Emulating Balzac

Onward. 

First ride on the year, first ride on the Crux since the D2R2 (I didn't even test ride it after getting in back with a new derailleur last August). First training ride for the Rasputitsa, 112 days from today.

William St, New Years Day 2017

Hall St, New Years Day 2017

They say that if Balzac finished writing a novel before lunch, he would, immediately after lunch, start his next one. 

So it goes for Dubstoevsky. No time for slacking, for taking it easy. Serious training, arduous training, relentless training getting underway. The bike, for a while, becomes a secondary focus. After three years of determined cycling, the body, while sinewy and strong in the muscle gruppetto, has lost significant strength and muscle elsewhere. Everywhere else. 

That sad state to be addressed. Core training. A strengthening regimen designed and overseen by DS Mawgs, the Huron fitness guru who has taken a personal interest in Dubstoevsky's resurrection. Barbell step-ups. The Kettlebell Swing. Rowing machines. Weighted sleds. Truck tires. 

It's the first day of the new year. Time to start the next novel.

Woo City Style, January 1, 2017

January 1, 2017

Bancroft TowerJanuary 1, 2017

Lately

Team Shad, by dint of the planet's spin and the arbitrary changing of the time, has essentially arrived at the off season. Darkness comes earlier and earlier each day now. Biting air. Hard sunshine. Falling leaves. Wind. 

Rides are catch as catch can.

Still, catch them we must. Team Shad is already on the books for the Rasputitsa (April) and the D2R2 (August) of 2017, so going into complete dormancy for any extended period of time is unacceptable. Besides, neither Dubstoevsky nor Wing Nut could handle that. They get surly and distant when deprived of the bicycle for too many days.

Zooming along the reservoir
November 1, 2016

The November landscape devolves into leaf-whipped barrenness, Bruegelian imaginations, trees, farms with gray, crumbling out buildings. Strange creatures pass gas, card-dealing crabs snap their claws at the ace of spades, whole sheep herds shift fearfully like twitchy coral reef minnow schools, a big fire maw opens wide to suck it all in. Fucknatty!

It's election day in America. Forgive the hallucinations.

Catch as catch can indeed. Like today's spirited dash of 17 miles that took in Bancroft Tower, Chester Rd hill climb, South Rd climb, the Reservoir dash, and a hard-driving return through Woo 'hood. 

Bancroft Tower on election day
November 8, 2016

Holden Reservoir nearing sunset
November 8, 2016

From Grim to Glorious

Four rides in four days, from grim to glorious, none of the rides particularly big by DS Mawg's standards. Today's was actually the longest at 30 miles.

Saturday's outing distinguishes itself for being treacherous (the "Grim" in the title of this post), and for me for being a gampas.

[Note: "Gampas" is a made-up word that means fool or dingbat or moron. It might mean "shrimp" in Spanish.]

Here's what happened.

It was damp and overcast all week, chilly days, several of them actually rainy. Saturday arrived and seemed to promise a respite from actual precipitation, even though the morning was heavily clouded. I decided to ride. But half way down the block, the sky visibly black and ominous in the distance and a brisk wind blowing, I realized that I'd under-dressed. So back I went to Shad HQ for warmer layers including a Pearl Izumi fleece top, a long sleeve windbreaker, and full length tights.

My plan was to climb to the airport, then take Bailey Rd to Mulberry Rd which wraps around the back of the airport and descends into Cherry Valley (Bailey Rd can be busy and dangerous during the week due to contractor traffic, i.e. a lot of pick-ups, but on Saturday it's not that bad). About four miles in, I hit the airport climb, a category four, and almost immediately began to sweat. I was overdressed but there was nothing to do but climb to the top, which I did, increasingly sodden.

Low visibility on Mulberry St

Along Airport Drive I stopped and, in the thickening mist and desperate for air, took off my bright orange, high vis windbreaker ... only to realize that I was now dressed completely in black. The only remotely bright thing I had going for me was a blinking tail light. Otherwise I was, under the circumstances (bad visibility, thick cloud cover, ground mist and fog) dressed as a basic gampas, which is to say foolishly. Obviously I didn't perish nor even have a close call, but I remain chastened by having been so boneheaded.

