July 23 Rides

[DebW]

I was in the Berkshires this past weekend. ... We rode up the "Tyringham Wall," a 10-15% grade of about 3/4 a mile. Once that was done, it was mostly downhill or flat (the regular route has a lot more climbing after the "wall"). Other than the 90 year old tourists from New York who obviously have never seen a cyclist on the road, it was a great ride.

Deb, where is Goodman Hill? It sounds like someting I would like.

Robyn

Robyn, Goodman Hill Rd. is off of Rt. 20 (north side) near the Wayland/Sudbury line. It's actually in Sudbury and the Best Friends Kennel is on the corner. The other hill I ride alot because it's on my way to work is Bedford Rd. in Lincoln center, just north of Trapelo Rd. The northbound side is steep and doesn't let up. The southbound side is more gentle.

I was in the Berkshires Saturday leading a work project on the Appalachian Trail in October Mountain State Forest. I supervise trail maintenance on the central 30 miles of Mass. AT from Beartown SF to Oct. Mtn. SF. I should really take my bike out there sometime and ride. I love the Tyringham area (the AT crosses Main Rd. and Jerusalem Rd. and Fernside Rd.). Where is the "Tyringham Wall"? Since Tyringham is in a valley, guess any direction is up. From there, I either take the paved road to Monterrey or the gravel Meadow Rd. to Fernside Rd. with my car full of trail tools.

[Fredwina]

I did a littel recievry ride after the century. Plus, it was the usual July boiling hot. It rained for 15 minutes prior, which dropped the temp to 92, but raised the humidity to 40%

[bcipam]

Since I'm training for a century, thought I better get out and about on my road bike and do some miles. I decided to join my road club and to do the long plus (58 miles) but by the time I got there to sign out for the ride, I was just dripping wet. Plus I have a cold so I opted for the short - 40 miler to Huntington Beach and back. OK ride is very flat which means everyone went very fast.

The ride start was 8am. Just after starting, the thunder and lightning also started. Riding down to the beach we stayed just ahead of the rain and lightning. I felt really good in the beginning and allowed two friends to pace me down PCH. Our average speed was just over 22 mph. Just a mile before the coffee stop I cracked, cracked bad. I was sweating so bad, I started getting headachy and realized I was very dehydrated. Problem with moving fast you forget to drink water. I let the friends go and I mosied over to the coffee shop.

After getting an ice tea and sitting down to eat a Balance bar, the thunder and rain caught up with us. I didn't have the sense to get out of it but frankly it felt good. After the rain passed we felt it safe to start riding. My friends took off quickly and I knew, right then and there I was done and I have 20 miles to go back. One friend thankfully fell back and paced me in. It was a real struggle. I had allowed myself to get dehydrated and now felt dizzy, nauseated and headachy. Thankfully up until now it was overcast but just as we started to climb back inland the sun broke and I felt my brains being scrambled. I had only one speed at this point, very slow.

It's amazing how fast the first 20 was I rode and how slow was the last. I bet I averaged around 10 mph coming back. I was never so glad to see the finish. I could barely dismount my bike and had to just find shade, lay down and relax, trying to get rid of the headache. A friend offered up some Gatorade which helped alot.

After sitting 2 hours I finally left for home with drams of taking a shower, hitting the couch with the air ona dn watching the Tour. Not foiled again. The lightning took out a transformer and I was sans electricity. Boy was that a bummer!!!!! It didn't come back on until 5:30p. By then I started to smell like fried chicken!

[AuntieK]

This morning I rode my bike to the library to drop off my overdue Chris Carmichael book, then I rode to the fitness center where I had planned to do a dance/aerobics class (coach is out of town for the week, so I'm goofing off ).
Got to the fitness center and found it closed for the holiday (Utah's birthday today). So I rode back home, dropped off my backpack, asked my boys if they wanted to go for a ride with me (they wanted to keep sleeping ), and I headed back out. I rode up the canyon on the bike trail. It was too late in the morning to be on the bike trail, too many strollers, skateboarders, etc., but the other option was to ride into town and it was getting hot. So I opted to dodge people on the cooler bike path in the canyon. I think my average speed would have been a bit higher if I didn't have to keep slowing down to avoid collisions. But it felt good to get out and do an easy 20 miles.

Edited to say that this was my July 24th ride, not the 23rd! Oops!

[Crankin]

Deb,

The AT crosses Tyringham Rd about 3-4 miles before the steep climb starts. I think that's what you called Main St. If you keep going straight after Jerusalem Rd., you will hit the hill. After the top, you ride along the ridge and then go down, ending at RT. 23, where we head right. Our usual route goes left where Rt. 23 bears right into Monterrey. On that route, you climb for at least 2 miles (the road begins with an S) and then we cruise down into New Marlborough and eat lunch on the green, by the church. Yesterday, we rode through Monterrey and then onto Monument Valley Rd. to get back to Rt. 7.

Yes, the riding is great there.

Robyn