Cumulative training

I pulled this from the Voler web site.
The take away from this is if you want to improve next year, don't spend the winter on the couch waiting for the warm weather to arrive before you begin your training.
It's pretty basic so it made sense to me.
It's the power stuff I have problems comprehending :)

Here's the question and answer.

CUMULATIVE TRAINING
With the new year approaching, I'm starting to think about my riding goals for the new year. I don't race, but I like fast club rides, and centuries, and I'd like my centuries to be faster and stronger next year. I read recently that there's a cumulative effect of racing and training at the pro level, and that each season builds on the last. Does one have to train and race at pro level in order to benefit from this cumulative effect or can the amateur also benefit? How does this work? How would I use this year’s riding as an index for setting goals for next year?


Thank you,

Susan

Hi Susan,


Anyone can get the cumulative training effect as long as they don't join the "old guys who get fat in winter" club. Instead of starting from scratch each year, if you maintain some of the gains you made last year, you'll begin next year with a better base. That means you'll start fitter and add fitness from there and you may be doing this already. All it takes is riding a few times a week. Some people add weight training in the off-season but the most important is to retain your cardio fitness.


Confidence also builds with more riding experience - like the ability to read the terrain and wind, select the optimal clothing and gearing, knowing how much to eat and drink, when to push, when to coast. Your muscles get efficient at firing in sequence when pedaling, having "muscle memory" from one season to the next. And of course you accumulate mental strength each time out, conquering the elements, the distance, the inclines and descents, and negative self-talk. I'm sure you get as much cumulative training effect as the Pros. Maybe keeping a training diary would help you see it better.


In setting your goals for 2009, make sure your goals are measurable. By that I mean - how can you measure "faster", "stronger" next year? You certainly don't want to go just by feel, "I feel stronger" or by placings, "I want to be in the top 10 women". Those don't measure your individual progress. Instead, use speed, time, heart rate, gearing, cadence and mental preparation. For example, can you be 5% faster than last year on the same course? Can you climb a section in a harder gear or with a lower heart rate? Can you hit a faster speed on a descent or higher average cadence? Those goals are measurable. It's important to personalize them, making sure the goal motivates you.


Often overlooked is the mental side of performance. I'm not a fan of the "I'll see how it goes" method of preparation. I'm sure each person has an idea of what they want to achieve during an event they are peaking for. When the goal is stated, it is clear and more committed to. If each ride had a small goal, even if it's just to complete an hour or to finish a ride with a smile, you get into the habit of completing the task you set out to do. There is another cumulative effect - completing tasks successfully. Don't underestimate the improvements you'll gain just by visualizing your performance too. Practice seeing yourself ride the century route. Establish time checks, when and what to drink and eat, gearing choices, cornering lines. Work through scenarios like dealing with a flat tire or broken spoke. There are lots of exercises in my book Sport Psychology for Cyclists, VeloPress.


Ready, set goals for 2009!
Peg
(answered by Peg Labiuk (nee Peggy Maass), a colleague of Marilyn Trout, and a certified NCCP level 3 coach with a career in international road and track racing. She is a World Championship medalist, World Record holder, U.S. Olympic Team member, former British national team coach and Kreb's Cycle co-founder (British Columbia, Canada).

Seacoast Century Report

Up at 5:30 and it’s 70F at my house with 84% humidity. Forecast for Hampton beach was for sunny with a Southwest wind at 10-15 mph with mid 80’s by noontime. By far this was going to be the warmest weather I ever had for this century. In previous years I have done this it’s been pretty cool. Last year I rode this all bundled up so this year’s ride was going to be nice and warm.

Bruce called as we were driving up to report that the parking lot was filling up pretty rapidly. Also that it was warm and we would not need leg or arm warmers. The flags at Hampton Beach State Part were out straight from the Southwest.

We arrived and found a parking spot near the last back row. A quick trip to the comfort station then put on our kits and we were good to go. We met at our predetermined meeting spot where I found Peter Cunningham, Alan Parker, Dave Dufort, Renard Davis, Bill Murray Bruce Bagnell and Steve Zimei. Introductions all around then a brief discussion about wither to go North or South at the start. South was the choice heading to Newburyport for our first course segment.

As soon as we turned left out of the parking lot we were smacked in the face with a strong headwind. We formed a rotating pace line warming up slowly as riders were passing us within the first 3 miles. Gradually we picked up the pace and started catching riders that had passed us a few minutes ago. We had a number of men and women jump in with us. Some were tri-athletes down on their aero bars pushing massive gears. Good luck doing that for 100 miles! Once we made the turnaround in Newburyport we now had that Southwest wind on our backs, SWEET!

Our plan was to stop back at the Hampton Beach State Park and utilize the comfort stations and pick up additional water. I let everyone know that had jumped in with us so there would not be any surprises once we arrived back at the entrance. Last thing we needed was any crashes.
Once that piece is business was attended too we were off on out second segment. We had one women decide to come with us. The rest of the hanger on’s kept right on going instead of stopping after only 17 miles. Again a very nice tailwind kept us tooling along at 25mph and the miles were clicking away. It was really starting to warm up not and with the high humidity I was sweating profusely. Water management was quickly becoming my number one priority, ss well as not getting dropped. I had spent the previous 4 days in Kennebunkport sans bike so this was my first ride after four days off the bike.

We had a nice pace line going all the way on this segment with some beautiful views along the many beaches and rocky New England coastline. This segment is the most scenic all the way to the first sag stop. When we rolled into this stop there were hundreds of riders there. The line for water was fifty folks deep. The lines were almost as bad for the comfort stations. Had plenty of time to eat and drink as we waited in these lines. Saw some folks we knew from our Gearworks rides and from the rides Bruce and I used to do in NH at PC Connection.

With all the social stuff out of the way we hit the road again for the third segment which would bring us into Portsmouth NH and then on up the coast into Maine. As we were approaching the Wentworth by the Sea hotel there is a short grated bridge that I rode across and that a lot of folks were walking across. There were cars in front stopped but more than enough room for bikes so I decided to ride across which we had done in previous years. A policeman walked out from the front of the cars and stopped me. If I had seen him earlier most likely I would have walked across. I was then informed that we were supposed to dismount and walk across the bridge. So we had a discussion and he wanted us to walk back but after more discussion he reluctantly let us ride on. Already I had one demerit for the day and it was early yet.

Soon we were into Portsmouth going right by Strawberry Banke which is a very pretty area. Just after that was the very large and lengthy grated bridge which I know we have to walk across. I had various money offers from my fellow riders to also try and ride across this bridge. One demerit was enough and I did not want to risk another smack down. The wind was really strong as we walked across and rode into Maine. Some pretty coves and waterfront areas then onto to York Beach and Nubble light house in York Maine. A quick stop here to use the comfort station and take on water. Then another quick stop at a store shortly after that to pick up some energy drinks for a few folks. Did I mention it was starting to get hot? We still have 30 miles to go and already I have had drunk 8 large water bottles of energy drink.

Off again for our third segment into the wind that had pushed us all the way up into Maine. Another walk across that very large and lengthy grated bridge in Portsmouth. Then a whole bunch of turns as we weaved our way out of Portsmouth, eight riders still going strong into the wind sharing pace at the front of the pace line. Taking your turn at the front into that headwind was tough. As we approached the Wentworth by the Sea hotel, I decided to be a good boy and not to have yet another discussion with another law official so I dismounted and walked across the bridge.

This year we almost missed to turn we missed last year but we made it without mishap but it was close. This is a little inward leg that was done to add miles so that it would come out to an even 100 miles. Somehow, somewhere in this leg we lost Renard. He followed another ride who took him off course. I did notice that he was missing so we all stopped and waited for a awhile to see if he would come along. While we were waiting Steve found a garden hose where we could get water which as super because I was out of water and we still had 10 miles to go. Found out later that Renard ended up 12 miles in the wrong direction. He stopped at a store and a woman with a station wagon gave him a ride back. So I picked up my second demerit for the day for being a crappy ride leader.

After that stop we got rolling again, finishing that inland loop and coming out on the beach again. By now we could smell the barn and we rolled into the entrance to the State Park with lots of smiles of satisfaction having completed another century this year.

The final segment was the post ride seafood feast at one of the local eateries. Boiled lobster, fried clams and scallops, baked scallops, lobster rolls and so forth. Some brews to wash it all down then we all headed for home. Another great ride on a perfect Indian summer day with a nice working group sharing pace for 100 miles.

From Big Dave’s computer.
Time: 5 hr 9 min
100.53 miles
19.5 mph avg.

Bruce leading us by the camera!
http://seemebiking.com/Seacoast1Group25/

Crashing sucks

First off, thanks to everyone on the ride who stopped to make sure I was okay when my front wheel caught the infamous RR tracks in Brattleboro, which was everyone because I was on the front when I went down and no one had a choice but to stop.
The thing that hurt the most about the crash wasn't going down, but rather knowing I put a damper on the ride itself.
I still don't know what happened, I'm usually pretty good about picking a line that will get me across tracks (even those tracks) without catching a wheel, but somehow the angle wasn't right and the track(s) grabbed my front wheel and put me down, hard.
It all happened so fast I don't remember what happened when I hit the deck, but I guess Tyler was holding my wheel, rode over me and went down too.
Another thing I feel really bad about, his front fork on his new Felt frame got pretty messed up in the fracas and screwed him out of finishing his first COVAC and being able to take his bike to do some more riding this week. Dude, I hope the bike shop you got the frame from (not Gear Works) does the right thing and gives you a replacement fork.

But I really wanted to thank everyone who helped me out the very bad place I was in when it all went down. I was scared shitless, when I felt my head hit the pavement I saw black, and then stars, and the next thing I knew there were a bunch of faces looking over me.
Thank God we have a bunch of really good women who ride with us (sorry guys, but the only thing I remember are the women taking charge) - Natalie checking out the gash over my eye and helping me clean it out, Suzanne calling for the support vehicle (that would be Lisa with the rescue van) and especially Elaine who knew what to look for and what questions to ask with a suspected head injury.
The guys were good too - they were all over my bike checking it out to make sure there was no serious damage other than the front wheel and some scratches to the shifters and frame. And making sure I was okay before I told them to press onward.

And a huge thanks to Lisa for driving up from NoHo and rescuing Tyler and myself and taking me to Brattleboro Memorial and to the both of them for spending 2 or so hours sitting in the waiting room while I waited to get checked out.
And to Ken for being the understanding husband when I'm sure he really wanted to get to Bertucci's for dinner, and everyone else who waited in the parking lot for me.

I heard that Elaine suffered a crash as well, right at the finish!!!!! I was really bummed about that as well, but glad that you checked out okay.

