Pre COVAC training ride - 8/30

My checklist of things to prepare for and stuff to bring on a Century or Century training ride:
Pre Ride:
1. strong coffee
- double check
2. Eat a good breakfast, blueberry pancakes with nice Vermont medium amber syrup (Oatmeal and Egg whites are probably better, but no where near as yummy!)
- check
Stuff to bring for the ride:
1. GU, Hammer drink mix, cliff bars, stuff to sustain
- check
2. Lots of water
- check
3. stuff to fix a flat, including a couple inner tubes and co2 cartridges
- check
4. miscellaneous stuff - cell phone, money, allen wrench set, road id, credit cards
- check
5. toilet paper
- damn, missed that one!
Post ride:
6. Carbs in the form of beer
For today's ride there are 2 reports, the first is Greg's report:
According to Greg's computer:
79.14 miles
15 minutes
Average speed: 140 MPH -
In short, balls to the wall for the entire ride. Average HR 155 Max HR 320, Average watts (for those who use power) 550W Greg's ride was so fast it was over before it began.
For the rest of us:
79.19 miles
239.5 minuets (call it an even 4 hours)
19.8 average speed
4089 feet of climbing (sportracks s/w was like 1000 ft less)
My 45 year old average HR: 122bpm
My 45 year old Max HR: 175 (climbing up towards Crotchet Mtn and riding a 3 man break with Ken and the kid in the NEBC kit for the last 5 miles (not really a break because we went a different route than the rest of the group) - damn those miles hurt))
It was nice to ride with a lot of people I haven't seen on the Tuesday night ride this year, Elaine, Lee, Ken and his wife from Florida, (sorry I suck at names and can't remember, blame it on the sangria), Greg and Susan (although I was riding with them on Saturdays earlier this year).
Starting temp was around 54, it had to be in the 80s when we rolled back onto Charlie's street.
We started slow as we headed from Charlie's onto 119 up through Willard Brook, no attacking, everyone riding single file, in zone 1 - 2 as we made our way up to 31. When we arrived at the top, thankfully Charlie took the right up 31 to Turnpike which skipped the 1.5 miles of climbing up 119 into Ashby Center. Not to worry, there was climbing to come.
We rode along 119 at a slow tempo, everyone warming up, but I wasn't warming up, I was freezing, it was cold! Finally 10 miles into the ride Andrea made a nice move by pulling to the outside and moved to the front and get things moving things along.
I skipped in front of her and started setting a tempo to meet Greg's expectation of a 23mph average for the ride.
From there we began moving at a 20+ pace along 119.
This is the point in the ride where #1 and #2 from the top of the report started kicking in, making me wish I had thought to bring #5 because things were happening. This shows how dumb men can be (or me anyway), I can remember #6 post ride carbs but forget #5 which should be a staple in everyone's saddlebag - good lesson learned. But like George Harrison once said, All Things Must Pass, and thankfully this did to.
After some serious sweating, and it wasn't from the tempo we were riding, we hit the downhill leading to 202 in Ringe, took a right and headed off up 202 into Jaffery.
Once in Jaffery we stopped at the right aid, refueled and continued down 202.
This is where the weather started to get real nice, I love that stretch out of Jaffery into Peterborough, guessing we averaged about 25mph all the way into Peterborough. I think we were all feeling pretty good about then, good enough to do 100, 125, 300 miles.
But there was sangria and beer waiting back at Charlie's so we needed to prioritize things (alcohol > riding).
