Two Gaps - Piece of Cake

So this weekend was my team's epic 6 gap ride - ain't no way I was riding 6 gaps or 130 miles given my lack of training to date. So, I did my own two gap version with Bradley. We started out in Pittsfield, biked over Brandon, past Lake Dunmore, and over Middlebury back to Pittsfield. It was awesome! Brandon was a piece of cake compared to East Mountain Road. Middlebury wasn't bad at all either - there were only two spots where I dropped down to an epic 3.8 mph, but cranked on through. Overall, it seemed much easier this year despite my 12/27 than it did last year when we biked Middlebury, Appalacian in my triple - granted App is much harder, but still. I was pretty much done once we arrived back in Pittsfield after 67.2 miles at a 15.8 mph pace (again, a great pace for me for the gaps, although I did draft off of Bradley the entire way back, and for most of the other flat parts of the ride - so amazing to draft!). Again, we faced ridiculously brutal headwinds on the way back on 100. I think I would have been much stronger at the end had I adopted a better eating strategy - OJ for breakfast, 4 cliff blocks at the top of Brandon, two cliff gels on the way to Middlebury - probably not enough fuel. I made up for it with a turkey club and B&J Coffee Heath Bar Crunch at the Pittsfield Country Store. So, next up three gaps in July. I'd like to do Middlebury, App, Rochester.

Oh, that's right, how'd the team do on the 6-gapper? Almost all of them did all 6 gaps - crazy! Even Todd managed to crank it out, asserting that we need to do it again in the fall once he's got his fitness back. Amanda said she'd never seen anything like Todd coming up Middlebury gap - bike creaking, gears churning, body weaving, sweat dripping, guard rail crashing - so amazingly awesome that he did it! When I mentioned doing it again this fall to Sol, he laughed and said it would take a lot of convincing to get him to do that ride again - that from the die hard, hills make you stronger, bike crazy, single speed mountain biking, pain junkie. Hmm, I don't think I'll be riding Lincoln any time soon. Maybe next year.

Longest Ride of the Season

Well, it's hard to believe that I did my longest ride of the season last saturday, and it was only 70 miles. So much for training hard early in the season to be strong for Fitchburg.

All in all, last weekend was the best training weekend so far. Did a nice hill climb on Friday - climbing up East Mountain Road in Killington to Killington Peak and then back down the access road and up Killington Pass. It was hard at points (my cadence was probably at 20 for too much of the ride), but once we got to Killington, my thoughts were: gee, that wasn't that bad.

On Saturday, it was a leisurly ride from Pittsfield to the Warren Country Store, where we promptly pigged out on all the awesome food there. The way back is fairly flat to downhill, but there was a fierce headwind (I think there are only headwinds in VT) and I managed to TT with Jamie from Rochester back to Pittsfield - dying out on the slight hill right before Pittsfield (damn hills, need to work on those still!). So awesome to draft behind someone going fast - so much easier than going fast alone.

Sunday was my team's mountain bike race out in Dalton, MA. I was registered to race beginner, but didn't really plan to race. I'm really glad I did! Sol and Jamie convinced me to do it, and the course was not nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be last year (of course they did eliminate one crazy hill). I expected the rocky, rooty, gnarly trails of the Fells, Lynn Woods, Hinesburg State Forest, but it was not at all like that! I managed to bike over ALL of the bridges, save two (one had two planks and the other came up after I had broken my chain). I never bike over the bridges - and there was one with big mud puddles on either side that made it look impossible - good thing I had some people to follow - helped me realize what was bikable and what was not. I broke my chain at around mile 5 and had to walk out the last 3 and only finished 30 minutes after the leader in my age category - all in all, an incredibly successful race for me. I did awesome on the uphills - managed to pass most of the girls, but then got crushed in the technical and downhill sections (still can't make left turns). So, I may actually consider doing another mountain bike race. I was really surprised that the other girls weren't all that fast - I'm so used to riding with Sol, Jamie, Nicole, Bradley and all the other super fast people that can bike over anything - I get so discouraged. Now I'm encouraged and am looking forward to a weekend of biking up at East Burke on the finely groomed Kingdom Trails.

Race #3

Lake Auburn was a fun race - same story as the others, but I think I'm actually learning with each race. This time there were two hills on the course - a steep one right off the bat and another right before the finish with a slight uphill the rest of the way to the finish. Goal was not to get dropped on the first hill - acheived! The pack was filled with sketchy riders, so it was challenging to maneuver and I felt myself becoming sketchy around them. One girl was constantly over the yellow line. Next time I need to maintain my spot nearer to the front - once again I got dropped on the second hill b/c I was at the back and just couldn't catch back up to the pack - almost caught them after the finish at the first steep hill, but got to lactic-y and couldn't make it up the hill fast enough. Results aren't posted yet, but I'm hoping I finished less than 10 minutes behind the pack. Next up: Balloon Festival Classic (tentative) and Fitchburg Longjso. Fitchburg may be biting off more than I can chew, but I don't care. The only way to improve is to keep training and keep racing. I just hope I can make it up Mount Wachusett without walking...