...and not just to make it sound quaint. i just found out that i am going to be riding with soy, han, and matty in the d2r2, a back road extravaganza down in western mass and southern vermont. i thought a few longer sessions in the saddle pedaling on gravel would be appreciated, especially toward the end of whatever route they are taking. if i remember right they usually go between 100-160K, or 62-100miles for us americans. the franklin land trust people who put on the event must think kilometers is hip--i can understand that. i got two 60+ milers, or about 100K for you hipsters, about half of which was on gravel of varying condition.
tuesday, instead of turning the front wheel toward school, i went left. (i practice an anti-regan, always go left when you can, system of making choices--someday i will explain...) it was early, cool, and not much wind so i was pretty quickly ten miles or more east on rt 4 when i caught a brief glimpse of my coworker's orange prius c heading west to work. it is one of my favorite car colors--habanero--and usually would have jumped right out at me. i must have had my head down and my legs spinning hard. she told me wednesday she definitely saw me and recognized my bright orange head scarf.
my scarf and i were going to newfound lake to visit some friends i used to teach with way way back in '94. glenn and susan had a summer gig running camp walamut for years, but now they were there as campers for a couple weeks. taking mostly paved roads got me there much earlier than we had guessed, even with my stopping a couple of times and asking folks if i was on the right road. the two had been working on a totem pole and had just about finished painting it. they took me over to see it, still lying prone on a couple of bunks but ready to be raised. i also got a bit of a tour of the camp featuring some tree damage from that microburst i wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
turns out their end of the lake got hit hard and dropped several pines--one through a roof and the floor of a cabin and another sheering off a porch. it makes our forty feet of trees lying in the field seem fortunate. campers and guests got right on it, the new roof on and floor being sanded when we went by. the porch was waiting to be rebuilt after they turned the cottage ninety degrees to face the lake.
after the tour, we sat at a picnic out in front of their cabin, drank tea, and talked for a time. glenn did ask me if i planned on working that afternoon, but i was toying with taking the back roads up and over the southern shoulder of mt cardigan. that would be much slower than the mornings paved route--i could always work another day. i finished a nice crisp apple and two mugs of tea from my hosts and a cliff bar that i had in my bag. it was time to pack, get in a couple of solid hugs, and pedal off.
i got to the corner of washburn road, where the gravel started, in a short time and committed. i knew it was going to be a climb, but maybe not quite so relentless. i topped out onto wild meadow road five miles later, and 1500 feet--457 meters--higher. it was a good pull and i earned some downhill doing it, but i still had 6 or 7 miles of gifford hill, brock hill, and burnt hill roads to get me over the height of land at the cardigan winter parking lot. washburn--why wasn't that road a hill?--turned out to be in the best condition of all, packed fairly smooth. the others had suffered in the dry and developed a good amount of 'washboard'. i even had to hop off and hike 20 yards of one steep and really loose section when my back wheel got too squirrelly.
but like i told jalil last year, grinding up some "big ass hills", as he came to call them, if you keep pedaling, you keep moving. i admit, i was at times moving pretty slowly, but kept going and in time i crested all the hills and set up to fly down. the top half mile or so is gravel and two tourist cars were taking it slow. i followed behind and waited to cut loose until i passed orange basin and the road went pavement. i ended up passing one of the cars that kept its slow pace. there was some pedaling involved getting to canaan, but with a heavy gravity assist. after town, for the last 4 miles i took to the rail trail and avoided all traffic. i got up to stark hill, on the fairly flat side, and cruised into the drive way, tired and happy.
the rest of the week was hotter than blazes, but nightly swims at goose pond and shutting up the house during the day, kept us cool. i switched over to the drilled well to save the dug well level. the dug is gravity feed to the house and i would hate to loose the syphon. we hadn't used the drilled for years so it was good to try it. iron in the water is still showing three days later. pam is wondering if she will ever be able to wash her load of whites...
