75 degrees on April 9!

Scouting the weather for this week, Tuesday (today) was the clear premier day.   It was going to rain late overnight, stop by 7 or so, and clear up to a sunny warm early spring day.   It looked like Wed through Friday would be colder and rainy (although Wednesday is looking up at this point).

There's another Populaire ride out of Ride Studio Cafe, and the regular Tuesday 10am group was going to follow the route today.    Neighbor Clyde often rides the Tuesday ride, and I emailed him to see if he was going to join them.  He wrote back that my query settled it, he was going to do it, and proposed we ride there and back.

So we did.   And I wrote Pamela and got the Brevet card, making it my second Populaire in 3 days.  I remembered to take a pen this time, but promptly left it at the start, so I had to borrow again.

One thing to note is that I put on my slip on fenders since the roads were still wet heading out.  A couple people were using the SKS Race Blade Clip On / Clip off fenders.  These seem superior because 1) they mount at the brake not the stays, so they're more stable, 2) the mount points stay in place, but the fenders clip off making them easy to put on or off depending on the weather, and 3) they extend further down the tire than my current clip-ons, causing less spray for those behind you.    I think I'll invest in a pair of those later this season.

No pics today, just enjoyed the ride, but I will add the weather did exceed expectations, certainly into the mid 70s and my Garmin showed it hitting 82 at some point.


Mileage Today: 90 miles
This Month: 222 miles
This year: 1185 miles
Since Aug 2006:  15736 miles

Inaugurating the new RUSA Haystack Permanent

Yesterday marked my first century of the year, and also tipped the annual odometer over 1000 miles.   This is the earliest that either of those things have happened I believe.

The occasion was the first ride of Pamela Blalock's new permanent, number 1911 at RUSA and named Haystack RSC-1720.    So it also counted as a sanctioned event, a "Populaire" in Randonneur lingo.  Pamela and her husband John Bayley are fixtures in the local cycling scene, and I was excited to meet Pamela and ride one of her rides ("Pamela" routes are famous here in New England).

The ride left from Ride Studio Cafe at Lexington Center and was a 62.3 mile ride, so I decided to make a meandering route to and fro to accumulate a century for the day.     I headed out around 9am and went through Concord, into Lincoln past Walden Pond, over a couple hills, arriving to Lexington at about 10:10 am.   Just enough time to get my Brevet Card, meet some fellow riders, and order up a Cortado (like a Macchiato but with more steamed soymilk, sorta half way to a latte) and a croissant (I do allow myself to cheat a little when on long rides).

There were 10 people doing the ride, but a couple went out fast, a few dropped back, and we wound up with a core group of 4 plus two on a tandem that were mostly with us.  (Tandems scream on the descents but are slow on the climbs, so they paced a little differently and would be with us for awhile and then gone either ahead or behind).

There were 4 info checkpoints on this rides, spots where you have to stop and look at something to answer a question in your brevet book -- it's the RUSA way to make sure you actually cover the route.  Here we are at the second one.

The route is named after the MIT Haystack observatory, at the top of a high hill in Westford (or, what passes for high this close to Boston).   I'd never been up there, and it was fun to see the different radio telescopes, imaging radars, and other neat things.

The second "control point", a spot where randonneurs have to buy something and get a time-stamped receipt, is at Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe.   I'd never been here, even though it's no more than 4 miles from my home.   Check out the yelp rating!    The noodles were great, and they were vegetarian, but not really nutritarian and they were a bit heavy in oil.    Something I'll reserve for a treat, but I'm glad to have learned about it.

And then it was just 17 miles back to Lexington.   Some new roads for me on this ride, and it was fun to learn some new stuff to add to my repertoire.   It was time to sign and turn in the Brevet cards, and enjoy a snack with my new friends.

I wrapped the day up with a easy-paced ride back through Concord center, up Strawberry Hill, and then added a few miles by going up West St and down 27.

