Ride Reports and News

6 of us met at Keyes street in Florence for the 'Meandering Monday' route through the Hamptons and some ( but not alot) of hills.     Pamela, Kent, John Wallender, Sarah N, Sima, and myself found ourselves at Outlook Farm at 21 miles, ( that's why all the meandering), where we enjoyed their tasty treats and facilities. 

There were NO mishaps today - yay!

35 miles, 2,000 feet of climbing, at a 14 mph pace. Lots of fun, great company, and arrived home not exhausted: another yay!

A formidable group assembled at Pulaski Park this morning for the SMR.  We had nine riders at the start, and Wendy, the "King of QOMs"  met us at the start of Clessen Brook Rd.  We had Tim the Tornado Cary (ride co-leader), Madelyn Mad-Dog Nage, Chris The Candyman Owens, Brent The Kardiac Kid Auerbach, Conan Dirty Deeds Deady, John Boltcutter Marshall, relative newbie Seth The G-man Gotlieb, and, last but not least, everyone's favorite vintner dentist, Ian Dr. Pain on the Bike, Modestow.  

The pace was solid all day long, and the climbs were relentless.  Village Hill in Burgy, Hemenway, Ashfield Rd, Main Poland, Creamery Rd were all  contested at the front, but I have no idea what was happening there because I was perpetually at the back.  We stopped for a bathroom break and refreshments at the Good Times Cafe, then went around Ashfield Lake to Rte 112.  We picked up Wendy and then hit Clesson Brook Rd, a nice, stair-step sort of climb.  We had a photo opp at the top (I'm having trouble getting my photos to upload, but it's on my Strava post).  I was lobbying for a "Human Pyramid" but no one would cater to my request. 

 

After that, there was a lot more up and down.  We saw a big snapping turtle, which I understand makes a nice stew.  I got stung several times by a bee and screamed like a little B-word.  People split off in drips and drabs, and I was pretty clapped out by the end.  I had 58 miles and 4,442 feet, a ride time of 3:46, and an average speed of 15.4 mph.  We got home (as promised) by 1:30.  Good times.   Joe 

Hi, All

I am able to lead an NCC SMR this weekend.  I have outlined a route on mostly familiar roads, but there is 3.2 miles of gravel.  The route climbs up Clesson Brook, which is one of my favorite climbs.  

Meet at 9AM at the Academy of Music.  You can find the route on Ride with GPS, titled, "NCC SMR 06/27/2026.  I'll try to post on NCC Calendar as well.  Joe

First off, thanks so much to Jonathan OK for taking on the timing, statistics and reporting of the TT and HC events in my absence. At the start of today's hillclimb, I tried to butter him up enough for him to agree to continue doing this. I was not successful so you're all stuck with me for the rest of the year.

I had hoped that my fitness from two months climbing, climbing and climbing in France and Italy would translate to a big win tonight. I managed to pass my usual rivals early on (I'd say up to about the half mile point) and then was steadily passed by them all soon thereafter. Ryan was so far ahead of everyone that he was able to stop and enjoy an espresso and a cornetto crema at a darling little cafe on the hillclimb. Fun times!

We welcomed both Jeremy and Martin tonight (excuse me if this wasn't your first TT or HC event - I'm too tired to look it up). There were two screaming PRs tonight, the aforementioned Ryan who bested his time by 1:03 and Shawn (despite all the usual disclaimers at the start about how bad he is on hills) improved by a whopping 1:12. Nice job fellers!

We had 13 5:30 starters and 1 earlier starter (Tim). Here are the results:

1. Ryan Davis; Time: 22:41; 17.72 mph; 14 points

2. Garret Theberg; Time: 24:45; 16.24 mph; 13 points

3. Andy MacDonald; Time: 27:29; 14.63 mph; 12 points

4. Jonathan O'Keeffe; Time: 28:30; 14.11 mph; 11 points

5. Martin Cahillane; Time: 28:51; 13.93 mph; 10 points

6. Madeline Nagy; Time: 29:16; 13.74 mph; 9 points

7. Shawn Lakota; Time: 29:26; 13.66 mph; 8 points

8. Melissa Warwick; Time: 29:40; 13.55 mph; 7 points

9. David Goodwin; Time: 30:30; 13.18 mph; 6 points

10. Jeremy Gantz; Time: 31:49; 12.63 mph; 5 points

11. Joe Lellman; Time: 32:54; 12.22 mph; 4 points

12. Jake Poirier; Time: 33:10; 12.12 mph; 3 points

13. Tim Pitkin; Time: 33:28; 12.01 mph; 2 points

14. Alicia Wendolowski; Time: 37:00; 10.86 mph; 1 points

Next week is the dreaded (at least by me) long time trial. Let's hope for snow.