And one last thanks to Daren and GW for checking out the bike and setting me up with some replacement stuff like a helmet, bibs/ jersey, and everythinig else needed to get back on the road.

All in all I'm just grateful to have had the opportunity to ride with everyone all year, lots of great memories - especially all those HOT tuesday night rides. Already looking forward to next year.
I'll be heading to Fla next week so I'll miss the last ride of the season, the post ride dinner, Peter's homebrewed wine and the SL3 Daren will be raffling off at the end of the night.
Hope you all have a great rest of year and enjoy the fall riding.
God willing I'll be back for the winter training rides......

COVAC 2010

Up at some ridicules hour (5am) for the 2010 COVAC century. A quick check of the weather, breakfast, pack the car and I’m off to meet Big Dave at 6am in Westminster. We transfer everything from my car to his truck and were on the road at 6:07.

Arrive in Hatfield at 7:20 with cloudy skies and cool temperatures in the low 50’s. The forecast was for cloudy condition all day with a 20% chance of showers. Calm winds for the start that would then increase 5-10mph from the Southeast later in the morning and afternoon.

We queued up around 8:15 or so and I think we had the largest turnout ever for this event. I guessing around 45 riders toed the line for the start of this year COVAC century. Just before launch there was a shout out for Peter Cunningham to ensure he was at the start line. For those you who don’t know, a few years back with lifted off with Peter still in the can hence the shout out which has become a tradition each year. Funny how things like that can take on a life of their own.

Lisa Lecomte gave is the start signal/send off and we were on our way. I leave with gloves and arm warmers on and I would have worn leg warmers as well but I didn’t want to carry them later in the ride. Pockets were stuffed with food, gels and a zip lock with Accelerade in it. No room for my camera because I was pretty sure I’d the taking off my gloves and arm warmers later in the ride.

We rolled along nicely keeping the whole group together to our first rest stop. Pace was nice and the temperature had come up a little. Pretty much everyone made a pit stop and refilled their water bottles. I ate and cliff bar, a gel and washed it all down with a bottle of water. We all rolled out together with Graig and I on the front for about a mile before we decided we had enough of that headwind.

On this second segment the speed started to gradually ramp up. Faster and faster we go with a short burst up a short climb where Peter dropped his chain and had to stop and to correct it. Found out later that he had lost contact with the group and ride 15 miles by himself to the second rest stop. Meanwhile up the climb I go and just got tacked on the back to the lead bunch. The group was split in two now with the lead group really picking up the pace and having a slight tail wind now only made it seem even faster. I peel off my arm warmers and stuff them in my pockets. Starts to feel like its spitting rain, but no it’s me sweating heavily. Ernie makes a comment about me then stays off my wheel, he’s getting too wet. In sections I was very close to redline. Thankfully there were some turns where I could very briefly rest and reduce my thundering heart rate. We just about scream into the second rest stop.

This is a nice scenic rest area right alongside the Connecticut River. Again everyone makes a pit stop and refilled their water bottles. I ate another half of a cliff bar, and two gels, washed it all down with a bottle of water. The Southeast wind was picking up. I put my arm warmers on and head out early slow rolling it up the road waiting for the train to arrive. I can see Big Dave and Bruce off in the distance so they had the same idea. Juan and Ernie join me and I indicated to Ernie that I was just taking it easy waiting for the train to arrive. As we approached Brattleboro Vermont, I warned Juan about the railroad tracks that were just around the corner. We cross over the river in Brattleboro and start wondering where everyone was. What we did not know, but found out later at the 3rd rest stop was there had been a crash at the same railroad tracks we had crossed and that both John Barry and Tyler had gone down. Ken made a call to Lisa to have her come and pick up the bikes and both John and Tyler were taken to the hospital. Both had a lot of bumps and bruises with John having more serious facial injuries. Rather than stitching these up they used some Elmer’s glueall to fix him up. Seriously I’m sure they have some more high tech stuff they use.

Meanwhile while all this is going on Juan, Ernie and I continue on our way. We each take turns pulling at the front and the speed is starting to gradually increase. As we hit the hills in Northfield, I consistently lose contact. Ernie and Juan graciously slow down and wait for me to bridge up. Clearly I’m the weak link in this threesome. On the last hill I’m gapped and I bridge again and we pick up both Big Dave and Bruce right near the top. Now it’s starting to get even faster with the unstated goal of trying to get to the 3rd rest stop ahead of the train. I could feel some sprinkles of rain but for me it’s hard to tell if it’s really rain of me sweating. Big Dave verifies that it is indeed sprinkling. We arrive at the 3rd rest stop and I’m pretty tired from pulling and bridging gaps.

The train arrives shortly thereafter and it was then we found out about the crash at the railroad tracks in Brattleboro. That cast a damper on the ride with everyone wondering about the condition of both John and Tyler. I say a quick prayer while I eat all the rest of the food I brought with me. Another bottle of water and I’m good to go.

Again I leave a tad early to warm back up and wait for the train to come by. Sure enough the train arrives after a few minutes and I’m tacked on the back. Now it’s hell bent for election is it seems every mile that goes by the speed ramps up another notch. Were on some pretty flat sections now and even heading into the wind the speed is very high. By now I’m beyond being on the rivet.
Up ahead I see a split with a group of eight hammerheads heading off into the distance. The second group tries to bridge and I fall off the back of this group during this acceleration. I had had enough “fun” for the day so at mile 93 I had a 21.5mph average. Another rider fell off with me so thankfully I had someone to work with on the final miles. I don’t know who this was but I’m very grateful for him staying with me and helping me finish.

I was resting by Dave’s truck then more unfortunate news. Seems that right by the entrance to the pavilion Elaine crashed. Not sure of what or how it happened but it looked serious and like John and Tyler, Elaine was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Her helmet was cracked, her wrist may have been broken and numerous road rashes. Yet another quick prayer for a fallen rider.

We were all eating pizza when we got the good news. Elaine was very lucky no concussion and no broken bones. I always hope that on our group rides we all have fun and stay safe. Yesterday I got the former but not the later.

Yet another COVAC century in the books. Our biggest turnout ever for this event, and one of the fastest if not the fasted ever. Congratulations everyone!

Sat Sept 4th Gearworks Ride

Up at dawn today and I looked out the window to see cloudy skies and a very wet road. I’m thinking about maybe not riding, but hey I’m the ride leader and I just can’t blow this off.

Send out some e-mails to see what other folks think. Bruce decides to ride later in the morning. No word from Big Dave, more on this later.

Decided to go to the shop and see who shows up. Packed up the gym bag and put the bike in the car with the destination Global Fitness in Fitchburg. On the way I see Big Dave riding towards my house because we usually ride in together to the shop on our Saturday rides. Found out that his combination modem/router from Verizon is in the fritz. That’s why he did not respond to my e-mails or know that I was driving. Good thing I took the same road he was on.

Get to the shop a tad late and there were 15 riders just chaffing at the bit. I had a 53 mile loop in mind that would take us out into the wind to Rindge NH. Then we would have the wind on our backs on the way back on route 119.

Heading out towards Fitchburg someone flatted right by the WEIM studios. Took two tube changes to put the rear wheel back in rideable condition. A few miles later in West Fitchburg you guessed it another flat. No more flats after that so we were able to keep things pretty much together past Monty Tech and then over to route 12. One route 12 it got very fast. Someone went to the front and put the smack down.

Regrouped at the intersection of route 12 and route 140 then we were on our way again to route 202 where it was very exposed to the windy condition this morning. This broke the group apart once again but we regrouped again at the intersection for Route 119.

Now for the homeward leg with the wind on our backs. Paul Skerry pushed the pace up the climb and about half the folks made it to the top together. Tyler made a good dig to bridge up and the train was on it’s way. I’m killing myself with a 50-13 trying to hold the wheel in front of me on the downhill’s. Juan is on the front on the uphill sections and only Ken and Steve are able to stay with him. Those zipp wheels do make a difference! They gap Craig, Leon, Paul Tyler and I. couple of hills later I get dropped. Now I’m bummed out but I got over it.

I waited at 101 and could not see anyone out West on 119. Turned around and started riding back and a small group of three zipped by. Then I could see Big Dave and a few others coming so I turned around and joined the two groups. Somehow our tail wind turned into a head wind from Ashby all the way to Fitchburg. We kept it together until we went by Global where Dave and I peeled off.

54 mile loop today. My post ride shower felt great after.

COVAC registration

On line registration ends Wednesday.
Don't be a freeloader, pay up and support the ride and all the good food they have at each of the SAGs.

http://www.amherstrotaryclub.org/covac/

Tuesday night ride report - 8/31/10

Besides taxes and death, I suppose the one other thing you can count on, at least this summer, if it’s Tuesday night it’s going to be hot.
Yesterday was no exception.
I got in the car and the thermometer read 95 degrees.
By the time I got to Westford it was 99.
Once I got to Leominster it was at 95 again.
Thank god because I told myself if it’s over 95 I am not doing this ride.
Which in hindsight would’ve been a good thing.

My ride (which is different from everyone else’s):
Time: 1:15
Miles: 24.93
Average: 19.8