I was pretty happy with my clothing choices.  It was in the mid 30s when I left, and warmed up to the high 50s (it was breezy though).    I almost wore my winter jacket, but instead wore my Marino wool long sleave jersey and used my Showers Pass jacket as a heavy windbreaker.    I took a buff for my neck and a synthetic cap.   All of this kept me warm enough when starting out and I wore it for the first half of the ride.  After lunch I stowed the jacket and switched from my winter gloves to my full fingered spring gloves.  I got cold on the way home and put the jacket back on.  It worked out perfectly.

In the category of ride mistakes, I did learn from my early season mistakes on my prior ride.  Prepping the day before is definitely the right way to do it.   The only think I forgot was to take a pencil or pen, for filling in the answers on the brevet card.   Doh.  Luckily I could borrow one since I was riding with others.  Next time (esp if soloing): bring a pen.

Mileage Today: 101 miles
This Month: 132 miles
This year: 1095 miles
Since Aug 2006:  15646 miles

Twice denied ...

I'd been trying for a couple weeks to schedule a day to ride my first century of the season.  The idea was to head westward out towards Wachusetts, get in 100 miles, and try out the Garmin Edge 800 on longer ride.     First I was going to head out last Wednesday, but the rain started early.   The rain eventually became a March snowstorm, and the snow was still melting over the weekend and I bailed on Sunday; concerned that the overnight snowmelt might have left some black ice in the shadows.   As tempting as it is to get out on the bike once the weather isn't so freezing, the last thing you want to do is have a fall.

So, I had another clear day on Wednesday, and got the bike and the Garmin unit ready on Tuesday.    Well, it turns out I was denied again for my full ride, only getting in 92 miles.    I made a few early season mistakes, and lost some time learning about the Garmin.   Here's the report:

Six mistakes to try to avoid again

1. Leaving Late.   The plan was to hit the road at 9:20am as soon as I finished my daily standup.  Well, there was an issue to put to bed, so we stayed on till 10.   Then another client called with an issue.  10:15.   Moral: plan your departure time, leave on your departure time.
2. Not Preparing all Bike, Gear, and Electronics.    Wait, it's 10:15, where's my cell phone?  The Garmin is charged, the bike is ready, I'm dressed, but I can't find my phone.    Oh crud, I had locked in the car yesterday for swim, and Marilyn's out.    Potential disaster, I didn't want to head out on a early season century with no comms.    Luckily I spied that my daughter had forgotten her phone, and it was charged.  OK, write a quick note to her explaining I borrowed it, throw the jacket on, head out the door.   It's now 10:28am, 1 hour + late on the departure.  Clearly, I should have set my phone to charge the night before, and laid my wallet out (also in the car).
3. No gel on the HR sensor, showing strange results.    My HR doesn't really go to 200 anymore.    Had to stop and use some snow to wet the contact points.    Ditto for cadence sensor (this is a one time setup thing though, I had just installed the sensor).  I probably stopped 10 times in the first 45 minutes messing about with the Garmin.   This was mainly because I was learning some aspects of how "Courses" work.    I did figure it out, and I'll address some of this in my next post.    Summary: use the HR strap contact gel.
4. Routing an Abandoned Road.    This was the major problem that probably cost me 45 minutes.   I was enjoying using ridewithgps to route plan.   This was the first time I could do this and download it to a device, so I routed myself through some new roads in Sudbury, Stow, and Bolton.    This worked well in Sudbury and Stow.  When I got to Bolton I had tried a new route up Wataquodoc hill.   Well, after riding 10 minutes south of Nashoba winery, I came to a dead end.   Yep, google maps said there should be a road there.   Maybe 20 years ago it was a passable dirt road.   Now it said "dead end".    I scanned the GPS, it looked like this road would meet up with an intersection in a half mile.   The old roadbed had snow in it, but some tracks where someone had hiked it.    I could walk the half mile, or retrace my steps.    Big one here:   Make sure you carefully study your routing, especially if it's in a fairly rural area and you don't know the roads.   Google has sat converage that would have showed me this problem.  If I had studied it before blithely loading the route onto my device.
5. Getting the Bike Dirty.  Hey, why randonneur if you don't like adventure, it was through the snow for me.     Well, I got to the half mile point, and did meet a paved road, but the next turn I had planned was another non-existent road.   Darn it.    At this point I decided to just ride until I found myself someplace where I can rejoin my route.   I did have a GPS, and it was easy to make a plan.   Just 35 min wasted, right?   WRONG.   The bike was a mess from where I had tried to push it through snow and pine needles were jammed in the brakes.   My cleats were filled with sand, mud, and ice, and wouldn't click in.    I had to sit down and take a careful 10 min to clean the bike before I could push off.   In retrospect, retracing 10 minutes of riding would have saved me 25 in total.
6. Putting the Big Climb at mile 60.    By the time I got to the far side of Sterling, it was 3:00.   I had maybe 3.5 hours of daylight left.   The big climb up mile road was ahead, probably 2500 feet of climbing in the next 15 miles.    It just simply wasn't going to work, I had lost too much time and was going to be riding in the dark if I stuck to the plan.  I did bring my headlight, but it's early season, heading into rush hour, and cars aren't used to cyclists yet.   If I had 35 or 40 miles to go on the flats, I would have had no problem.   Not with 3 big climbs though.