By the time we were in Peterborough the sun was out, it warmed up nicely as we headed across 101 into Peterborough and up to Happy Valley, Greenfield and Bennington. Somewhere along this stretch we took a quick stop to regroup, peel off armwarmers/ leg warmers and cool down.
Once we started again we headed for 47 up towards Crotchet Mountain.
This is where the climbing, and the pain and suffering began. It seemed as if that entire road all the way into Francestown was one continuous climb, I jumped out front on one of the climbs, but quickly got swallowed up by those behind me and then struggled to stay on the back wheel.
Once past the mountain, we cruised down 47, 2nd NH turnpike all the way into Francestown.
Stopped to regroup, we caught up to Greg who was enjoying a Dovebar and Cherry Dr. Pepper - I thought for sure he would be in need of #6 after that combo.
A quick pitstop at the Francestown FD and then cruised down 136 into New Boston, regrouped at the end of the road before turning right towards Mt Vernon.
For those who like fast, this was it, flying down the hill reaching speeds upwards of 50mph, I was getting vertigo feathering my breaks as others went screaming down that hill. Once at the bottom, probably around mile 60 there was the unmistakable sound of a flat - of course it had to be the only guy on the ride riding tubulars. But I will hand it to Bruce, he was faster than a Mark Martin pit stop tearing the tire and glue from the rim and quickly replacing it with his spare. Less than 10 minutes and we were back on the road catching up with the rest of the group waiting for us at the store/ pharmacy.
From there we rode 13 into Amherst and Milford, John Roche ditched us along the way, he did his work and his day was over, the rest of the group stayed together moving right along 13 through Milford, Mason, Brookline, everyone taking their pulls, keeping the train moving - good fun until we took the left onto Townsend Hill Road.
Now I don't know about everyone else, but me? I don't like roads that have the name "Hill" in them unless it's preceded by "Down" (as in "Down Hill Rd) - this is where the pain and suffering really started, less than 10 miles to go, several of the climbers started up the hill, I did my best to hang on, but somewhere along the way I lost the wheel in front of me and fell off into "no man's land", the lead 2 riders 100 meters in front of me, a bunch of people behind me, I kept my tempo and eventually caught onto the front 2 riders.
For those who haven't done COVAC, here's my take on it - everything will pretty much stay together, fun, laughter and camaraderie for the first 75 miles - but after that 3rd SAG stop everything changes - it gets fast and you want to do everything you can to hang onto wheels, do some work, hang on some more until you reach the 90 mile mark where for those the last 10 miles it's every man, woman, child, for themselves; and this is kind of what it felt like for me trying to hang on to Ken and the kid in the NEBC kit riding the Cannondale for those last few miles of today's ride - in short, it's friggin' hurt as we apparently took a different route than everyone else coming down Wallace Hill taking a right on Highland, out to 13, we breifly saw the rest of the group behind us, Ken and the kid did a good 90% of the work while I held on and took a couple pulls trying to help our cause of getting to Joyce St before the rest of the group.
I don't know who got there first, it doesn't matter - it was the best ride of the year!
Afterwards we all enjoyed each other's company, the sangria, chips, refreshments, pizza were all great. Hats off to our gracious host Charlie, he put together the perfect day of riding and post ride party anyone could wish for.
14 more days to COVAC! Get ready for those last 25 miles, they are a blast!
And the post COVAC dinner - more post ride carb replenishment!

