Ride Reports and News

NCC is excited to announce a partnership with Justin Eichenlaub of Humanistic Coaching in offering an Introduction to Structured Training and Interval series.

This "Introduction to Structured Training/Intervals" series is geared toward a wide range of cyclists. It's for those who want to learn how to do a variety of more intense workouts (and where/how to do them outside and/or indoors) whether their goal is to improve their heart health, increase their fitness for group riding or racing, or simply learn to push themselves and take on a new challenge. In this workshop series the basics of riding and training at varying intensities will be introduced with a strong focus on the why and the how. Two virtual meetings will provide a chance to learn background information and ask questions, while the three group rides will focus on learning how to pace the various intervals, with rides taking place at a range of local spots suited to those particular workouts — for instance, we may ride in Hatfield or at Whiting Reservoir for a steady, flat threshold workout, and meet at the climb on Line Road in Easthampton to practice VO2 workouts and pacing. NCC Members get 10% off! Register here

On a lovely spring evening, we had nine riders gather at Hadley for our Skinner hillclimb. This is the last of the six hillclimbs in the first half of our summer season. It took us almost three months to get to this point in the schedule, but Ryan and Garret apparently didn't want to wait that long, and completed an epic century on Saturday (along with Carson) covering all six of the hillclimbs in one ride. I got tired just looking at this ride on Strava.

Garret has apparently been having a tough week mechanically. He had a torn sidewall during the six-hillclimb ride on Saturday, and then today when I arrived at Skinner, Ryan was performing some type of complicated surgical intervention on Garret's brake pads. He apparently got it working, but then Garret promptly dropped his chain at the top of the first pitch, and had to stop to fix it. That didn't slow him down much, and he soon came charging past all the riders that had passed him to retake his spot up near the front of the field.

Ryan was the first to the top, with a blazing-fast 9:40 time. Despite his mechanical troubles, Garret took third, finishing neck-and-neck with Sam. Shawn also turned in a strong performance, scoring the only PR of the evening.

Next week we'll start the second half of our season with the Short TT in Hatfield -- come out and join us!

A big crowd for tonight's Monday Night Intro Ride on a lovely spring evening. Martin and Charles joined us for the first time, welcome! They joined a bunch of Monday regulars, including Adam, Carl & Clarissa on their tandem, Jeanne, Jerome, Shelby, and Tony, along with Ari and me.

We rode our Hatfield loop, which is the flattest of our four Intro Ride routes. The group apparently enjoyed the flat terrain, because we were flying along at quite a brisk pace. The riders on Strava all recorded a bunch of segment PRs, congratulations on that!

We didn't stop for our traditional photo-op, which Shelby appreciated, but I did manage to sneak in a stealth action shot with my favorite barn mural in the background.

Next week we compensate for tonight's flat route with our hilliest loop through Easthampton. Join us if you dare!

Full disclosure:  I did not plan or lead this ride.  Instead, I am popping into the website to write about it since I was a participant.

Earlier in the week Christian posted a C+  56 Mile ride up to Millers Falls and back for Saturday.  I had not the time to post a B ride for the weekend, so I was pleased to see it and planned to attend that ride.

On Friday, Joe L posted to the group that he would like to lead a ride on the COVAC century route.  Right, 100 miles!

On Saturday morning we had a group of about 15 riders meet, and talked about the options.  We settled on all riding Christian's route of 56 miles with about 2562' of climbing, rather than the century proposed by Joe.

Despite the mix of B and C riders, everyone kept together most of the ride.

We weaved our way fairly rapidly though Hatfield and Whatley to avoid the boring River Rd, and at Sunderland we took a quick rest stop at the intersection of 116 and 47.

With some pretty efficient pace-line work we landed in the Montague plains, a well maintained dirt road.

The honeymoon was over!  It was time to do the biggest climb of the day - up Wendell Rd to the Wendell State Forrest.  I have not taken this road often.  Usually I do Mormon Hollow and Farley. But, I was reminded how beautiful this climb is.

Michael Bello took the group photo when we stopped at the State Forrest HQ:

We were treated to a fun decent (and great pavement) into the Lake Wyola area.  But the fun did end, having to climb up to Shutesbury.

The descent down the S-curves was well enjoyed by all, and we had pretty patient auto drivers behind us, allowing for a safe descent.

Our refuel stop at Cushman Market was overdue, as many of us were dry.  Surprisingly, I had never, ever been inside Chushman market (!), and I was surprised and pleased with the selection of beverages and snacks!  It was a very busy place!

After a bit long rest, we headed out toward Hadley to get home. But to my surprise, the route took us off of Rte 47, up Mt Warner Rd (read: UP).  Perhaps something I might do to get some more elevation... but... geez, I just wanted to get home.  Not a complaint- all good fun!

The group continued to move rapidly back toward the bike path bridge in a great pace line.  Once on the bridge we all settled down and folks started peeling off toward Damon Rd and Florence.

This was one of the larger SMR's in a while and it went so well!  We did not drop anyone other than Don F, who turned around in Montague.  The "worst" confusion was Mt. Warner Rd, where several riders continued on down River Rd instead.  Not a big deal.

Many thanks to Christian for posting this ride, and to Joe for his ambition.  It all worked out great!

