by Jonathan O’Keeffe » Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:07 am
Even though almost everyone else has switched over to cross, there’s still a die-hard group showing up on Saturday mornings to battle the cold and the wind out on the roads. Today, we had Jonathan B, Paul, Roberto, Chris and I, on the coldest morning we’ve seen this fall.
After the ton of climbing we did last week, we decided to go with a flatter route today, heading north along the west side of the river. The biggest climbs were early, with Paul shattering the group on North Farms Road, but then being caught by Chris on the sprint for the town line at the reservoir. Paul blames faulty shifters, but I think Chris’ final effort at the line was what earned his victory.
The steep descent on Hayenville Road still has an abrupt red light at the construction zone right at the bottom, so be careful if you’re passing this way. (This was one of three one-way construction zones we encountered during the ride). We headed north through Old Deerfield, picked up Rt. 5/10 briefly, and then turned south on River Road, which has a couple short sharp climbs interspersed with great views along the river, exposed now that all the leaves are down.
Chris headed back to Belchertown across the Sunderland bridge, while the rest of us took a nice tailwind-assisted pull down River Road through Hatfield back to Northampton, arriving around 12:45 with 42 miles @ 18.5 mph, 1,800′ of climbing.
We didn’t make it to Look Park, but folks were planning on heading over afterwards. Congratulations to Laura van Gilder and Luke Keough for their wins, and to Adam Myerson for a fourth-place finish in the Elite group.
