Blue Hills Cycling Blog

So you think you're tough?

2009-06-07T18:04:00.002-04:00

Here is a great recap of Alec Petro's Alaskan MTB adventure:

A number of people asked me to write up my race experience in Alaska. It took a while to gather my thoughts and put the pictures together but here it is... I apologize for the length but the race took 6 days and 9 hours so it was hard to put it in just a few paragraphs.. ....

Iditarod Trail Invitational, Alaska
March 1 - 7, 2009
By Alec Petro

Photo Gallery:

http://www.kodakgal lery.com/ ViewSlideshow. action?&collidparam= 32531728813. 288871242113. 1237287396225 (copy and paste link)

First, I would like to thank my extremely understanding and supportive wife and family for putting up with this “adventure”.Without it I couldnt have attempted it. I don’t think there has been any race (including Race across America ) where there was so much “non-training” preparation. From learning about the appropriate gear and accumulating it, to learning from ground zero about winter survival, it was a daunting task. Three years ago, I didn’t know you could race mountain bikes in the snow. I did not know about the special snow bike called a Surley Pugsley. I had never camped in the winter nor did I have any desire to ever to do so. While I like the cold and spend a lot of time skiing, it’s only for relatively short periods of time where you can go into the lodge if you need to get a hot chocolate. So, it was with much trepidation that I signed up for the Iditarod Trail Invitational shortly after coming back from competing in La Ruta des Conquistadors in Costa Rica in November. That race was a four stage grueling affair which climbs 45k feet in the span of 20-24 hours of racing. I had traveled to AK with my brother Heli-skiing last winter and read about the Iditarod race and thought it would be an interesting challenge with a lot of different components and also a great way to see a piece of the last frontier, Alaska. The Iditarod Trail is one of the longest and most famous trails in the world named for a trail which was broken in 1925 when a deadly Diphtheria epidemic broke out in Nome , Alaska . A few courageous dog sled mushers broke a 1000 mile trail from Anchorage in the middle of a bad Alaskan storm to deliver a flu serum. This serum was delivered to Nome and the vast majority of the sick children were saved. This trail became the site of the famous dog sled race in 1967.
After I ponied up the $800 race fee for the 350 mile race which goes on the most challenging and scenic trails of the most famous dog sled race in the world (and AK's annual equivalent of its own Superbowl), I started to research what was needed in terms of gear and know how to compete in the race. I knew as a first timer, I would have a very steep learning curve and make a lot of mistakes in gear and race assumptions (and I certainly did!). I already owned a Pugsley and had raced and won the last two Jay VT Winter Challenge MTB races in the snow (only 30 miles) in 2007 and 2008, so at least I knew I could ride competently in the snow. The Iditarod race is different. It’s a non-stop race for however long it takes to complete. There are only a few rules: one must carry all gear other than extra food and batteries from the start of the race, there are two 10 lb food drops where you send your supplies ahea at mile 160 (Fingerlake Check Pt) and mile 210 (Rohn Check Pt) on the other side of the fabled 3600 ft Rainy Pass) and there is no outside support allowed.

In the beginning of the pre-race planning I was really worried about keeping my hands and feet warm through the potential -30 degree temps (We rode two mornings in -30 degrees – my newly grown beard came in handy and I only got frostbite between the top of my beard and the bottom of my goggles and the tip of my nose :) ). I built special over-boots, with a lot of help from Arnold Roest who was invaluable through my whole preparation. Arnold and I also built and tested a ski with a carbon fiber cradle which seemed to be very promising on the flats, at least where I was able to test it vs. the regular front wheel.

As far as training goes, while I had been riding consistently, I had limited success in getting some long winter rides in. I had no training rides longer than 6 hours and only had 5 rides over 4.5 hours since November. I was also running twice a week because I understood there was a high probability that there would be some bike pushing if there was any deep snow. It was hard trying to train and ride so much in the winter, so I wound up riding a lot of miles inside on my trainer. Even so, I knew I had put a lot of miles in over the course of training for La Ruta and I probably averaged 15-19 hours or riding for the 9 weeks leading up to the Iditarod race. Not exactly my plan, but I figured if I rode smart I could survive with that amount of riding. It would turn out that I would bike/push 101 hours (taking out rest stops) over the course of what would be a 6 day and 9 hour race.

