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.