Edit:
I thought of this today, one of the funniest moments of the day, for me at least, was when we stopped at the store in Francestown and someone came out with a muffin and Paul Skerry explained the Seinfeld Episode with the muffin tops, if anyone hasn't seen this, it truely is a classic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHtWEH0euh4

Tuesday ride report 8/25

30 miles (this is a guesstimate, my computer went into shutdown mode for a few minutes)
85 minute of ride time (the days are getting shorter)
21.2mph on my computer - again a guesstimate

Another warm night, that makes like 5+ weeks in a row of really good weather for the Tuesday night ride. Nice, especially after all the crappy weather we had at the beginning of Summer. Knowing it’s coming to an makes one appreciate it even more. Although Fall riding ain’t so bad either!

As was the case last week, the Spin Arts team took their place at the front of the line again this week. But unlike last week I didn't even bother trying to come up with a plan on hanging with them, if anyone went off the front I was resigned to letting them go, even if it meant losing a spot on the Tuesday night podium, which based on the speed and intensity of this year's rides, seems to be a pretty big deal.
But Daren picked a fairly tame route this week, not too many difficult climbs, in fact the only one that stands out in my mind is the climb up Wallace Hill Rd (Townsend?). Oh, and the hills up in W Townsend as we crossed 119 at the store and began the ride back to the shop. Those hurt a little (okay, they hurt a lot).
All in all it was a pretty uneventful night - even with the quick pace I don't think we lost too many riders, everyone played nice and there were no odors of any kind to report, save for a skunk or two. Ernie's light is still a problem, but I've learned how to get low and use other riders to shield myself from it (thanks Dixie Chick Raye).

Started out up Prospect St and rode straight all the way to the left turn that takes us past PJ Keating. Something didn’t seem right this week, the tempo was actually a “normal” B ride pace, unlike the weeks before when things seemed to quickly get out of control on the flats of Rt. 70, or the climb up Pleasant St. Whatever the case I wasn’t complaining.
There was a slight jam up trying to get under the narrow bridge past Keating, with traffic coming in both directions it was especially challenging, but no one went down and we kept on going.
All the way down Reservoir St he pace steadily increased, but it never got to the all out hammering pace.
As we rode along I made the mistake of asking Daren about his new saddle. If you're a guy here's a hint, never ask another rider about their new saddle because it raises too many questions about what it is you’re paying attention to while riding. The only reason I noticed (and I swear this is the truth) is just last week I was looking to buy a new saddle (SMP Evolution) and Daren tried to sell me his, which as I noticed was conspicuously missing from his bike this week (Hmmmmm). When he tried selling it to me I politely told him "thanks but no thanks", I'm sure he's good about personal hygiene (unlike Greg who was telling me about his saddle sore from 3500 miles of riding and only washing his bibs 30 or so times this year), but the thought of riding a used saddle, especially a guy's saddle, didn't appeal to me so I told him I'd pay the extra $150 for the new one. Which left me wondering last week, did I really get a new saddle or did Daren simply take the saddle off his bike and put it on mine? When I got home I had the neighbor's dog come over to see if he would get excited over any new scents, he didn't so I didn't bother bleaching the saddle after the ride. (and I'm joking of course, I know Daren and the folks at GW are very ethical and wouldn't sell me a used saddle)

Rode straight to the end of Reservoir Rd, a right, a left, another right until we came out onto 2A.
2A is pretty beat up and it's pretty near impossible for the riders up front to call out all the cracks and holes. I got caught in a pretty deep crevice with riders on both sides of me, I still don't know how I managed to maintain balance for 30 feet not taking down anyone. The pace down 2A was obviously fast, 24+mph for a lot it, but it's flat and we managed to maintain a pretty good line so it wasn't that painful.
Took a left onto Lawton heading into W Groton, a right onto Groton and then a hard left onto Townsend Rd, had a good pace going all the way to 119 where we stopped to regroup.
From there we went straight across, a little ways up the road there was a garage on fire, all kinds of fire trucks coming down the hill forcing us to ride single file. There really wasn’t any way to move up to the front before the climb up Wallace Hill so it was slow going as I looked up and saw riders blasting off the front as they began the climb. Once past the fire the pain and suffering started as we headed up the hill - as is usually the case the group got pretty split up going up, once at the top we again regrouped, some riders got yelled at for lollygagging in the middle of the road, not paying attention as the unknowingly came pretty close to getting taken out by a guy in an SUV who also wasn't paying attention until almost taking out said riders.
Fast down Highland Rd, a couple of turns until we ended coming out to the road by the Townsend PD.
From there we turned onto Dudley Rd and once we got past the rough stretch of road “A Ride Greg” moved to the front and started driving the pace, I had second wheel and barely managed to hang on before taking my pull trying my best to keep the pace Greg established. After emptying the tank, flicked the elbow and pulled off letting the pace line pull through – the plan was working nice, stretch everything out so we could ride in a single file pace line which we managed to maintain most the way down to 119.
Once we came up to the intersection of 119 (where the store in Townsend is), not quite sure what happened (I heard someone double flatted) we held up for 15 or so minutes before we starting the climbs up W Townsend. I’m not sure but I think some riders cheated by not waiting and getting a head start before the rest of the group took off, all I know is there was some riders way off the front that usually aren't way off the front - they were promptly disqualified from consideration of a spot on the Tuesday Night Podium.
Literally rode through the 4 corners in Lunenburg (sorry to the drivers held up as the train continued through a red light - there's no stopping at 7:45 with little daylight left). Punched it down Leominster Rd at a crazy 30+mph, riders all over the road trying to get to the front. Avoided all temptation to stop at the ice cream stand, continued fast all the way to the light at the Honey Farms in Leominster. Phew!
A left onto 13 and everything settled down into a nice easy pace back to the shop.