On Sunday, Mother's Day, I managed a one hour low intensity Reservoir Loop in between Mother's Day Brunch (French Toast, bacon, 4 berry fruit salad with creme fraiche, pear cider 2.5% alcohol, Presecco) and Greek Tapas dinner (lamb sausage, platters of bread and dips, fried smelts, chicken kebabs).

Waiting for the Monday Night Ride to get underway
Barney's Bike Shop, May 9, 2016

19 guys showed up for the Monday night ride with Barney's crew. It was a spirited ride, though tame in the early goings up Mill St. I rode with the advanced guys but, as usually happens because I'm still learning this game, I ended up getting schooled at various points along the way. I'm still basically a "new guy" among the regulars, many of whom have been riding together at this and other local group rides for years, and they know the nuances and the points of attack on this ride, whereas I don't yet.

Case in point, I was among a train of 7 guys out in front and racing along the reservoir, heading for two climbs (a short one followed by, after a little level ground and a small decent, a much steeper and longer one). Frantic Frank was among us and, as seems to happen too frequently between me and Frantic, he blocked my way forward on a climb. Hitting the first, smaller hill, Frantic, directly in front of me, mis-shifted and momentarily lost his momentum. That forced me to brake and lose my own momentum.

Frustrated, I put the hammer down, veered around him and around the phalanx of five others directly ahead, and shot up the hill like an angry moth. No one gave chase. Flutter flutter. Until after the level-off and the slight downhill right before the Big Hill - then one, then another, then all six had passed me, Frantic included. I gave game chase but couldn't catch anyone's wheel and labored up the climb 30 yards and more in arrears.

The lesson I learned is not to react in frustration. The point I proved in topping the small hill first was quickly negated by losing any chance at the Real Prize, the Big Fucking Climb, a climb that is actually kind of ideal for me and which I should own. I just need to learn patience. Unfortunately, this Monday night I had none and I blew my engine on the Small Pagoda. OM.

Alta Vista Farm, Rutland, Ma
May 10, 2016

Today's solo jaunt out to Rutland and the Prescott St/Hillside Rd/Emerald Rd/Causeway St loop, was utterly beautiful (the Glorious of the title). Finally, a warm, sunny May day, almost 70 degrees, though still remarkably dry, there's very little moisture in the air so it always feels just a little bit cooler than the actual temperature. I wore 3/4 tights, two shirts, and a paper bag between the shirts. Perfect. But not yet Early Summer.

The end of today's ride was excellent. I decided to do the climb to Bancroft Tower. As I rounded the corner on the last steep uphill part, I saw two guys walking up ahead. It was clear that we'd all reach the top at the same time, which we did.

Bancroft Tower May 10, 2016

"Hello!" I said, greeting the one who'd seen me at the last minute and turned toward me. The other guy hadn't heard me and turned around with a surprised, but smiling, look on his face. I don't think either of them spoke English and I don't know what nationality they were but we interacted warmly.

The first guy pointed down the hill we'd both just come up and said something that I took to mean "You just rode up that fucking hill?? Praises unto you!"

I smiled broadly, nodding my head, and gave him a fist bump that he happily returned. So did his smiling friend.

Snow Style and the Unexpected Twelve Miles

Time to ride

Snow and wind last night, 50 mph gusts shaking the early flowering magnolia bushes. Snow in the pre-dawn. Waken to melted roads & coated trees, shrubbery, lawns. Intermittent snow showers. And, increasingly, a lot of blue sky and April morning sun. Dripping eaves.

I raced to gear-up. Though the sun was out, the temperature hovered around the freezing mark. I dressed exactly, the chosen layers perfect. I encountered winds, a driving snow squall, and wet pavement throughout but I was perfectly comfortable the entire hour's ride.

Only an hour, true. But an hour of Rasputitsa simulation. I deliberately sought out the weird unpaved roads in Woo proper. A deliberate neighborhood meander. Coes Reservoir. Canada geese beak to the rage. Gates Lane a muddy ruin.