saturday morning was cloudy and looked like it would rain at any minute. the coolness finely convinced me that a bike ride was worth it even if it did rain. i suited up, told pam i was taking the rt 4 -- 4A loop, and pedaled away. at the end of our road, i went left (of course), and started thinking of all the hills on 4A and the roads getting over there. i decided to attack them first and not leave them for the end like i did on tuesday. out past grafton pond the gravel got really rough as they were doing some serious ditching--it looked like they were even having to blast ledge. it was slow going there and up hardy hill. a mile over the height of land the gravel ran into pavement and i flew down to 4A...and turned left.
right away i noticed that i was headed almost directly into the wind. i had a few miles and about 500ft of climbing before i would start dropping, and a head wind would not make that any easier. i stopped and took a picture of my shirt blowing the opposite way my bike was pointed.
i figured i could stop going home and take a similar shot, especially if the wind changed into my face again going west. last year with jalil i struggled with wind and get a bit bummed when it blows at my nose.
through wilmot, onto 11 and into andover where i turned west on rt 4. it was a cross wind, pushing me toward the ditch so the first chance i had i slipped into the woods and picked up the rail trail. ah--no wind in there. i started passing WRJ granite post mile markers--B going the other way--and did some quick math. i had about 25 miles behind me and about 25 ahead. i decided to stop and take a halfway break. a few miles later i stopped and took a picture of one of the markers.
things were going well when i thought i felt a heavy drop on my bald spot. the rain was finally coming. the next chance i had i got back out to rt 4 as wet gravel loves my chain and i had just cleaned it.
not long after i made it onto pavement, the rain came down in earnest and i had about a five mile shower until i heard a "koby!" at the green in grafton center. brewster was sitting out on his front porch and invited me up for a break. he is on the mvrsd school board and i have always had fun talking with him--it was a good chance to wring out my shirt!
a half an hour later it had pretty much stopped raining and i said goodbye. ten-eleven miles and no complications after that, i was home. pam came out on the porch to welcome me. she was wondering why i was gone for 4+ hours--i don't think she understood the 4A -- rt 4 55-ish mile loop thing. no matter, i was home, i hadn't melted, my legs still had some life in them, and we were planning on 'eating out of the garden'--new fingerling potatoes, tender green beans from our plot, and fresh sweet corn from another local farm!
tuesday, instead of turning the front wheel toward school, i went left. (i practice an anti-regan, always go left when you can, system of making choices--someday i will explain...) it was early, cool, and not much wind so i was pretty quickly ten miles or more east on rt 4 when i caught a brief glimpse of my coworker's orange prius c heading west to work. it is one of my favorite car colors--habanero--and usually would have jumped right out at me. i must have had my head down and my legs spinning hard. she told me wednesday she definitely saw me and recognized my bright orange head scarf.
my scarf and i were going to newfound lake to visit some friends i used to teach with way way back in '94. glenn and susan had a summer gig running camp walamut for years, but now they were there as campers for a couple weeks. taking mostly paved roads got me there much earlier than we had guessed, even with my stopping a couple of times and asking folks if i was on the right road. the two had been working on a totem pole and had just about finished painting it. they took me over to see it, still lying prone on a couple of bunks but ready to be raised. i also got a bit of a tour of the camp featuring some tree damage from that microburst i wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
turns out their end of the lake got hit hard and dropped several pines--one through a roof and the floor of a cabin and another sheering off a porch. it makes our forty feet of trees lying in the field seem fortunate. campers and guests got right on it, the new roof on and floor being sanded when we went by. the porch was waiting to be rebuilt after they turned the cottage ninety degrees to face the lake.
after the tour, we sat at a picnic out in front of their cabin, drank tea, and talked for a time. glenn did ask me if i planned on working that afternoon, but i was toying with taking the back roads up and over the southern shoulder of mt cardigan. that would be much slower than the mornings paved route--i could always work another day. i finished a nice crisp apple and two mugs of tea from my hosts and a cliff bar that i had in my bag. it was time to pack, get in a couple of solid hugs, and pedal off.