Another good showing.
Several guys I hadn’t seen in forever including Tyler (Rwanda) and John Siena.
The A ride rolled out, WtF, Luchiano and Tom O convinced John Siena to ride with them. And he did. The guy’s got a lot more fortitude than I do riding that ride. Hopefully he’d been getting his training in while away from the Tuesday night ride.
The B ride rolled out. Typical for this time of year, had to pick a shorter route, so we ended up heading up Pleasant St straight all the way to Rowley Hill/ Meetinghouse Hill into Sterling, and then Rt 12 backwards around the resevior, 140 through West Boylston to 70 through Boylston into Clinton and back to the shop from there.
The warm up didn’t last long, as soon as we took the turn from 12 onto Washington the speed picked up. Cleared all the lights to West St, rolled onto Pond still moving along.
Once we hit Pleasant St I settled into a nice pace in the back 1/3rd of the group, not a good place to be.
Chit chatting with a couple others I looked up and saw the first significant gap of the night.
WtF, note to self, stay near the front on Pleasant St to keep an eye on the troublemakers.
Oh well, that’s what you get for falling asleep – time to start working.
30 seconds to catch on the back of the lead group. It didn’t hurt too much, but I did need to sit on the back to recover.
No rest tonight, another group of 5 or so opened up another gap – no more riding near the back, at least for the rest of the night.
I didn’t have it in me to bridge up, but I kept thinking of Tattoo Dave’s words that got me into a world of trouble on last year’s COVAC ride – “Sometimes you just have to put it out of your mind and go”.
On the steeper part of the climb this one took a little more work to close – about a minute and I was on the back, barely hanging on.
The Worcester contingent was there in force, (blue Giant TCR, red Fuji, and the guy on the Seven Ti bike) – I thought I heard them early on talking about keeping things fast, and they did their best to hold true to their word.
I suffered on the back of the lead group trying to recover, but there was no recovering. Natalie, Rwanda, Robert and a couple others were in the group.
I was able to move up a little to see who was doing all the work.
Rider of the night award, at least for the part of the ride I was able to do, goes to Paul Skerry.
This was Paul’s 3rd consecutive group ride in 3 days.
The 78 mile training ride a lot of us were on this past Sunday, and that wasn’t enough so he went on the Orchard Hills Monday night ride, and there he was on the tuesday night ride on the front hammering up Pleasant St like it wasn’t a climb at all.
Paul collected the KOM points as we passed Sholan Farms.
No slowing, fast down Heywood, no stopping at the 4 corners, straight all the way to the intersection of Rowley Hill.
Waited for the re-group before rolling out again.
Worcester guy on the blue TCR was way up front, but he was soft pedaling – I was on the front when I caught up to him, yelled for him to “Go!”, for some reason he pulled off to the left, yelled at him that “Go!” means get on the front and pull my lazy ass for a bit.
He got the message, was on the front riding hard down Rowley, pulled off so I could have the pleasure of taking my pull, I did what I could to keep it fast, I don’t remember if I pulled off or just got overtaken on the downhill of Meeting House Hill Rd.
Pulled into Sterling Center, just keep going, lots of miles to cover in a short period of time.
Two on the front, Rwanda and someone I can’t remember took their pulls (Rwanda also gets huge points for riding so hard after a long time off recovering from an Achilles’ heel injury).
We had the train steamrolling down 12.
I was stuck behind Natalie which isn’t a good thing (I’m trying to save myself for COVAC), as always she drilled it as we headed down Rt. 12 towards W. Boylston.
My turn, as I rode by Natalie commented on my shiny new patent black Specialized road shoes, they serve a dual purpose, you can wear them for riding, and if you remove the cleats you can also wear them with a black tux to any formal event. And I’ve also noticed a lot of the wimmin folk commenting on them so I’ve taken to wearing them to work as well where almost all of the women stop to have a look.
Oh well, back to the job at hand – keep the pace fast so we can get back to the shop before darkness settles in.
Coming up on the W. Boylston town line I half expected someone to attack for the town line sprint Green Jersey points, but no one bit.
Shortly thereafter I pulled off and let the rest of the ride pull through.
The grinding climb into W. Boylston was just ahead, I hate that hill, but it’s fun sprinting for the points.
As soon as we hit the hill riders were all over trying to position themselves to be first to the top, I had a very good line, I was feeling as strong as I’ve felt all summer, I would go for it, even though I knew my chances were slim to none.
And then it happened – mixing it up with the Worcester contingent I ran over something, the noise was horrible, unlike anything I’d ever heard on a ride before.
And then someone pointed the problem.
I broke a spoke.
Even if Noah had been on the ride there was no doubt, my night was over.

A HUGE thank you to Mark Muzzi who stopped to help.
Even with opening up the brake, and loosening the barrel adjuster it still wasn’t enough to get the wheel to pass through the brake pad.
Mark had one of those all in one tools with a 5mm allen key, loosened up the cable and it was almost enough to clear the brake pad. Almost but not quite.
Mark rode on to see if he could catch the ride, hopefully they waited for him but I knew the plan was to ride all the way to Cumberland Farms so I’ll never know.

To make matters worse I left my cell phone in the car so I couldn’t call for a neutral support vehicle.
Oh well, maybe Paul Stromberg was working late, it was a long shot but I pulled into the shop to see if he could set up one of his machines to cut me a new spoke – or maybe he had a spare bike at the shop? I was desperate, but Paul wasn’t there so it didn’t matter, I had to chug on back down Rt. 12 into Leominster, trying to keep the pressure off my seat (and the rear wheel which was way out of true).
Finally made it back to my car just as it started getting dark.

Someone please post how the rest of the ride around the reservoir went.

Tuesday night ride report 8/17/10

Last night’s ride was what Daren called the “Fruitlands Extension”, which kind of confused me because we never actually went up over Fruitlands, but rather through Harvard and around Fruitlands.
Which was fine by me because I really hate those hills going up to Fruitlands.
But I realized not as much as I hate a lot of the flatter roads running through Bolton into Harvard when riders are trying to put the hurt on.

I would guess there were about 30 of us.
The A ride had about 15.
I wonder how that kid made out doing the A ride? I had to wonder if he knew what he was getting himself into. Live and learn, hopefully he managed to hold on, Dave's a good ride leader so I've no doubt he was well looked after.

Here’s the numbers I got:
Time: 1:57
Miles: 41.47 (nice when there’s little waiting and no mechanicals)
Average: 21+mph

The ride headed up Prospect St, Big Dave and John Roche up front setting a nice warm up pace.
Took a right onto Harvard St where I expected the pace to lift, being on the front I set what I thought was a moderate pace, but the rest of the group was riding a slower pace, soft pedaled for a bit until several riders rode by, caught a wheel and sped on down to the intersection of Mechanic St.
I don’t remember having to wait for traffic as we took the left onto Mechanic and headed to Rt. 70.
The pace down Rt. 70 was moderate, things were messed up, for the first couple of miles it didn’t seem like we could get a good paceline going, which prevented the ride from getting strung out.
About ½ way down 70 things somehow got sorted out and a paceline mysteriously developed. Everyone was working well staying close to the wheel in front of them.
Took a right onto 117 and then onto Langen where the pace remained moderate all the way to the intersection at the college.
Straight across 70 and off to the 6 corners (which is supposed to get some stimulus money so next year it might be down to a 4 way intersection).
I can’t speak for the rest of the group, it is a B ride after all, but I found myself getting a bit bored with the pace.
That didn’t last long.
Boxed in somewhere mid-pack kept an eye on the front waiting for a move – saw the gap begin to open, was able to get outside and make the jump before it would require too much pain in trying to cover.
By the time we hit the fork where 110 splits with Forbush Rd the ride was moving at the pace we’ve become accustom to. The wakeup call and the pain and suffering came on fast as we hit the risers leading up to 117.
Regrouped at Nashoba HS.
Once across 117 it was game on.
A group of 6 or 7 away – Natalie, Leon, Paul Skerry, Folsom, Dave the fin.
And Duncan.
F&^%, it wasn’t a big gap but it still hurt to close it, but there was no recovering on the back of this group, “take no prisoners” is the phrase that comes to mind, they were drilling it, Natalie doing everything in her power to crack those behind her.
She pulled off, Paul took a short pull, Leon took his turn,
I was still in recovery mode riding Duncan’s wheel.
Leon pulled off putting Duncan on the front as we hit the base of a small climb.
Duncan barely cleared Leon’s when all of a sudden he pulled off instead of pulling through.
Did I mention it was on an uphill?
Major infraction for not pulling through, and he knew it apologizing before I even cleared his wheel.
Nothing left to do except pull through to the top of the climb before flicking off.
Natalie once again on the front, no prisoners, she drilled it, Leon drilled it, Paul drilled it, everyone throwing punches trying to hurt the riders behind them.
Duncan was off.
I think we finished with 5 of us as we pulled into Harvard.
Someone mentioned a water fountain on the common.
Several riders went over to fill their bottles.
Several riders got yelled at for going over to fill their water bottles as we were only 50 minutes into the ride.
Rolled out of Harvard Center as the pace began to pick up again, Littleton Rd. to Shaker Rd. (?), before coming up to 2A (late edit).
Left onto 2A (late edit), the food at Mango Grille smelled especially good last night.
At the rotary we turned off going by McDonalds/ KFC, the smell of the fries and fried chicken smelled especially good last night.
Right onto the road that takes us up by the medical center, by this time the pace seemed a bit more relaxed.
Or maybe I was already into a zone where the pain no longer registered.
A left here, a right there, we ended up on 111 before turning onto 225 which is nice pavement and mostly downhill so things were fast, everyone together, somewhere along the way I saw Sara without an H spinning her pedals but not moving. It took a minute for it to register that her chain fell off, I still don’t know how I avoided running into her.
Quick stop to put the chain back on and we were again on our way.
Heading towards 2A the pace again relaxed enough for Daren and Ernie to socialize along the way, no one seemed interested in picking things back up so we rode a nice B pace for several miles until we got to 2A.
Once we crossed over it was time to start moving, daylight was fading and we still had a good 10 miles to cover.
Things got fast as we headed towards Shirley.
And remained fast as we rode through Shirley onto Leominster Rd.
I knew it was coming.
Again I knew there wasn’t much I could do other than move to the front and bury myself.
This was about the point Daren played the part of a Tuesday night hero as he rode off the front as we were about to hit the climb where the attacks come one after another after another.
And then he pulled a Duncan and pulled off at the base of the climb.
No one took the bait.
The climb started, I don’t know where I was in the group, somewhere near the front head down, not much left in the tank, spin or mash?
Spin.
Spin faster.
Shift down, out of the saddle, try and sprint.
And then it happens, one, two, three, five riders blow by me making me realize just how weak my sprint, especially on the uphill, really is.
That climb is a killer.
And then there’s another couple of smaller ones leading up to Prospect St.
Finally made it to the top of Prospect St.
The pain was over.
For the first time since doing the Tuesday night ride a group of us hit the green light onto 13.
Another Tuesday night ride in the books.

Sadly the days are quickly getting shorter, as are the rides.
3 ½ weeks to COVAC!!!!!!

Gearworks Saturday Ride - 8/14/2010

Saturday morning it was in the low 50’s when Bruce and I left my house for the shop. Arm warmers were the order of the morning till we arrived at the shop.

Both he and I had time constraints with our goal being to be back to my house at 11am.

We have a nice 13 mi warm up to the shop where a couple of dozen riders were waiting for us. Daren and Natalie graced us with their presence as well. Also a long time Gamache rider, James, from Hollis NH rode down to join us as well. It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve seen him but he looked in great shape as usual.

We were not 3 mi into the ride crossing over Route 2 before we received our verbal over the speaker system reprimand from a state trooper about riding in the middle of the road. Another demerit for the ride leader that day.

So we did a 65 mile loop where we touched upon Shirley, West Groton, Pepperell, Hollis NH, Merrimack NH, Amherst NH, Milford NH, Brookline NH, Townsend, West Townsend, Lunenburg and back to the shop. Lots of new roads for many riders Saturday in the towns we touched in NH. We pretty much kept the group together the whole ride. Some separations as usual on the hills but we always re-grouped to ensure everyone was together for the next segment.

