From start to finish, 2018 was a disappointment.

After the extreme effort to conquer the 2017 Dirty Dozen ( blogpost) and my 250,000-foot climbing goal ( blogpost), I fell into an enduring malaise and lack of motivation that lasted all of 2018. On top of that, three long trips-smack in the middle of training season-ensured I couldn’t get back into ( Read more... )

I rarely write up rides of less than 100 miles, but given how disappointing 2018 has been, it’s worth mentioning how nice Sunday’s Pittsburgh Randonneurs Kittens & Puppies 100k (that’s 62 miles) was.

We started 25 miles down the Ohio River in Monaca PA, then headed north along the Beaver River-almost to Ellwood City-then paralleled the PA Turnpike ( Read more... )

There are two kinds of rainy days on the bike. There’s days with passing showers but things dry out quickly; and there’s day-long pouring rain that leaves you no choice but to slog through to the end of the ride.

This year’s Escape to the Lake MS Ride had one day of each kind.

To be fair, it’s been that kind of year. As I wrote in my last post, ( Read more... )

A week at a Tuscan villa is a cyclist’s dream vacation: scenic rolling hills, sunny Mediterranean weather, and-in May-the chance to visit the Giro d’Italia, one of the three European Grand Tours at the elite level of professional cycling. When the opportunity arose, I leapt at the chance.

Although the trip was ostensibly to join Inna and her kin ( Read more... )

Sunday I was up dark and early for my first Mon Valley Century ride.

Or rather, to check the radar to see if conditions were too ugly to ride. The forecast had called for day-long rain and thunderstorms as a powerful front rolled through, but at 4:20am the radar didn’t look prohibitive, and the NWS forecast language had moderated slightly.

( Read more... )

One of the ironies of being hired by Buildium was that they field a team for the Cape Cod Getaway MS Ride. Being well-known for my cycling, I was pretty much obligated to ride, despite having made a big deal about quitting the PMC-the big charity ride I’ve been involved with for 14 years-last year. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to the MS Ride ( Read more... )

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

Follow this link for my full 2011 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.

Oof.

Yesterday I had to bike to two different places: leaving work in Stoneham/Woburn a bit early, I had to pick something up at a store in Burlington, then ride down to Cambridge for an evening activity.

Yesterday’s forecast: 30% change of an afternoon thunderstorm, with up to a tenth of an inch of rain possible. A pretty good storm rolled ( Read more... )