It took a lot of testing but I figured out the correct hand/glove configuration was Craft Lobster gloves with liners. When I was hot and sweaty I could ride with the liners and take the lobster gloves off. It is also impossible to ride in the bitter cold without something called “Pogies” which are insulated handlebar covers which you slip you hands into when you ride. This protects from wind and really makes an amazing difference in comfort when riding. After some more research on the web I commissioned Carousel designs in California to make a custom packing set up with a seat post bag, triangle frame bag, and cradle over the front wheel, which held my -20 degree Northface down sleeping bag/mat over the front tire in a water proof “bivy sack” and also held extra clothes. Supplies like stove, food (5-8 lbs at a time), 2 head lamps, glasses, goggles, Leatherman tool, park tool, pump, extra tube and more went into the triangle bag. The seat post bag that extended over the rear wheel which held more food and emergency supplies like wire, tape, first aid kit, fire starting kit, and a host of other little necessary items. I drilled a water bottle holder underneath the down tube near the crank to hold a 22 oz white fuel canister for my Simmlerlite stove. A stove would be necessary (for me at least) to melt snow for water in case I ran out, and to cook any hot freeze dried food in case I got stranded anywhere. This would come in handy on Rainy Pass during our 46 hour/two night treck over the unbroken trail. I had a Garmin 60 csx GPS mounted on the handlebars loaded with the trail way points and a Nalgene bottle in an insulated carrier over the stem. All tolled, my fully loaded bike weighed about 74 lbs. Lastly I carried a 100 oz custom cold weather insulated camel back which still had to be kept under two layers of jackets most times (to prevent from freezing in the bitter cold) and still managed to freeze at moments every day. When I did freeze my fluids, and I was unable to get any water, I would have to take the end tube and place it in my armpit under all my layers to thaw it out so the hose would start flowing again. I was worried whether my back could handle wearing this extra large camel back weighing probably 4 lbs over the course of the race, but surprisingly my back got used to it quickly and never really bothered me.

I had shuttered at the idea of camping in the winter but knew I had to practice sleeping with sweaty clothes in the cold and snow. Luckily, our family travels to NH every weekend to ski at Loon Mt in Lincoln , NH . I gently started this training process by sleeping outside on the porch. The first night I attempted this I made it a full 3 hours and then had to come in because I was too cold. Gradually I learned a few tricks to make it bearable like sleeping in bike boots, hat, down jacket, and mittens inside the -20 sleeping bag. Amazingly, if you keep warm enough in wet clothes inside the sleeping bag, after 3-4 hours, your body heat will dry your wet clothes and the moisture will escape through the breathable down sleeping bag and just leave a crust of frost on the outside of the bag from the moisture when you wake up. So after 3 months of lists, gathering food and other supplies, and reading everything I could read on the internet about the race (and completely terrified after reading most of the race accounts). I arrived in Anchorage three days before the race to get acclimated to the 4 hour time difference since the race oddly started at 2 pm on March 1st. I was lucky enough to nab an empty seat for Heli-skiing with Chugatch Powder Guides at Mt Alyeska outside of Anchorage two days before the race. It was a nice way to start the journey and we had a great day and skied 21,000 vertical ft on a perfect blue sky day. My legs felt fine after skiing as I have been skiing/biking every weekend day in NH for training since December. My friend Mike Mitchell, a former room mate at the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid had graciously offered to come up to Alaska at the same time as the race. He not only helped me get prepared leading up to the race, but also drove me out the the starting line in Knik, a 45 minute drive from Anchorage. Mike rented a snow machine and served as the unofficial race photographer for day one, and took alot of the pictures in my photo album. He also is a former army ranger and veteran pilot and flew us over the Dog Sled race on the first day to watch the race from the air.