Was 10:15 when we were in Milford NH so I knew getting home at 11am was not going to be doable. Bruce and I arrived back at my house in West Townsend at 11:20am.

Thanks to Stefano Zimei here the link with all his details for this past Saturday’s ride.


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44483129

Tuesday night ride report - 8/10/10

After a few weeks away from the blog I promised myself if I did tonight’s ride I would post a ride report.
All I had to do was show up.
When I got in the car in Andover it was 86, hot and humid but manageable.
When I got to Littleton it went up to 90. Do I really want to do this?
When I got to Leominster it was 92 and there were these 2 really dark clouds overhead. I thought I saw rotation in one of them.
It might be safer to take refuge at home.
On the couch.
With the weather channel on, just in case.
I was slowly talking myself out of this ride.
But then I thought to myself, “what would Chet do?”…. He would call me out, and verbally abuse me and beat me down if I missed another Tuesday night ride.
You see, I have a verbal agreement with him to join FCC (the new and improved FCC) – and even though my doctor advised against it, I still want to get a couple of races in before the end of the season while doing my little bit to help support this club with a long history of racing and many years of supporting one of the biggest races in the country (Longsjo).
And anyone interested in racing, maybe not this year but definitely next year, and wants to help support this historic club should contact Chet chetfortier@comcast.net
This is a grassroots organization with little funding, but well worth supporting.
And there’s no doubt several guys and gals on the Tuesday night ride who could easily hold their own in the 4/5s and work their way to the 3/4s (all it takes is 10 mass starts).
And then you’re on your way to the “ultimate cat” (the 3s).
Racing is a blast, and it’s better training than you can get in a spin class at Orchard Hills, or even on the Tuesday night ride.

Oh well, on with the report:
The stats from somewhere near the front.
Time 1:51:16
Distance 37.63
Average speed 20.3

As we were hanging in the parking lot I was nervous when it was mentioned there’d be no A ride.
Let’s see, A Ride Gregg Vigneaux with his freshly shaven glistening legs, Luchiano, Natalie, Big Dustin.
This ride was going to hurt.
Daren picked a route out, which again avoiding almost all of the rain that fell on the area. Lunenburg to JFHW in Fitchburg, then up Rindge Rd to 119, down the Brook and then up Leominster/ Townsend Rd.
Heading up Prospect St the ride split up – most of us took the ride that goes up towards Monosnock CC, while several riders went straight up Prospect to do this super stealth ride… After a while I figured out it was the racers only ride warming up for a race in Salem Wednesday night. Natalie, A Ride Gregg with the glistening legs, Luch, Big Dustin and maybe one or two others intent on keeping a relaxed pace (it was a C ride and I wish I went with them rather than enduring the suffering endured by the rest of us).
As usual it always starts out nice, catching up on old times with some guys I hadn’t seen in a while, Mark Muzzi, Steve Zemei, and several others as we went up past the golf course.
But all the chit chat stopped when we took the right onto Day/ Leominster Rd and started toward Lunenburg Center.
The pain isn’t too bad at the beginning, but about a mile into it with that first small climb the pain starts, and gets worse and worse with each successive small climb. The troublemakers started pushing the pace on the first climb and continued turning it up on each of the following ones. The heat and humidity didn’t help – pick a wheel, hang on, watch the riders in front flick off and pull to the left and wait your turn for your pull, hope you can survive the 30-90 second pull, bail and hope you have enough to catch back on to the end of the train.
At least there are a couple of flats and even downhills for the recovery.
Survived to Lunenburg Center and waited for the regroup.
I finally got to meet the “New kid”, and I mean kid, Tom(?), a Chet Fortier protégé, 15 years old, strong and fast. The “kid” is going to be a force, strong and fast and a quick learner (hopefully Chet will go easy on him, at least through the learning process, the yelling only makes you a better rider). Anyways, introduce yourself to him between hills, he’s riding a red Tarmac. He’s easy to pick out, he’s one of the few under 20’s on our ride.
Heading out towards Townsend, across 13 and onto Northfield Rd, Daren was drooling when we passed Maplewood GC, I could tell he’d rather be out slamming a golf ball with his Big Bertha than suffering in the heat and humidity on another Tuesday night ride.
Suck it up Daren, the honeymoon’s over (haha!), time to get back to work as the Tuesday night ride leader.
We headed right onto Townsend Rd. into Fitchburg.
Took a right onto JFHW, I’ve grown accustom to the cheering of the local residents as we ride through Fitchburg, no cheering last night, only the fear of what was coming up at the end of JFHW.
Which was a roundabout (in France it’s a roundabout, in the US it’s a rotary) which led us onto Rindge Rd.
The road that never seems to end. The last time I marked it it was something like 7.5 miles end to end.
I was in no shape to confirm this tonight.
What the hell, somewhere around the first ½ mile of the road I found myself on the front, and not to stroke my ego because it always fails in the end, I was off the front.
Off the front on the old Longsjo TT course, might as well suffer it alone, for as long as I could.
Pick out signs, landmarks, count pedal strokes, sing songs, anything to take the mind away from the pain and suffering of the slow grinding never ending climb.
Somewhere far past the pain and suffering of Rindge Road, Re’ mentioned to me he kept waiting, and waiting and waiting some more for the climb to end, but every time he crested what he thought was the summit, there was another hill in front of him.
Frank Zappa has a tune “The Torture Never Stops”
HR had been pegged for a long time, and I know HR is only part of the equation, the other part of the equation is the saliva spilling out of the bottom of my mouth when I’m suffering, and last night I was slobbering like a St. Bernard on the hottest most humid night of the year. It was pretty disgusting.
Probably 2 miles into the climb I knew I was doomed.
I don’t pretend to remember all of them, but at first it was Dave “the Fin”, Folsom, Paul Skerry who reeled me in.
No worries, let them come up, pick a wheel and try and hold on.
Yep, survival mode.
Looked over my shoulder, others on their way, this could be a good thing.
Before long it was 5 or 6 of us, Steve Z and John C caught on.
But these riders had been working together while I was suffering my TT. I was screwed.
Dropped.
Recover.
Bridge.
Repeat.
Dropped, recover, bridge, repeat.
Finally I was able to hold on.
And then I cracked –
Looked back, no help coming up.
I gave up.
The mind works in strange ways, “Black Betty” slipped into my head, I managed to find a rhythm to my pedal stroke, looked down at the pavement and just pedaled not thinking about the never ending climb.
The lead group let up on the pace.
And whadda ya know, before I knew what happened I found myself back on.
And the road leveled out a bit, or at least the gradient wasn’t as bad.
The pavement changed from really bad to really good.
The end was approaching.
I heard the hallelujah chorus break out.
And then we were there.
Rindge Rd. The road that never ends!

After regrouping on 119 a couple riders decided Rindge Rd wasn’t enough, they drilled it, fortunately I found myself behind Chris (how come he doesn’t have to ride a GW kit?)….. Anyways, a good person to draft off of.
Until he pulls off and you’re left out hanging. At least the wind wasn’t there as it had been on my last several rides.
It got real fast and furious heading down 119, riders all over the road, I still worry about those oncoming cars.
But we made it safely to Willard Brook.
And then I worry about the Ashby cops, someone told me they patrol Willard Brook on Tuesday nights hoping to someday bag the elusive Tuesday Night GW ride, but they ain’t no Ashburnham cops, or Harvard or Princeton cops either.
We were into Townsend before their radar even registered the 50mph we were doing down through “the Brook”.
Yeah, it was fast all the way from 101 down 119 into Townsend.
Not much to report from 101 all the way down the Brook, it was just fast, especially on the down hills, which is most of that stretch of the ride. Get aero, stay to the right, out of trouble watching riders go flying by. And then trying to catch on when the road at the bottom of the Brook.
Another regroup at the Brick Store in Townsend, thank you to all who bought water – I needed it and had no cash.
Next time it’s on me.
Me and Peter were the last ones out of the parking lot, not a good place to be with the climbing in front of us.
We worked up to the back group.
Sat in for a bit.
Time to move up to the next group.
Caught them, sat on the back.
And then the big hill started, time to work.
Ride my own pace, lift my pace, recover, lift the pace, recover, until I finally made it up to the chase group.
There was still a group of 4 or 5 away.
There were 6 or so of us in the chase group, perfect for working together and reeling the lead group back in. All we needed was a little cooperation, work together and the riders up the road would be toast.
Leon tried to set it up, work together, short pulls, pull off and let the line pull through before jumping back on.
Apparently no one in our chase group understood because there were riders going off the left on their own, others took long pulls - and 2 or 3 of us were riding trying to figure out wtf was going on.
It was a mess, we were never able to get it working, too many riders not paying attention, doing their own thing.
In the Army this is what’s called a cluster ****.
Needless to say we never caught the lead group.
Things kind of came back together in Lunenburg Center before heading back down Leominster Rd.
And then it got crazy, darkness and fast aren’t a good combination.
Riders pulling off to the left and attacking on down hills is not heroic, especially on scetchy dark roads. In fact it's kind of dumb (imo).
A nice pace line would've made more sense to moi, but by then I was just a spectator trying to stay out of trouble so my opinion is crap.
We made it back to 13, took the left and the suffering of the night was over.
Finally.

After being off the ride for a couple of weeks it was really good to be back.
I had another of those shit eating grins on my face throughout most of the ride.
The days are getting shorter, but the rides aren’t getting any easier.
And only 1 month to COVAC.
Time to start getting some long rides in between the Tuesday night rides.

Tuesday Night Ride Report 7/27/10

Without Daren and Natalie on the ride there really isn't much to write about, is there?
Maybe I'll work something up tonight after my ride and some beers.
Maybe not.
Check back later, maybe I'll have found some motivation by then.
Then again, maybe not.

Forget the clowns and ponies - here's the deal

I know this is short notice, but this is some serious bidness.
If you're a guy and you like good food, beer and hanging out with like minded individuals, and you want to honor a good friend of all of our's, please send an email to john.barry@hp.com for details.
In order to plan the food we need a headcount.
The event is this friday and I'm trying to get the word out to as many folks as possible.
Trust me, this is a big deal and I'll give you all the details in an email.
Please forward as needed.

thanks

c&w music, a clown and a pony

If any male riders enjoy this kind of stuff please email john.barry@hp.com and drcd2000@comcast.net for more details.
Don't delay, this is serious stuff.
Oh, there'll be food and beer too.

And no I didn't ride last night so don't expect a ride report.

Tuesday night report 7/6/10

Driving down from Andover the car thermometer read 101 degrees
But someone said it was really only 98 degrees.
Thank God for that, I don’t think I could’ve ridden if the temperature was over 100.

