The Longest Day of the Year

Heavy downpours all last night and into the early morning. Humid. Then mist and low gray clouds into the early afternoon. Then clearing. Sunday afternoon. Languid thick air, everything verdant, pulsing with green. Photosynthesis hum. The giant neighborhood trees regal and still, the air breeze-free. Stillness. Sun in blue sky while the clouds break up and spill away.

I hadn't planned to ride but opportunity presented itself late in the day. It was after 6:00 when I wheeled out of the driveway and rode passed Elm Park with its steamy playground and massive oak trees, its scores of park-goers promenading in the after rain moistness. The climb up to Beechmont St, then through the neighborhoods up near Salisbury St and Assumption College, then Walter St and down into Tatnuck and onto the Reservoir loop road.

Swath of the primordial

Most of the road around the reservoir was just paved. It happened while I was distracted, perhaps during a gap of a week or more when I rode elsewhere, or wasn't riding. When I came this way a week ago, voila, new pavement. Now it's beyond perfect. And tonight in particular - no cars, fecund forest thick with hardwood trees alternating with stands of healthy pines on one side, and the reservoir utterly still like an eleven mirror pool on the other.

Becalmed in thick quiet

Despite the big mountain summit 47 miler yesterday, I don't feel completely beat tonight and I settle into a happy cadence for significant stretches alone the bank of the reservoir. I imagine myself a damp arrow sluicing through a Bavarian forest, I expect to see a sign for Baden Baden. But there is nothing but me and the pavement, me and the rich green surround. I fly.

Flight in a dream

Parables lurk in the woods along the path but I am hurtling through the cathedral of pines and onto the slopes of the sacred climb. I pedal as if I have been written into narrative, as if my legs were churned by someone else's imagination. Eventually, I emerge into Eden and pass into legend.

Still heading north toward enlightenment

Northern tip of the reservoir looking south
June 21, 2015, late evening

Finally, it occurs to me. Summer solstice. This is the longest day of the year. Warm air washes over me as I whir into oblivion's benign embrace. Up up up Reservoir Rd.'s final climb to the intersection with rt. 31, then turn around and head back down and back along the same western shore toward the Woo.

Glorious new surface

Ennui, Adieu

Be gone, ennui! And just like that, two good rides in three days turned things around for El Dubstoevsky.

Sick of being sick, I said "fuck it" and saddled up on a gorgeous Thursday afternoon for a dash up past the Airport to Kettle Brook and on to Paxton and South Rd and a run back along the reservoir. Note that the climb up to the Worcester Airport from Mill St ranks as a Cat 4. It's newly paved, and awesome.

It doesn't look like much but this climb builds into a Cat 4
June 18, 2015

21 miles for the 39th ride of the year, 15.6 mph, not bad for a Shad kicking the grippe. I felt alive again, eager, hungry. I drank in the Kettle Brook visage as I raced past, thoughts straying to raptors, mileage, fresh pavement, the wonders of dinner.

Kettle Brook, June 18, 2015

Kettle Brook Reservoir (which one I'm not sure, there are several)

Then Saturday, today, June 20. Another beauty - low humidity, warm sun, 70+ degrees, no breeze. And a weekend! Nothing to do but quaff a rich 16 oz latte (made in-house at Chez Shad), eat some eggs and toast, perform some minor maintenance on the trusty Specialized Steed, done the Steal Your Face jersey, and set out.

A BIG day. I set my sights on the Mountain and powered north toward Princeton and toward the Mont Vontusett. Felt good for the first half of the ride but flagged some during the second half. Not quite back to Full Cry mode; the time off the bike and the illness over the last two weeks definitely impacted my stamina.

Not to mention the fact that today's ride, 47 miles including a Cat 4 climb to the summit of Mount Wachusett, was hard as hell anyway. Tired legs, sore forearms, sun-weary, and dirty, I embraced it all. 3500 feet of climbing.

Deer in the road, nearing the Wachusett upswing

I've said it before but it's worth repeating; the climbing required to reach the visitor center and the actual road up to the mountain summit is arguably harder than the summit climb itself. True, the mountain does offer a Cat 4 sequence but the relentless, and steep, roads leading to it provide their own considerable challenge. For me, it's old known territory; no surprises, just the steepness and the need for focus.

Looking toward Woo City from the summit

Overall, we're having an incredible summer weather-wise so far. Numerous sunny days, none of them overly humid, many in the 70s. Ideal, really. I just need to stay healthy and not over do it; I need to work toward the D2R2 at the end of August. That ride demands peak fitness.

Mired in Ennui

Almost two weeks since I've ridden. First, there were visits from friends and family, and various social commitments. Then, I came down with the grippe. Respiratory issues, congestion, weird topical tenderness on the neck behind the right ear, a throat just sore enough to be noticeable. Throw in some odd weather, both cold and hot, and the combination manifests in the form of ennui. Lackluster. Pedestrian in the most banal, uncreative way. Television, a trashy rock star memoir, New York Times crossword puzzles. Actually, the crossword puzzles were the most intellectual endeavor of the period. Oh, yes, and Downton Abbey. And I am still in the grip of it, of ennui. Still not 100% recovered from The Malaise of illness either.

But on the positive side, I rode today. The first in twelve days. 17 miles. A Reservoir Loop. Overcast, humid, the Dew Point high. Thick air. And I felt surprisingly good, almost powerful. I guess lay offs can be like that. You return to the saddle and feel really good. Turning the cranks returns the universe to balance.

Tonight the clouds have disappeared and the pale blue white-gauzed sky hosts a buttery sun on the slide down. The sunlight enlivens the dazzling fresh green leaves in the towering oak outside the window.

Anyway, going back to the end of May and early June, I had some good rides and was feeling strong. I branched out on June 3rd and rode into Paxton via the Kettle Brook Reservoirs on a beautiful day. Following are some images from the last three of four rides. But not today's ride; I was so unmotivated and filled with dispassion that I deliberately left the camera behind.

May 27, 2015

Rt 56 North, Kettle Brook, June 3, 2015

Rt 56 North, Kettle Brook, June 3, 2015

Rt 56 North, Kettle Brook, June 3, 2015

June 3, 2015

The weird beech tree at WPI

June 4, 2015