I had a very sick feeling in my stomach when we lined up at the start at Knik Lake, having really no idea what to expect in terms of how my body was going to handle the long term effects of cold, sleep deprivation, and overall fatigue. The only “all-nighter” I had ever experienced in my life was the 24 Hr Solo World MTB Championships in Atlanta in 2006 and that was very hard. This was also different from RAAM where we were on our bikes, riding hard for 30-45 minute stints. There was relatively no rest here and the cold added a dangerous element where controlling the amount of sweat one produces was important for survival. In the temperature we were riding in, one tended to start to get really cold after about 3-4 minutes of stopping because of how wet you were underneath your 4 layers from perspiring. I packed about twenty 50 gram caffeine pills for piece of mind. I wound up consuming all but 4 over the course of the race. I gave those 4 to other racers.

We started on Sunday March 1st at 2 pm on Knik Lake . The 50 skiers, cyclists, and walkers scattered across the lake in different directions. It had snowed about 10 inches in Anchorage the day before, so we were a little nervous the trail wasn't going to be ridable, but luckily the trail was fairly hard packed by snow machines in the beginning and we were able to ride the first 20 miles. The weather was perfect and the temperature comfortable, about 16 degrees and no wind at the beginning. I had started the race using the removable ski that Arnold Roest and I had built. I had tested it for speed (on the flats at least in NH) and it seemed to go faster than a regular front. But after the first 10 hilly miles into the race, for some reason I was having a surprisingly hard time keeping with the top 5-7 riders, especially on the hills. I thought it might have something to do with the centrifugal force and momentum of a wheel when going uphill. I was worried there was something wrong with the ski and I couldn’t imagine having these issues over the course of the next 4 days, so at about mile 10 I saw a spectator on the side of the trail, I stopped, removed the ski, and handed it to him and asked him (since he lived in Anchorage) to deliver it to the Speedway Bike shop which I had frequented in the days before the race. It was 3 lbs off my bike as well. Little did I know at the time that my bike would still be about 10-12 lbs heavier fully packed than the rest of the guys I was riding with. The next 20 miles turned windy and as the sun went down I experienced my first Alaskan evening “cool down” where the temp would go from +15 to -15 F in the space of 5 or 6 hours.

