The Prouty

Saturday morning I took part in The Prouty, a charity bicycle ride for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center in New Hampshire. I must say this was one well supported and enjoyable ride. My goal was to get there early enough to be pedaling by 06:30. I met up with Tom, who encouraged me to ride in the event, in one of the parking lots at Dartmouth. The lot was nearly full of riders getting ready. There were three options & we chose to do the 100 mile ride. Tom rode it last year & said it was a great ride with good roads.

Tom, right before a nice decent.

When we started out it was rather cool, with lots of fog coming off the Connecticut River. This made for a good warm-up and for some nice scenery along the way. There were all sorts of riders at different levels on the road which made it rather interesting at time, but still nonetheless fun. The first 65 miles went by fairly quickly & without any problems except for Tom getting a flat tire. A quick change and we were back on the road. Up to the 65 mile mark we were averaging 18.1mph & it didn’t seem like we were working too hard, just having fun. However, that was all about to change.

One of many barns along the way.

We jumped in with a 20 rider group & stayed in the slipstream for a few miles until we hit a steep little hill along US 5 in Vermont. The group slowed up a bit & Tom launches himself right by them. I jumped on his wheel and off we went, never seeing that group again. Once we got clear, the winds picked up and we were fighting a 20-30mph headwind for the remaining 35 miles or so. This really shelled my legs and burned through a lot of energy. How much so? In a mere 35 miles, my average speed dropped from 18.1mph and feeling great to 17.3mph and feeling wiped out. When I finished all I wanted to do is sleep!

Elevation & speed from the ride.

When it was all said and done, I rode 100.11 miles in 5 hours, 47 minutes & 34 seconds, averaging 17.3mph and climbing 5,856 feet. I was very impressed with the ride & support overall and I would ride this one again. Plenty of food & drink to keep you full of energy. Until next time…Aloha!

Harpoon Ride 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this site, but rest assured I haven’t been sitting idle. I lined up for the annual Harpoon Brewery to Brewery Ride which takes you from Boston to Windsor, Vermont, nearly 150 miles of pedaling. Instead of riding solo, like last year, my riding buddies Tom and Rick signed up. Tom was coming off a bad chest cold and was doubtful for the ride, but made the start line.

Getting up at around 3:30am or so to eat & get my gear ready pretty much stunk. I am not a morning person, but I did manage to get my behind moving. Rick met me at Amy’s place and we packed up and drove into Boston. Amy was a sport, getting up early & driving down, then back again, not too mention meeting us at the finish line.

The finish line in Windsor, VT.

Rick and I arrived at Harpoon’s Boston Brewery around 4:45am, signed in & ate some of the food provided. Tom arrived shortly thereafter and we headed for the start line. Riders were already queuing up and heading out in groups of 25 to 30. Tom, Rick and I went off in the 3^rd group and after weeks of never ending rain & clouds, the weather wasn’t too bad. It was cloudy, cool, but the sun actually peeked through the clouds.

We rolled down Northern Ave to Atlantic Ave in light & leisurely pace snaking our way through the heart of downtown Boston, by Beacon Hill and to Mass Ave. We followed Mass Ave into Cambridge, Arlington then into Lexington. By then, a heavy fog rolled in which made the riding very interesting, but thankfully, there were no crashes.

The 1^st water stop was in Townsend, MA, nearly 47 miles into the ride. Those 1^st 47 miles were ridden at a good pace, but not fast enough to burn through too much energy. The secret to doing an endurance event is eating and drinking. Just when you think you had enough, you wolf down a bit more. There is nothing worse than bonking.

After this stop, the hardest part of the ride in my opinion starts, the road starts going uphill, so a climbing I went. When you are pedaling uphill, it seems like it goes on forever and those little downhill section seems to go by so fast.

As we got closer to the 90 mile mark, Rick got a flat tire, but he quickly changed that and we stopped for the water & food stop right before a 5 mile or so hill climb. By now, the legs are getting a little bit tired, but my stomach was getting sick & tired eating Cliff Bars. Cliff Bars are good, when they you eat one or two, but by the 10^th one, they suck, plain & simple. All I wanted was a sandwich or a piece of pizza. Something, anything with some flavor to it!

How long the ride is.

The climb was, well a long climb. You just have to suffer through it, that’s all. The body can do it, but the brain starts playing those little games & doubt starts to creep in. Just suffer through it as pain is just weakness leaving the body, right?

When I passed the 100 mile mark, I still had nearly 50 miles to go. A good thing was that we started to go downhill and got into a good group of riders that really picked up the pace. For about 10 miles we cruised at around 25-28mph. Then the road tilted uphill again and I got dropped. When that happened I thought it’s a long way to solo, but thankfully that wasn’t the case, for the most part.

At the last stop, about 20 miles from the finish, all kind of goodies were available. I know I tore through 2 bags of chocolate chip cookies faster than the Cookie Monster could ever. I washed the cookies with an ice cold coke which tasted ever so good! Primed and ready to go, off I went.

The roads started to get worse as the miles piled up. Years of neglect, plus frost heaves made for constant vibrating, which took a bigger toll that the ride itself. My elbows started hurting from being shock absorbers on the cobblestonesque roads. However, the suffer was only short lived because I was coming to the old wooden covered bridge that spanned the Connecticut River, because it meant only a few more miles to the brewery.

Rick & I at the finish.

Once I passed through the Cornish-Windsor Bridge, my legs stopped hurting and I kicked it into another gear. Shortly thereafter I rolled into the Brewery parking lot, smelling the air thick with the smoke of grilling chicken and aroma of beer. At the finish line, Amy was waiting for me and snapped a picture. I checked in, stowed my bike, showered up, sat down and enjoyed a nice dinner and well deserved beer. My Garmin 305 Edge GPS gave me these stats for the ride:

8 hours 38 minutes & 26 seconds of pedaling.

147.84 miles ridden.

9,273 feet of climbing.

17.1mph ave speed, 46.8mph max speed

1 semi-sore bum.