by Patrick Rondeau » Thu May 30, 2013 8:07 am
It’s going to be HOT tonight…two bottles for sure…
Ride leaves Academy at 5:30 sharp, takes it easy through Williamsburg, sometimes splits into A/B on Ashfield Rd ascent depending on turnout, but we always regroup at Rt. 116. Back through Conway, past Northampton Reservoirs, and one final dash of the titans on N. Farms Rd town line.
Tough ride tonight as a killer pothole on Spring St took a few wheels with it. I ride that route a lot and hadn’t seen that one (and a few others) before which leads me to believe the recent heavy rains are making that already treacherous stretch worse. We do a pretty good job of alerting one another to hazards, but this one somehow escaped us or didn’t get passed deep enough into the group. In addition to hazards, let’s communicate flats, dropping off, waiting, etc as well as there was a fair amount of waiting and uncertainty over who went where and with whom.
Anywho, sorry to hear about the flats, spokes and rims. At least that’s all that broke.
by apazmany » Fri May 31, 2013 9:18 am
Yes, that un-pointed pothole caused some confusion. It led to at least one broken spoke, some bent rims and slow leaks, some of which were not noticed till we picked up the pace out of Williamsburg. I do not know if there is a foolproof solution to splits like this, other than big, deep ugly potholes with sharp edges should be vigorously pointed out up front.
by Tim_Cary » Fri May 31, 2013 2:56 pm
I ended up with a slow leak that started to show itself right as we started the first ascent out of Williamsburg. Definitely caused by that hole I hit hard. As always in a TNR, once everyone starts hammering up the hill, it is easy to get dropped if you miss a few pedal strokes- as I did- trying to check my tires. I was off the back, on David’s wheel right before that, and by the time I decided to pull over, he was out of hearing range. Not much we can do about that except I could have alerted earlier. I appreciate you all waiting. I decided to turn around and go back since I only had one tube with me- being closer to getting a ride if necessary. When I got home I inspected my wheels in detail and they seemed to be ok, I got lucky.
It may have been proposed in the past, but I wonder if it is worth having an A/B split with the larger turnouts once we get to Williamsburg, much like the WNR does in Hatfield.
by Mike Hempstead » Fri May 31, 2013 8:12 pm
I was second wheel over that pot hole and did not see it until I tightroped the side of it. I had no chance to call it out. After we kept riding no one hollered until we were a mile away. We need to call out pot holes when we can, but also flats.
One more thing, when we turn right off of rt 9 we need to soft pedal until we know everyone is on. I had to go balls out for a minute to catch the front group at that point. if weren’t for that effort,I would have dropped Durrin’s brother half way up ashfield rd.
