rholland1951

Easy commute today, beautiful weather. Got lectured by a German. Encountered a huge DPW truck creeping East on the Minuteman, towing a wood chipper. Not chipping anything, just checking out what remains to do, it seems.

rod

JandersUF

Today I did a ride I've been meaning to do since I moved to Boston.... Cape-in-a-Day. Left Cambridge around 6:15 this morning, and made it to Provincetown around 2:30... and 129.2 miles later!

I ate and drank well, but think I was a bit salt depleted and cramped in the last 10 miles. Thankfully I had a buddy along with me, and he drug me in to the finish line. Never had a quad cramp before... it hurt. This despite sodium containing drinks and such... all of my food was of the sweetish variety. I think next time I'll get pretzels or the like along the way. Also... the cape is quite a bit hillier than I expected. It seemed to be an endless series of rollers. Not a big deal until after 100 miles, then they get a bit rough. The fast ferry back to Boston was bike-friendly and awesome.

Also, the fried oysters and fries I got at the end might be the best I've ever had.

mtalinm

wow, Janders! can you post your route? i've done a couple centuries and was thinking of doing a double metric century, which is about 125m.

been a slow biking week for me. I made a tactical mistake by converting my prized folding bike with drop bars back to the stock flat bar config so my son could take it on a trip. somehow I messed up one of the STI levers, so that's $150, and the derailleur hanger got banged up as well. arrrgh.

godshammgod

Did ''The Flattest Century in the East'' on Sunday out of UMass-Dartmouth. It's not exactly flat, just a super low elevation.

Ride started off well, as my friends and I (along with 3 others who joined in) banged out the first 50 miles at a nice even 20mph average.

After that things got tougher. The head winds picked up and I dropped off to recover at my own pace for a few minutes. Then at about mile 60ish my right shifter cable snapped. I then rode the 10 miles to the next rest stop in my 39X12. The low cadence + rollers on that stretch led to some pretty painful cramps. My friends and I were able to jury-rig the bike so that I could finish in an easier gear. But I still took a short cut home, cutting the ride to about 80 miles.

Despite those issues, I did have a great day. Nice weather, good company. Can't complain.

jimmuller 

Wow! I told you children to be good while I was away, but did you listen??? Noooo! lectured by a German, broken toys, snapped cables, a century broken off, salt depletion on a ridiculous Cape-in-a-day caper...

It sounds great!

rholland1951

Yesterday's commute was spent mostly down on the drops due to time pressures and a headwind. Saw a lot of pavement (and not much else) but made time and felt great. It was an interesting change from the norm.

rod

rholland1951

Today's commute had the benefit of what might be the last Summer weather of the year, or, this being Massachusetts, at least the last Summer weather of the week: sweatily pleasant.

On the outbound leg, saw a man with a brace of pit bulls on leash. One dog was sitting on its haunches, looking normally alert. The other was completely sprawled out in that posture that doggies adopt when goddamnit they're going to take a nap NOW. The man with the leashes looked a little vexed. A woman standing next to him--perhaps his wife, perhaps acting in some other consulting capacity--was saying, "Maybe you should try poking it a few times."

On the return leg, the Running of the Bulls was more than normally adrenally stimulating. Had social intercourse with a HONKER/BUZZER, a big white Hummeroid vehicle, a Honda Gojira or something similar, that started honking several cars back, and passed me with perhaps 6 inches to spare and a visible flounce. My theory is that the driver thinks that driver's licences are a Second Amendment right (Ridiculous: everybody knows you get them by sending in cereal box tops). Fun with vehicular cycling.

rod

sherbornpeddler

I'm just back from Acadia and rode Schoodic Peninsula https://www.acadia-schoodic.org/map.html with college buddies and had a fantastic time. Everyone was friendly, traffic considerate and food superb.

This Saturday I ride a Hub on Wheels training ride for Ride Marshals and then 25 September the big event. I'm particularly excited to see the Mayor's Cup Crit in the afternoon.

mtalinm

now that my folder is messed up - righthand brifter is dead - I have to ride my roadie to work. that's normally fine, except I had a lot to carry home today. so I decided to try the seatpost-mounted rack with my topeak bag:



not sure why I expected to have problems, but it worked like a charm. and I was able to average 16.2 vs. a fastest average of 16.6, so I don't think it slowed me down.

now I am less motivated to fix the folder. the thought of riding the road bike every day is quite appealing :-)

jimmuller 

Sounds like fun! I'm in Acadia now. Plan to ride the Park Loop Road at least once, probably go up Cadillac again if I feel like it.

Nice going. I ride a road bike with panniers for my commutes. Can't see doing it any other way. Of course, road bikes from back then were different...

cmolway

I got up in the dark and rolled out as the sky started to lighten to get some miles in before work. As the sun takes longer to get up, I think my days of "pre-work rides" are numbered unless I want to do them in the dark (or more likely: if my wife will let me).

