Late Season Summary
Here’s a quick post to get you caught up on things since July’s Climb to the Clouds ride.
This year’s Pan-Mass Challenge was exceptional. I celebrated my tenth year by taking an extra day and riding 93 miles from the New York border to Sturbridge with my riding buddies, making it my first true “pan-Massachusetts” ride. For the full story, see the writeup or view the three videos for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, or the GPS logs for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
I took it easy for a couple weeks after the PMC, but got back onto that horse on Labor Day weekend, with an unorganized century out to Dunstable with the Quad Cycles crew (GPS log), followed the next day by a 36-mile Mt. Wachusett hillfest and cookout with Jay and Paul (GPS log).
I did another century a week later, as we all went down to Dartmouth for the NBW’s Flattest Century (GPS log). I fell back early to ride with Jay’s friend Mary, then flatted on glass as I tried to catch up to the guys. It was a hard, painful effort chasing them all day, and by the end my legs were tighter than I ever recall. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and overcast, with a wind out of the southeast. It was okay, just very challenging.
I was supposed to do the CRW Fall Century a week after that, but both of the friends I knew who were registered and whom I could beg rides from bagged. So I forfeited my $20 registration fee and wound up missing an event I was really looking forward to.
Instead, I did a solo century in an effort to get that eighth century of the year in, and to get a bit closer to this year’s mileage goal. I did the first 50 miles of the Outriders route as an out-and-back (GPS log). The turnaround point was Plymouth, so I stopped briefly (I thought) at Plymouth Rock for a rest, but wound up getting stuck while Liam’s Run (a charity 5k) ambled past. Weather was good, so it was a pretty nice ride, tho I would rather have closed the year with the CRW ride, which I’ve never done before but looks rather challenging.
That brings you up to date. There are only two and a half weeks left to my cycling year, so you can expect a year-end summary around the middle of October.