47 miles
2:18:50
20+MPH average

The short report:
Not enough riders for 2 rides, combined the A and B rides.
About 30 riders started the ride.
We rode, we suffered.
Stopped for water at mile 17.
Realized a considerable number of riders had fallen off.
More suffering, more riders falling off.
Ride broke apart around mile 35 where a small number of riders opted for the easier of the two routes back to the shop.
I’m guessing about 15 finished the ride as damaged goods.

The longer report:
Rode out of GW and made our way over to Lunenburg/ Leominster road.
Riders already having difficulty over the first hill by the golf course.
Once on Leominster/ Lunenburg Rd the ride got strung out a little on the first hill, more strung out over the 2nd hill, and all broken up as we made the final climb into the center of Lunenburg.
Quick regroup before cutting over to W. Townsend Rd. where things got heated up, literally.
Did I mention the car thermometer registered 101 degrees on my drive to the shop?
The group pretty much held together going up that first climb up W. Townsend Rd.
For about 15 seconds.
Tattoo Dave, Chris Parker, Litespeed Steve and a couple others were off the front, I tried to grab a wheel and hold on.
Failed!
Suffering like hell trying to make those 2 or 3 climbs to the top of the road.
Things came back together at the top, several other riders caught back on for the fast descent into W. Townsend.
Even the downhill was tough last night.
Regrouped on 119.
The climb up Willard Brook was next on the agenda.
I knew the climb was going to be brutal, my HR was already in my zone 4 before we even started climbing.
Dumb things not to do on a hot humid summer night: Blowing yourself up on the climb up through the Brook.
On the front I thought I had other riders with me, I looked back and realized I didn’t.
Kept pedaling at my normal cadence, not sure if I was pulling away or not.
I wasn’t.
About 4 minutes into the climb I heard the bikes behind me.
Chris Parker, Tattoo Dave, Litespeed Steve, Folsom Cycling, new guy on CR1, Dave Lystila, and 1 or 2 others went by me with seemingly very little effort.
I know when things are getting tough whenever I start drooling on a particularly tough part of a ride and last night it was coming down in buckets on that climb.
I hope someone remembered to pack the defibrillator.
About 10 of us finished at the top, it was nice having some time to recover.
Except there wasn’t a regroup – the group rolled on continuing up 119 for more climbing into Ashby Center. HR is completely maxed out going up that hill, it was obvious no one was going to slow down to let anyone recover, I think several riders wanted the B riders to know what an A ride is really like (less any B riders get any ideas they might be able to hang on the A ride), pedals to the metal all the way to the gas station where we pulled in to regroup and hose each other down with the garden hose outide.
Once the ride was together in the parking lot we realized we were missing 2 riders.
And then we started counting and realized we were missing more than 2 riders, maybe 5, maybe more?
They weren’t in sight, assumed they played it smart and took 31 into Fitchburg.
We pulled out for more suffering along the rollers of 119, again maxed out on the climb leading up to Watatic, once over the top things seemed to ease a little.
Once we hit the flat we had a nice line going, speed around 30+mph, desperately trying to hold Dawn on the 650’s wheel, a gap opened, I jumped to close it, another stupid move as I found myself 3rd wheel right where I didn’t want to be, behind Tattoo Dave.
And then 2nd wheel as Dave took his pull drilling it, HARD!
There was no way I was going to let him pop me, too much at stake, held his wheel for what seemed like forever until he pulled off, checked the speed, 32mph, damn this pull was going to hurt but I was committed, held on for about a minute before pulling off and letting the rest of the ride pull through.
It didn’t take more than 30 seconds before I was off the back.
But someone kept yelling at me (Dawn or Jen, the women are always shaming me into digging deeper than I want to) into pulling myself back, and somehow I managed, barely, to get back on and finish the climb into Rindge where we regrouped at Old Ashburnham Rd.
One thing was apparent as we waited at Old Ash Rd, the group had shrunk even more.
Started down Old Ash Rd. at a nice pace, tried picking it up a little but no one was coming, sat up and waited, once the group was together Jen took a long pull, and then a couple others, very manageable pace.
And then another WtF, Dave Lystila attacks and takes about 4 or 5 with him – I’ll sit this one out thank you very much.
So there were the group of 5, the same 5 riders who were at the front all night.
And this new guy Dave (black Specialized wearing a blue shirt).
The first time I rode with Dave was a Saturday morning ride back in May.
He had toe strap pedals on his bike.
He killed us on that ride.
Between then and last night he bought himself some clipless pedals and shoes.
So now he’s even faster than he was back then.
And another guy who was riding hard all night was the guy on the black and yellow CR1, he was covering the attacks with ease but wasn’t playing troublemaker like Dave Lystila.
And while I’m calling out the strong riders of the night, Chris from the shop was a beast, he claimed the heat was killing him (even though he spent time over in Iraq) “it’s the humidity that gets me” – whatever, he was on the front most of the night.
Well Dave was the first to fall victim to his own attack, somehow I managed a small smile when he was popped off the lead group and fell right back into the chase group.
Someone mentioned a “little riser” near the end of Old Ash Rd, trying to get up that little riser hurt like hell.
We finally stopped to regroup.
And try to come to a decision on which way we wanted to take back to the shop.
The ride leader decided to cut over by Cushing and then make our way over to So. Ash Rd.
Others just wanted to get back and decided they were going to ride down Rt. 12.
It was a total cluster F as we all about missed the right onto School St, it would have been much easier going another 150 feet down the road and turning right onto 101.
I need to learn how to bunny hop, those speed bumps did a number on my frame.
Once on 101 Ray and myself made our own route turning back and taking 12 back to the shop.
Daren told us to go with them, they’d make it to the shop before we would.
He called me out as a p***Y for not going with them.
That’s “Saint P****y” to you Daren, I was helping out a teammate.
My only goal coming down Rt. 12 was to prove him wrong, there was a nice tail wind which helped carry us down 12, both of us did our work, dodged the bad pavement, bridge repairs, and all the holes coming down by Once Upon a Tile (or as some might remember, the original Gamache Cyclery).
Continued on Rt. 12, made it past the McDonalds rotary, pulled out the cell to let the wife know I was going to be late, again.
And then as I put the phone away CR1, Tattoo Dave and a couple others went flying past.
That was sweet, I managed to grab a wheel and get pulled to the lights.
Pulled up to the next set of lights by Market Basket and began discussing bibs.
You never know what you’re going to learn on a Tuesday night ride.
Jen asked how anyone could ride with bib shorts, “what if you need to pee?”
I never pondered this before.
For a guy it’s pretty simple.
But it’s not so simple for a woman.
And I don’t know how they know, but a couple of the guys on the ride were actually able to explain to her how to it works for girls.
I had to scratch my helmet over that one.
So Jen don’t call me Beth can now go out and invest in bib shorts and not have to worry if the urge to pee hits her during one of her rides.
Instead of cutting over the 5th street bridge to Airport Rd. Dave took us further down 12 past the strip club to Duck Mill, we almost got creamed by all the cars coming in all directions on Bemis Rd.
Managed to make it across and onto to Airport Rd.
A ½ mile into it Tattoo Dave sprinted off the front, others tried to cover but failed. And then Dave sat up and let the others have their fun, I don’t think the A ride contests the final sprint down Airport Rd.
I sat back and watched.
I was content for a pack finish last night.

Rode back to the gym a broken man.
I'm still broken today.
I don't want to get back on the bike for a long time.
Maybe I'll take up golf.
Or darts, I heard there are some good dart leagues in the area.

Tuesday night report 6/29/10

Good news, a perfect night for riding and one of my favorite routes, out to Princeton, 62 to Hubbardston, 68 to Gardner and then 2A back to the streets of Fitchburg.
I don’t know why we’d ever want to avoid taking the ride through the city, the Spanish all love us, cheering us on as we make our way through the city, it’s like Lance, or Eddy or Miguel coming into Paris.
“Essay, Essay!!!!” which I think means Faster, Faster!!!!
Or something like that.

The numbers I have from last night’s ride are off from other rider’s numbers. But here’s what I had:
40 miles
1:53
21.2 average
I’ll try and map it on Garmin connect when I have time.

The ride cut through Leominster over to Pleasant St. As usual everyone began fanning out trying to find their spot for the climb up to Sholan Farms.
Some of our more experienced riders (Peter Cunningham and Charles Schnare and a couple others) were called out for double yellow violations which will now result with infractions being passed out at the end of each ride, the 3 riders with the most infractions at the end of the season will be responsible for buying the group a round of drinks at a tavern to be determined.
Everyone should be on notice that I’m going to start calling people out on these things.
Regrouped at the intersection of N. Row before continuing on to Princeton, a left and then a right onto Osgood, some climbing, but a lot of descending before eventually coming out to Rt 62.
Once we crossed over 140 and continued up 62 the grind up into Princeton began.
Brandt was motoring up the hills on the front. I was struggling to hold his wheel, eventually I called him off and moved to the front for my pull, flicked off and let Brandt lead, we switched off several times before I realized something. There were 2 wheel suckers right behind us. How long had they been sitting in?
Thomas Conner and the other guy I can’t remember – infractions for wheel sucking and not moving up to the front to help your teammates.
Eventually Thomas and the other guy took their turns and we rotated for a bit before Thomas went off the front and left us behind.
Fresh legs, new SL3, Reynolds Carbon wheels, no wonder he's able to make a move like that.
I can’t remember if it was four, or if a couple others joined us on the final climb into Princeton Center.
Waited at the intersection for the rest of the group.