All in all it was another great night of riding! Hopefully we can keep the ride going through September!

Tuesday 8/18 ride report

The power of positive thinking…. Affirmations reinforcing positive thinking. Tony Robbins, Depack Chopor, Tony Little, how can high performance people like these people be wrong? Especially Tony Little!
"I am a good person and because of that people really like me!", "I am a good bike rider and I can hang with the best of them. Well except for Luciano, Tom Orsini, Tattoo Dave and the other A riders" - Affirmations I spend an hour meditating on each morning when I wake up, and an hour before I go to bed each night.
On tonight's ride, thanks to a certain nameless local racing team who stacked the field - okay I'm calling them out, it was Spin Arts, I was forced into the power of negative thinking - "Damn it, I am not as good as I think I am. Who am I kidding, people hate me.. I AM not as good as I think I am…. I suck…. I suck more... there's no place like home, there's no place like home……"

40.5 miles
2:09:27 time
21.1 average MPH

We did the fruitlands loop and then some.
As soon as we hit Prospect St I noticed this funky odor coming from someone in front of me (not unusual on a hot steamy summer night). But this wasn't the usual stink of the guy (or gal) who didn't bother washing their chamois from the previous day's ride - this was a softer, gentler odor (I guess you might call it a scent). I'm kind of like a dog when it comes to this stuff, I tend to sniff around until I lock onto where it's coming from. After spending time drifting up and down the group I finally got a good read on it. "Huh? that's strange", I don't know how but the softer gentler scent seemed to be coming from Natalie's helmet of all places. I think it's time to give the helmet a bath.

