Ride # 56: Picture Perfect Day, Tempered By Disastrous News From Germany

Backyard Style, Sunday, June 1
70 degrees and dry

What a day. Perfect weather for cycling. 70 degrees, sunny, clear sky, dry air, not hot, not cool, just right. So what to do? Go to the mountain.

Today I opted for a slightly irregular approach. I headed out Pleasant St which presents a more gradual climb west than Elm St., the other option. But instead of going all the way out & up to Sholan Farm and down the other side, at the 3 mile point I took a right on Wachusett St, a road that climbs sharply upwards toward an eventual connection to Elm St just past Bartlett Pond. Wachusett St sets the stage for much climbing to come.

Because really, doing a mountain summit is all about climbing, though not the obvious climbing you'd expect. The mountain summit road is, yes, a challenging ascent, but (as mentioned previously) getting to the mountain's base involves serious climbing. Done regularly, it sort of becomes a badge of honor, like "yeah, another circuit up to Wachusett and back" the tacit understanding being that, holy crap, coming from the flats of Lemonstar, that is A LOT of uphill work.

At the 8 mile mark, you cross Redemption Rock Rd and head up a short and very steep Hobbs Rd extension. Then, at the 10 mile mark, it's the ridiculous uphill of the gutted, sandy, potholed Pine Hill Rd. Both climbs are savage, merciless, exquisite.

Today I spied a rabbit ahead on Pine Hill Rd so I went for him. Slew him in short order. Turns out, though, he was an older rider, (10 years older than me?) and obviously hasn't been riding much this year. He inched upward in slow motion. It was an easy conquering. I rode up to him, said hello, we chatted as I cruised by, and then I was past and gone and powering forward, upward, gone.

Pine Hill Rd.
There's a red dot rabbit up the road
but you have to look close
to see him

Shortly thereafter I dispatched the vicious Pine Hill Rd and then I was on the mountain and climbing. Being a gorgeous Sunday afternoon there were many hikers, walkers, occasional cars, numerous motorcycles, all either using Summit Rd for their activity, or crossing it as hikers who ascend on rocky, wooded trails from all sides. You can't lose focus, even ascending.

No worry of that or me today, I was dialed in and feeling Huge. I attacked the slopes repeatedly. I wended my way through walkers and picnickers, rode all the way to the left when cars or motorcycles came up from behind, and hammered straight up the center line the last half mile to the intersection where you turn left for the last 100 yards to the summit. And I hammered up those last 100 yards to boot.

Contrails over Wachusett Summit

Glorious view. Massachusetts unfolding in the four directions. Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire clear and sharp in profile to the north. Worcester a cluster of pointy buildings rising away to the south. I've seen it all before. So a quick turn around the crown and allez! back down the mountain I zoom (my speed hindered by a pickup truck, a senor driver in a Camry and a motorcycle).

I push it hard on the way back; I can do that now because I'm conditioned, I'm honed. I'm not thrashed on the last five or ten miles, I'm not knackered on the return climbs. Now it seems that I'm limited only by how much power I can muster.

Today, I managed enough power to sail along roads like this:

With the niceness
Heywood Rd

An over all day of great riding, tempered by disastrous news from the Mighty Scrod of Ventoux Calls that he has fallen and broken his arm while training. Garment rending and lamentation! A cruel and wicked and inexplicable occurrence! All of Team I Shad mourns tonight and sends collective positive vibes to our wounded comrade across the Atlantic.

Ride Summary: 36.4 miles (57 K), 14.8 mph. 3,560 elevation. Strava details.

Road Kill: A savaging. One big snake, two chipmunks, a gray squirrel, an opossum, a bunny rabbit. I only took a photo of the bunny.

Fresh dead bunny