Training Log Archive: PG

One of those times as you're heading down a woods road that continues to deteriorate and you think, I sure hope this doesn't turn into an out-and-back.

But it does.

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A quite varied ride, and certainly more varied than intended. The plan, as it often is, was to ride some places I hadn't been. Certainly accomplished that.

The first dozen miles were paved with a bit of up, and I put out a good effort, thinking, I may ride with Phil tomorrow so it's best if I trash myself today, don't want to run the risk of keeping up with him tomorrow and dealing a major blow to his self-esteem. I think I accomplished that, quads were definitely taking some abuse.

Then some dirt road up to the high point of the route, then some more dirt road, getting rough now but still manageable. And then I came to what appeared to be a dead end.

An old woods road lay straight ahead, a rather scruffy one. I checked my mileage, checked my directions, nope, not supposed to turn here, so on I went. Before long I was seriously debating turning around when I unluckily happened to spot bike tire tracks in some mud. The road must go through, I thought, and continued on. Didn't occur to me that they had done an out-and-back too.

Onward. More rocks, branches, fallen trees, some mud. The "road" turned downhill, pretty soon closer to a wet gully than a road. Along the way I dropped through a patch of nettles, first time I've been stung by them on a bike. And at some point I noticed I was going roughly north. That's not good, supposed to be going south.

About then it became clear even to my idiot mind that I had gone far enough. I'd been hiking the bike a bunch already, now a bunch more of that back up the last hill I'd come down. And eventually back to the dead end.

And started back up the dirt road I'd arrived on, and there in about 100 yards was an overgrown road (looked like two footpaths with foot-high grass in the middle), heading in the right direction. What the hell, took it. And it wasn't long before it was obvious this was the right way.

The rest of the way was more down than up. I did skip a planned add-on with a good hill, figuring enough was enough. Time to head off to get some chocolate milk and look for green herons. :-)

Really have to wonder about my decision making when things aren't as I expect them.

C • Look right 4

Got out earlier today. Certainly more pleasant, though I'd imagine the shortness of the ride was a significant contributing factor to that.

In the flats south of town. Putting out a good effort much of the time, seemed like the legs (quads) were the limiting factor, not the lungs. Light southerly breeze.

Up past Greenfield a little bit. Even getting out mid-morning was too late, as I was definitely feeling the heat (and a headwind) on the way back south. Took it easy the last ten miles or so, and even that wasn't all that much fun.

That was more of an adventure than I expected, including a slam-dunk in the ongoing war with the FDFs, except this time I was the one getting slam-dunked.

Headed up to Northfield because it looked like the thunderstorms would be less likely to end up there, as turned out to be the case. The plan was over the hills and down to Erving and back, via Old Wendell Road on the way out -- looked steep, but I thought I could manage it -- and several back roads on the way back, ending up for the last few miles going downhill on Warwick Road. Looked like a fine plan.

Of course there was a sign on Old Wendell saying Not Maintained. That's not usually a problem, but in this case the steep part was really not maintained -- one look at the rock-filled gully masquerading as a road and there was not a single thought given to trying to ride it. Maybe 10 minutes of hike-a-bike? Certainly not my favorite, but as it turned out, not the worst part of the ride.

That came on the way back, Flagg Hill Road, about 2 miles, lots of rocks, also sandy areas. I could ride it, but it took all my skills and my attention. The problem was the appearance in force of the FDFs. I was defenseless, blue hat materials back in the car, plus really wanting to keep both hands on the handlebars so swatting them was tough, especially on several sharp little uphills, and I was going slowly enough that they had no problem keeping up.

I don't know what the final score was. It's possible I got a couple, but they sure nailed me a bunch of times.

Other than that, not so bad. I sweated a bunch (it was hot), worked hard at times (nothing new there), and certainly enjoyed the last long downhill. But I don't think I will repeat that route again.

Up to Shutesbury and a couple of roads I haven't been on in a long time, and maybe never on a bike (just running). Legs were sore from yesterday, but climbed a few more today anyway. Mainly because it was hot, and it's a little cooler in the hills, and certainly more shade. Maybe 75% dirt road.

Made it up Kingsley Hill. :-)

Started at the junction of Route 2 and the road up along the Deerfield River to Monroe Bridge and Reading, VT. Plan was to test myself on Kingsley Hill, and then continue on to see some places not previously visited.

Warm day. Took it easy all to way up to Monroe Bridge. Lots of people out rafting/kayaking/tubing on the Deerfield. Must say it looked more fun than what I was doing (although I was having a fine time).

Kingsley Hill was tough, 900' climb in 1.4 miles, first part especially steep. Made it up, lowest gear (obviously), but in reasonable control. See comments.

Then into Vermont. I'd only brought one (large) bottle of water and drank that before the hill, so stopped in Readsboro for another bottle and a bit to eat.

Then a bunch of hilly back roads working my way over to the upper part of the Bear Swamp pump storage facility in Rowe. Nasty hills getting to the reservoir, then a really nasty hill going down, steep, loose dirt, on the brakes hard all the way. Sure glad when that was done.

Except a moment later, back on flat pavement, a little hill coming, shifted to the smaller chainring and the chain dropped off to the inside and got jammed. Took me 10 minutes to get things back working again, and then the gears were running rough for the couple of miles back to the car. Obviously needs adjusting.

Quite trashed by the time I was done. Stopped at the first store I saw for chocolate milk. A good outing.

C • Kingsley 4

Went up to Vermont yesterday evening with Dave, Rick, and Tim, then manning an early aid station at the Vermont 100 from 5:30 to 9:00. Brought back some nice memories of that course and running ultras in general.

C • https://m.facebook.com/stor... 2

Short ride late afternoon. A little harder than I intended, thinking of maybe a longer outing tomorrow.