Tuesday was a cool but sunny day and I planned a ride on the Montague Plains for 6:20. With the warm temps and not much snow I opted to go stud-less tonight and said as much to the group. We hung around the shop till about 6:10 to wait for Dieter and after he got his girdle straightened out we were ready to roll. I had Christian and Curt in the van while Dieter and David followed me over to Montague Center. When we arrived at the common we quickly got our bikes and gear in order and soon we headed out for the Telephone Pole Trail. I set the pace for the group that included Jack, Ed, John, Neil, Mitch, Dieter, Curt, Dave and Christian as we pedaled down the hardtop to the trailhead.

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It has been a pretty weird winter….no snow and very warm temps, which means no skiing for me. But when the weather gives me lemons I will make the best lemonade. To that end I decided to forgo skiing on Sunday and go out for a road ride. I posted a ride for 1:00 and I arrived at the shop at 12:30 to get ready to go. By ride time there I had a group that included Bob Croke, Steve Power, Curt, Josh, John Marcy, Pete Hoffman and Keith Streeter. 

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According to the event web site, the Great River Road Ride is one of the top 10 centuries in the U.S.  I believe it.  It is a beautiful ride on lightly traveled roads, most in very good condition, with plenty of long climbs and descents. 

The event has several ride options from 35 – 112 miles.  There are cue sheets and the course is well marked.  Steve Power and I tackled the 112 mile option, the 170km Timed Populaire.  You start in Westfield MA and the route takes you along the Westfield River to Savoy and back along the Middle and West Branches of the Westfield River.

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This is an e-mail I recieved from Bonnie Losick about her race up Whiteface MTN in New York. I have done this one myself and can attest to the difficulty.

I got up Whiteface Mtn. in Wilmington, NY (just north of Lake Placid) – all 3,565 vertical feet of it in 8 damn miles yesterday! It was absolutely relentless – no breaks, no downhill or even any flat areas. Great sunny weather though, but it was a long, long uphill slog. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish, especially when I passed tempting picnic tables at gorgeous, scenic overlooks where I had all I could do to keep cranking over the pedals and not take a break. I was the oldest woman and the only one in my age group. Thus I came in first place (and last again) with a time of 1:31:01. Even being that slow I beat a number of people in both women’s and men’s age groups (the ones at the bottom of their age groups). Oh well. I’m not fast, but I did do it. Hooray. It may be my last, except for Mt. Greylock in the fall. Tomorrow is the annual ice cream social bike ride – I think that’s more my speed.
Love to you all,
Bonnie

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