Riding into the sunset

[ornoth_cycling]

I want to report on two recent rides of note.

A week ago Saturday, Jay and I drove up to Laconia, New Hampshire and did a 65-mile ride around Lake Winnipesaukee (GPS log). Although there were no large hills, the route was constantly rolling up and down. That, combined with a strong wind and bad legs, spelled a rough day for me. However, it was late season, so my cycling form really didn’t matter, except for frustrating Jay, who is in the best form of his seventeen-years-younger-than-me life.

The route we selected stayed mostly to large main roads, which meant a lot of speeding traffic, and not many views of the lake. However, when the road did dip down by the lake, the scenery was quite nice, even if the leaves had only just begun to turn at that time.

We stopped for lunch at the Yum Yum Shop (a bakery) in Wolfeboro, and called our riding buddy Paul to make him jealous; he grew up in that town.

We were fortunate, because although the forecast had originally predicted a temperature around 70, it actually climbed above 80, which was a rare late-season treat. Near the end of the ride, Jay was warm enough to request that we stop at Ellacoya State Park for a brief swim, despite the strong wind and chilly water.

All in all, it was a mixed expedition, but it had its rewards, and it’s always good to explore new rides. If I do it again, I think I’ll look for more lakeside deviations from the main roads, especially on the northern edge of the lake.

The very next day was another first-time ride: Boston’s annual Hub on Wheels cycling festival, which includes a 50-mile ride around town. I did this one alone (GPS log), which I figured would be good, since I could take it easy and ride slowly, without having to worry about slowing my buddies down. Really, I was mostly interested in getting a little closer to my mid-October mileage goal, as well as participating in a ride I’d hoped to do for several years.

It didn’t work out that way, though. In an effort to avoid getting stuck in the mass of 4,000 riders, I lined up at the front, then set a quick pace on the first leg down the length of a car-free Storrow Drive and back. Getting off at the Bowker overpass and circling the West Fens, I surprised myself by leading for one of the front groups of hammerheads.

As we tracked down through JP toward Dedham, we gradually shed weaker riders, particularly on Peters Hill in the Arboretum and Bellvue Hill, where I took great pleasure in cracking a poseur in his little Lance Armstrong Radio Shack team kit.

While we weren’t the absolute front of the ride, I was proud to be only person who stayed in contact with one guy who went off the front of our pack. Eventually we re-formed into another small group before getting briefly hung up in the crowd of people doing one of the shorter routes.

When we got to Pope John Paul Park at the mouth of the Neponset River, the route signs directed us into a never-ending circle within the park. Knowing my way around that area, I bailed immediately, but because I happened to be at the end of our paceline at the time, none of the other riders in my pack saw me, and I rode alone the rest of the way back to the finish.

I was extremely surprised at finishing the 50-mile route in less than 3 hours clock time, averaging about 18 mph despite the strong wind, the many stops and starts in the urban street network, some extremely rough “surfaces”, and (of course) having worn out legs from the previous day’s hilly 65-mile ride. It was a very strong performance, which was very rewarding after sucking so badly the day before.

Although the ride took place almost entirely within the confines of the city of Boston, the route was actually surprisingly scenic. While I was already familiar with about 80 percent of the route, there were a few new bits, which kept things a little interesting.

It was a fun ride, and one I’d recommend. But if you’re a regular rider, make every effort to get there early, so that you can line up at the head of the pack, which is probably 60 percent recreational riders. Oh, and I don’t suggest pre-registering, since the Hub on Wheels ride has historically had pretty foul weather. 2010 had the best conditions in years, and it was only partly sunny and struggled to break 70 degrees.