Onto the ride.
Again, I don't know a lot of the roads east of Leominster, but I think most are familiar with the route.
We headed out to Rt 70, the Spin Arts boys and girls set the tempo which was fast. I got my one and only lead pull on that stretch, and when I got it up to about 27mph someone behind me told me to turn it up to 30…. Damn, this is a recreational ride, not a race. I did what I was told and held it as long as I could before flicking the elbow as the rest of the group pulled through.
A couple guys on yellow bikes (Boulder Cycling, Putney) and the Spin Arts team continued the fast pace all the way to the end.
The group pretty much stayed together as we took a right onto 117 and a left onto (Langden?). A mile onto Landgen Dave Lystra was the first to launch off the front - I yelled at "A Ride Greg" to chase him down for his team, but he was content to let him go ("they only move in one direction, which is back" was his response) and sure enough Dave was reeled back in.
We crossed over 70 and hit some rough roads before coming to the 5 corners - someone flatted (thank God, it was the soonest I had ever felt I needed a break in all the rides we've done this summer) - we regrouped at the gas station before heading towards Bolton.
As we rode towards Bolton I heard the Spin Arts guys in front of me ("A Ride Greg" and a couple of other trouble makers) talking about 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, lead outs, etc, something was going on, but I was too dense or tired to realize what it was - it was too late when I realized they were setting up for the town line sprint - damn, before I knew what happened they and several others were off. Not sure who won, what difference does it matter - it was the night's theme, all Spin Arts all the time.
This is when I realized it was going to be a long hard night. From there on out it seemed like every time I looked up someone was off the front, sometimes way off the front.
Crossed 117 and headed towards Harvard, tried to stay on the front, but it was difficult - more guys & gals keeping a quick pace as we all braced ourselves for the hills.
I tried to concentrate on keeping the right gear, holding my line and staying on the wheel in front of me, I could hear everyone changing gears, I knew the attacks were about to come - sure enough one by one riders started moving up seeing who was going to be the first to the top.
I lost all my concentration though when I saw the nun walking the side of the road and someone from behind asked if that would be in the ride report? How the heck do you write something funny about a nun walking down the side of the road without being sacreligious - I'm in enough trouble here on earth, I'm not going to temp fate in the afterlife. She was kinda cute though, for a nun.
One problem on the way up the hills, behind me I heard the unmistakable sound of bikes colliding, unclipping (someone else must've lost concentration thinking about the nun too) - fortunately there was no damage, someone made a move and touched wheels with a rider behind them, fortunately the rider in the back managed to recover without going down (good bike control).
We regrouped at the top of the hill - headed down hill, a right a left another turn until we ended up on 110.
Looked up there was another rider way off the front - "A Ride Greg - let's bridge up and help your team mate" I yelled - I didn't think he was interested until he appoligized to Andi for what he was about to do which was to bridge up to his team mate ("A Ride", there's no appoligizing in bike racing, even on the B ride - just go) - I decided to go along to "help" - yeah right, as soon as we both went there were 5-10 riders on our wheels - my plan was to take turns rotating 30 second pulls with "A Ride" - this was the point in the ride when I realized I am not as good as I think I am. Not even close. No sooner did I jump in front of "A Ride" to take a pull when I found myself being swallowed up by the 5 or so people who latched on (after some thought I realized it was "A Ride Greg's" team mates ensuring a break didn't happen). Damn! It didn't matter, none of them were able to bridge up to what I was sure was another Spin Arts rider who was the first to arrive at the rotary.
Once around the rotary things got scary, real scary. - we headed out down the road the McDonalds is on (Sandy Pond road?)
It was getting dark and we still had a way to go - people were still riding the double yellow - I barely noticed the car coming in the opposite direction until I heard their brakes lock up - I looked behind me and had one of those WtF moments when I realized the other car coming from up behind that crossed over the double yellow trying to get around us. It was as close to a head on collision as I had ever seen.
And then it happened again.
And then Daren stopped the ride - I didn’t see it, but apparently a car coming up from behind came pretty close to taking out half the riders on the outside trying to move up 1 to 3 positions. Stupid! It's not a race, or even a training ride, although it felt that way all night. With all the moves going on and jockying for positions, there was very little paceline riding.
After Daren had the culprits in tears, things settled down a bit.
Took some more roads I don't know through Groton, eventually coming onto 225.
As we were heading down 225 towards Shirley all I kept thinking is "gotta get around Ernie, gotta get around Ernie", but I couldn't, for a good several miles I was stuck directly behind him staring at the brightest tail light I had ever seen, at least a 120 watter which I think he had hooked up to his power tap, the faster we went the brighter it seemed to get - (I swear they can see this light from the space station) - finally I gave up and pulled behind Dixie Chick Raye got into the drops and used her petite body to sheild me from the light.
The rest of the ride was uneventful - took a right onto 2A and a quick left taking us past the sand and gravel pit - one last sprint up the hill heading towards Powell. I usually grind this hill out in the big ring, but when Daren asked if I was going big or small I realized I didn't have the power, or desire to grind it out - so I told him small…. Good call Daren, sooooo much easier spinning it up the hill in a smaller gear than trying to grind it out in my 54.
From there we headed out of Lunenburg to Leominster, I was too tired to even drill it down Prospect St - watched as everyone went flying down to the red light - got across 13 and on to the shop.

