Monday, October 24, 2011

It had to be done

After last weeks "close but no cigar ride" I was left with a feeling of remorse.  There were only a limited number of days left this year that the water fountains would be on, and making it out to Roncari and back, without skipping anything would be a lot easier without a hydration pack weighing me down.

I could have called up the usual suspects, but If I didn't complete my intended route, I didn't want to have anyone to blame  but myself (since James doesn't use the internet, I'll blame him for not doing the whole route last week).

Things got off to a bumpy start.  In cleaning the bike I intended to ride, a bike with not one but eight choices of gears,  I found it wouldn't be up to it.
I was going to have to do it singlespeed.

Then I left the house with overinflated skinny(er) tires...and my rotors were rubbing.  I stopped, let some air out of the tires, and adjusted my calipers.
Got rolling again and crashed going up hill...at the res?!
This was going to be a long ride.
Then I went OTB hopping a routine log.
This ride seemed to be doomed.

I got to the first water fountain.  I made a deal with myself, if the water is on I'll continue on, if not, I'll just goof around at the res until I was out of water and head home.
It's on!
Hurray...I guess.

As I made my way through Pennwood, I began to get some sort of rhythm going.  But as pretty as the leaves may be they inevitably led to a few sudden directional changes.
In West Hartford I was feeling over dressed, but just 15 miles North and I was just right.

Descending down from the chimney into Tariffville, the trail was getting a little sloppy.  I braced myself for what the flood plains were going to be like.  Again I started to rationalize, maybe I'd turn back if things got too sloppy.

Then I grew a pair; I'm not blowing this opportunity.

They had towed the broken down car that has been in the woods for at least a decade so I missed the entrance to "Randy's Trail".  I realized this when I was faced with the wall of a trail that used to be the only way to the ridge.  33x20 is a fairly light gear, but no match for that!

Up to the ridge, down to Hatchet Hill, and on to Roncari.
I made it!
Now I just need to make it back.

I counted off the climbs on my return.
  • Tariffville to the Chimney
  • Powerlines
  • Wilcox
  • Green trail
  • Blue trail in the center of Pennwood (the last big one)
  • From 185 to the powerlines
  • CB1 Birthday climb
One by one I checked them off.
Looking down at my computer, it seemed Garmin was ripping me off on elevation gain.  It also was less mileage than I expected.   Was I going to have to ride around the block to break 40?
No, I didn't have to resort to that, but it was close.



To be a little extra geeky, I kept track of what I ate and drank.  Before the ride I had a 1/2 cup of oatmeal with a banana, and a teaspoon of sugar, two cups of coffee and a glass of orange juice.  Right before I left I had two granola bars.  That's 535 calories.
On the ride I had 4 more granola bars, a Cliff Bar, a Cliff Mojo bar, and 64 oz of water for a total of 800 calories.  I was on a fairly comfortable pace and that seemed work pretty well.

Next time maybe I'll to go to Newgate.

6 comments:

Hill Junkie said...

What is it about breaking even numbers? 40mi, 50mi, 100k, etc? On our trail ride yesterday, we got back to the cars with 49.0mi on the odometer. Had to do a half mile out and back on the dirt rail trail to make it 50.

CB2 said...

For the Father's Day Ride we only went to Hatchet Hill and it was 39.4 miles. I thought for sure Roncari would have added more than 7/10ths to the total, but I guess it just seems longer than it is. So I had in my mind the ride would be 40+ miles.

TJ said...

Thats an epic loop no doubt, sounds like you will be ready for the VT50 next year.

dougyfresh said...

the subaru is gone?


how about a ride to willimantic on Sunday for beer?

Hedge Bandit said...

You're tally of food is interesting. I'm never sure how much I should eat. Did you eat when you were hungry or did you eat at spaced intervals?

CB2 said...

@Muffintop
On rides longer than 2.5 hours I try and consume about 200 calories an hour. I usually eat at planned intervals (on the hour). If I'm riding on the road I might stop at a store or bakery and get something more interesting than a prepackaged bar.