Out for a Ride
My eight days of hell started Saturday with a resounding bang: my sixth time doing the Boston to Provincetown Outriders ride, which at 130 miles has been my longest one-day ride of the year since back in 2010.
The weather was almost ideal, starting cool and warming nicely under the solstice sun. The wind would be surprisingly favorable: starting at our backs on the southbound leg to Sandwich, swinging into our faces on the eastbound segment to Orleans, and then becoming a three-quarter tailwind on the final slog north up the cape.
Having trained less than normal this year, I decided to take things easy. This was made more pleasant and easier to remember when I latched onto two slightly slower riders-Ian and Billy-shortly after Quincy. We stayed more or less together through the first rest stop in Halifax, until I finally felt the need to kick it into high gear and attack the first steep hills on Long Pond Road as we approached the Sagamore Bridge.
After the walk across the bridge onto the cape, I munched on some Oreos at the midway rest stop in Sandwich before leading Ian and Billy up to the unforgettable rollercoaster of the Route 6 Service Road. There I dropped them again in order to use up some more of the energy I’d saved in the first 65 miles of the ride. After emerging onto busy Route 6A, I eased up until the next rest stop in Yarmouth.
Shortly thereafter, our route joined the Cape Cod Rail Trail. As the odometer ticked over 100 miles, I took the opportunity to rest while riding, chatting with another rider, Eileen from Manhattan, before pulling into the Wellfleet rest stop for welcome watermelon slices.
The next segment is always one of my favorites: the first view of the Atlantic along Ocean View Drive in Wellfleet, past Lecount Hollow and White Crest and Cahoon Hollow beaches, and then down swoopy and rolling Long Pond Road. Despite dropping my GoPro camera on the pavement while taking pictures while moving, I somehow still managed to set a new personal record time for this segment.
The hills of Wellfleet were followed by the final rest stop and then the hills of Truro. The miles ticked off, and the wind picked up on the final, exposed flat into Provincetown, sapping my remaining strength. But taking it easy had paid off well in making the ride a more relaxed and less painful experience.
I arrived in Provincetown and gathered up my event tee shirt at 3:15pm after expending 4,000 kCal covering 127 miles in 9h 10m and turning over 40,000 pedal revolutions. And I got paid an extra $27 for doing it, thanks to my employer’s health benefit!
After dunking my head in the harbor and then changing, I kicked around Provincetown for a few hours. I walked all over, and found a nice spot on the beach for looking toward town and contemplating what is probably my last Outriders ride and my final visit to Provincetown (next weekend’s extremely brief stop notwithstanding). I also spent some time at the former Wa store’s idyllic Japanese garden, but only about half its accoutrements remain after the store’s closure.
Before the ferry ride home, I fueled up with a chocolate milk, cola, Doritos, a lemon Italian ice, and two slices of pizza. When 8:30pm rolled around, I went to the ferry and turned over the free ticket I’d earned last year, when the ferry had departed an hour late and then gotten woefully stuck in a string of fishermen’s lobster traps. Thankfully, unlike last year, the ferry ran on time and my ride home didn’t involve any trips to the emergency room!
Overall, this year’s edition of Outriders was awesome: great weather, great route, great people, and just an absolutely wonderful day overall. I only wish more of my friends were around to share it with me. You can see my full set of pictures here.
Outriders will always remain a favorite memory of Massachusetts. At 130 miles, it has been the longest event in my cycling calendar since I stopped doing brevets. Unlike most organized rides in the area, it starts less than a mile from my condo, which means I can just roll out of bed and grab a bagel and go. And the ferry back home is equally convenient. The ride traverses some of the most beautiful and memorable parts of the Commonwealth and Cape Cod. If that’s not convincing enough, it’s filled with the most considerate organizers and friendly participants you could ask for. Although I may not be back again, I cannot recommend Outriders highly enough. It is a tremendous example of how good a non-charity group ride can be.