Setting Out

Later in the season when you're in pretty good form, and if you've got no nagging little injuries, the first few miles of any ride are fantastic. When you set out you feel strong, your bike is a fine-tuned machine, you're confident and eager, you're not yet fatigued or slippery with sunbeam sweat.

So it's been for me lately. Like yesterday's 30 mile ride. Sunny, hot weather, the sun still a considerable force even though it's now lower in the sky earlier in the afternoon. I set out around 3:30 PM and felt terrific. And I took a chance of riding out of town via Holden and Brattle St.s, both of which had been grated over and unpaved as of two weeks ago.

There's good news! Holden St, Brattle St and Shrewsbury St have now all been paved. They are rough and dangerous no longer!

Shrewsbury St, paved at last!

Eventually I made my way to Causeway St in Holden, a true gem of a road, nearly bereft of cars.

The beginning of Causeway St in Holden

For a long while I rode alone on this street, several miles probably. Me, the sun, the green, the hum of late summer emanating from the New England roadside botanical abundance. At one point I saw some turkeys.

Turkeys

And then there was the farm.

Climbing toward the farm

Past the farm buildings and cresting the hill

Looking back, over the shoulder

The return part of the ride brought me past the Worcester Airport from the opposite side that I'm used to, which is the Big Climb up from Mill St. Today, it was Cat 4 downhill. It too has recently been paved, it's now like a slightly oily but luxuriant static river of sweet licorice un-flowing down the hillside.

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).

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.

New Roads in Princeton and Paxton

Good rides this passed week, some longer ones over the Memorial Day weekend, a 41 miler and a 33 miler exploring up toward Princeton and Paxton having examined the maps closely in advance. Some really beautiful stretches of country road - Prescott St. into Hillside Rd in Paxton fantastic, Hillside Rd in particular a narrow, shaded, byway that at times seemed like it would peter out altogether into dirt and forest, but didn't; and also Ball Hill, Princeton, and Jefferson roads coming down from the northern reaches of Princeton, long sloping farm roads descending to Holden.

I've noticed that something felt a little different these last few rides and it finally occurred to me what it was - because all the trees and shrubs have their foliage now, the landscape is no longer visible, the long vistas into the rocky & stone-walled countryside have been replaced with thicket. The narrow country roads are now dense and overhung with greenery, so much so that I began to have vague feelings of claustrophobia. Nothing alarming, just a sense of being encroached upon, a sort of green enveloping.

I realize that I miss the bare landscape, I miss being able to see far into the forest from the road, miss seeing the contours of the countryside, the hills and slopes, the big rocks left behind by glaciers. Now, with the full emergence of leaf cover, the landscape pulses with a trembling green, a fluttery tangle of photosynthesizing leaf cover.

The encroaching green

Of course, the farmland now hums and radiates, the fields verdant and the blue sky yawning vast above. Farm roads, like short duration oasis, like coming up for air before plunging back into the tangle and shadow.

Mason Rd

Visuals from the week of May 18-24.

May 23, 2015

Holden Reservoir monster
(Look carefully)

Princeton St

And a couple of shots of Bancroft Tower.

May 19, 2015

May 23, 2015

The days haven't all been warm and nice, however. In the midst of this run there were two days where long sleeves were involved. One day the temps were barely in the 50s and it was breezy, I had to done under armor and full-fingered gloves.

Chilly style