Other than the couple of close calls, it was another good ride - I don't mind the heat after the miserable early season we had.

Tuesday 8/11 Charlie Ride Report

I think I called in sick for this one, or maybe this was the one that I sucked so bad on I decided not to write a report.
Anyway, here's Charlie's report (used without permission).

Partly cloudy last night, with very little wind. About 86F at the start, very humid which made for a heat index of 93F.

Once again another great turnout, with 40-50 riders for the intermediate ride and maybe 8 or so riders for the “A” ride.

For last night’s fun filled evening, Daren decided on the loop around the Wachusetts reservoir. I was in the back at the start and a small group of us did not make the very first light at Route 12. We did not make the second one either so the chase to catch back up was on. I was in the big ring before we went by Leominster Hospital and it was pretty much full gas going up Washington Street and we caught back up at the end of Washington at the West street intersection. From here it was pretty much a steady tempo all the way up Pleasant street except for the harder effort required up to the farm at the top.

We regrouped at North Row road and you could really feel the heat and by this time I was dripping wet. Daren indicated that the next re-grouping point would be near the old stone church in West Boylston. So a fast decent to Route 12 then a nice fast tempo all the way to the second re-grouping point. I did pause for a moment of contemplation when we crossed over the railroad bridge on which I had crashed a few weeks back. The pothole is still there and I was riding well away from it as we blasted past.

Short stop at the store at the intersection of route 12 and route 140, then onward on Route 140 to the next turn onto route 70 in Boylston. I thought things might turn up a notch on the climb up to Boylston center but no raging hormones were in evidence from the young guns which was a good thing. From here it was pretty much a steady tempo all the way to Clinton. Just before we started down the Clinton dam hill I could see dark clouds to the North and rain which looked like we were headed for.

Re-grouped in Clinton and headed for home. As we approached route 70 in Lancaster it kept getting darker and darker. As usual the hammer dropped as soon as we got on route 70 and very shortly after that the rain and wind came soaking everyone. The last 4-5 miles back to the shop were not a lot of fun.

The temperature had dropped to 73F when we finished at 8am. It was very dark but that was due to the storm I think. Were losing 2 minutes of daylight each day now. So 14 minutes less daylight next Tuesday night.

When I arrived at my house in West Townsend it was bone dry, no rain at all last night.


COVAC in 32 days, Sunday Sept 13th.

Tuesday 8/4 Ride Report

Total Ride: 40 miles
Total time: 2:20
Average speed: 19.6mph

First off I want to express my disapointment at not being invited to the GW annual outing. I'm sure the invitation was somehow lost in the mail, but nonetheless I know Gene's got my phone number because he's always calling me trying to collect on the $6.49 he thinks I owe him for the gel packs (I got the receipt to prove I paid!). Hell, I would've even gone as Darren's date, I'm not proud, for free beer and food I would've held hands with him for a couple hours.
I hope the flight out to Nantucket on Gene's Gulfstream was enjoyable, along with the lobsters, wine, champagne and beer.
Maybe next year.

Onto the ride… 2 weeks in a row with hot weather and no rain. Someone might mistake this for summer.
Last things first. After the ride a secret vote was taken, Darren's out, Natalie's in as the new ride leader. She proved herself by picking the perfect route for a hot summer's night. Nice roads, good pace, and only 1 flat near the end of the ride. Great job!

