Mount Washington Race

What an experience this year’s Mount Washington Hill Climb Bicycle Race was! Unlike 2007, when the race was canceled due to high winds (70+ mph), sleet & temps in the low 30’s, racers were showered with hot & humid temps with clear skies. Rising around 6am, I cooked up so oatmeal using the coffee maker in the hotel room while Amy slept in. After breakfast we rolled out to for an obligatory iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts and off to the Mount Washington Auto Road we drove. On the 30 minute drive, we couldn’t believe how warm and humid it was. Not too mention there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

We arrived at the base of the auto road and it was already popping with action. Riders were setting up on their trainers, eating, joking or riding around to get out pre-race jitters. I got kitted up and my gear ready. Before I headed out for my warm-up ride, I bided Amy and good ride up the mountain and she wished me a great race. I then pedaled across the street to the café and looked up the mountain. From where I was standing on my bike, along with many others, you could see the sunlight reflecting off car windows all the way up. This when I begin to wonder what the hell I am doing. So what if the course is 7.6 miles all uphill, gaining 4,727 feet in elevation, averaging around 12% with the final 150 feet of the race a staggering 22% grade. Oh well, no sense in giving up now.

A beast of a course...all suffering.

As I lined up at the start line, I put my iPod on & waited for my heat to start. The top notch riders start time was 8:35am, mine 8:40am. While at the start line, I was already sweating profusely. It was hot & humid at the base with the sun baking the riders assembled. The rising temperatures will be a problem for all the riders. Riding a bicycle uphill generates a lot of body heat and riding at speeds between 3 and 9 mph, you’re not going to cool down.

The countdown starts for my heat and off goes the cannon. Away I go in a large group. At this point, this is probably the fastest anyone will go all day, since it is flat for 100 yards or so until the road starts pitching up. As I pass the toll house, there was nearly a crash as riders jockeyed for position. How bad would that suck…crashing at the start of the race!

As the road tilted skyward, I settled into a nice rhythm and felt good. I was getting hot fast, but I wasn’t too worried, the shade of the trees were doing nicely at keeping the temps reasonable, even though it was rising fast. As I approached about ½ mile into the race I heard a strange sound from my bike, which I thought that was the derailleur was slightly out of adjustment. However, that wasn’t the case. Nearly a second after I thought that, my chain broke. I unclipped so I wouldn’t fall over and I couldn’t believe what happened.

I know how this feels.

I was off to the side of the road, looked down at the broken chain and let out of torrent of swears and looked down. What was I going to do? Here I am ½ mile in and my chain f@#$%&* broke! To add insult to injury, I didn’t have my tool kit with me. Riders going by shouted out everything from encouragement to “oh man that sucks” to “you put out some torque!” I walked up bike in one hand and chain over the shoulder to a “level” part. This level part was only 5% or so. Well, that’s what my cycling GPS said. One rider going by yelled out to me “what happened” as he approached. I said “chain broke.” This handed me a master link, but it didn’t work. It was a 10 speed link and my chain is a 9 speed. Yes, this made all the difference in the world. All my squeezing couldn’t get the links to lock into place.

The mountain claims another.

Another rider approached and saw my dilemma and had a chain tool! Yeah! As the rider rode away he said his name and “I’ll see ya at the top.” As I started to work on my chain, every rider was now on the road and had already gone by. As of that moment I was dead last. It took more time than I thought to fix the chain. As I was fiddling with it & very badly I might add, a race official pulled up and asked what happened. I told her, she took down my race number and asked if I was going to abandon the race. I looked at her and said “Hell no, I’ll carry the bike all the way up if I have to!” About 30 seconds after I said that, a rider rode down the road, chain in his hand. He gave up.

The race official radioed to see if the mechanic was still at the base, but he had already left. She then radioed my race number and stated that I was not abandoning the race. As I was fiddling with the chain and tool. A couple of people walking down the road stopped to help. These guys were cyclists and helped me fix the chain. God bless them for their help!

