Training Log Archive: PG

Very nice ride, and certainly for a good cause. Too warm and humid for my liking, but kept drinking and every time there was any doubt I went to a lower gear (ie. an easier pace), and so made it through without any real distress. Though now, a couple of hours later my legs feel very tired.

Got a chance to catch up with Jeff, Judy, and Hillary after the finish. Hadn't seen them for quite a while as I've not been to an O' event of any sort for about a year now. A real pleasant visit.

I must say, when they posted the route yesterday evening, my first thought on looking at it was that it looked easy. Not that it didn't take some work. But I have been doing some rides in the last month to see if I could manage really hard stuff (steep, dirt, rough, or all three), and so many times today I thought, this isn't bad, I've done much worse in training.

I think that is the way training is supposed to be. Reminds me, on a much more professional level, of all the training TG does at night and how orienteering in the daylight can't help but seem easy.

It was comforting, for once, to feel properly prepared.

C • Training 2

Signed up for tomorrow's D2R2 "Mystery Ride" (short version, 100K roughly). Couldn't come up with a good reason not to, and my best excuse -- lots of thunderstorms, which was the prediction a couple of days ago -- seems unlikely to happen.

Wonder how many of the "roads" I will have been on. Maybe 50%?

C • have fun! 1

Third time for this Heifer loop west of Brattleboro, except this time I did it in the opposite direction from the first two. Still the same distance and the same climb, but this way it starts with a a 1,000' climb right off the bat, all on dirt. I was nearing the top when a guy driving the other way slowed down, and as he passed me he yelled one word at me -- Awesome!

Yup, definitely not in Northampton. There they yell at you, but it sure ain't "awesome." :-)

A really nice ride around. A little warm but could be a lot worse this time of year.

For the record, first time (on the mountain bike, average heart rate 132) was 2:55, second time (on the road bike, 136) was 2:33, this time 2:27 and 134.

One of those (rare) days when it's good to have the GPS along so you can look at the track afterwards and see where you went...

Actually, I tested myself first, a look at the topo map afterwards made it pretty clear where I'd been.

Wanted to see if a trail was ridable. It was marked on the topo, angling up across the lower Whately hills. I'd been on it many years ago, running on the snowmobile tracks in winter, always approaching from Whately Glen Road. This time I came from the south side, wanted to make the connection with where Walter and I had ended up a couple of months ago and then see if this gave an alternate route back up towards his place. I figured the odds were that it would be too steep/rough, but wanted to see.

Got to where that trail headed up, and there was a cable across it and No Trespassing signs. Didn't look very appealing. Kept going along the bottom of the slope. In a little bit I passed a trail on the right, also lots of signs. Kept going. In a little bit, my trail looked like it was starting up, and more than I was capable of doing. So I did a u-turn, went back to the previous junction, at least there was one sign admonishing folks to stay on the trail. Well, that seemed OK. And the gate was open.

Headed down that way, nice wide trail, verging on a dirt road. After a bit there was another gate, this one closed, but a smaller trail branched left. My assumption was all these trails were used by the snowmobiles in the winter, and must go somewhere. So followed this one.

Got a little rougher, tested all my bike skills, but I stayed upright. But before too long it was clear I wasn't where I hoped to be, plus I really didn't know where I was. After a bit I (and the trail) were meandering across an overgrown field, then the next thing I knew I was heading really steeply downhill. At this point I knew where I was -- the whole valley was in view in front of me -- but I also knew the section of land I was dropping into was all private.

Got down the steep slope, then meandered past some horse jumps, and a couple of barns, and a few horses, and then down a long driveway with another barn and some goats. But fortunately not a single person. The whole time I was working on what I would say when confronted by an angry landowner... :-)

Then back home via a nice assortment of public back roads.

And so an adventure, which is good by definition, but not one I expect to repeat.

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Well, maybe I flunked the test? Looking at the GPS track, seems the trail I'd wanted had been the one I bailed on, not the one with the cable across it. So of course now I'm wondering what it's like as it climbs, and maybe a good bit of it is ridable? Guess I'll have to go look again some time.

And I remembered being in the upper fields before, but they looked different than I remembered. I guess snow-covered vs. 3' high grass will do that. Probably missed another branch of the trail that would have gotten me where I wanted.

Do I need to start carrying a map?

A few miles in the Conway hills (Hoosac, Roaring Brook, Whately Glen), plus a few miles getting over there and then getting back. Yet another nice outing, short and pretty mellow.

Corn stop at Millstone (across from the Maze), 3:34, held up by a chatty family buying $12 worth of chocolate, individual pieces wrapped in gold-colored foil, spread all over the counter. WTF.

And just before that, coming through South Deerfield, a car with two bikes on the rear pulls up alongside me to ask how I like my bike. And all I care about at that moment is not getting hit by them or anyone else. You would think they might realize, there being a good bit of traffic, that I might not be too keen to chat. WTF again.

I sure have gotten fond of dirt roads.

Much better today. In the hills in Leyden, Colrain, and a bit in VT. Pretty as could be and the legs felt fine. Main challenge was managing two sections of unmaintained road, one sharply up and the other sharply down. Did them both OK though it wasn't without a bit of apprehension.

In 27+ miles I think I saw 8 moving cars and 2 motorcycles. Pretty sweet. You still have to ride the dirt roads as if there will be a car coming around every corner.

And, as a sign of the times, most of the time the only trucks I'll see are the UPS and Fed-Ex delivery trucks. Shopping online makes a lot of sense if you live way up in the hills.