Lead Up to the D2R2: Rides, August 13 - 18

A little Greek Orthodox style on Cedar St, Woo City
August 15, 2015

Another quality stretch of riding, it's summer, the heat booms, the sun shines, the skin stays slick with sunblock.

Tonight, Thursday evening, it's a sticky 80 degrees in the Woo, I'm just back from eating roasted broccoli and poutine (with bacon gravy and local cheese curds) at the Armsby Abbey, Woo City's preeminent farm-to-table gastro pub. I've been watching the weekend forecast nervously because Saturday is the D2R2*, my third in a row and fourth overall. Earlier predictions had been an 80% chance of rain (including thunderstorms) but that forecast has changed and now they're predicting light rain possible in the early AM followed by partial sun through the rest of the day. Irie! Dampen those dusty farm roads and let us have our go.

In anticipation of cloudy, damp morning weather (and by "morning" we're talking a 7:00 departure) I bought arm warmers. Also bought two new bike bags, one for under the seat (more commodious than the one I have) and one for the top tube.

Looking back to the last week or so, I notched some good efforts including a Thursday 24 miler up into Paxton via the Kettle Brook Reservoirs (which included the cat 4 Woo City Airport climb).

All good in Kettle Brook
August 13, 2015

Then, on Saturday (August 15th), with time in the coffers, I ventured into the heat for a gigantic ramble up into Rutland and Princeton, 46 baking miles. I say "gigantic" because it was hot as hell and it involved 2800+ feet of climbing (including the Airport climb again), and took 4+ hours. I poured sweat and sopped my gloves and loved the whole thing.

Somewhere in Rutland, MA
August 15, 2015

Sunshine daydream

That was all well and good, visceral challenges in the Luciferian Crucible, but it was all pavement. I was never tested on gravel, though I was in fact turned back by deteriorating pavement on Brigham Rd in Rutland (I'd intended to use Brigham Rd as a cut-through to Brooks Rd and on to route 56). The off road work had to wait.

Brigham Rd not suitable for the road bike

Until Tuesday, anyway, when things changed dramatically. The weather remained absurdly hot and humid but the time had come for Team Shad to coalesce and get in a grueling pre-D2R2 training ride, a test ride of sorts to make sure the bikes (and ourselves) were ready to go.

Actually, only two thirds of Team Shad assembled, Dubstoevsky and The Virginian. I Ward is, alas, about to undergo surgery to repair a shoulder injury suffered when he was hit by a car backing out of a driveway over 10 months ago, so he was unavailable and will not be at the starting line of the D2R2. (Everyone even remotely connected to Team Shad wishes you, mighty I Ward, a swift recovery.)

Nevertheless, The Virginian and I rendezvoused in the hills of Montague, Massachusetts on Tuesday, August 18th for a humid ramble through the back roads, the dirt roads, the forest roads of the Pioneer Valley hills.

The Virginian prepping for the D2R2

We covered 46 hot miles and, though knackered by the time we returned to base camp (Chez Hotar), we were both encouraged. We felt ready for the 160K on Saturday.

Here's the thing. You huff and sweat and groan and hurt and struggle to turn the cranks but ... every time those wheels turn 'round, you cover just a little more ground.

Onward!

The D2R2 is special and definitely not to be taken lightly. The Virginian to his credit has ridden every iteration so far, 10 years and counting. I've completed a modest three by comparison, so while I remain the self-professed leader of Team Shad, I defer to and bow before The Mighty Virginian for his accomplishments. He is the George Hincapie of the D2R2, whether it's the 160k or the 180k. The Virginian rules and I simply try to keep in contact.

Tech Notes: I bought, and used for the first time on the D2R2 warm up ride, a Garmin Edge 200. I've since seen it described as:

"The Edge 200 is a basic GPS computer for cyclists wanting accurate maps of their rides."

Suits me.

It's intuitive to use and easy to see. It's slightly larger than a normal bike computer and it attaches easily to your handlebars.

One drawback is that, when you first turn it on to get started, it doesn't prompt you to set certain important parameters. For example, there's a setting for what to do when you stop during the ride, when you're no longer moving. I assumed the default would be to stop the timer but I was wrong. The default is that the timer keeps running. That skews the mph stat (the computation of which I assume is tied to the timer).

Another problem arose when I tried to upload the ride data to GarminConnect. The software I'd downloaded a day earlier was apparently out of date. The uploads error'd out and directed me to repetitive pages that were not helpful.

Eventually, after successive tries, I uninstalled the software and downloaded & installed the proverbial 'latest version.' After that, I was able to upload the ride data. To my pleasant surprise, Garmin automatically propagated that data to my Strava account. I'm not sure how that happened because I don't recall filling in any settings/parameters that would have made that connection.

The D2R2 will be a test of this device's ability. In the course of 95+ miles, we're in woods, we're in the hinterlands, we're stopped, we're way out in the freakin' country ... and we're out there for 10 hours or more. The battery life is supposed to be 14 hours. I will make sure it's fully charged before setting out. Me too, I'll be fully charged as well.

Parting Shot

Which way would you go? This way?

Morrow's Golden Hills, Paxton

Or this way?

The Road to Riches, Paxton

* If you followed the link to the D2R2 Homepage, that's Dubstoevsky anchoring the lead graphic (as of August 15, 2015).