I'm not sure of some of the roads, but we took off out of the shop and headed up towards the hospital and zigged and zagged our way over to Pleasant St which wasn't so pleasant as we started the climb towards Sholan Farms. I tried to think of something to distract myself from the pain that was being inflicted on me from the 2 guys in the front - the John Denver song "Sunshine on my Shoulders (makes me happy)" came into my head, problem solved (kind of). HR was way in the red most of the ride up there as I struggled to stay on the wheels of the guy on the Cervelo R3 (Target Training kit) and another guy on a blue Cannondale wearing a blue Unum kit - who invited these guys to the party? these guys were strong and pulled about 10 of us past Sholan to the intersection of N. Row Rd.
I didn't realize a gap that had opened until we waited up for the rest of the group. (after thinking about it I realized they got caught at a red light and that was the reason for the 10 minute wait).
From there things settled down, a little bit. We continued up (and down and up again) Heywood Rd to Rowley to Justice Hill which is always good fun on a hot night, went down Justice Hill cutoff and came out to 62(?) - a quick left off 62 onto some back roads until we finally ended up on Rt31, headed south to the corner store .
Pulled out onto Manning St, across 190 looking for a left onto Osgood street (or some street that began with an O) - hOsmer st, close enough.
Over to 140 and then the back roads into Sterling Center, down 62, cut over some more back roads I don't know - someone flatted, waited up, down George Hill to Langen, right on 117 and then the left onto the infamous 4 mile stretch of Rt 70.
Nice steady pace as we began that last 4 miles, 18, 19, maybe 20mph (too dark to see the computer) - I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more, I knew it was coming and I'd be damned if I was going to miss it. Or was everyone content to take it easy for the last few miles.
The guy in the Harpoon kit kept up the nice steady pace. Didn't he know?
I couldn't stand it anymore, I'm no hero, but I was feeling strong so I launched off the front, it was a strange feeling, I seemed to be getting stronger and stronger with each pedal stroke - I felt as stong as 10 Fabien Cancellaras pulling away from the group, I didn't need to look back, I quickly calculated the gap I was opening, 10meters, 50, 100, 150, 200 meters! It was incredible as I thought about the trail of dust those behind me were left choking on.
After about 2 miles (or maybe it was 2/10ths of a mile that seemed like 2 miles) I finally looked back.
And then I woke up from my dream.
Cervelo R3, Blue Cannondale, gray cannondale, Dave Lystra, Rwanda, and a couple of others were about to swallow me up. Damn, I had burnt every match I had, just pick a wheel and try and stay on. Closed my eyes and tried not to think about the pain.
"Sunshine on my shoulders, makes me happy"

Another great Tuesday night…. About the only part that sucked was realizing the days are quickly getting shorter. I can't believe COVAC is less than a month away.

Tuesday Night 7/14 Ride Report

Total distance: 46.53 (including a quick 3 mile warm up with Dave Dufort)
Total time: 2:12
Average MPH: 21.1
Total climbing: 1996ft according to Garmin Training Center software, 888ft on SportTracks software - something's not right!