To my credit, I did do a few things right:

1. Abandon the plan if you're concerned about safety.   So I rode 2.4 miles up 140, rejoined the route on the still respectable climb of Justice Hill Cutoff, and looped back through Sterling and Harvard to home on the original route.   I got in an hour before sunset, rewarded myself with an ale, and enjoyed dinner with my sweetie.
2. I got the clothing correct (IP jersey and light shell so I could change my layering, two pairs of gloves to get the amount of insulation just right).
3. Comfort was good on the bike.
4. I did get the Garmin's course following software figured out.   (works best in "automotive mode", just drive the bike between the big purple lines).
5. I did orienteer myself out of the jam in Bolton.   Again, having the GPS unit was perfect for this. It made for a nice little adventure, and it's satisfying to solve a problem.

As for the ride itself, it was a lovely late winter day.   It warmed up to the low 40s and was bright and sunny.    Traffic was reasonably light, and mostly the roads were OK with not too much sand or water runnoff.   So, it was fun to be out if it wasn't for some of the stress from running late and a few of the mistakes.    It's good to get the first long ride attempt done in the season, I'll be more ready for the next try.  Third time's a charm?

Mileage Today: 92 miles
This Month: 213 miles
This Year: 776 miles
Since Aug 2006: 15327 miles

Still some snow on fields

Shadowfax after my 10 minutes of cleaning

Wachusetts in the distance, wouldn't make it to the top today

Sandy roads after my hike through the woods

Riding in the snow

I'm riding a little more seriously this year, with the thought of tackling a few more brevets in the Bostn Brevet Series come May, June, and July.     These work their way up to a pretty serious two day ride, so I'm trying to build a good base early.

This means lots of time on the trainer, but also getting outside whenever the weather permits.    We had a blizzard last week, but it's been the 40s almost every day since, so I managed a couple outside rides.   The melting snow makes some puddles, which combined with the sand used here in Carlisle on the roads can make a mess.  And with salt from adjoining towns you have to hose down and clean your bike after every ride.

Here's shadowfax in the snow today before heading out for a quick loop down Curve St, up to 27, and through Chelmsford and back.

Mileage Today: 11 miles
This Month: 147 miles
This Year: 506 miles
Since Aug 2006: 15057 miles

Glorious ride to harvard, late summer weather

- composed on phone, please excuse typos

Fresh peaches!

Big hill is done, almost back in mass.
- composed on phone, please excuse typos

Richardson, NH

Pretty much the high point, now its mostly downhill. - 20 miles or so to lunch!

- composed on phone, please excuse typos