Mike, Jack, Al, Peter, and me.
Yom Kippur is coming up soon.
PS If you click on the pictures, they will get bigger.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Fast Jim and friends.
Mike, Jack, Al, Peter, and me.
Yom Kippur is coming up soon.
PS If you click on the pictures, they will get bigger.
Worcester, MA, to Windsor Locks, CT
They got it wrong, again! It was dry…well, we had a little drizzle starting out, but it was essentially dry all day. We rode under cloudy skies and made good time into Connecticut. You can tell you're in New England by the churches. We rode through one area that was devastated by a tornado during Hurricane Irene.
The group I've been riding with is now called, "Fast Jim and the Jews." It seems Mike, Al, Peter, and Jack are all Jewish! Mazel Tov.
We rode into the only SAG stop of the day together. After that, I joined Sam and we hustled into the hotel.
My youngest son, Tom, his wife, Neayka, and my youngest granddaughter, HRH Princess Sarah, drove up from Milford, CT, to meet me at the hotel! They are expecting a son in December! It was a real treat to see them.
Great news: Sunday's forecast is for only a 20% chance of showers - warm and humid! Excellent for riding to Fishkill, NY. Lots of climbing and nearly a century of miles, another long day. Is there a DQ on the route? I hope so.
Windsor Locks, CT (1854)
Pop 12,000 elev 157'
Named for canal locks. Home to Bradley International Air Port. Home of the 1965 Little League World Series champions. Legend has it, the first Christmas tree in New England was decorated by a Hessian POW in the area in 1777.
69.3 miles; 4:24 riding time; 3,290' of climb; 3,590 Calories
Friday, September 23, 2011
Portsmouth, NH, to Worcester, MA
Fortunately, they got the forecast wrong once more. Although we rode under cloudy skies all day, it only started to sprinkle during the last ten miles to the hotel. It's raining now, but who cares? I'm inside and dry.
Each morning, we take our bicycles and bags to the driveway in front of the night's motel. At 7:30 AM, riders sign out (you can see then lined up in one of the pictures above.
The rider is Jack, from Israel, who rode with us on XC09 from Los Angeles to Albuquerque. Jack is the youngest rider on this trip, a mere 51 years old. He competes in triathlons and is extremely strong, definitely one of the Big Dogs. I'm green with envy over his bicycle; it's a Lynsky Helix with a polished Titanium frame. The tubes are rectangular and twisted to give the frame the proper stiffness, but with a softer ride. I was looking at Lynsky Ti frames when I bought my Colnago.
Today's route took us inland on State Road 111 through some pretty countryside and small towns. We had been warned that today's route involved a lot of climbing, but it turned out to be more rolling than hilly; at least that's what it seemed like to me. Even though my Garmin recorded 4,000 feet of climbing, it wasn't difficult. I began the day with the usual group: Al, Jack, and Peter, plus Mike T and Don. Before the first SAG stop, Jack noticed his rear tire was going flat once more - one of the support cars came along and stopped to help. Peter, Al, and I continued on. Al was having another mechanical problem - he couldn't get his right shoe unclipped from the pedals and stopped to fix it. Al and I didn't wait for him and rolled into the second SAG stop with Mike. Peter wasn't ready when Mike and I left the stop and we didn't see him or Al for the rest of the day. At mile eighty, I stopped at my first Dairy Queen of the trip and rewarded myself with a chocolate shake! Mike left me and I finished the ride by myself, just beating the rain. Traffic and poor roads made the ride into Worcester unpleasant, but I pulled into the Hampton Inn parking lot and the day was over.
Worchester, MA (wuss ter) (1673)
Pop 181,000 elevation 480'
The monkey wrench was invented in Worchester in 1840. Much of the barbed wire for the opening of the west and for use in WWI was made in Worchester.
95.1 miles; 5:55 riding time; 4,058' of climbing; 5,027 Calories.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
South Portland, ME, to Portmouth, NH
Weather Undergrounds forecast for today:
"Cloudy. Patchy fog in the morning. Showers likely with a chance of thunderstorms in the morning...then a chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 60s. Southeast winds around 10 mph. Chance of rain 60 percent." The forecast was wrong, it rained 100%! While yesterday was sunny and warm, today was cloudy, cool, and wet.
After breakfast, we all gathered for group photos before signing out. It was raining when we left the hotel and it continued to rain during most of the ride. Fortunately, it wasn't a cold rain, with temperatures in the mid-sixties. Our route took us down the coast of Maine on Highway 1A or parallel to it. We passed the home of George H. W. Bush in Kennebunkport, but it was a very gray day for taking pictures.
The riders have already sorted themselves out into groups, mostly among friends who did the cross country tide together; those friendships run deep and they have formed very strong bonds. I joined Al, Peter, Jack, and Al's friend, Larry, for most of the ride. Jack had two flats and Al broke the chain on his bicycle towards the end of the day, otherwise, it was an uneventful day. We crossed into New Hampshire over a draw bridge (we had to wait for them to lower the bridge to continue) and had our "first dinner" in Portsmouth before riding into the hotel.
There was mud in my bathtub! Tomorrow is supposed to be wet, too. Stay tuned.
Portsmouth, NH (1653)
Pop 21,000 elev 20'
Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth to warning that the British were coming.
Home to John Paul Jones, father of the US Navy.
70.4 miles; 4:28 riding time; 1,148' of climb; 3,606 Calories
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Bright and early this morning, I went in search of coffee and ran into several riders who said they were going to do a short ride to the coast. Of course, I asked if I could tag along. There were eight of us and we rode a very nice thirty mile loop, stopping for lunch at a local dive and having lobster rolls! You can't visit Maine without having a lobster roll. Oh, yes, it was sunny and warm - a beautiful day in New England.
30.7 miles; 2:12 hours of riding; 1,148 feet of climb; 1,535 Calories
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Weather Underground
Underground (www.wunderground.com). The main topic of discussion every
morning at breakfast was the weather, most important, wind direction and
intensity. (It's a myth at the wind always blows from the west!)
Although it's a few days away, wunderground.com is predicting showers for
our first day of riding from South Portland, Maine, to Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, with head winds!
I've completed my training, a thousand miles on the bicycle in the past four
weeks! The bags are packed; I'm only taking a bare minimum. Tuesday, I fly
from Los Angeles to Maine. Wednesday, I'll check out the bicycle, meet the
other riders, and attend the orientation. Thursday, we start the adventure!
I'm excited.
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