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A Trek To Vermont →
My trip up to Vermont to do some cycling.
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South Shore Coastal Loop
Took the posted SSCL route and modified it to start at the South Weymouth Commuter Rail stop (Kingston Line). This was a great day for this route. I think I had a tailwind pretty much all day until the turnaround in Hull. Lots of nice coast line views and a few scenic spots for pictures,
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NER 600K Ride Report
Terrain:
So rolling hills through out, so could do a bunch of power down one descent to get up the next but there were enough punchy climbs in between to make a hard go of it. Of course there is the Kancamagus Pass. It was a pretty consistent grade until near the end where it kind of stairstepped up with some steep pitches.Weather:
It was a pretty warm one for this time of year. It was upper 70’s and a little bit of 80’s during the day and only got down to mid fifties during the night. Was fine with jersey and sunsleeves during the day and added a gilet at night. I was working hard enough that was warm enough to not freeze and not so warm i would sweat heavily and freeze in the wind.Nutrition:
This was really good again. The infinit nutrition go far stuff really works for me. I used mostly that and had a few bars during the day. I then would add a sandwich and a coke at the rest stop. Only thing i need to improve on is a way to get more caffeine at the end without as much carbonation from soda or so much other liquid I risk water belly.Riding with Friends:
it was pretty cool this time that i was out with the lead group until the first rest stop. Usually I end up falling off the back early and then catching up with some stragglers after people blow up trying to stay with the lead group. After the first rest stop I rode with a couple different people for small sections but then it became mostly meeting up and seeing during rest stops. Day2 I rode the vast majority of the day with Simon. It was great to just be riding along and we had a few cooling off stops of just dousing ourselves with water, Simon also gave me some much needed ibuprofen for my knees which were feeling really sore.Mental Outlook:
It was an interesting contrast to the 400 where I had a real low during the drizzling rain, this time the only real low points were on a few of the punchier climbs. The Kancamagus was great and I stopped at a couple overlooks but the grade was not that punishing until the last few miles.Interesting Incidents:
- got a point, stare, holy shit commit from onlookers at a cyclist going up the Kancamangus pass
- Had the usual rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, but also saw a lot more roadkill this time too. A couple beaver, some squirrels and a possum
- lots of sport motorcycles and performance cars (corvette, porsche, camaro, and a bunch of roadster class convertables) going up and down the Kancamangus.Findings for next event:
- didn’t like seatback setup as much. more fiddly than I wanted to deal with for layers and nutrition. I want to try the catalyst bag and two bottle bags up front with the shrew seat pack instead. Will have to see if the extra weight in the front makes me hate the handling.
- power banks don’t charge my rear lights well. will charge for about a minute then stop
- might need stronger rear light SL-50 seemed not bright enough on backroadsstrava links:
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NER 400K Ride Report
Terrain:
rolling hills so not a ton of sustained climbing, and that resulted in Garmin climb pro popping up for just one hill. Road surfaces were good to excellent for most of the ride. Some potholes were out there and a little hard to see during the night ride but fairly limited.
Weather:
The weather did not start out great. I looked at the radar before leaving and it looked to be clearing up so I left the rain gloves at home and took some thin thermal gloves in case it was cooler while riding up the coast. That was a mistake would have been better off taking the rain gloves and possibly a cycling cap for the riding before lunch. Lunch was when it really did finally clear up and I did put on sunscreen. I managed to not get my arms burnt, but some tanning on face did happen but at this point doesn’t appear to be a burn. Temperatures (65-80) were really nice through out rode the with a vest and arm warmers early and shed those at lunch. Was in shorts, jersey and base-layer for the vast majority of the ride. Slowly transitioned back to the arm warmers and vest as night fell again.
Nutrition:
I think I got this almost 100% right. Started off with 2 bottles of Infinit Nutrition Go Far(fruit punch) and 1 bottle of Fluid Nutrition’s Berry flavor. Then I had a full sampler pack of Clif bars, a half dozen Nature’s Bakery Fig bars (Blueberry). For refills of the bottles had most of a sampler pack of Tailwinds Nutrition packs. At pretty much every checkpoint I had a can of coke and either a Clif bar or fig bar. For lunch I had a very plain ham and cheese sub, think I disappointed the deli guy as he wanted to do a full boat of fixins but wanted it more plain to hope it stay down. This ended up with me feeling very good and pretty well fueled throughout. The only criticism I would have would be I should have had an additional bar or sandwich at the 170 mile checkpoint.
Riding with friends:
From the start It was a little tough as I wanted to stay with the pack until we were out of the start area. I rode mostly alone for the initial part of the ride until about after lunch. For the last half of the ride or so I was riding with Keith and Anya. Riding with them made the last half of the ride very enjoyable and helped the miles pass quickly and really help me hold a good mental outlook and positive attitude. It was also nice to chat with two more experienced riders who were a little closer to my own pace for how they ride these long events.
I also finally got to meet Greg in real life! We have been talking so much about riding it was great to see him face to face.
Mental Outlook:
I was told there would be highs and lows during the ride and that was true. For me the initial part of the ride was the toughest bit as the weather made it tough and at that point I was mostly riding alone. But riding with Keith and Anya for the last half of the ride made it so enjoyable. I seemed to have like two or three surges after meeting up with them and that was really good for morale.
Interesting Incidents:
Impossibly young cop at a road closure, he looked about 12 and made me feel impossibly old. Let the riders pass through which was very nice as I at least was having issues looking for an alternate route. Road closure looked to possibly be crash reconstruction related as they were using survey equipment to measure distances between differing points.
Saw a couple deer and a bunch of bats at night riding the pitch black roads. Saw a ton of rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels through out the entire ride
Saw a rider(?) on an ellipti-go go past while eating lunch.
Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/5608450223
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NER 400K pictures
Some pictures from control points
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Danvers Gravel and More
Danvers gravel adventure, nice loop from Gene from CRW. A bit to the max of my ability in some spots but tons of fun. Did some extra credit gravel on a couple rail trails coming home.
pic 1: two bikes that are supposedly the same model separated by 5 years. The one on the right is more Road and the one on the left more mountain bike
pic2: two tired riders after a really hot ride. Drank a bunch of Drink Mix/water had a refill water stop on the ride.
pic 3: one of a few of the very nice rail trails we were on during the ride.
pic 4: some bike carrying required around a big mudhole and downed trees.
pic 5: some of the more overgrown sections of the route due to the recent rain and warm weather.
strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/5497656906
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Cape Ann ride featuring Rockport and Gloucester
A nice long ride for my birthday weekend. It was very hot but had plenty of fluids with me. I was hoping to make this a century ride but cramped at a stop light in Beverly and decided to be smart and take the train home to cut mileage and recover in some air conditioning. 2 Pics posts to follow.
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/5426718600
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