Coes Reservoir

Gates Lane, April 3, 2016

The whole point was to steal a few miles on the Crux Elite, to get out there in cold weather, fully geared up, and pedal into the maw of whatever. Whatever turned out to be a snow squall on the long climb from Cherry Valley up Goddard Memorial Drive toward the airport. Blowing winds and snow. I loved it. It was unexpected.

Goddard Memorial Drive

I ended the ride with a climb to Bancroft Tower .

Bancroft Tower, April 3, 2016

Back in the Saddle

72 hours after being unable to use my right shoulder for much of anything, everything has changed. In my mind, the toothpasty calcium has broken up and dispersed and is no longer irritating the tendon. Maybe the 150 MGs a day of Diclofenac Sodium has helped that process, maybe not. It's hard to know without another x-ray. But I can lift my right arm now almost pain free. The range of motion is better than it's been in months. Bizarre.

Nevertheless, I started physical therapy today, an effort designed to re-open my shoulders & chest and loosen up some of the tighter muscles like the pecs which, taut as piano wire, are constantly pulling the shoulders inward. This will be an ongoing effort and Team Shad's medical staff has been directed to hire a full time masseuse to attend to Dubstoevsky's condition.

The good news is that I was well enough to get back in the saddle. Despite a ferociously gusty day, and despite the lure of a hot bath, sparkling mineral water imbued with lemon, and a good book, I made a late afternoon decision to ride, to put some miles under the tires, to loosen up the legs. And was glad I did.

I managed a 17+ mile super windy Reservoir Loop (including the South Rd climb). My Strava feed shows 16+ miles because I forget to push start until I'd ridden a little more than a mile.

Ended the ride with the climb to Bancroft Tower.

Bancroft Tower, March 29, 2016

Images from Woo City

Got out for a cross bike meander through the neighborhoods, climbing the big hill up to Green Hill Park, and then to Bancroft Tower, and generally perusing the quiet Sunday streets before the snow and cold arrives this week.

Heading up West St

Getting off road right in town

Top of the hill and into the woods

But where are the skaters?

Green Hill Park golf course

Green Hill Park and pond

Industrial style

Looking for Dickens

Have a 'Gansett, already

Vladivostock

Grotesques on the WPI athletic building

Detail

WPI Gymnasium, the building is being torn down this year but they are saving the grotesques

Bancroft Tower, January 17, 2016

WPI Salvaging 100-year old 'grotesques' from campus building.

January 3, 2016

Some days, when opportunity presents itself, you have to seize it, even if "seizing it" means little more than an hour's low key spin. So went today, Sunday, January 3, a big booming sunny day in New England. I didn't have a ton of energy but I went out for a Reverse Reservoir Loop anyway and notched the second ride of 2016.

La Rue de Shad

Bancroft Tower, January 3, 2016
Holiday Style

Team Shad fans line the road hoping for a glimpse of their heroes

Holden Reservoir, northern tip

The road ahead ... 

Transitions

I took twelve days off, not necessarily by choice but by circumstance. Among other things, I had this to deal with:

Supposed to be two cords; whether it was or not, it was a lot to put away

Hauling and storing this winter's firewood took the better part of a weekend.

But I finally got back on the bike and had a terrific late afternoon ride on Tuesday the 27th. We are at the tail end of fall foliage but there was still ample color to enjoy while cruising through the neighborhoods.

Dubstoevsky in yellow

Not just in the neighborhoods. Zooming along the reservoir offered awesome views of the autumn sublime.

Holden Reservoir, October 27, 2015

Zoomed in

The good news from the reservoir is that the bridge that is being worked on can now be crossed by bicycles. Cars still have to detour up South Rd but a cyclist can now choose to go around the head of the reservoir right to Bailey Rd or onward to the top of Reservoir Drive.

Because I enjoy the South Rd climb so much, I did the climb, then turned around and sped back to the reservoir where I encountered two cyclists heading across the bridge. I followed them and made a decent effort to catch them, but failed. Later, Strava flyby details showed them to be Mike Myers and Erik Olson from Worcester. These lads evidently ride a lot more than I do and it's no surprise I was unable to reel them in. Turns out they are denizens of Woo City.

