by apazmany » Sun May 13, 2012 9:15 am
We had another very nice but thoroughly screwed up SMR. Thanks to the near perfect weather we had a great turn-out including, among many others, Jonathan B., the little and big Hemstead, and Roberto ( a better head count will be added by someone else). On the recommendation of Clayton, we rolled out on rt. 66 towards Windsor, MA. We started off at a very leisurely pace, but when we started the long steady climb, Joe L. dropped the hammer, as he did on every climb throughout the ride, and fragmented the group. Clayton, Pete C., Chris from Leverett and Chris from Florida and I accepted the pain and stayed with him to the top. Then we waited for quite some time, but someone got a flat behind us and Clayton was pressed for time so at some point we rolled on. We turned north on 112 where Joe continued the ferocious pace through the rolling hills. At rt 143 Clayton continued on towards Windsor while our small group headed down and up the Chesterfield gorge and returned to NOHO by around noon. I had 47 very pleasant miles and 4000 ft of climbing:
Post by Kevin Schott » Sun May 13, 2012 5:35 pm
Yeah, well put Andrew; nice day out, but pretty screwed-up SMR. In the end I think we had 4 or 5 different rides going on. As noted, on Rt 66 heading up to Westhampton there was a flat, so I guess that was the impetus for the first split as we found Outlook Farm bereft of waiting cyclists. With the breakaway well ahead for the day, the rest of the peloton continued up and down Rt 66 and regrouped at Rt 112. From there, the plan was to regroup at the store in Worthington center.
As we worked our way toward Worthington, some gaps opened. I ended up with Roberto and Paul. We were holding a conversational climbing pace for a while, then Roberto decided to stir things up a bit. He came to the front and brought the pace up to a non-conversational level, eventually taking the Worthington line. It was all good fun, and we eventually settled back down a bit to chat. We came up to Ireland St (?) and Roberto suggested that we stop and regroup. At the time, I disagreed because the plan was to meet at the store, and I thought the store was only a couple of miles up the road. Turns out the store was closer to 5 miles away. Roberto, Paul, and I pulled into the store, but Paul was on a time limit so he had to leave for home promptly. Roberto and I waited a bit at the store, soft-pedaled along 112 southward, then came back to the store for water. No contact after about 1/2 an hour, so it was clear something changed with the main group.
Roberto and I continued up Rt 143 toward Windsor. The long break was unkind to our legs, but that was good news for me because that kept Roberto bottled up a bit. We took the most direct path to Rt. 9, so we intersected Rt 9 in East Windsor and then enjoyed a long tailwind assisted descent. The tailwind was especially gracious on the climb into Goshen where Roberto and I enjoyed a good chat while climbing at a speed that in other circumstances would have elicited maybe a grunt or two. We traded long pulls all the way back to NoHo, though I do have to note that Roberto got about 8 seconds on me at the top of the Goshen climb (dammit! and yes, I timed it, one Mississippi, two Mississippi……). We relaxed as we hit the bike trail over the river. We headed over to Amherst via Rocky Hill, and parted ways near the University. I cruised home mostly on the bike trail.
No Strava for me. I dashed off a quick RideWithGPS map and got 65 miles and 5000 feet of climbing for the NCC portion of my ride.
Well gang…… let’s try again Saturday.
Post by admin » Sun May 13, 2012 7:51 pm
Great turnout, great day, and a great ride – due to time constraints of my own (and after losing contact with Roberto’s group) I banged a right off of 112 before 143 at Ireland Street to cut the corner back to Chesterfield. Mike H, Philip, T, and Kevin M. came with me – we road down Ireland and took a brief stop with some ghosts at the cemetery and then slogged up that brutal climb into Chesterfield center – we went right at the top onto Stage Road and then followed Chesterfield Road downhill back to Florence – ended with about 45 disjointed miles
Mike
Post by Roberto Ludovico » Mon May 14, 2012 9:54 pm
It was a beautiful ride, Kevin, thank you. Here is my Strava log, which basically shows also your route. Too bad we could not stay all together despite all the efforts.
