- composed on phone, please excuse typos
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Richardson, NH
Pretty much the high point, now its mostly downhill. - 20 miles or so to lunch!
- composed on phone, please excuse typos
First try at 300 km ride
I was up early today to attempt a ride to Vermont and back. I left the house in the dark at 5:07 and just finished the first 30 miles at about a 14mph pace. I'm taking a half hour at the nice Harvest grill in Sterling to have breakfast, adjust my clothing now that its warmed up, and get the cue sheet set for the 60 mile leg to Brattleboro. Lots of climbing ahead. My return route follows the last two legs of the NER 600 k. So far these have been familiar roads, but after a few more bites of food I'll be heading into unknown territory, what fun!
- composed on phone, please excuse typos
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Kings Tour of Quabbin, next day thoughts
Well, first off, that was a real fun ride. The weather was glorious in the morning, a bit too hot in the afternoon. I was cold for the first hour with just arm warmers, next time might want to take a windbreaker for the first hour.
The bike performed well, with the carridice-style bag mounted under the seat. No real saddle, neck or wrist discomfort (at a few points the pads of my hands felt unconformtable). Thank you Selle Anatomica for the great saddle -- it's sweet to spend 11+ hours in the saddle without complaint.
I made a couple wrong turns with the cue sheet, and learned that if I wasn't sure to take a quick peak with the phone's GPS (I had downloaded a cue list and made a new google map that showed the way points, so it was a pretty easy check). The phone battery wouldn't have lasted the whole day between taking pictures, emailing some of them, updating this blog, and GPS checks. So it was good that the Village Coop let me use my wall charge (which I had thought to bring along). Might be good to have a spare battery for a future long ride.
Speaking of cue sheets, the sheet that I used off of ridewithgps was pretty bad. Lots of little glitches where it sent you up a spur road for .1 miles then back, which made things confusing. The lesson learned here is to hunt for a real queue sheet that a human has built, rather than one that came off someone's GPS ride tracker. Here's the official seven hills wheelmen sheet -- that's the one to use next time I do this ride.
That's all for now folks, other than a last pic of what it feels like at hour 12.5!
The bike performed well, with the carridice-style bag mounted under the seat. No real saddle, neck or wrist discomfort (at a few points the pads of my hands felt unconformtable). Thank you Selle Anatomica for the great saddle -- it's sweet to spend 11+ hours in the saddle without complaint.
I made a couple wrong turns with the cue sheet, and learned that if I wasn't sure to take a quick peak with the phone's GPS (I had downloaded a cue list and made a new google map that showed the way points, so it was a pretty easy check). The phone battery wouldn't have lasted the whole day between taking pictures, emailing some of them, updating this blog, and GPS checks. So it was good that the Village Coop let me use my wall charge (which I had thought to bring along). Might be good to have a spare battery for a future long ride.
Speaking of cue sheets, the sheet that I used off of ridewithgps was pretty bad. Lots of little glitches where it sent you up a spur road for .1 miles then back, which made things confusing. The lesson learned here is to hunt for a real queue sheet that a human has built, rather than one that came off someone's GPS ride tracker. Here's the official seven hills wheelmen sheet -- that's the one to use next time I do this ride.
That's all for now folks, other than a last pic of what it feels like at hour 12.5!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Great stop: leverette village coop
Got here just when I needed a break. Nice grocery with indoor tables to get me out of the heat. Cyclist friendly owner. Tofu and sesame noodles, yum. Sunscreen, yay. Lemonade, and oh yes a lemon bar! Refilled bottles, now I'm reloaded for the afternoon. All that's left is 50 miles and a lot of it is uphill. Let's go!
Words of wisdom
This quote painted on the wall at my breakfast spot makes me feel better about the two wrong turns that added 8 miles to my ride today!
Beautiful morning so far
Shhh, be very quiet
I'm up at 3:45am, heading off to solo the Kings Tour of Quabbin 200k today. It's supposed to reach 93 degrees, best to get an early start. Wish me luck.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Sterling, Massachusetts
Glorious early summer day, trying for a solo century with a climb up wachussets. But I had to stop first for whole grain blueberry pancakes in Sterling. Yum!
Saturday, May 5, 2012
200k Brevet
I've been getting ready for the 200k brevet, and I'm up early because it's today! I've got my official Randoneeurs USA membership. Who knows how far I will go with this sort of thing, but today is the very first one!
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