Unbeknownst to those of us waiting, Kurt on the Time (on Time Kurt?) got clipped by a Volvo as he was climbing into Princeton – I don’t know all the details, but I heard the car caught him with it’s rearview mirror and then continued on without stopping. Fortunately Kurt was all right and was able to carry on. Anyone who has more details, please post them in the comments section.
On the regroup in Princeton we realized we were short a couple of riders, Amy on the red Giant and Chris from the shop. Not sure if there were others missing too.
Duncan being the good guy he is offered to ride back and try to find them and get them back to the shop.
The ride rolled on, after the climbing into Princeton, 62 towards Hubbardston is always a fun time.
Nice pace line going as we cruised down 62, pushing 25+ in some areas, it was a nice relief from the hills we’d done on the beginning of the ride. But near the end somewhere I was desperately trying to hold Sara without an h’s wheel, she was latched on to a wheel in front of her, however the rider in front of her was letting a gap open.
Infraction issued to the guy in front of Sara without an h for not holding that wheel.
Jumped and closed it.
Dave Lystila made a move which was quickly covered before we got to the intersection of 68.
With the group mostly intact we slowly rolled onto 68, a little slow at the beginning of 68 before the pace lifted, and then lifted considerably with the nice tail wind.
Someone on a blue bike decided to launch an attack on 68.
WtF?
Someone else went with him.
20 seconds later (maybe less) blue bike was back on the front, but slowed up.
Infraction for slowing and not moving to the left so the group could maintain pace.
Somewhere along 68 I heard the sound of something like a piece of metal flying into a guardrail, it actually sounded like a gun shot and we weren't even in Fitchburg yet. No idea what it was until someone was yelling flat.
Brandt hit some nasty road debris that ripped a hole in his new P3R.
Where’s Noah when you need a piece of plastic mylar? Thomas stepped in, sucked down a GU so Brandt could use the wrapper to fill the cut. Not pretty, but it severed the purpose.
Rolled out again, into Gardner, darkness was moving in, I figured riders wanted to get moving, tried picking up the pace, as we turned onto Union there were several other riders waiting – kept moving, looked back and no one was there.
I thought we needed to get back to Leominster before it got to dark?????
Daren knew there was no need to panic.
Once on 2A Jenn don’t call me Beth was again on the front doing a lot of the work, got the pace back up, just past Kaye’s there was another flat, this time it was Charlie’s turn.
Now it’s getting dark, but Daren’s still not panicked, he knows how the next 12 miles go.
Downhill and fast.
Once Charlie had his wheel back on things really picked up.
We were flying into Westminster Center, damn the cop at the intersection, he wasn’t going to slow us down. I held Daren’s wheel, he peeled off in time for me to lead out onto the downhill section of 2A, people telling me to hammer it.
No thanks, that road sucks, I'll play it safe by picking a good line between the white and double yellow.
So I pulled off and let the fast descenders have their fun all the way to the lights at 140.
The rest of the ride down 2A was just unbelievably fast, past the Old Mill, stay towards the middle because the side of that road is in rough shape, not to mention the seams that have opened up, just the right size to catch a low profile bike tire. Fast all the way past Monty Tech, into Fitchburg. Further down Rt. 12 Jenn don’t call me Beth who’d been pulling hard all night slowed enough to let a gap open in front of her.
Team leader Chet decided to send out the orders for the guy behind her to pick it up and close the gap. “You can't let a girl kick your ass - shame him into working to close it”, but he didn't.
Double infraction for not closing the gap, and not listening to your team leader.
Someone had to do it, pull out to the left and made the jump to close it, hit the rotary, no slowing for the car coming at us, drilled it down Rt. 12 adrenaline running high as the Spanish population began cheering us on like we were riding the tour – coming up to the intersection we had the green light.
And then we lost it.
And had to stop.
Someone said something to the effect "this is a B ride?"
Actually it's a B ride that rides like an A ride.
Once we got it rolling again, more cheering as we rode through the burg, down Rt. 12 and then over the 5th Street bridge, everything together as we turned onto Airport Rd.
All I could think about as we made the turn was please don’t let them set me up for failure.
I had a plan, it was a good plan.
It didn’t involve a serious effort.
Or pain.
It was to sit in and enjoy the last couple of miles.

Let me digress for a moment.
Growing up my parents tried to instill in me a sense of responsibility, to be my own person, not to let others talk me into doing things I didn't want to do, or that were bad for me.
But there were often lapses in judgment, young troublemakers talking me into stealing that package of baseball cards from the local general store, the young ruffians in the CYO marching band convincing me to smoke cigarettes when we were competing out of town, the hooligans in high school who talked me into smoking pot once or twice.
And last night I had another lapse in judgment and allowed it to happen again.
My plan began to unravel when Daren and several others talked me into doing something I didn’t want to do.
“Move up”, “go for it”, “you can do it, make your move”
WtF? I just wanted to sit in and try to stay near the front.
But the taunting continued, and I was still feeling the shame from several weeks back. The pressure was overwhelming to make a move and give it another go.
Except I couldn’t.
I was boxed in.
My set up man (Daren) didn’t follow through on his promise of blocking people out so I could make my move – he sucks as a set up man.
Thomas tried giving me room to move to the left, but too many other riders were moving up so going left wasn’t going to work.
So I was forced into plan B which meant making the move up on the inside, which I know pissed off more than a few riders.
But you know what? Tough cookies, all’s fair in love and bike racing and I had to do what needed to be done. Big deal, I rubbed elbows with a few riders who weren’t comfortable with that, but I had a clear line up the inside, all I needed to worry about was the sand patches, broken glass and bullet casings that littered the side of the road. I kept the bike upright and no one went down so y'all need to get over it.
No infractions for my move. In fact I get bonus points for such a bold move.
I still don’t know how, but the move worked, I managed to get free.
If I was smart I would’ve just held my position for another ½ mile.
I'm not smart.
No guts no glory.
Off the front.
Feeling strong.
For about 30 seconds.
And then I didn’t feel so good.
I felt miserable, I could only stare at the pavement below and try not to think about what was behind me.
Must – Keep – Turning – Pedals.
Don’t – Look – Back.
I have no idea how long I made it, maybe a minute, two tops before I heard the swarm of angry hornets.
Why were they making the move so soon?
You’re smarter than that Thomas Connor and whoever was with you.
You don’t jump to cover a move like mine.
Sit back and let the others take the bait before making your move.
Oh well, you moved too soon and lost out on the Tuesday night glory.
Kudos to the person who I don’t know who won the sprint.

Almost forgot, I need to call Chet out for coming in behind a girl, Jenn don’t call me Beth, who clearly took him at the line. You’re a disgrace to your gender.
I’m telling you it’s that big honking mirror of your’s! I’ve seen smaller mirrors on the side of a school bus. I know it’s great for a quick shave, or styling your hair in the middle of a ride, but it’s screwing up the aerodynamics of your high end Italian bike.
Please tell me it’s at least a Campagnolo mirror.

I’ve decided the rider of the night award goes to Charlie for coming back to the Tuesday night ride a month ahead of schedule.
What do doctors and wives know anyway?
Your double yellow infraction has been rescinded.

In the parking lot someone wanted to know how everyone seems to know how to work so well together and ride so fast on a B ride.
Once you get yelled at enough you figure things out real quick.

Tuesday night report 6/23/10

The last thing I remember was pulling up to the light ¼ mile from the shop and taking a GU, Daren laughing at me letting me know I wasn’t going to need a GU for the ride, we were only going to do the Reservoir route, nice and easy.
He was right about one thing, I wasn’t going to need a GU. I was going to need a six pack of them.
The part about it being an easy ride was another lie of his.

The ride:
Distance: 38 miles
Time 1:50
Average: 21.6mph

There were many regulars missing from last night’s ride, I hope it wasn’t because of the threat of rain. I counted 6 rain drops the entire ride. Maybe a few more, but not much.
It took a lot of coaxing to get the ride leader out of the shop, and into his kit (a nice new shiny Optimum Performance kit with brand new matching shoes – spend it while you can Daren, kids aren’t cheap).
And even more work to get him on his bike and get the ride going.
“We’re going to get soaked” he kept telling everyone.
I wonder if Eddy Mercyx or Fausto Coppi ever decided to sit out a race because of rain.
Or what about Andy Hampsten’s ride up the Gavia in a blinding snowstorm in the 1988 Giro.
Suck it up, let’s get the ride going.
We finally shamed him into it.
The original plan was to ride out to Princeton, down 62 to Hubbardston to 68 and then 2A through Westminster, Fitchburg, and finish with the Airport Rd. sprint.
But the threat of rain changed the route to around the Reservoir backwards, Lancaster, Clinton, Boylston and that route. To me that’s not backwards, it clockwise and therefore forward.

In theory this week’s ride was going to be easier than all the hills we did last week, but it was anything but easy.
We got to the lights at 13, I sucked down my GU.
I love GU, I’ve replaced most of my meals with GU. I eat GU all day long, I like the Blackberry in my morning coffee, Triple Berry for my mid morning snack. Peanut butter and GU sandwich for lunch, more GU to avoid the 2:00 crash from all the GU’s I had earlier in the day. Before the ride, during the ride, after the ride. GU has made me the most productive worker in my organization, possibly even the corporation I work for. It’s GUUUUD stuff.
It also makes it difficult getting to sleep after the Tuesday night ride.
This week we got in a little bit more of a warm up which lasted about ½ way up Prospect St before the pace began picking up. Fast as usual down the road that leads us past the shopping plaza to Mechanic St.
Mechanic St. wasn’t too bad before we took the turn onto 70 and then as expected things opened up.
Several riders on the front set a fast pace. A new guy up front was drilling it, Dr. Robert Trent Jones (when he isn’t designing golf courses he’s doing the Tuesday night ride, who knew?) Nice pull to set the pace.
I sat in about 4th wheel, I couldn’t see who was 2nd and 3rd because I had Chris from the shop in front of me, this was intentional because my legs weren’t feeling well and Chris is fast and a good person to hide behind.
As we rode I kept waiting for my legs to wake up, and it wasn’t happening.
At least we were doing the easy route.
One, two, three riders peeled off until Chris was on the front, Chris took a nice long pull before I found myself on the front, tried to keep the pace fast, by this point my legs are usually good, but last night they still felt like rubber. I knew this wasn’t good.
Took the pull as far as I could before bailing and falling back.
Whoever took over from there slowed things down just a little, it was still fast but it allowed us to keep the ride together and close up some of the gaps that had opened up.
We pretty much held a single line all the way to 117, headed right to Langden, no close calls this week, once on Landgen the pace kind of picked up again.
Passed the A ride on the side of the road helping someone who flatted.
Came close to making another dumbass move again this week when 2 other A riders were a little ways up on the side of the road, I didn’t see them until I was on top of them giving me no time to warn the riders behind me.
Fortunately the group made it around them without taking any other riders out in the process.
The pace remained sane as we made our way to the 6 corners in Lancaster.
Took the right leading us towards Clinton through downtown, hit the downhill hard, everyone trying to get their momentum to carry them up the other side of the hill to the dam.
Last night, with my rubber legs I was second guessing my decision to jump and get myself near the front for the long painful 5 or so miles to 140.
Coming up the hill it was Dr. Robert Trent Jones taking the KOM points by being the first to the damn dam.
The next 6 miles of Rt. 70 through Boylston always suck when you’re in the lead group. The pressure to hold the wheel in front of you is overwhelming, you don’t want to leave a gap for the person behind you to have to fill, yet you don’t want to throw up all over your bike either.
Andrew led things off by taking an epic pull for almost a mile, fueled I’m sure by the Eggplant Parm he had for lunch. Being on his wheel was tough, not so much trying to hold on, but more so by the smell of garlic sweating out of his jersey made me feeling like throwing up just a little more than I had already felt like throwing up from climbing to the dam, then trying to hold a wheel while trying to get into a recovery zone all at the same time.
He peeled off and I did what I could to put an effort in, but it was weak at best.
Several other riders came up inside me, I managed to grab the last wheel, a chance to recover a bit, but the pace just kept getting faster and faster, all those little hills along 70 were killing me, legs, lungs, heart all hurt like hell.
By the time we passed my old high school I wanted to sit up and wait for the cavalry to come up from behind, but someone in our group told me to suck it up and finish the GD stretch of road we were on.
Thanks whoever that was…..
The last little climb leading up to and beyond the center of town seemed like it would never end.
But once over the top we had a chance to recover on the downhill.
And more time to recover waiting for the regroup.
Which is where trouble began.
It was all innocent when I asked John on the Red Tarmac about his power meter, and if he could send me the profile from the night’s ride, and then he tried explaining that his power would be a lot lower than say (insert person’s name here) because of their size difference.
(insert person’s name here) asked if he was calling him fat, and John told him “if the shoe fits”, and then (insert person’s name here) called John a wuss for not being able to maintain 700 watts for more than a minute, John called (insert person's name here) a lard ass and that's when punches were thrown.
Everyone will be glad to know it all ended with a handshake and a promise to discuss over a couple of beers.
After all that Natalie joined in (the discussion, not the fisticuffs) as did a couple others, and then the discussion went from power to watts per kilogram as the best way to measure these things, and I quickly got lost in the discussion, all I know is there was less debate over Obama’s health care plan than there was over watts per kilogram.
I thought my head was going to explode listening to them discuss all this power stuff.
Save it for the classroom, here’s a chart to study for next week’s ride:
(click on the chart to enlarge, and then click on it again to make it larger)