I lost nearly ½ hour due to the chain breaking With the chain fixed, off I went, dead last with the temperature rising fast. Anger and adrenaline got me about ¾ mile up the road before the heat started to get to me. Sweat was pouring off my nose like a river and I was suffering like a dog. As I climbed I started to see riders in front of me. I slowly picked off riders, who were suffering from the heat. Even though I was still in the tree line, shade was at a premium, sun bearing down and little wind. Thankfully, I brought 2 water bottles with me.

Race winner Phillip Gaimon on the 22% grade.

Around mile 4 (I think) I was out of the tree line and a breeze finally crossed my body. It was refreshing, even though I was still sweating bullets as I continued to turn the pedals, slowly passing riders here and there. The views going up are beautiful and looking around does take the mind off the pain & suffering for brief moments. Entering into the hard-packed dirt section, I could see what looked like a rider down on the side of the road. As I got closer, the rider was lying prostrate on the ground with race officials over him. This rider bonked and overheated. Thankfully the medics were on the way and the officials were tried to cool his core temperature down with water on the back of the neck and on his jersey. If I had an extra gel pack I would have given it to him, but I was out.

This guy was nuts!

As I got closer and closer to the finish, the dropping temperatures made riding more bearable, even though I was suffering. My morale boosted as I crossed the 7 mile and 6,000 feet markers, not too mention the people lining the roads cheering you on. I just kept my head down and pushed as hard as I could without blowing up.

Me, about ready to hit the 22% section before the finish.

On the 22%, praying that I don't fall over.

The truly hardest part of the race is the last 150 feet of the race. It’s a reverse “S” bend and a cruel 22% gradient. The steepness causes riders to fall over because they are so tired from the ride, they cannot generate enough speed to overcome gravity. Amy took a lot of pictures of riders nearing the finish. As I approached the final stretch all I could think about was not falling over and finishing as hard as I could. I could hear people yelling my number out, words of encouragement and telling me stay to the outside of the bends, where it is a tad less steep. While going up this last section, I felt strong, but I could also feel gravity fighting me. The front wheel wanted to come off the ground and if it did I would have gone ass over teakettle. Thankfully, it didn’t and when I rode through the last bend, I clicked down two gears and sprinted to the finish line.

Almost there...

Crossing the finish line.

Crossing the line brought great joy, especially seeing my girl Amy at the finish line cheering me on. I felt so much stronger than last year’s race. Too bad my official time was worse than last year’s, but that’s what happens when your chain breaks. At least I didn’t finish dead f@#$%# last. However, that doesn’t matter; any rider who finishes this race is someone special. This is one of the toughest (if not the toughest) bicycle hill climb race in the country. Congratulations to all who dared to step up to the line. A special thanks to Larry the tool guy, you saved my race and a very special thanks to my girlfriend Amy…you’re the best babe! Until next time…Aloha!

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.

Scotland

The past ten days have been quite an adventure for yours truly. First, my brother Matt and I went to Mt. Snow, VT for a day of skiing. It was snowing the whole ride up which meant that we were in for some good conditions. Now, I haven’t been skiing since 2003 and at that time I did not enjoy it one single bit due to my back problems. Matt, on the other hand has been skiing consistently for many years. Last year he and the Ellis brothers climbed up Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington and skied down the bowl. A testament to his skills.

After arriving I rented a pair of skis and off we went. The mountain was ungroomed which made for some fine skiing. It took me a couple of runs, but I was starting to get some of my game back, not too mention having a lot of fun. After about a dozen or so runs, including some in the glades we called it a day. The snow had changed over to freezing rain, which meant for a long slow ride back home. Nonetheless, we had an awesome day.

Three days later I was on plane bound for Scotland. My friend Matt is pilot for a certain airline and he had a five day layover there and asked if I wanted to go. How could I not say yes? After a 6 ½ hour flight, in business class, we landed in Edinburgh. After a nap, we went and saw the Edinburgh Capitals Hockey team play a game. The arena was old & smelly, sort of like the War Memorial Arena in the movie Slapshot. It was a really good game which ended in the home team winning 4-3.

At the Edinburgh Capitals game.