i got to the corner of washburn road, where the gravel started, in a short time and committed. i knew it was going to be a climb, but maybe not quite so relentless. i topped out onto wild meadow road five miles later, and 1500 feet--457 meters--higher. it was a good pull and i earned some downhill doing it, but i still had 6 or 7 miles of gifford hill, brock hill, and burnt hill roads to get me over the height of land at the cardigan winter parking lot. washburn--why wasn't that road a hill?--turned out to be in the best condition of all, packed fairly smooth. the others had suffered in the dry and developed a good amount of 'washboard'. i even had to hop off and hike 20 yards of one steep and really loose section when my back wheel got too squirrelly.
but like i told jalil last year, grinding up some "big ass hills", as he came to call them, if you keep pedaling, you keep moving. i admit, i was at times moving pretty slowly, but kept going and in time i crested all the hills and set up to fly down. the top half mile or so is gravel and two tourist cars were taking it slow. i followed behind and waited to cut loose until i passed orange basin and the road went pavement. i ended up passing one of the cars that kept its slow pace. there was some pedaling involved getting to canaan, but with a heavy gravity assist. after town, for the last 4 miles i took to the rail trail and avoided all traffic. i got up to stark hill, on the fairly flat side, and cruised into the drive way, tired and happy.
the rest of the week was hotter than blazes, but nightly swims at goose pond and shutting up the house during the day, kept us cool. i switched over to the drilled well to save the dug well level. the dug is gravity feed to the house and i would hate to loose the syphon. we hadn't used the drilled for years so it was good to try it. iron in the water is still showing three days later. pam is wondering if she will ever be able to wash her load of whites...
saturday morning was cloudy and looked like it would rain at any minute. the coolness finely convinced me that a bike ride was worth it even if it did rain. i suited up, told pam i was taking the rt 4 -- 4A loop, and pedaled away. at the end of our road, i went left (of course), and started thinking of all the hills on 4A and the roads getting over there. i decided to attack them first and not leave them for the end like i did on tuesday. out past grafton pond the gravel got really rough as they were doing some serious ditching--it looked like they were even having to blast ledge. it was slow going there and up hardy hill. a mile over the height of land the gravel ran into pavement and i flew down to 4A...and turned left.
right away i noticed that i was headed almost directly into the wind. i had a few miles and about 500ft of climbing before i would start dropping, and a head wind would not make that any easier. i stopped and took a picture of my shirt blowing the opposite way my bike was pointed.
i figured i could stop going home and take a similar shot, especially if the wind changed into my face again going west. last year with jalil i struggled with wind and get a bit bummed when it blows at my nose.
through wilmot, onto 11 and into andover where i turned west on rt 4. it was a cross wind, pushing me toward the ditch so the first chance i had i slipped into the woods and picked up the rail trail. ah--no wind in there. i started passing WRJ granite post mile markers--B going the other way--and did some quick math. i had about 25 miles behind me and about 25 ahead. i decided to stop and take a halfway break. a few miles later i stopped and took a picture of one of the markers.
things were going well when i thought i felt a heavy drop on my bald spot. the rain was finally coming. the next chance i had i got back out to rt 4 as wet gravel loves my chain and i had just cleaned it.
not long after i made it onto pavement, the rain came down in earnest and i had about a five mile shower until i heard a "koby!" at the green in grafton center. brewster was sitting out on his front porch and invited me up for a break. he is on the mvrsd school board and i have always had fun talking with him--it was a good chance to wring out my shirt!
a half an hour later it had pretty much stopped raining and i said goodbye. ten-eleven miles and no complications after that, i was home. pam came out on the porch to welcome me. she was wondering why i was gone for 4+ hours--i don't think she understood the 4A -- rt 4 55-ish mile loop thing. no matter, i was home, i hadn't melted, my legs still had some life in them, and we were planning on 'eating out of the garden'--new fingerling potatoes, tender green beans from our plot, and fresh sweet corn from another local farm!