After the rolling hills we got onto Flathorn Lake and a river system where the where the wind picked up from the north and the temperatures dropped considerably. At night time it was around -20 and several people got frost-bit toes during this section. This stage was considerably more windy and harder than I was expecting, and I started to have some concerns that if this was the easy part, what was the hard part going to be like? We rode into a stiff headwind for at least 3 hours before we got to the first check point. A couple of people stepped in overflow on the lake along the way and had to drop out unfortunately. The first check-point was Yentna Station, 57 miles from the start, which I reached at 1:20 am. Yentna Station is a simple "lodge" on the river and it was really nice to be able to get inside and to get some real food after 11 hours or riding. The owner made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and I gobbled it up quickly and tried to get some rest. I lied down at 2:15 am and just tossed and turned. I was still nervous and hopped out of my sleeping bag at 4:45 am. I got up and got out the door at about 5:45 after getting some hot oatmeal and hot chocolate. I didn’t ask what the temperature was before I left but I knew it was really cold because I needed to add extra toe and hand warmers an hour into the ride. I would later find out that it was about -30 degrees when I checked out of Yentna. From Yentna Station we continued riding the up the winding Yentna River . It was clear and crisp as the sun came over the Alaska mountain range. I could see Denali ( Mt. McKinley –Elevation 20,320 ft) to the northwest. It looked quite close because it was so big but it was actually almost 100 miles away. Mileage is a whole different story in Alaska . If you are riding on hard packed snow with a 74 lb bike on the flats you can go up to 7-8 mph. Soft snow was about 4.5 mph (in your granny gear) and pushing is about 2.5 mph if it wasn’t ridable but was flat. Our speed which we were trail breaking over Rainy Pass was about ½ MPH and that was the hardest work of all!
At Skwentna, I came in at 6th place at 11:45 am and stopped for a large bowl of Spaghetti and a burger. I also tried to take an hour nap but was too wired to sleep so I left at 2 pm after I had dried out most of my sweat frozen gear and refilled my camel back and Nalgene bottle. I took off with a couple other riders, 3-time La Ruta des Conquistador Champion Lousie Kobin and Eric Warkentin, but soon after pulled away from them and rode most of the 39 miles to Finger Lake by myself. I stopped at Shell Lake Lodge for another food pit stop on the way. This was a really cozy little lodge over looking the 3 mile long lake which served food and had little cabins to rent. I spent 45 minutes there and then continued on to Finger Lake , where I hoped to sleep the 2nd night. The route from Shell Lake to Finger Lake climbed from 500 ft to 1000 ft above sea level and crossed about 15 frozen lakes. It was a bit eerie crossing these lakes, sometimes not being able to see the other side as I arrived to them, in the dark and alone. I arrived at Finger Lake at 10:15 pm where Jay and Tracy Petervary, James Leavesley, and Chris Wrobel were just sitting down for a quick meal of chicken, beans and rice before trying to get a decent sleep. I got a plate myself and quickly devoured it. I didn’t know when they were planning to leave in the AM but my plan was to leave with them, whatever time they chose, as I didn’t want to ride the next stage by myself as I knew it was going to get more difficult as we kept climbing into the mountains. Someone also told me there was a 12 foot cliff on this part of the trail which you have to get over on the next stage and I didn’t want to tackle that alone if I could help it.
At Finger Lake Lodge we slept in a walled tent set up for the riders to sleep and dry out clothes. It was quite cramped in the tent with the five of us in a small space and everyone’s sweaty clothes hanging up to dry next to a small electric heater. At 4 am I heard the others moving and I quickly jumped up to get my dry clothes together, pack my sleeping bag and get ready to go. Finger Lake was also the first “food drop” and our supply bags were in a pile outside next to the tent. I grabbed my bag and went to the main lodge to have a quick bite before we left. I ate 3 bags of Instant oatmeal and two cups of hot chocolate, which was tasty and filling. We left for Puntilla Lake , the beginning of Rainy Pass at 5 am in the dark.This route to Puntilla Lake is one of the most memorable and challenging stages. It was 35 miles but extremely hilly. The five of us rode the first 15 miles together and hit the “cliff” that I heard about. It was so steep that I had to help lift each person’s bike and someone on the top had to grab the front wheel and pull it up. It was extremely difficult and I’m not sure I could have done it alone without a rope. I can’t imagine how the dog sleds get up this, but this stage is where most of the Dog mushers get hurt and break bones. After the cliff and another really steep 400 yard hill we had to climb up, I rode my own pace to Puntilla Lake and wound up putting about 30-45 minutes on the others, and came into Puntilla alone in 2nd place at around 11:45 am. I had no intention of leaving the group after Puntilla because it was the beginning of Rainy Pass but it was nice to feel that if we were riding the bike (and not pushing) that I could ride away if I wanted to. Puntilla Lake is a famous Iditarod check point run by a really nice family with 5 sons. They own a lodge where people come to hunt and fish, and they also have 10 smaller hunting cabins around the area. It is a really amazing setting and the lake serves as a great winter high altitude landing strip.

After eating a can of ravioli and a couple large cups of Hot Chocolate we started to get ready to start the march over Rainy Pass and we left at 2 pm. It was sunny out and at this point we had no reason to think that there wasn’t a trail broken by snow machines over the top of the pass. The race director, Bill Merchant, had promised that he would be able, with his monster snow machine, to break the east side of Rainy Pass to the summit while the Iditarod Dog sled race officials would simultaneously break the trail from the Rohn check point (mile 210) backwards up the other side of Rainy Pass. Each side was about 15 miles of trail breaking. It had 3-4 feet of snow on the pass in the week leading up to the race but I could not imagine that the snow was too deep for them to break at that moment. It would turn out that the one of the snow machines trying to break the trail from the other side broke through the ice on the river and went through. This made them halt the trail breaking process that we were depending on, turn around and go back to Rohn.

