Taking 2 weeks off from riding to recover from a nasty intestinal infection is no fun. From the morning ride with Kathy and John on the Deerfield Ridge, I hadn't ventured onto a bike until this past friday.
That drought was pretty well remedied in the past few days though. Friday the boys and I did a pretty quick spin through Robinson in Agawam. I really wanted to see if I was going to feel up to the riding I had arranged for this weekend. I felt pretty good, so the plans for Saturday would go forward.
Saturday morning, up early to get Matt off for the start of the 170K D2R2 (http://franklinlandtrust.org/randonee.htm), then back to sleep for a couple hours until I had to leave for the 15 miles on the Road Bike up to Deerfield for the 100K start. The 170K is arguably one of the hardest organized bike ride in the country - 15,000 feet of climbing on the back roads of Franklin County and southern Vermont. (If you haven't been in the area, back roads usually means gravel or dirt roads!) The easier 100K ride, also on about 50% dirt, features only 7000 feet of climbing. Weather for the day was clear and hot, not too much humidity, but the few open climbs were particularly nasty with the afternoon sun baking us to a crisp.
In spite of the weeks off the bike, I rode pretty well, until I started cramping a little bit on the last few rollers. For this ride, I select my new GTR-CX. This bike treated me real well, though I could have benefitted from a little bit easier gearing, unfortunately there aren't many 11-32/34 10 speed cassettes around... Next year those should be more easy to find. I found this bike extremely stable on the sketchy descents. It showed great predictability in the soft gravel endemic to many of the steeps.
Sunday I headed southeast to the NEMBA Adventure Series Ride at F. Gilbert Hill State Forest in Foxborough. I jumped onto a led ride so I wouldn't have to push, but could still enjoy the trails. A great recovery ride on some nice rocky rooty single track.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
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