Training Log Archive: PG

A short trip down to the bike store to see about getting a lower gear. :-)

C • lower gear 12

Went down to Stafford Springs, CT, for a very low-key, and very pleasant, charity bike ride. I don't have any attachment to the cause, but it seemed a good one, and also seemed like any funds raised would be put to the use advertised. Mainly it offered an easy way to ride in a part of New England that I hadn't been in much, other than the occasional trail race over the years. I certainly hadn't biked there at all.

The 45-mile loop seemed like plenty at this stage of my life and my training, and it turned out to be a good choice. My legs were tired from the get-go, whether still feeling the effects of Friday's long hike or probably just one of those days. Knew it within the first couple of miles.

So I just keep shifting into lower gears (and going slower). And not worrying about it. :-) Rode almost entirely by myself. And that's fine too.

The topography is quite different from what we have around home. No flat places of any substance, lots and lots of hills, but much smaller ones than here. So the climbs kept coming, and there could be steep sections, but they were never real long, never just endless up for 4 or 6 or 8 miles. But did I say that they kept coming?

One quick stop to fill my bottle and grab a couple of cookies, otherwise just moseying along. Really enjoyed the countryside, a beautiful mix of homes and farms and woods and small lakes. Nice day too, sunny and getting warm, but never felt hot until after I was done. And though I always felt tired, there were no real problems, the back and butt and arms and hands and neck weren't complaining at all. That's not so bad.

Event: WCOC Ratlum Mountain
 

Owl's Head, 48th and last of New Hampshire's 4,000-footers, seems to have taken me about 48 years to do them all. :-)

Not a summit that gets high ratings -- a long approach (and equally long exit), stream crossings that can be dangerous in high water (or an alternative to the two worst ones, a non-trivial bushwhacking section), much of the climb/descent on an old and unstable slide, and no marked trail to the top so you have to pay attention. But perhaps because of the fair amount of apprehension about the various difficulties, it was a fine adventure.

That's not to say it was all handled with grace and skill by yours truly, though at some point I was thinking how easily I was coping with things. This was just after the first bushwhack, about a mile through a not so awful White Mountain forest, where I'd come out just about where I'd planned to with the error being on the correct side. I was back on a respectable trail. It had not rained a lot recently, so the mud was much less than it could be. My feet were still dry, my mood was fine. I can do this stuff.

And then I came to my first stream crossing, looked doable without getting wet, except on one jump to a wet rock I slipped and the next moment both feet were underwater, both hands (and gloves), in fact a good bit of me even though the water was only a foot deep. Yup, you sure can do this.

Got across the next two crossing OK, then headed up the slide. Not a lot of fun, but eventually it and the rest of the climb got done. Slipped once and banged an ankle, but not enough to do any harm. Slipped another time and banged a knee, this one hurt more, but it soon disappeared. In each case I was reminded of how vulnerable one is, a long long ways from any help, and if on a bushwhack, maybe a long, long time before anyone comes by. And I really was trying to be careful.

Finally up on top of the ridge, almost no views, looking for the little bump that is the summit. Found it, a guy was sitting there eating, we chatted for a moment (he'd started his hike an hour and a half before mine, so that was good for morale). And then headed back.

Didn't take long before I f'ed up again, somehow got off the "trail", ended up floundering through about 100 yards of dense spruce with lots of blowdowns, not so bad in retrospect but not that much fun while you're doing it. Crawling under one blowdown I got a branch in the eye. Great, thinking back to the times orienteering when I'd done something similar and hadn't been able to drive home. But fortunately this one disappeared after a few minutes of tearing.

Then down the slide, I mean I'm good at steep crappy downhills -- I passed a couple that looked like they were going to be there all afternoon. But this one was nasty. Took a couple of spills, but both the good kind (feet slip on the loose rock and you land on your butt) and not the bad kind (you catch a toe and go down face first), so no harm down.

Eventually down, eventually passed the three crossings on the way back, now just the bushwhack uncertainty to deal with. There were signs of a "herd path" which I followed as well as I could but lost after maybe half a mile. And then just careful on my bearing to a much smaller target and this time just nailed it, perfect. Three and a half miles left of very good trail and it was done. Very happy to be done, also very happy to have done it.

And almost certainly not to be repeated. :-)

(Bird list for anyone who might be interested, all just heard except for the waxwing and the phoebe in the parking lot when I arrived -- hairy woodpecker, wood-pewee, least flycatcher, phoebe, great crested flycatcher, red-eyed vireo, raven, black-capped chickadee, winter wren, swainson's thrush, cedar waxwing, ovenbird, yellowthroat, redstart, yellow warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, blackpoll warbler, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, junco. Often hard to hear when along streams, so best during the bushwhack and on the slide. But excellent entertainment the whole time.)

Black Pond, best view of the whole hike, also start of the bushwhack --



Summit cairn showing typical view --



And a little look at the Franconia ridge, specifically the slides on the east slopes of Mt. Lincoln --

C • A dud! 1

Very easy ride on tired legs, all but 10 minutes that is, as I felt compelled to do something worthwhile and so went up South Sugarloaf. Barely made it. I think I need to investigate getting a lower gear. But the time up was OK (9:57). Just that I was about out of gas when the top finally showed up.

And a slight detour to Mike's on the way home to check on the corn. It's growing.

C • I need to investigate getting a lower gear 2

Flat down the east side of the river, then a few small hills on the west side coming back.

Wind sure changed, modestly out of the south (when I was heading south), then changing over to out of the west, and then when I reached Whately (and still had a ways further north to go) strong and gusty from the NW. Not the best planning, though a couple of miles towards the end were very nice.

Outer loop at North Sugarloaf, hiked up the north side, jogged down the south. Legs not so bad. Nice afternoon, low humidity.

Shutesbury - Lake Wyola. Quite enjoyable. For once I stuck to my plan of taking it easy, especially up to Shutesbury. It's not that going uphill can be easy, but it's a lot nicer to arrive at the top tired rather than dead tired.
So it was a matter of, whenever there was any doubt, just put it in the lower gear.

This looks like an interesting thing to do on Sunday. There is chatter on AP about how the climb is figured and how it sometimes seems off the mark. For this ride, or at least the 62-mile version that I looked at a little more carefully, the link goes to MapMyRide, which gives 65.5 miles and 2,382' climb. Whereas Ride with GPS gives 62.5 and 5,938' climb. That's a fair bit different. A glance at the topo of the route convinces me that the latter number is more in the ballpark.

C • Sunday 10