Next week, please join your fellow NCC riders at Hatfield Lions Annual Bike Tour!

Hi, All

I would like to lead an SMR this weekend.  I was thinking we could do the COVAC Century loop, but now I see that there's a chance of rain in the afternoon.  As an alternative, maybe the ride to Wendell and Shutesbury would be a better choice.  Let's say 9 AM at Pulaski.  I'll make a definitive choice tomorrow afternoon.  

Dang- I just saw that Christian (I think) posted the same ride-as a C+ event.  Now I'm not sure what to do?  Any thoughts?  Do his ride-possibly in one group, or split into two? Or, do the COVAC despite the forecast- it is supposed to be warm.

On a lovely spring evening, eight riders gathered in South Deerfield to prepare for the Deerfield Time Trial, and to gawk at the robot lawnmower methodically working its way around the fields of the UMass Turf Research Center. The wind felt pretty calm at the start line, but this was just an illusion, and once we were out on the course, it was blowing pretty steadily from the north. This made for a rough outbound leg, but the return trip felt very good.

Sam lapped the field with a winning time of 31:52, and Shawn was not far behind with a strong 32:34. Both of those times were PRs. Andy rounded out the podium a few seconds back at 32:50.

Full season series results available here.

Next week we'll wrap up the first half of our season (already!) with the Skinner Hillclimb on 6/9 at 5:30 PM. Come out and join us!

After all the wind and rain this weekend, we were happy to have a decent night for our second Monday intro ride of the season, with temperatures perhaps a bit on the chilly side, but not too bad. We had five riders, including newcomer Bowen, fresh off a big ride-every-road adventure in Shutesbury yesterday, and Shelby, fresh off her second triathlon of the season yesterday.

Our route took us on a loop around Northampton, a loop that I've done many times, but still struggled to correctly navigate. Fortunately, Jerome and Shelby have done it almost as many times as I have, and were ready to jump in to pick up the slack when I fumbled the route directions.

On our way back into town, we pulled off the bike path for a photo-op at the Florence history mural, where we had to rearrange a few recycling bins in order to get a clear shot. 

We wrapped up around 6:50 PM with 16.1 miles at a fairly brisk pace of 13.3 mph. Jerome and Shelby both notched a bunch of PRs, so I think we were moving pretty well.

Next week we'll be doing our Hatfield loop from Sheldon Field at 5:30 pm -- come and join us!

[EDIT: Charles texted me to mention that he found some keys on the route as he rode up after the group.  He dropped them off at the Northampton Police Department -- thanks Charles!]

It was a lovely evening for tonight's Westhampton hillclimb, with sunny skies and seasonable temperatures. A bit of a wind from the west kept the times on the slow side, with no PRs tonight. We had a group of eleven at the 5:30 start, with several riders having ridden in earlier in the day, and a couple riding a bit later.

Ryan took off from the gun and gapped the field right away, on his way to a wire-to-wire win by almost two minutes ahead of Garret. I settled in to a sizable group for the first half up to Outlook, but Andy pulled away, and a couple other riders dropped off, leaving Richard and me solo for most of the second half. I clung to his wheel but couldn't match his acceleration at the end.

Waiting at the top, we were treated to a low overhead flyby from a Great Blue Heron, and then on the descent had to dodge a Turkey Vulture peeling a squirrel off the road and flying away with it. Nature!

Joe texted me his time this evening from a ride earlier in the day, but it turns out he went to Williamsburg and did the wrong climb. I am going to give him a participation point for the effort.

Next week is the Deerfield Time Trial (note to Joe: just west of the Sunderland bridge, goes north on River Road :-).

Sorry to say that It looks like the rain is not going to abate till almost noon, so I'm cancelling the C ride starting at Keyes street for tomorrow morning.

Justine 

I apologize for posting the ride pretty late, and for not putting it on the NCC calendar.  It was listed on NCC's Ride with GPS event page, but not in a super timely fashion.  

In any event, the group met at Pulaski Park at 9:30, and rolled out with seven riders: me, professor Sleegers, Tim Cary, Elissa Foreman, Marilyn Nage, John Boltcutter, and Shawn Lakota.  We picked up Michael Bello in Leeds.  The weather was quite cool and overcast, and it didn't warm up much during the ride.  In fact, it was downright chilly up in Ashfield.  We did a fairly standard loop:  out to Leeds on Nonotuck, and Spring Sts., then up Audobon to South St into Burgy.  Then, up Ashfield Rd (no one took my offer to take Village Hill Road) to Ludwig.  The pace was pretty spicy, and I had to request a slight slow down.  From the top of Ludwig we hurtled down Brier Hill Rd, and then went up again on Creamery.  We came down Norris Hill Rd to the store formerly known as Elmer's.  Then, a beautiful descent (mostly) of Baptist Corner, and up again on South Shirkshire.  From there, we went down Shelbourn Rd back to Conway, and home on Whately Rd and Haydenville Rd to Burgy.  We took River Rd back to Leeds, and finished the loop on the rail trail.  

I had 50 miles and 3,335 feet of elevation, and an average speed of 15.2 mph.  We took a group photo, but I don't think I can include here.  I put it on my Strava.  Cheers!  Joe L.