Orny's Cycling Journal

Follow this link for my full 2014 Pan-Mass Challenge ride report, including writeup, photos, and GPS logs.

Follow this link for my full 2008 Pan-Mass Challenge ride report, including writeup, photos, and maps.

Follow this link for my full 2006 Pan-Mass Challenge ride report, including writeup and photos.

Yesterday nearly became another 100-mile day.

I began the day doing the first two legs of my usual Quad Cycles ride. It was a bit odd, since a few PMC riders were there to share their post-ride stories, yet a few more riders (including ride leader Bobby Mac) were absent because this weekend is the Mass Red Ribbon Ride, the inheritor to scandalous Palotta Teamworks' Boston-NY AIDS Ride. I rode with the QC folks as far as Concord, where fellow PMC'er Tony and I forked off and headed to Waltham via Baker Bridge Road. Before we went our separate ways, Tony showed me a shortcut on Weston and Silver Hill Roads in Lincoln.

I had come back to Waltham to meet up with some BRC folks who were planning a leisurely ride of their own. After starting in Waltham, the route looped through an area west of Waltham and south of Concord that I'd never ridden through much: Weston, Wayland, and Sudbury. It was pretty relaxing, and a good ride overall. Sandwiched between two rainy days, it was beautiful weather, and even got a bit hot. I even got to show off the Silver Hill shortcut I'd learned from Tony mere hours before!

I'd planned to return home and catch some sleep before heading out again for the annual midnight architectural tour of Boston ride, which I missed last year due to the injuries from my PMC crash, but again it just wasn't to be. I hadn't gotten much sleep this week, and I was really fatigued ofter the 76 miles I'd already done. On top of that, I still had a house guest, and felt what might be just the beginnings of a sinus infection. As if that wasn't enough, the remnants of Hurricane Charley were supposed to hit us in the midnight-to-dawn period, so all things considered, I opted to sleep instead of ride throughout the night. A pity, but it would have brought my day's mileage over a century, and I don't need to be riding those kinds of miles anymore!

It was, however, really cool to be able to just ride for the pure enjoyment of it, while still being at my peak strength and endurance, without pushing myself to train, It made today's 76 miles, replete with hills, a pretty effortless and magical thing. It's always a delight to be able to easily do rides that had been immense and painful challenges only a few months before.