ORGANIZER
David Jordan (dmj@odi.com)
START
7:00 a.m.
Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA
ROUTE
125 miles
North into southern New Hampshire
fully arrowed
TIME LIMIT
14 hours
The Boston Brevets are a series of long distance cycling events which are also training and qualifying rides for other randonneuring events such as Boston-Montreal-Boston (B-M-B, August 16-19, 2001) and Paris-Brest-Paris (P-B-P, summer of 2003). The series is made up of 4 traditional brevets: 200k (125 miles) • 300k (190 miles) • 400k (250 miles) • 600k (375 miles)
All rides start and end at Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA, and average about 3000 feet of climbing for each 100 kilometers.
Pat Carter and I left AYH at 8 pm. Friday eve., after dropping off the Montauk Cue Sheets. We had a 3 hour + ride in front of us. Chris Pile caught us at a rest stop off the Merrick Parkway - so he showed us the way to Concord - where we had hotel rooms. We were sleeping by 12:30 a.m. only to wake at 5:15 a.m. Brevet start time is 7 a.m. Friday night dinner consisted of Cheese Nips for Pat; my dinner was a slice of Puerto Rican Pizza (across from AYH), Diet Coke, and some Pizza Flavored Pringles. She was smart to at least eat lunch. I ate nothing on Friday. Were we starving in the morning? YES! Denny's saved us - egg on English muffin, Orange Juice, and a coffee.
At 6:45 we were registering. At 7 a.m., Chris took off with the ambitious group - those who thought they'd finish in under 8 hours. I think he finished in 6 or 7 hours.
start, Pat and I went to the car (she forgot she had toe clips on), all cyclists had departed when we came back. Oh, no.... my worst fear, having to ride without the group!
This ride was unusal - Pat didn't let me draft off her for over 100 miles - she probably pulled a total of 5 miles. Additionally, she didn't talk to me. When another cyclist doesn't talk, it's usually because they are "huffing and puffing" - having a hard time. She just completed a 400K in less than 21 hours - how could she be tired? I hadn't trained all week, too. This was going to be LONG ride,
We started in Massachusetts (Bedford), and travelled north into New Hampshire. The only dogs bothering us were in cars! Not too scenic a route - lots of trees. During Fall Foliage, this must be spectacular. One town had a parade or fair going on. Another town had a traffic back-up from a light - while manuevering around, all I thought was "now my NYC commuting experience is coming in handy". I bet the New England cyclists couldn't move as smoothly as us.
The ride started out flat - small rolling hills. It appeared as if the Western Mass 200K brevet was more difficult - nope! The first rest stop was 50 miles - no stopping for anything - not even lights (we were on back roads mainly).
After the first stop, the fun began - as always. Those RBAs (Regional Brevet Admins) save the hilly part after the first rest stop. This is good because you get a chance to "warm up." P&J, water, fig newtons, oranges, and lots of other cookies were offered. Oh, great idea - Ibuprofin! I took 2! This was new for me at brevet rest stops. I also took 2 more at the next one (88 miles). There was other stuff - bug spray, band aids, etc... We found out Chris arrived at 9:20 a.m. That was 1 hour faster than when he rode the week before with me. This was our big excitement for the ride - finding out how fast our friends were arriving at the check points. By the way, Chris was riding with a guy named Eric Jensen - both were in the front until the end, when they unfortunately got lost for 1 or 2 miles. They ended up on the wrong side of the airport - Giovani came in first. They still got 2nd. Sandiway Fong got 4th. Remember, this is NOT a race. Chris and Eric BOTH came in 2nd because they were riding together - doesn't matter who's wheel gets there first. In long distance cycling, teamwork is the only way to survive.
On this ride, there's no way of bailing out - no one rest stop serves as another - unlike Western Mass. This meant, no matter how bad I felt, I had to ride as hard and fast as possible - no sagging.
Two guys and a girl (I called them "the Three Randoneurs")
joined us early in the ride. One guy went in front of me and picked the pace up to 18 mph. Too bad he didn't stay there for long. He needed to pull his friends up - they were dragging behind. Strangely, we kept passing them; they would pass us too. One time when we passed them, the girl was on the ground - injured - she had hit sand off the side of the road. We asked if they needed help - they were okay - just rode a little slower. She recovered quickly - because they caught us again.
Near the end - about 10 miles - we passed them while they were finishing fixing a flat. We asked if they needed help - nope - so, we kept going. Pat whispers to me - "they're going to try to pass us again." Well, I knew what she meant - I had to speed up. We must have averaged 20 mph - imagine, at the end of this hilly ride, she wants to pick up the pace? I did and we did finish in front of them. I kept looking back but never saw them. We also passed the "guy with the bottles behind his seat." The "3 Randonneurs" passed them too.
One guy we passed along the route early on was visioning himself in front of his TV on his sofa with a bag of potatoe chips. I could go for some of those chips!
On one rode in Westford - someone had buffalo in the back yard. We saw cows and horses along the route - not many. This was surprising. Maybe in New Hampshire you aren't allowed to have these animals?
On one downhill, our max. speed was 42.2. One tandem reported 52 or 56 mph. There were 2 tandems and 1 recumbent. The recumbent guy was behind us mostly. In the beginning he was pretty fast. This was his longest ride EVER! We congratulated him at the end - he was happy to be done with it!
Meeting Dave Jordan was a pleasure. He's a veteran RBA. This ride series he does is attended by many of the cyclists who ride BMB. The markings were the best I've ever seen. I've never used the marking system - it seems I always missed the marks. Cue sheets is my method. He marks every 1 mile, once before a turn, at the turn, and a straight mark after the turn. No fail system, unless you really don't pay attention (Chris, uh-hum!)
At the finish, we ate Cheetos, potatoe chips, doritos, and sodas. The volunteers were there - husband and wife. Chris already changed and back from Denny's.
We changed in regular clothing at the airport - nice people! We went to eat pasta and drove to Norwalk for another ride the next day. We arrived in Norwalk by 11:30 p.m. Saturday night. Montauk was out of the question. As it was, Pat Carter, who hadn't driven manual since 1999, got to drive my car. I feel into a deep sleep - so deep I missed going through Hartford, CT.