Team Fernandez Bike Blog 2010

The idea of riding to a Greenfield dance was the first inspiration for the series of dance rides. Greenfield is far enough away from home that I rarely dance there because the drive is too long. That makes it a perfect destination to give a day ride an epic feeling. Plus, Greenfield has quite a reputation among dancers to the west of me, primarily because they have nowhere else to dance I believe.

The ride turned out to be challenging. It should take me 80 miles to get there from Londonderry, but instead I logged 95. I blame that mostly on my GPS. Previously, I had complete trust in it, but it seemed to be confused and wanted to route me on a bicycle prohibited highway. I didn’t come to this realization until I was standing at the on ramp at an exit I keep coincidentally finding myself at. By the time I was back on a feasable course, those 15 extra miles had been added to my day. The 20% lengthening of the ride left me a bit underfed and underwatered later in the ride when I was in rural areas of the hills of western MA with few stores or town to resupply at. My bike was loaded down with a weekend’s worth of amenities and clothing. At one point, unsure of the next supply opportunity and tired of cranking my loaded bike over 1000ft relief rolling terrain, I resorted to WALKING (!) a steep grade in the name of saving energy. The ride turned up around the town of Warwick. There, the one store in town, across from a tiny town festival, sold me some cans of iced tea out of a kitchen refridgerator and a homemade oatmeal cookie. I also met another distance cyclist in town who had a vintage ride with a front rack, friendly advice of dubious quality, and a Ben and Jerry’s bike jersey. Better yet, leaving Warwick was a five mile coast into the Conneticut river valley where I found a store with a sports drink and experienced rejuvination sufficient to climb back out the other side of the valley and into Greenfield. In town, a very refreshing dip at a local beach brought back my senses for the evening dance.

The next morning I awoke in a timely fashion and headed back towards the hills to meet up with my ride home. There was over 1000 feet of climbing at moderate but steady grades, plus a stop on the return trip with my friends for a quick loop around covered bridges in western NH. With 136 miles weekend total in challenging conditions, a final dip in a NH lake on the side of 101 and a bag of Hannaford bakery goods provided a very satisfying end to the weekend.

Sunday Aug 22 was the summer’s most glamourous event, a half ironman at Lake Winnipesaukee. While I’m used to having the beater ride in the crowd, the effect was quite pronounced here as 2700 participants lined up tri specific race bikes in transition. I don’t remember a single other bike present with flat handlebars and a cargo rack. It was enough to pull an incredulous chuckle from one spectator eyeing my wheels right before the bike in. This equipment disadvantage didn’t stop me from turning in a mid-pack 1599th place bike split at 17.4mph. It did, however, stoke the background curiosity of what an upgrade might do for my numbers. I read just a little slower when I got to the tri bike reviews in my copy of Bicycling this morning.

The 56 mile out-and-back course really is excellent. There’s a little something for everyone, although I think too much excitement surrounds it’s reputation as hilly. Yes, it’s true that immediately upon turning out of the bike chute you are confronted with a rise with an unignorable grade, but how better to get warmed up from the water? Most of the course, from about mile 15 out to the turnaround is a congomeration of rolling terrain that keeps you interested but doesn’t create any intimidation. The only climb of note is only a few miles out from the start/finish. This hill, which must be the course’s frequently mentioned 9% grade, is guaranteed to get you sweaty and is about the same experience from both directions, but shouldn’t be anything low gear can’t dispense with for anyone with aspirations to finish this event. I did see a couple riders dismount before the top. The atmosphere on this climb is kept light with the most dense supports of any section of the bike course. Encouragement from the locals “you can see the top from here” and “you made it” might just make this the part of the course I recommend looking forward to instead of dreading! One challenge for me on climbs in an event this long is to remember to keep pace. It’s tempting to crank up hills, especially on the return trip, but I still need those legs to be strong a couple hours after I put the bike away.

My run was slow and uneventful. I was happy to keep nearly identical pace on the first and second passes of the two loop run course. The swim was beautiful

Remembering back to when I registered for this event in the winter as a summer training motivator, I realize that this end of August event foreshadows the end of summer. There is at most only another month of reliable riding weather. Although I don’t intend to discard my run conditioning, it’s time to put the icing on the season’s mileage. With no bike tour and all this multisport activity, I’m well short of 2009s numbers.