Meet at Pulaski Park in Northampton Saturday June 20th at 9 am.  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55361475

Download the route to your GPS unit, it is different from the standard NCC and my last ride.  My routes change frequently.

B-/C+ pace road ride, rolling 47 ft/mile, with a long, gradual climbs out of Millers Falls and Lake Wyola, with a coffee/snack stop at Cushman’s Café on the way back.  B Riders welcome to ride on without waiting.

• ·       Rider type: Intermediate/Advanced, very comfortable riding in a tight paceline
• ·       Average speed full ride: ~16-17 mph on this rolling route (12-15 mph on a hilly route)
• ·       Normal rolling speed in a rotating pace line on a flat road: 17-21 mph

I do climb slowly (C).  We try not to drop, waiting at turns and top of climbs when riders can be seen.  Riders can cut the ride short or ride faster after alerting the ride leader.

Riders are expected to bring their own tools and supplies and be able to fix a flat and minor mechanical issues.  Cell phones and RideID are recommended.

Only those who have signed the club waiver can join our rides (current members have already signed): form.jotform.com/213646475508058. After your second ride, we ask that you join the club.

Updates, communications, and discussions on NCC Google Group: groups.google.com/a/nohobikeclub.org/g/ncc-discussion-group

Monday, June 15 ride.  Justine (me) had a last minute family emergency, so Sima and Sarah bravely rode  where many have gone before: Old Deerfield! Other than Sarah having a flat tire, all reportedly went well. 

I'll try to be back in the saddle for this coming Monday!

Earlier in the day Andy texted me that we might need to cancel tonight's race due to "too much sunshine." After a spring filled with quite a bit of wind and rain and some chilly temps, I was more than happy to risk exposure to an excessive load of photons.

Mother Nature obliged, providing us with perfect temps in the upper 60s, abundant sunshine, and a welcome mostly north-ish breeze. Despite the perfect conditions, we had a rather paltry turnout of just four riders at the official start time (several others had ridden earlier).

The four of us (Joe, Shawn, Andy and I) were very well-matched, with all of us finishing within a 50-second window. Shawn took the top spot for his first-ever Short TT win -- congratulations!

Next week we'll be climbing Chesterfield Rd on the Northampton Hillclimb. Hopefully David will be back for that, so we can hear more about his European adventures, and all the various haboobs and siroccos he encountered. Come out and join us!

For the second week in a row, we fielded a group of eleven riders for our Monday Night Intro Ride. Newcomers Alex, Rick, and Jen joined Jerome, Mark, Tony, Sheri, Shelby, Justin, Ari and me on our Easthampton loop on a lovely (but windy) late-spring evening.

A long opening stretch on the bike path took us to through Easthampton and out to Route 5/10. We enjoyed some fast descents on fresh pavement on Pomeroy Meadow Rd before turning on Oliver St toward the Park Hill Rd climb. I told Shelby (who has been hauling in boatloads of PRs this year) that I was expecting a PR from her on the climb, and she obliged by riding past our stopping point at the Big Red Frame to ride through the end of the Strava segment at the top of the hill, before turning around to come down and rejoin us. To commemorate this effort, I created a brand-new segment  that ends at our actual stopping point, so we can get real data on this climb.

After our photo-op at the Frame, we were treated to a flyover by a couple of C-130s from Westover, along with a murmuration of starlings flying alongside as we started our descent. We rolled through downtown Northampton and arrived back at Sheldon Field around 7:15 PM, with 18.5 miles at 12.0 mph.

Next week we'll be back in the flatlands on our Hadley loop on Monday 6/22 at 5:30 PM -- come out and join us!

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!