Well, I have outdone myself - participated in my first organized event and rode the longest ride ever. Did the Green River Tour route of the D2R2 (Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnee). Billed as 40mi but 46mi on the map, I ended up tacking on another 9 miles for a grand total of 55 - because why not! I was a little disappointed - there wasn't as much "dirt" or climbing as I envisioned - but it sounds like I have to go for the longer 100K+ routes to get that. The scenery wasn't all that fantastic either, but I might be 'spoiled' by having lived in the Pioneer Valley for 7 years.

Regardless, I enjoyed it much - did it solo and when I felt like I was getting bored I just dropped the hammer. I guess I underestimated my body's abilities and my newly-discovered fondness of aimlessly riding a bike for hours on end. Will try to do the 100K next year. As a consequence, I've been consuming everything edible in sight. Turns out cider donuts are a great post-ride ailment.

These are just the phone pics, I have some more I haven't pulled from my camera.

Sign-in tent
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Midway lunch point in VT
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Bikes resting after a hard ride. Soooo much bike p0rn out here. Carbon is out, all the cool kids are into custom-built titanium or ti-carbon But there were quite a few oddities as well, like father & son on unicycles. Saw a Rawland and thought of [MENTION=233020]rholland1951[/MENTION]
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A well-deserved meal
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