Originally Posted by spokenword
yeah, I DNF'ed the ride in 2006. Word to the wise for this one: pay attention to your cue sheet! Seriously, the sheet's like, "L at stone hut" "R at fork (unsigned road)" Part of the reason why I DNF'ed was that I went seriously off-course twice, with each deviation incorporating an unnecessary 500-1000 ft. descent on a 10-12% grade and just lost too much energy in getting back on track.
The first checkpoint for the course was supposed to close 3.5 hours after ride start. We got there half an hour past closing and were surprised to see that it was still open. The staff mentioned that during the closing time, less than half of the riders had arrived because we were all just scattered around the forest.
all that said, even with the DNF, it was a ton of fun and an utterly gorgeous ride.
I was a DNF too and agree about the route: I was expecting a marked route- and thus had no maps- and got lost several times in the first few miles. I have trouble following cue sheets anyway and these were hard at first. And sometimes I never quite knew if I was ever on route until a point three turns down the list. Wasn't expecting nor did I know that this was a brevet.(or what a brevet type ride was) Missed all times.
It is some of the best riding territory around and I did OK until the third big climb (the one with the horses on top) and then it wasn't fun anymore. I took Rte 12 down to Rte 2 and returned to Deerfield and recovered nicely enough to extend the ride along the Connecticut River a little just to say I got 100.
I took my MTB with 1.5 slicks and next year I might put 28s on the road bike and try that. And I will take local maps.
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