3 miles up the road they were still talking about it!
Once we got past the store in W. Boylston things ramped up again, and got really fast along Rt 12 all the way to Sterling Center, and fast again after Sterling Center all the way to N. Row. It seemed like every time I looked over Duncan on the steel Huffy was by himself on the outside, I don’t know if he was practicing his time trialing, or just couldn’t get into the slipstream. Whatever the case he probably cranked out more watts than anyone on last night’s ride and he doesn’t need a power meter on that bike of his.
Regrouped and then began the final climb of the night all the way up to Sholan Farms where we regrouped one last time before the crazy descent down Pleasant St. through downtown Leominster to 13, once over Rt. 2 there were some crazy moves to get over to Hamilton St.

Not the ride I wanted to do on the longest Tuesday night of the year, I would’ve preferred doing more miles, but it was good that Daren picked out the route he did, it kept us pretty dry and the ride really fast.

And in all my pain and suffering I forgot to stop at the shop to pick something up I promised someone I would pick up after the ride. I’ll stop in tomorrow, I promise.

late edit; here are a couple of profiles from last night's ride. Both make me realize I suck!

JC:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37853981

Dr. Robert:

Who'e Beth anyway?

It's Jen, the "chick on the yellow Pinerello".
I just learned that today when I ran into her at the shop.

Now I need to go back and edit every single post where "Beth" is mentioned.
Doh!

Tuesday night ride report 6/15/10

As advertised June is here and the Tuesday night ride is now officially fast!
And last night’s route seemed the cruelest of the year.
Daren took us along a route that had hills, hills and more hills. There were a couple hills that had hills on top of hills. And that’s no joke.
And when we finally reached Princeton Center and he told us that there were no more hills to be had, it was a lie.

The stats I have are:
Miles: 47
Time: 2:23
Average: 19.7
Very respectable considering all the climbing we did.

This week there were no pre-ride accidents in the parking lot, we saved all the falls for the ride itself.
New rules are being enacted every week now.
Last night it was decided the warm up portion of the ride would occur over the first ¼ mile between the shop and the lights at Rt. 13.
Once we hit Prospect St. the ride begins in earnest, you’re either with us or your not.
By the time we reached the top of Prospect there was already a noticeable gap, Daren commented on burning a match trying to bridge up to the lead group.
So now everyone needs to pay attention, even early on in the ride, to prevent gaps from opening up.
The ride up Prospect set the tone of the night.
Took the right and rode down past the shopping center – since it’s only a T bone intersection another new rule, no stopping for the red light.
A quick regroup when we hit the intersection of Mechanic St.
Left onto Mechanic St, more fast riding leading out to Rt. 70.
Once on Rt. 70 you had a choice, either hold the wheel in front of you for the next 4 miles, or be dropped. It was every man woman and child for themselves as the speed continuously picked up as we made our way deeper and deeper into the pain zone.
By the time we got to the end it appeared the ride was still mostly together.
Taking the right onto 117 we nearly lost our first rider, Beth, to an idiot in a pickup who didn’t feel like stopping to let the ride take the left onto Langden. The driver either had a serious case of road rage or was late getting home for dinner, but he was a complete a-hole, even as Beth was stopping to take the left, he continued on before slamming on his brakes to avoid running her over.
The speed was moderate along Langden, I think everyone wanted to save themselves for the climbing to come.
Once we took the right onto George Hill Road the events of the night begin getting a little fuzzy.
Hitting the first hill of the night I tried going off, not intentionally, I just knew there were a lot of really good climbers with us and expected people to start launching attacks – Natalie was close behind, as we were going up she warned me to save myself because there was a lot more climbing to come.
Being a man I’m not prone to take advice from others, no matter how good the advice may be.
Don’t know the name of the road at the top, went right heading into Sterling before coming out onto Rt. 12.
This is where I realized I had problems, only 1 GU to get me over the next 30 or so miles with lots of hills in front of us. Need to plan this just right, should I take a ½ pack there and save the rest for later – or should I wait. If I only take ½ the pack I have to put the other ½ back in my jersey pocket which leads to relationship problems when my wife does the laundry and wonders what all the sticky stuff is all over my jersey. I tried explaining, but she has this vision from the movie “Something about Mary” – nuff said about that.
I decided to save my GU for later.

More hills going up N Row, riders off the front, should I stay or should I go? Chase or stay back? Decisions decisions. I don’t like the road condition so I sat in and watched Thomas, Jeff and several others ride away.
Quick regroup at the intersection and this is where things get real fuzzy for me – I can’t remember which way we went – straight across or a left onto Heywood. Whatever, more climbing, more suffering.
Reached the next intersection where some people rolled through, others stopped to wait for an oncoming car.
One thing I need to learn is don’t expect the rider in front of you to think the same way you do. I would’ve rolled with the rest of the group, but the rider in front of me played it smart, unclipped and stopped. But I didn’t have time to react and fell over before I could unclip.
The first casualty of the night.
The only harm done was to my ego. Picked the bike up, quick check, no cracked carbon, good to go. Took off, but damn, those who rolled through were already ½ mile up the road.
I was pissed at myself so I took off with the intent of bridging the gap, "Turning the pedals in complete anger" as Phil Ligget would say, "he wants to annilhilate the competion behind him to make up for his momentary lack of concentration at the earlier stop sign".
Sometimes I’m not as smart as I think I am. Not only was I unable to gain on the front group, Jeff goes flying past me on my left as if I were standing still, grabbed his wheel and tried to hang on to the next regroup. More pain!
At this point of the ride I don’t even know what state I’m in – but this might be where we pulled into Sterling Center and regrouped.
Took a left and then a right in Sterling and started the climb that never seemed to end.
Looking at Google Maps I see Kendall Hill Rd, Swett Hill Rd. Chace Hill Rd., I’m sure we hit everyone of those, but where the hell was Downhill Rd?
All the climbers had their fun, Thomas, Jeff, Sarah on the blue Spin Arts bike, Dawn on the 650s, Amy, a lot of riders getting ready for Mt. Washington.
Count me out for that one - I have other plans for that day that don’t include trying to get up 8 miles of 12% average gradient. They involve a couch, six pack and a Sponge Bob marathon.
Besides, if I can’t make it up Pack Manadnock in my 39/25 without unclipping 3 times, I’d never make it up Washington, even with the proper gearing.
Eventually came out to 110 in Sterling, somewhere along the way a couple of other riders fell, or maybe it was one rider who fell a couple of times as the story was told to me today.
And while on 110 heading into W. Boylston I heard the unmistakable sound of a crash, something I’d never heard before on the Tuesday night ride.
Everything stopped while we waited to make sure the person who went down was okay. I heard he was, but his bike was in distress. Not sure if he was able to continue on.
Some hung back to help while Daren sent the rest of the group off to wait at the store up the road.
Between the crash and the store Psycho on the green Liquigas bike flatted.
Noah swings back to help.
World record tube change – I stood over him with the stop watch, started the watch, tick tick tick, Noah had the wheel off the bike in 10 seconds.
Another 55 seconds to have the tire and tube off the rim (no tire lever for Noah, it only slows him down).
20 seconds to inspect the tire, no foreign objects in the tire.
Partially inflate tube, wheel over the tube, quick inspection to ensure bead is secure inside the rim, 65 seconds.
C02 cartridge on the valve, inflate to 60psi, quick check, bead secure, finish inflating to 120psi, 10 seconds.
Click! Stop watch stopped!
Total time 2 minutes 45 seconds, world record time!
Look for the video on You Tube sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Regroup at the store in W. Boylston, I inhaled my GU, no sticky residue on the jersey tonight - headed right onto 140, taking a left onto Laurel St, nice quick pace all the way to the intersection of 31.
One last regroup, time to think about what’s ahead.
Roll out onto 31, the pace is nice and steady as it should be.
Somehow I ended up near the back, sat in for minute before getting worried, not about the climb but rather that I might miss a move up front.
Pulled to the left and started moving up until I was at the front.
And then off the front, completely unintentional.
Sometimes I’m not as smart as I think I am.
Oh well, what’s done is done, I'm off the front, alone, these things usually work better when you have 2 or 3 others make the move with you, but no one wanted to help me in my suffering – once you’ve made a move and are off the front it’s against the rules to sit up and wait for help, you’ve made your decision to go it alone, enjoy the ride cuz it’s going to hurt.
While I was enjoying my alone time I kept wondering where Thomas, Jeff and all the other climbers were.
Why didn't they paying attention to my move?
Give a guy some help, this friggin’ hurts!
But they were all playing it smart, knowing these Cat 5 breaks usually go one way, and that’s back.
Nothing left to do but find the right gear and ride it alone and see how things work out.
I have no idea how far I made it, up to my eyeballs in pain I started hearing the clicking of gears, the climbers covered, one last effort to try and stay away but I was doomed, too many burnt matches making it as far as I did.
I finally found Thomas and Jeff, they were on my wheel, and then off my wheel (where were they when I needed them?) – oh well I’d be willing to accept a podium spot for 3rd, except then someone else passed me (John on the Tarmac?), and another (Dawn?), and Dave Lystra?– and then the lights went out as just as the yellow building in Princeton Center came into view.
Damn that was fun!
One last regroup trying to figure out the best way back to the shop.
Daren made the decision – go down 31 all the way to the right onto Hobbs and finish up by coming out by Grandview CC. “There’s no more hills if we go that way”.
Leaving Princeton Center things got really fast as we headed down the next several miles of Rt. 31.
I couldn’t hang on with my 52/12, yet there were a lot of female riders, many of them riding compact gearing who were keeping up.
Took the turn onto Hobbs, things were getting dark, and scary with the quick turns on those down hills, sand and holes all over the place, riders all over the road and cars coming around corners does not make for a good combination.
The fun ended when the hills began again.
I knew Daren was full of shit when he said there were no more hills left, there’s a huge hill going up Hobbs/ Lucas Rd and to add to the suffering it gets steeper when you take the sharp left onto Hastings, and it continues going up all the way to Grandview.
I couldn’t believe how hard the women in the group were riding – the group I was in included Sarah on the blue Spin Arts bike, Cathy on the Colnago, Dawn, Beth and I think Amy might’ve been there as well. They were hammering while I was doing what I could to hang on.
Finally made it to Grandview.
The climbing was over for the night.
Things were already split up when we began going down hill, and even more when we hit Pleasant St. Missed Pond Street, came out by Wyman’s and went through Downtown Leominster, some of riders took the right onto 13, I’ve been down that road at night before and decided to ride up to Hamilton to Global Fitness.
Given the large number of vehicles in the Gear Works parking lot and taking up spaces for customers, I would suggest more people part in the Global parking lot. Much more convenient getting out of.

