it proved to be today on the slopes of the mountain. In short order I reeled in two cyclists laboring slowly upward, obviously in early season form. The slaughter was quickly accomplished.

In no time, another rabbit appeared further ahead. We were on the last third of the summit climb and as soon as I saw him I knew that he, too, was in trouble. He lurched over his pedal stroke in a stand up position and his bike yawed left and right in what almost seemed like slow motion. I put my head down, focused on the yellow-revolving Mavic sticker on my front wheel hub, and powered upward. Just like that, I had a third rabbit in my game sack.

Reeling in the Final Rabbit

Then I was powering upward, lashing the last few hundred yards once again, veering left onto the final incline and hammering to the summit yet again.

Mount Wachusett Summit
May 25, 2014

I did not linger.

What I hadn't anticipated for the return journey was the arrival of huge thick gray rain clouds and the likelihood of rain. So there was nothing to be done but gamely pedal onward when the first huge splats of rain fell on the Mountain Rd. pavement I raced over. For ten or fifteen minutes, I thought that I might be able to outrun or out-maneuver what appeared to be a pretty significant cell of moisture. But that proved to be wishful thinking.

About 12 miles from home, the skies opened up. Heavy rain, torrential downpours. In no time I was completely soaked. There was nothing to be done but soldier through it. I had to take off my prescription sun glasses so splattered and useless did they become. Vision-wise that was okay but at certain points, particularly several downhill stretches, the rain lashed my face with stinging urgency and I had to squint and strain to see where I was going. Braking became difficult. I hurled down rivulets of run-off, the tarmac's surface undetermined. I hoped for the best.

Rivulets

And then I was racing back through the suburbs and the neighborhood streets of Lemonstar and the sun re-emerged and the rain storms were behind me and I was charging past Doyle Field and onto Ille Calle de Shad and just like that ride # 53 was in the books.

Ride Summary: 33 miles (53 K), 14.9 mph, a powerful average given all the climbing and the 10 miles of rain storm. No road kill. An epic climb up Wachusett. Today I felt LARGE. Strava Stats.