I woke up at 6 AM to check and re-check the hour by hour weather forecast and radar. It was looking pretty grim outside at that time with steady rain. But, most of the sources said by 10 AM the rain would have moved out to the south, so I made the call to postpone start time until 10 AM.
I admit, I actually went back to bed to catch another hour of sleep!
Fully charged with an extra hour of rest and another cup of caffeine, I headed over to Pulaski from Easthampton, really looking forward to climbing Clesson Brook Rd in Buckland with the group. Just as I got to the city line on the bike path, I went to shift to the big ring (because, of course, I am sprinting to the town line- ha!)… and nope, the di2 just wouldn’t lift the chain. I had to think about this a minute- battery charged? Check. No recent crashes? Check. Adjustments? Nope. Riding with the B’s nearly 60 miles with no big ring? No way.
I did not know who was going to show up at Pulaski, so I contacted our ride leaders coordinator John and headed back home to get my other road bike. Once I got home I realized I had not ridden it since last fall, so it needed a bunch of small tune-ups. By now, our prez Charlie had gotten in touch with me, as he was at Pulaski waiting with the group. Since I had a bit of work to do it was best to have the group head out, with the possibility of me meeting them.
I finally set out with my Trek (mechanical shifting FTW!), about 20 minutes behind. I put in a decent effort to get to Williamsburg, with a slight hope I may catch the group. However, when I got there, I checked Charlie’s Strava beacon and they were half way up N. Poland and I knew there was no way I could catch them with all that climbing. So I suffered the same route they did, solo, and about 20-30 minutes behind the entire ride. Though I enjoy the company, motivation to climb and drafting, I have to say that being solo (and slower) allowed me to appreciate a lot more of the scenery- it is beautiful in the hilltowns.
So this is not really the group ride report- but it is still a ride report! It looks like the group had a great ride (in Strava feed anyway).
On to next week!
P.S. Bike shop is working on the di2 issue… computers- who needs them, right?