Hopefully the rain will stay away until I after my commute home since I left the "rain bike" in the basement. Speaking of basements, I am not looking forward to the months of sweating it out on the trainer in the basement.

rholland1951

Amen. Towards the end of last Winter, I put a pair of studded Nokians on my old mountain bike and got a couple of hundred miles of ice biking in before Spring put us out of our misery. It was interesting, and I expect to do more of it this year.

rod

rholland1951

Rode to work today in the beta release of Fall: cool and bright on the outbound leg, cool and dark on the return. Was able to commute in work clothes (with a light wool base layer), no need to change. Goldenrod and sumac turning red in Great Meadows, a localized dust storm from an excavation near Arlington High. Overheard fragment of a cellphone conversation, "You suck. I'll apologize to <inaudible>..." On the return, needed lights by Lexington Center, needed them even more in Arlington, where half the student body of AHS was migrating on the Minuteman, prior to Town Day fireworks. In E. Arlington, noticed that the two toilet bowls that somebody put out on the curb earlier in the week have not yet been claimed: they're becoming public sculpture.

rod

rholland1951

Had more demands on my time than I had time this weekend, only managed to get a quick ride out to Bedford and back late Sunday afternoon, and that only by playing hooky from the football game (bugged out during the Pats' second drive, got back in time for the last one). The sun was low, shadows long, air clear and cool. Lots of folks out on the Minuteman, good day for people watching. Owing to a touch of migraine, odors were salient: smoke of various sorts, sweat, perfume, vegetgation living or dead, things my nose didn't have a name for. I felt a bit like a bloodhound riding a bicycle.

rod

sherbornpeddler

I rode on a Hub on Wheels training ride. Nate led a great training ride for about 10 folks. It was a great day and a very nice ride.

buzzman

This is one of my favorite rides and those hills outside of Wellfleet into Truro get me every time, too. I love the ride through Southeastern Mass, the ride up the Rail Trail, the race for the ferry in Provincetown and that last stretch on 6A with the little beach cabins on the left is flat and fast if the wind is right. Years ago, one time, for total torture we climbed the stairs to the top of the tower at the end of the ride.

I lived in Wellfleet for a month this summer and those hills were about 3 miles into my ride to Provincetown. They are soooo much easier to do when you haven't just ridden 100 miles! The first time I rode into Provincetown from Wellfleet I was wondering what happened to those brutal hills.

jimmuller 

Took the GS out for a little spin today. Did Acadia's Park Loop Road and up Cadillac. Got to the top and met my sweetie who'd walked up the south ridge trail. After looking at the time I decided to do the whole loop again, sans Cadillac of course. Lemme tell you, after doing the original 19.5mi and going up Cadillac (1000ft, 3.3mi), the next 19.5mi had much steeper hills!

Total distance 45.6mi, max speed 32.6mph. Don't ask me which hill the top speed occurred on.

Got back around to the south ridge trail head just as Sharon was emerging. Good timing. Then Sharon said she'd passed a couple, that the woman had fallen and they were going real slow. So we walked up the trail until we found them, gave her my walking stick and accompanied them down. It helped her come out with less knee pain.

All in all a good day. Now I'm waiting to go get some beer and bbq.

rholland1951

Telecommuted today, so in lieu of the normal cycle commute, had a 34-mile sunset ride from E. Arlington to North Bridge, Concord, using 225/Skelton Rd/River Road/Monument Street in both directions from/to Depot Park. I'm very fond of this ride, for a variety of reasons, and haven't done it in awhile. The end-of-day, end-of-summer light enhanced an already pleasant experience, with a view from the hill overlooking the fields of Hutchins Farm that was somewhere between luminous and numinous. Heard three honks today; two were directed at squirrels, one at me, thereby establishing an equivalence class.

rod

rholland1951

Yow! Y'all are having too much fun up there.

rod

jimmuller 

One little side note - Just as I picked up the PLRoad I noticed a couple ahead of me, maybe 200 to 300 yards. I'd catch up with the wife a little at a time on the uphills then drop off for one reason or another, often traffic, on the downhills. When we reached Jordan Pond House I finally caught up and we crossed over to the grounds together. We'd barely gotten off the bikes when the guy says "Wow, what a beautiful old bike!" I explained how it was a '73 and we spent the next 15 minutes taking with each other and a guide from Vermont Bicycle Tours who was waiting for his charges to arrive. It was great fun.

It turns out they were going up Cadillac too, still some miles ahead of us. I started up first, made a few stops and one longer one very near the top to eat something and admire the awesome view. As I'm eating the guy comes slowly up the hill, and about 5 minutes later as I'm getting ready to start again his wife comes along. We tagged up the remaining switchback but I had to pass her because my lower gears begged for a higher cadence. I got up to the top and started talking with the husband. When she got to the top 15 seconds later she gave us guys a fist bump and declared how good it was. She was right, it was good!

Addition: I recorded the elevation vs. time on my altimeter-watch. It reports total ascent of 3440ft.

mtalinm

wife's out of town so I've been driving the kids all over with little chance to ride to work. stole an oppty today b/c a friend was picking up my younger boy from school. felt good to get in 28 miles, though I was a nervous wreck when a dog charged at me.

rholland1951

Misread the weather radar and a commute that started in a gentle drizzle continued through some pretty respectable rain showers. My Arkel Commuter pannier, in combination with the rain cover outside and dry bags inside, kept my computer, etc., bone dry. The combination of work clothes and a light shell had the opposite effect, however, and I arrived pretty soggy. Hung my shirt and the shell up to dry, knocked the better part of the mud off the cuffs of my black jeans, and went to a couple of meetings wearing my black wool baselayer t-shirt. Some of my colleagues apparently thought this was a fashion statement. Most everything had dried out by the evening commute, which was uneventful.

rod

pocky

I did the dry run with Nate the previous weekend. Are you going to ride-marshall the 50? Me too -- I'll see you Sunday! I plan to have a bunch of BU Bikes students with me!

SillAilse

Hi sbp,

See my PM.

PS: I just realized that this thread began in March.

cmolway

March of 2009 that is.