After the game we made our way back to the hotel for some dinner before going to a pub to watch the Super Bowl. Some of the pub patrons kept asking us different questions about the game and what was going on. It was fun explaining it too them over a nice pint.

Edinburgh Castle

The next day we went on a walking tour of Edinburgh. The highlight was touring the Edinburgh Castle. I spent over 3 hours touring the castle and its various displays, including the Scottish Crown Jewels. One part that was very interesting was some of the graffiti left behind by the various prisoners over the centuries. After touring the castle we went to a museum of Scotch Whisky. The in the museum had one fine collection. I sampled a Balvenie 17 year old single malt aged in rum casks. Let me just say that it was one fine whisky.

A fine tasting Scotch.

Nessie, would we see her?

On Tuesday we rented a car and drove 3 hours north to Loch Ness. Upon arriving, we took an hour boat tour of the Loch. I knew that it was deep, but it got deep fast! The boat was about 200 yards off shore and the depth finder was showing us in nearly 700 feet of water. The tour took us to Urquhart Castle, which is shown in about every documentary about the Loch Ness Monster. Sadly, Nessie didn’t make an appearance.

She's getting mighty deep Cap'n.

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness.

After the tour, we made our way to the Cardhu Distillery. It was little over an hour drive from the Loch to Cardhu, but it was worth it. Cardhu is one of my favorite single malt whiskies. We took a tour of the distillery and our guide Irene was fantastic. The one question that I really had was why I haven’t seen Cardhu in the USA for a few years. Her answer was simple; they could not keep up with demand. As of right now, other than the distillery, it is only sold in France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Once the tour was over, I picked a bottle for myself, plus a couple of single malts that I haven’t seen before. I cannot wait to crack open those during a future Scotch night with the gang.

The name speaks for itself.

Where Cardhu is aged for 12 years in oak casks.

Just happy to have one. I'm a man of simple pleasures.

Wednesday we flew back to home and I made it too my place around 9pm or so. It was nice to be home, but I wish I had another few days to visit all the distilleries in the Speyside region. Thankfully, a friend took care of my mail and truck which was cleaned off after more snow was dumped on the Boston area when I was gone.

Sadly, I received some bad news over the next few days. The first was a postcard from an old Air Force friend who said that his brother had died suddenly. Having lost a brother, I know how he’s feeling, especially since his brother, like mine, was an alcoholic. Saturday, while at work, I received an email from someone whom I care a lot about saying that she had contracted Malaria while working for the UN in the Belgian Congo. To compound things, this is the 2^nd time she has contracted it (1^st time was in1994) and she tested positive for the nastier form of it. The last place I wanted to be was at work, so I left at 8pm to enjoy a nice pint and reflect. My thoughts and prayers go out to both of them.

Until next time…Aloha!

White Mountains

Tuesday morning I woke up, got my cycling gear ready, packed up my truck and off I went. Before hitting the highway, I stopped by and did my civic duty and voted. From there it was off to grab a nice hearty breakfast from Newcomb Farms to fuel the body. My usual breakfast partner could not make it due to working back to back double shifts at work. What a madwoman! Ha-ha…I know she’ll be reading this so I had to give her a little needling.

The drive up to the White Mountains in NH was fantastic. It’s so nice to get such an awesome day in November. A little over two hours later I pulled into the parking lot of Loon Mountain. My mission for the day was to bicycle up the Kancamagus Pass. I’ve done the pass at least once a year for the past three years, and usually in October. I wanted to mount my camera on the handlebars and film my decent. So I wrapped my mini-tripod with bungee cord and off I went.

My stead, before the ride.

From Loon Mountain’s parking lot to the top is almost 11 miles with an elevation gain of about 1,800 feet. I hadn’t ridden my bicycle in nearly two weeks due to work commitments & weekends away. I wondered how my legs would react. As I pedaled away, there was a thin dry layer of salt on the road with sand on the sides. Where there was shade, it was wet and slick. I made not of that for the decent. Thin tires, 40mph speeds, slick roads & sand do not make for a good combination.