Forgive me in advance, I know most every road west and north of Fitchburg, but whenever we head east I'm lost as was the case last night. So I don't know a lot of the street names and route numbers.
The ride headed up Prospect to Mechanic St, crossing over 70 along the road that runs parallel to rt 2 (I think it's the same road they found the body wrapped in a blue tarp earlier this year, I might not have the ability to remember my anniversary but I tend to remember morbid facts like that). Thankfully the only foul odors seemed to be coming from 1 or 2 in front of me and not from the side of the road.
The ride started out boring as hell, flat as a pancake. Rode into Shirley, a right onto the road that takes us past the prison. Everyone was going at a pretty good pace while passing through Devens into downtown Ayer before taking a left somewhere around JP O'Hanlon's onto a couple of back roads before ending up on a long straight road.
I'll admit, I was riding in the back, not paying attention. Basically falling asleep.
And then everything changed.
When I woke up there were 5 or 7 riders away, a good 1/2 mile off the front, bombing down whatever road it was we were on in Ayer. I saw Dave Lystra up the road and bridged up to him, but we couldn't get it going to bridge the gap to the lead riders.
I probably shouldn't tell anyone this, but everytime I see Dave I have this god awful image of him in a toga. I'll spare everyone the details - but I'm sure someone at the Gardner Ale House has pictures if anyone's interested (I'd suggest not trying to track them down).
Anyways, we regrouped somewhere before Littleton Depot and the took a right on Harwood Ave, maintained a quick pace, and then the hills started.
So much for a boring ride.
I wanted to stay near the front so I marked a couple people's bikes, I'll admit to not being good remembering people's names, but Brandt, Natalie, the guy on the red Giant TCR, the kid from GW on the Cervelo, a Litespeed, dark gray R600 and a couple others are the ones I remember (and it's hard remembering when you're oxygen depleted) We regrouped in Littleton for a flat before heading into Boxboro, Acton, picked up 111 and more hills, dropped by red TCR and a bunch of others (and these aren't even real hills). Caught back on, went up past Fruitlands, damn that hill is painful.
Once over the top everyone was taking flyers down the hill, fast and furious all the way into Bolton. There were a few people close to the double yellow I feared for with cars coming up the opposite side. But everyone was safe.
We regrouped at the intersection of 110 and 117 (Bolton Orchards) which is where I had my once in a lifetime moment of glory.
Just as the light turned green Brandt shouted out to Darren to hop on his wheel and he would play the lead out for the town line sprint into Lancaster (Mark Renshaw to Mark Cavendish). But Darren missed his cue and didn't jump on. Lucky me, I found myself on Brandt's wheel - while he was churning out like 100,000 watts of power leading me out, I was probably at about 200 watts, legs on fire, lungs on fire, gasping for air trying to hang on - all the time all I could think about was if I don't hang on all his work would have been been a big FAIL and someone else was going to take the sprint.
Brandt set it up perfectly - I somehow managed to hang on. With about 100 yards before the town line he peeled off to the left, I was in his slipstream and flew past him, I heard a lot of swearing all around when other's realized how perfectly Brandt played it as I took the glory over the line.
Now I know how important Mark Renshaw is to Mark Cavendish. Renshaw does all the work, Cavendish cranks it out for the last 500m and takes all the glory.
Fun times on a Tuesday night!!!!
The ride along Rt 70 through Lancaster center was uneventful until we took the right onto the last 4 miles of rt 70.
Again, I don't know people's names, but I know one thing - there are a lot of stong women on the Tuesday night ride who can tear it up over those last few miles. A couple of Spin Arts kits one on a Colnalgo the other on a blue Spin Arts bike, the petite woman with the blue Trek 5200 and camelback (I still can't figure out where she gets all that power), Andi on the Specialized, Natalie - all of them are incredibly stong especially when a lot of the guys, myself included are hurting on those last few miles along Rt 70.... It was a fast 4 miles, a good paceline with everyone taking short pulls before pulling off and jumping on the back again.
I could feel the GU rising up in my throat trying my best to hang on to that group for the last several miles - as always those few miles were brutal!
Finally got to the dealership and slowed it down. Cruised back on Mechanic and flew down Prospect street back to the shop.
All in all it was another great Tuesday night ride.
I wish everynight could be Tuesday. There's no better group of people to ride with.

The place for all things related to the GW Tuesday night ride

First off, the legs on the front page do not belong to me - they belong to Liz Hatch a nationally know Cat2 bike racer. If any women from the tuesday night ride wish to have their legs posted, send me photos (the more the better) and I will gladly replace Lizzie's with some of our own.

Oh, and for the record, this blog is in no way affiliated with Gear Works Cyclery and they should not be held responsible for anything posted here.
Rather it belongs to everyone with a passion for riding their bikes and participating in the GW and other local group rides.
Hopefully everyone familiar with the Gear Works rides will feel free to post anything and everything from ride notices, ride reports, news, updates, or photos (yeah, we all love photos, especially from all of the group activities throughout the year ). Anything related to Gear Works and the local riding scene, this is the place to post it.