Next week is Summer Solstice so we have to at least get in 50 miles.

Tuesday night report 6/8/10

This is the information I pulled from my Garmin.
40 miles
1:58
Average speed was 20.5 (before I flatted and had to limp back to the shop)

Everyone knows how it ended (read the previous post if you don't).
Here’s the rest of the report.
Lining up you knew it was going to be fast, As we pulled out of the shop I had to ask if I wasn’t on the A ride, seriously there were a lot of riders from the A ride, some had excuses, Rob recovering from surgery was legitimate, others such as Andrew was just plain sandbagging.
Nonetheless it made for a fast ride which is always good.

Before we pulled out someone had an accident, a rookie mistake we’ve all made. I won’t say what it was, but we’ve all done it and it involved a yellow Pinerello and a woman who rides sleeveless.
What happened?

We left the shop, I heard Ernie getting excited over some dresses Natalie purchased on Newbury St., but he wasn’t actually getting excited over the dresses, he was telling Daren to act excited when he saw the dresses.
I could tell Daren needed more advice on this marriage thing so I stepped in to help with some helpful hints on maintaining a healthy marriage:
1. Act like you don’t care when you see the bill for the dresses
2. Leave the toilet seat down when done
3. Don’t leave your dirty bib shorts on the bedroom floor (especially if you ride commando)
4. They think it’s sexy when you do laundry, wash the dishes and run a vacuum, stuff like that.
5. Act like you don’t care when you see the bill for the dresses
6. no matter what anyone tells you, bigger really is better. Specifically when it comes to carets and bank accounts.

Daren was especially quiet the rest of the ride, I think my words of advice brought the reality of it all to him, being married and the committing of one’s life to another, dress shop bills, toilet seats, laundry, JCPenney bills, Macy Bills, bills, bills, and more bills.
Oh wait, that’s my life.
Daren, just remember to leave the seat down and you’ll be fine.

Down Hamilton to Prospect to the back roads that cut over to the road that leads us to Lunenburg Center.
Once we took the right turn the warm up was over.
As they always do the ride took off as we started our way up Leominster Rd for the 4-5 miles up to Lunenburg Center. Find a wheel, hang on, take a pull, fall back, repeat.
Found myself in a good group that included Andrew, Natalie, Rob on the six13, Alan Jr. (sorry, don’t remember your name) and a few others. We got a good line going which pretty much stayed together all the way into town.
From there we took a right and headed towards W. Townsend Rd, people took it easy drafting off Big Dave, Charlie was off the front doing his own ride.
No real damage done on that section, although we did need to hold up trying to get across Rt. 13.
Once across the road the pace lifted.
Considerably.
A group of 5 or 6 were off the front before I even realized the move had been made.
I wanted to be in that group, I went off and tried to bridge – damn it hurt, I was less than 50 feet from completing it when I gave into the pain and slowed.
That’s called an epic fail, all that work without being able to seal the deal.
Someone fell off the lead group so I had a wheel to ride, when I recovered we both worked to get to the top of W. Townsend where everything came back together before all hell broke loose on the descent into Townsend. Fast with riders all over the road, cars up, cars back, horns blaring – at least no one kicked up a stone into someone’s windshield this week.
Might as well enjoy the ride down, most of us knew what was coming once we got across 119.
Regrouped again in W Townsend before heading towards the hills.
Somewhere around Charlie’s neighborhood Dave Lystila (the Fin) dropped off – wasn’t feeling good, but I bet he was going to break into Charlie’s house and go for those aged filets Charlie planning on grilling up after the ride.
If you had to pick a spot to drop, that was it.
Made our way down Mason Rd, chatting it up with Andrew, letting him know he was getting bumped to the A ride because he’s the biggest sandbagger on the B ride.
Duncan was riding that steel framed Huffy with the down tube shifters hard.
And then he let it slip, wanting to know if there were any other Cat 3s on the ride.
He’d done a race the week before and wanted to get back into it.
Wait, he raced on the Huffy. I thought you could only race with a high end carbon frame and expensive carbon wheels – oh yeah, that’s the 5s, there are still guys racing Masters on old steel frames, and they love dropping carbon.
I need to rethink my strategy for Cat 5 races. Maybe I’ll stop at the Salvation Army this weekend to see if I can find an old Sears 10 speed, with toe strap pedals, or maybe flat pedals. And then go off the front of a cat5 race and prove to them it’s not about the bike.
It’s all about the batteries, right Noah?

Enough fun – the hills were in front of us.
It starts gradually but ramps up quick.
Gaps quickly opened, a group of 4 or 5 were away.
Another group of 6 or so chased.
Another slow death grinding it up the Barrett Hill Rd. At least I was in the chase group with some cover from the wind – if there was ever a point on the Tuesday night ride where I felt like just sitting up and quitting, it was climbing up that hill.
Keep turning the pedals, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, find a rhythm and keep the pace. It kind of worked.
Up the road I saw the rider, but I didn’t know what was going on, just some dude in shorts and a tee shirt out for a leisurely ride, but this was a recreational rider, this guy rode the riders up front right off his wheel, dropped them like they were standing still.
The pain and suffering continued as the next part of the climb began.
3 off the front, Andrew, Brandt and Alan Jr., 3 of us chasing but there was no way we were going to close it, they were flying up the hill.
The 3 of us worked well, myself, John on the red/ white Tarmac, and the guy on the silver/ black Cannondale (FCC kit?) – each of us taking our pulls, peeling off and getting back on but still not gaining on the riders up ahead.
Somewhere near the top silver Cannondale clicked down several cogs, sonofabitch, I couldn’t believe he was going to make a move and leave his group behind.
But alls fair in love and bike racing and with about 200 meters to go he took off leaving John and myself watching him ride off to the top.
Regrouped at the high school.

While we were waiting for the regroup, chatting, I realized something.
Brandt is one of the most brilliant people I know other than myself. He came up with this idea,
someone needs to map out a route with all the ice cream stands in the area and we’ll do a Tuesday night ice cream ride where we’ll replace the town line sprints with the ice cream stand sprints, if we plan it right we can probably hit at least 6 or 7 in a night, have a baby cone at each and then sprint to Kimball’s on Rt. 70 and top it off with a “Kimball’s special” before the final sprint to the shop to see who can get to the bathroom first.
Brilliant I tell you, simply Brilliant!
Well done Brandt. Our ride leader needs to follow up on this idea, Daren.

Ho hum, picking up where I left off, we headed down, took the hard left onto River Road, almost missed it with the sun in my eyes. Good thing no cars up.
Over the next 5 or so miles the roads seemed to get progressively worse as the speed seemed to get progressively faster, I was hoping there’d be no frames exploding on roads worse than the cobbles of the European Spring Classics, the worst section being the last ½ mile before coming out to 119 in Ashburnham.
Oh yeah, I finally got to know Kathy on the Colnalgo and Rob on the Six13’s names (the cyclocross contingent). I’ve only been riding with Kathy for 4 years, I should know her name by now and she usually gives me some good material for the ride report.
Crossed over 119, ah 101, my favorite stretch of road, it’s always fast and we always seem to get a line of traffic behind us. 2 years ago was my first time getting pulled over as a group by the Ashburnham PD, lucky for us we had Susan and Chet with us that night to explain to the cop the rules of the road.
I think he retired after being dressed down like that.
Anyways, again it was crazy coming down 101, although it did seem like we had an excellent line going, there’s no way of going too far right because the road is so beat up so the line hung closer to the middle of the road.
More stimulus money please!
Got down to 12 and regrouped. I tried reasoning with everyone to go slow over the next 6 miles into Fitchburg – as if that were ever going to happen.
Everyone had a smile on their face as we started the long descent down, everyone except Charlie who’s riding compact gearing, I think he needed to keep his cadence around 150 to hang on.
Fun times, just make sure you don’t lose the wheel in front of you or you’re off and need to catch on with the next group.
Everything suddenly came to a grinding halt. Forgot all about the bridge being repaired and the light the state put up to get people over the one lane. Of course we had to hit the red light, I think some riders made it across and never looked back all the way to the light near Gamache’s in Fitchburg.

Having to come through Fitchburg isn’t much fun, you can’t get any speed going, but we did find a way of getting riders out of the road. All you need is to have “ambulance back” and riders actually move to the right.
The rest of the ride through Fitchburg was uneventful as we turned and went over the 5th St. Bridge, down Summer St to Bemis.
I could feel my HR picking up, anticipating what was going to happen when we turned onto Airport Rd.
I had BIG plans in mind for that finishing 2 miles, especially the last 1.5 miles, I was thinking about where I was going to make my move, how I was going to solo off the front to pick up my first win of the year.

Dreams die hard.
If you want to know the rest read the previous post and the comments that followed.

The end.