Ride # 55: Another Day, Another Summit

Thursday, May 29, 4:00 in the afternoon

I snatched Time from the unyielding day. This is an impressionistic ramble. It was Thursday afternoon, I was working from home, I had a serious DEADLINE to meet, and I met it. I am writing in the past tense because I am writing the day after this ride occurred. I am in a time warp. I am neither heavier nor lighter than I was a day earlier. I am the same shad.

The thing is, I wasn't feeling very motivated, very energetic. I felt vaguely sore in the hips and the quads and I had to fight myself not to use that as an excuse not to ride. Feeling achy, I tried to talk myself into not riding, but the Little Argentine on my shoulder kept whispering in my ear "you'll feel fine once you get out on the road, once you start pedaling."

The little fucker was right.

When I finally garnered my forces, geared up (much yipping over what to wear because it was not a warm day, low 60s and increasingly overcast, possible showers), and set off, I quickly grew elated. YES! Of course. RIDE for heaven's sake. No, ride for SHAD's sake. That's what I did. And though a dash for the mountain seemed unlikely, I let the ride unfold as it would. Climbing with ease and comfort into the Sterling Hills, the debate over whether to assault the mountain or not quickly became irrelevant. OF COURSE I was going to the mountain top.

Most of the roads leading to the mountain are fine, albeit steep. Hobbs Rd on the other side of rt. 31 is a bitch but it's short and it's been essentially cleared of sand by now (either by design or by watery run-off, I'm not sure). But after Hobbs comes Beaman and Wilson, both moderately slopped. Off Wilson, you pick up Mirick Rd, a real sweet road through hardwood forest with sporadic rich people's houses on either side. But off Mirick, you turn onto Pine Hill Rd and that's where it gets really dicey. That road is a mess, a sand lot, a rutted, debris-strewn narrow path that just happens to be seriously fucking steep so not only do you have to lash yourself like a jockey lashing his steed but you have to be careful not to stand up at the wrong spot and spin your wheels in the ubiquitous sand. Climbing the short and very steep Pine Hill Rd is a total challenge, particularly after savaging yourself for close to an hour to GET to it.

Left onto Pine Hill Rd, a steep climb on cracked sandy tarmac

The good thing is, when you get to the top of Pine Hill Rd, you've basically arrived at the base of the mountain. Then it's time to do some CLIMBING!

No rabbits to slay this afternoon, just me and the road UP and so UP I go. At a fast clip. Not a strava personal record pace but pretty darn fast. Stats aside, I feel great in the ascent. It's all so good I want to cry. But I don't. I shout instead. FUCKIN' YEAH! It feels good! It's a Thursday afternoon, I'm sailing free on my bicycle, I'm climbing an old granitic New England mountain and I feel STRONG doing so, and I know that when I get home, I'll eat BIG and take a shower and accept myself for who I am. This is the ZEN of it all and I realize that NOW is the only reality we know for sure.

Zen Summit

Ride Summary: 27 miles (43 K), 14.2 mph, KICKIN' it up the hills today, strong like a goat, comfortable in my skin. Strava Details.

Road Kill: A snake apocalypse day. I only photographed one but I saw five squashed garter snakes, three on the slopes of The Wachusett, two on the hills leading there.

One of five on the day