[Edit: for those of you randomly linked off of google searches for C2C: Before posting snippy comments, please remember there's this thing called sarcasm that is often used as a literary device... oi!]
There's no way to to make yourself feel better after a frustrating week of slowness than soundly trouncing a couple hundred 50-somethings riding custom Ti bikes and Carbon Serottas on a nice friendly century ride.
While Eric made the trek to Maine for a "USAcycling event" with "people his age" who are "probably training a lot more than we do", I instead opted to wake up at 6am and ITT it out to Concord for the satisfaction of making people my parents' age weep.
The best thing about this particular ride--less than aptly named "Climb to the Clouds" as the road to the clouds (the top of Wachusett mountain) was closed for construction this year--is that it's fully supported, meaning that you not only get tasty food at two locations on the ride but you also get to pass the whole main field not one, not two but THREE times if you organize your passing and lounging in the sun correctly; with each pass picking up a few chaps who vainly try to hang on for a few miles and then fall away into obscurity as soon as the terrain points upward more than a couple of degrees.
But all humor aside, it was a good day for wrench's legs. As has been proven time and time again, the wrench is a pure endurance athelete. I can hang in z2-3 all day, but don't have a high end to save my life. Fourtunately, such a skill set is perfect for a hilly century and I finished with a rolling average of 19.7mph for 115miles (including the ride to Concord), pulling pretty much the whole time and not even having to kill myself to keep the speed up until the last 20min.
The scenery, as usual, was excellent, the weather nearly perfect, and the plums at the aid stations succulent. All in all well worth the early wake-up call.
MIT Compatriots Ilana, Gerald (on a tendem), Chewie, S___ and Yuri all hung for varying amounts of time, with Yuri impressively sticking my wheel for 85 miles, long past even the calves of steel (Chewie). Impressive!
Now to evacuate the contents of my fridge...
P. S. It is NOT ok to complain about your bike being heavy when you're riding a Cervelo P3. You, random middle-aged guy at the base of Wachusett with way too much money and not enough sense, need to sack up.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Well, all in all that was a pretty rude posting. I'm likely one of those folks "your parents age" and I can tell you I didn't weep once when somebody passed me on the route yesterday. And if somebody I caught wanted to sit on my wheel for a while, if that made their ride a little easier it's fine with me. I just enjoyed the 6 hours of sharing the road with hundreds of cyclists of all shapes, sizes, and abilities. OK - so it's a bit much for somebody 40 pounds overweight to blame their bike - but at least that guy wasn't home sitting on the couch watching the TdF and thinking he was Alberto Contador.
yes, it is great to see people get out there. I did not intend my comments by any means to be a jab at the typical C2C participant, but instead as a statement about how silly we all are trying to be so fast all the time.
OK. That's better. Now I can admit I may have shed a tear when when the tandem passed me on the Mile Hill Road climb (with a female stoker no less) but perhaps it was just sweat. Yea, that's it, sweat!
IMO this is a sad posting.
I came across this post accidentally as I'm Googling around for details re: next year's C2C.
I hope it is not typical of attitudes of participants in this event.
Post a Comment