I went. It was high 30's at the start. Good thing I brought extra clothes because I wore everthing I brought. I left the parking lot @ 7:45. The course was beautiful and once the weather warmed up and by the first rest stop I was comfortable. They allowed us to shed jackets, arm warmers, etc. and sagged them back to the start. I got swallowed up by a fast pack on the way to the first rest stop. I hung on, barely to the rest stop but they left the stop pretty quickly and I never saw them again which was probably just as well because I would have burnt myself out early trying to hang with them. Although what happened next was just as bad. I rode solo from the first rest stop encountering a few scattered riders here and there. The next rest stop was supposed to be @ 46 miles. I popped out of a side street onto RT 9 which is a state road with big wide shoulders that we don't have in CT. Well I start blasting down this road and it's pretty flat to gently rolling and I'm doing from 25-35mph and just flying !! Well I keep looking back to see if anyone's coming up behind me and ahead to see if I'm catching anyone and I don't see anybody.....I start to get nervous. I finally stop at a restaurant parking lot where I see a couple guys walking to their cars. I ask them where Notchview Reservation is, the site of the second reststop. They scratched their heads a moment and then I showed them my cue sheet. All of the sudden it clicks and the two guys look up at me and say you went two towns in the wrong direction !!!! So they tell me that I basically have to go all the way back on Route 9 the way I came.....which I do End result is at the 46 miles rest stop, I'm reading 66 miles... Oh well, I'm obviously paying much more attention to the road markers now...
I hooked up with two riders right before this second rest stop and at the rest stop they are talking about trying to see if they can shorten the 108 mile route...one of them is kind of draggin a little. So when I hear that I get the same idea myself as I was not terribly interested in turning a 108 mile ride into a 128 mile ride. So I ride with them awhile after the rest stop but eventually I get ahead on the hills. Well there I all by myself again tooling along. Although the turns were all marked on the road I would have liked to see some additional markers on some of the long straight sections every couple miles just to let you know you're on the right track. I stopped once again to ask someone if I was on the right track and I was.
Well I had been doing the climbs with a combination of standing and sitting. I usually stand a little more but when you don't know the roads it's harder because you don't want to stand, climb a section, and then turn the corner and find that the hill continues and have nothing left in the tank. Well since I'm not encountering too many riders on the road now I'm actually paying more attention to the cue sheet. I can tell I'm getting close to the third rest stop by elapsed mileage...except I have to subtract 20 from all the checkpoints. Well I come up to this hill and it's pretty big and I stand at the bottom and climb about half way up and then sit and sping to the top...then the road takes a turn and I find myself staring up the biggest, longest hill I've ever see on a bike. I'm reading my cue sheet now as I type this and I think it's East River Hill. I downshift into my 28t and begin to sit & spin....sit & spin...sit & spin....there are two riders way off in the distance and I just concentrate on them...not to try and catch them but just to have something to focus on. At least the grade of the hill was constant and once you dialed in a gear you just had to be patient, breathe and be patient. I Routsliped the hill: http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=10923 About 600 feet in a mile & a half.
Once I crested the hill the third rest stop is just up the road. I sat there and rested & refueled and the two guys I met at the second reststop pull up and we begin talking again. One of them asked me where I'm from and I say Oxford, CT. and his eyes light up and he says, "Your the guy I see riding up Punkup Rd. every morning !". It turns out he lives about 5 minutes from me and commutes on a road I ride regularly in the morning. Small world !!
At this reststop we're supposed to have 67 miles in. Of course I have 87...myself and the two other guys ask and it turns out that we can take the metric century route back from here. So we all take off for home. It's still another 20 miles and by the time I hit the parking lot I've registered 108 miles which is exactly what I was supposed to do....just not in so roundabout a manner..
I heard from other riders that I missed a couple more big hills by cutting off that last loop but I guess they'll have to wait til next year. All in all it was a great ride. The scenery was beautiful. The roads were fine too...a couple of rough patches but no big deal. I did get to meet Mirona (Mike) at the first rest stop and see his new bike which was very nice. I never saw him again after that and assume he finished and left before I got back. The only knock I had was that when I got back to the finish my clothes that I had bagged to be returned from the first rest stop were not back yet.....I asked one of the organizers and she informed me that the truck I had placed my items in was still out on the road. So I ate from the after ride meal and stalled around a bit hoping the truck would show up but it didn't and I had to go so they told me to write down all the items I had left and I gave them my cell# & email address. I am hoping that they will send the items to me ??? Between the gloves, jacket, & arm warmers that's over $100 worth of stuff...
It was a great ride. I'd do it again in a pinch. Thanks to Hipcycler for recommending the Endurolyte capsules which kept the cramps manageable throughout the ride. After doing the ride I think I can probably swap my 11-32 for an 11-28. Hats off to the folks who climbed East River Hill in a 39-27 or lower. Doing this ride made me realize that I have to work on my strengh in the flats. I had trouble hanging onto some folks in the flats...I'd catch them on the hills but I definitely need to be stronger on the flats.