Fellow Strava lads from Woo City

They ended up heading further into Holden while I peeled off onto Bailey Rd and turned my wheels back toward the Woo. I took in Bancroft Tower before returning to Team Shad HQs.

Autumn Tower October 27, 2015

Daylight's saving time kicks in this coming weekend so it's likely that my weekday afternoon rides are numbered. As the Mighty Scrod in Frankfurt has already gotten off his bike for the season and is now focusing on stretching and yoga, I may be forced to follow his example.

Double Flat and the Transition from Summer to Brrrrr

The inevitable transformation from summer to fall is underway and scenes like the one on Tuttle Rd from a September 27 ride from Woo City to Lemonstar may be done for the year.

Tuttle Rd, Princeton hills, September 27, 2015

The afternoon light fades quickly and now, just three days into October, the day is wet, overcast, blustery and raw, 55 degrees. No ride for me today. And only one this week, though it was almost two.

Unfortunately, on what was going to be my last Monday night ride of the season with the Barney Crew, I double flatted just 5 miles into it. Which really sucked because the previous week there'd been only six guys (me included) and we'd had an excellent ride, strong and fast. I was on form and rode well, once again surging up South Rd and beating everyone to the top, then holding my own the rest of the way.

Hitting the Reservoir at speed
September 21, 2015

So flatting out and having to call Shad HQs for a ride home was a dispiriting way to end the season with the crew.

I have had more flats in the last two months than I've had in all my years of cycling. I attribute it to the crappy, low end Continental tires I bought mid-summer. Four flats have resulted from the tiniest shard of glass penetrating the tire's thin rubber skin. In the case of Monday night's double-fuck, the glass shard wasn't found by Peter the bike store owner who, for the sake of speed, changed my tire for me. He ran his finger several times around the inside of the tire before replacing the tube and felt nothing.  But once we set out, within 5 minutes I was flat again. At that point, I insisted the other 4 guys leave me behind and finish the ride. Which they did.

Only the next day, changing the tube again, did I find the minuscule glass piece stuck in the outer flesh of the tire. Only with pressure on it would it poke through to the tube. I vowed never to buy cheap tires again.

Tire changed, Tuesday afternoon the 29th offered one more sweet day of Indian Summer warmth and I took advantage of it to re-visit the ride I abandoned the night before. Oh, and I actually took the crappy tire off the rear wheel (all four flats have been rear tires) and replaced it with the used high end Conti that had been my front tire which was not terribly worn but which I'd replaced (foolishly, it turns out) with the aforementioned lousy low end option.

The ride turned out to be a sweet one, uneventful, no flats, plenty of sun, I felt strong and ripped it up for a twenty mile loop, capping it off with an assault on good old Bancroft Tower.

Bancroft Tower, September 29, 2015

A few final thoughts on the Monday night crew. During the peak of summer riding season the group can get pretty big, 20 to 30 people of varying ability, and the vibe is pretty much every rider for himself. Not a lot of camaraderie. If you don't make it through an intersection, no one waits. If you have a mechanical, you're on your own.

So when I flatted last Monday, I had no expectations that anyone would wait. In fact, we were six of us flying along, me at the end of the train, and when I knew I had a flat, I called out instinctively "Yo! I flatted out!" Everyone sat up, slowed, then turned around and rode back to me.

Surprised and grateful but also not wanting to be a drag, I said to everyone "I'm good, I'll take care of it, no need to wait for me, get on with the ride while it's still light." But they ignored that.

Instead, Peter got off his bike and, as mentioned, set to changing my tire with a bike mechanic's speed. Someone else handed me their pump (much better than my own) and, while I struggled to inflate the tire, another guy came over and helped support the rim while I pumped away.

Maybe it was the fact that we were just six people and it would have been overtly cold to simply abandon me. Maybe, given the spirited rides the previous two weeks in which I'd been a pivotal challenger and a lead out man, they wanted to keep me around for the competition. Or maybe they were all just empathetic cyclists who wouldn't leave one of their own stranded.