Heading up the pass.

It took me just under 56 minutes to ride to the top. I wasn’t pushing it as hard I usually would because I was overheating. I put one base layer too many on and I was sweating bullets. I took a minute to catch my breath, flipped on the camera & away I went. Descending on bicycle is like skiing, it’s a lot of fun, but in the back of your mind you are always thinking that you are mere inches from total disaster. I rode down a bit more conservatively than I usually do, especially coming into the 1^st bend. One could easily hit 50mph here, but before coming into the corner it was very slick. So I tapped my brakes going about 40mph instead. The tripod and camera kept listing to the left and I kept helping it back to center. As always the ride down was so much fun! My trip down took just under 24 minutes.

A cold mountain river.

At the parking lot I stowed my bike and took a look at the video. I got a good chuckle at it. Since the memory card was filled, I downloaded it to my laptop. When this was done, it was time for the good ol’ shower in a bottle. After getting cleaned up and gear all stowed, off I went to take some pictures of nature’s immense beauty.

I grabbed a nice early dinner in North Conway and had planned on finding a nice little café to sip a coffee and bang out this blog. Along the way I saw a Starbucks, which I usually avoid like the plague, but I was sure they would have wifi. Now, I’m not a fan of Starbucks coffee, so instead I grabbed a hot chocolate, plugged my laptop in waited. Little did I know that Starbucks charges for its wifi! I must say that I wasn’t too happy about this and being quite disgusted, I got up & left. Just another reason to never, ever go into Starbucks.

By now it was dusk and it was time to start heading back. Along the way I kept and eye out for moose. I saw one back in August around dusk when coming home from the Mt. Washington race. This time I had my camera at the ready. Alas, no moose, nor squirrel.

Bridge over the river.

On the way back I met up with my buddy Pete in Somerville for a pint & burgers at a local pub. We went to O’Sullivan’s Pub which had some of the tastiest burgers I have had in a long time. After food & pints, it was time to go home. On the way back I stopped by the automatic car wash to clean the salt off the bike. I walked through my door close to midnight, my day complete.

Near the top of the Kancamagus Pass.

More views from near the top of the pass.

Another great view...how can you go wrong on days like these?

One more for the road.

Monday Surfing & Commie's Wedding

Today I got out for a nice morning session at Nantasket, but before I get on to that, I just want to send out a big congratulations to Commie & Pam, who were married over the weekend in Nantucket. It’s so nice to share in their celebration as they are good friends & people. I wish you both all the happiness, love & joy that you richly deserve. Godspeed!

Commie & Pam at the moment of truth.












left to right, me, Commie, Long Haired Jeff, Ando & Lil' Kevin aka the Surf Ninja.


With that, now back to today’s session…

It’s so nice to wake up, see the sun shining, check the surf cams and watch all those nice waves roll in. When I checked the Boston buoy, it was showing the water temps in the low 50s. In my surfing kit I packed the gloves and an extra undershirt. I ate breakfast, grabbed my board and off I went to Nantasket. Along the way I picked up the usual iced coffee to enjoy both before & after the session.


Right before I paddled out.


Upon arriving the waves were even nicer than on the cams. I got kitted up and paddled out in the usual spot, by the refurbished bathhouse. I’m glad that I packed the extra gear because the water is getting chillier. There were only a few other surfers in the water and I had my area all to myself. Although solo sessions are fun, it would have been nice to have some of the gang there. Alas, with work and other obligations, that wasn’t going to happen today.


My gear, after the session.

The waves ranged from knee to chest and very clean. How clean was it? I only missed one wave that I paddled for. Yes, I was on my game today and the good Lord truly blessed me. All green water rides and once again tried to walk out onto the nose. One of these days I’ll get my toes over the edge, but today wasn’t that day. I did manage to walk-out my board from underneath me. I got a good laugh out it because I was having so much fun. After a little over on hour in the water, I pulled up camp and made my way home. Yes, life is truly good and what makes it sweeter are gems like today. Stoke factor is off the scale right now. Until next time, mahalo for reading and aloha!