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.