So despite having such bad luck on almost certainly the last Monday night ride of the season, I actually felt quite touched by the generosity of spirit showed by each guy. In fact, Peter even left me his spare tube after my second flat in the event I couldn't reach anyone at HQ and had to try to change it again.

Parting Shots

The canal alongside the parking lot of the bike shop

The parking lot behind Barney's where we gather before the ride

Postscript

I stopped by the bike shop the next day on my ride out of town and returned the unused tube that Peter had left with me. I told him I doubted I'd be along the next week given how dark it is now when the ride ends. He said that he might organize a Monday evening "City ride" which, apparently, is a similar group ride but one that traverses city neighborhoods rather than heading out to the dark forested roads around the reservoir. The city streets are more or less lit enough to ride on after dark, particularly as most riders have lights.

So, though the reservoir group ride is over (at least for me) until next year, I would definitely take part in a Monday evening city ride until it becomes too cold. I hope this comes to pass because there is actually a lot of good riding through the neighborhoods, and plenty of climbing to boot.

A Stretch of Summer Riding

Bancroft Tower, August 8, 2015

A good stretch of riding just past. Bancroft Tower visits, a racing fast Monday ride with the Barney's Crew, me innocuous and unaligned and happy to ride for myself in the break away. A one way ride from Harvard to Worcester, the point of launch being Carlson's Orchards, a venerable producer of peaches, nectarines, and apples. Big sun, big puffy clouds, big blue radiant New England skies, back roads bounded by stone walls. Long climbs with the new gearing. Explorations, missed turns, meandering afield in Rutland, Sterling, Princeton, Lancaster, category 3 and category 4 climbs.

Dexter Drumlin, Lancaster, MA
August 8, 2015

But what of the compact 50/34? For inconsequential starters, this Ultegra set-up is noisy when coasting, it produces a whirring spinnicky-clicking sound that, at speeds, sounds like a host of meth-fueled cicadas going off under my seat. The pronounced drone makes listening to other errant noises that the bike might make difficult to hear so that audio troubleshooting might prove challenging. But the important thing is how it performs. And that, I'm happy to report, is excellent.

The second lowest gear (i.e., 2nd easiest to peddle) is now what my lowest gear was before. That's good as I can now get out of the saddle and hammer in that gear and still have a fallback option. However, the lowest gear is almost powerless. It's so easy to turn over that I find myself pumping staccato-style, jabbering almost, like someone stuttering, firing up and down rapidly but ineffectively. Except on the steepest grades. Then that low gear shines.

Mason Rd, Princeton
Aug 8, 2015

Yesterday's ride with the Monday night group was uplifting. I'd gone there tired and a couple weeks removed from the last time I rode with them when I did not acquit myself well (missed the break away that night and then dogged it on the hills, as I recall). But last night went much better. I rode 4+ miles (including a climb to Bancroft Tower) before getting to the ride rendezvous so I was warmed up. Then I made sure I stayed in contact with the front.

Racing along the newly paved section of Reservoir Rd at 22+ mph, we were a speeding train of ten or so guys. I didn't go near the front. I hung at the rear, alternately last or second to last, until we hit the climb. The group hammered onto the slope, as did I, feeling pretty good. But I had miscalculated. With the new compact gearing I'd figured that I'd be able to out climb guys but when I dropped to the lowest gear, I sacrificed momentum for ease of pedaling. That proved costly as I was only able to pass two guys; the rest of the group powered off ahead of me as I thrashed myself upwards, panting.

That's the good thing about the group ride versus the normal solo ride - you get to test yourself against stronger, better, and more experienced riders than yourself. And the competition is earnest but friendly; no one's a dick. There's nothing at stake, not even bragging rights. You're riding solely to test yourself.

I also did a short ride in town Sunday morning, August 9th. With plans for hiking later in the day, I opted just to get out on the quiet city streets for some local hill climbing. Green Hill Park, for example, George Street, Bancroft Tower. All good climbs. A beautiful morning. Very little traffic.

Main St, Woo City, Aug 9, 2015

Crossing Highland Ave Sunday Morning

Dubstoevsky at Bancroft Tower
Sunday, Aug 9, 2015