As we worked our way up the early miles of Rainy Pass , I didn’t know what to expect but it looked clear at the beginning. As we made it over a few foothills we could see that clouds were locked into the pass that we were headed into and it looked ominous, but we had no choice but to keep pushing. The snow was soft so we were pushing but it wasn’t that deep until we reached about 2200 ft in elevation and then our foot steps and bikes started to break through the deep snow as we pushed. We were following the Iditarod trail markers which were large wooden tripods, and there were faint snowmobile tracks. At about 9 pm, as the snow got deeper, we came upon a large snow machine stuck in the deep snow, abandoned and the trail just came to an end. Little did we know that was Bill Merchant’s snow machine and he had given up breaking trail. We kept pushing up the pass until about midnight when the snow got to be about chest deep at points. We saw a small, broken down cabin with no roof and figured it was time to rest. When we opened the door, after seeing snow drifts inside covering the stove, we saw two people sleeping in makeshift beds in sleeping bags. One was Bill Merchant, and the other was the race leader Jeff Oatley. It was right then I realized there was a big problem and there was going to be no trail over the pass. We chatted for a few minutes and then hopped in our sleeping bags to get some needed sleep. Even though there was no real roof on the cabin (it had blown off this winter) it protected us from the wind and snow for the night. Biker Phil Hofstter arrived the shelter at 4:30 am and we all woke up around 6 am.

In the early AM after some discussion, it was agreed that the 7 of us would work as a team to break the new trail over Rainy Pass for the next 20 miles. We left the safety cabin at about 8 am and climbed another 700 vertical ft up before we reached the summit. The wind must have been blowing 35-45 mph at the top and it was snowing pretty hard. It was obvious people trailing us would have a hard time following our broken trail because it would be covered and wind swept very quickly. For the next 19 hours, with a few water breaks in between, we worked as a team to break the trail, alternating who would lead the line. This is where I realized my bike was heavier than the others as my front wheel kept breaking below the snow and I would have to keep lifting it out and forward. It was quite tiring and frustrating at the same time. My right knee started to hurt because of the lifting; it was kind of like doing squats every time my bike broke through the snow as I had to lift it back above the crust of the snow. This began to wear on me and especially my knee. Most of the other people in the group had gone over the pass before but I had no idea how much longer it would take. It seemed to go on forever. At 1 am we decided we needed to sleep and we found a couple nice Spruce trees and set up our sleeping bags underneath them, even though it was snowing pretty hard. I hopped into my bag fully clothed with my boots, down jacket, down mittens, and hat on and actually slept really well until about 6 am. We packed up and broke trail for another 2 miles and then miraculously found a broken trail that the snow mobiles had broken the night before. I knew we were pretty close to the Dalzell Gorge and Rohn at that point and it was an amazing feeling of relief.. Down the gorge we went over at least 12 ice bridged they had made the day before to criss-cross over the river. These bridges are made every year for the dog sled race, and they looked like they had been there all winter, but they were only a day old! It was then I started to realized that my right heal was developing a huge blister as my feet were water-logged from being walking/pushing in my boots for 3 days. My double boots had been tough to walk in because, unlike most of the others, I had brought biking boots with carbon fiber soles that didn’t flex when I walked. 2 hours later I limped into the Rohn check point, afraid to take my boot off to see what my foot looked like. The trip over Rainy Pass , from Puntilla to Rohn Cabin, had taken us an unimaginable 46 hours to cross. Last year, this took the leaders 12 hours with a snow machine broken trail.

At Rohn, really in the middle of nowhere, there is a 25 x 25 ft cabin which serves at the most famous check point for the dog sled race. We were relegated to a 12 ft x 12ft tent with a wood stove and a cooking stove set up in it. We all rushed into the tent to grab space next to the stove to dry off all our wet gear that we had been wearing for the last 48 hours. I carefully took off my boots. When I looked at my foot and the blister I knew I had a problem, not to mention my knee was hurting badly. It took me a couple hours to dry my feet out and I just felt really bad. We had been going for four days and I was quite happy to come into Rohn with the lead group (last year the winners finished in 3.5 days) but we still had 140 miles to go. Also, we soon found out that there was no trail broken from mile 225 to 270 and the 15 miles that were broken were unridable because they were too soft. I just couldn’t fathom walking anymore with my foot and knee in such bad shape, and I had no idea how long it would take to get to the next check point which was Nicholai 90 miles away. It was then that I seriously considered calling it quits. There was a small landing strip at the RohnCabin and I inquired with the checkers when the next plane might be landing to take me out. Luckily I was told it might be three days. I couldn’t imagine waiting that long, especially with the race going on. For the next hour or so I dried my water-logged feet which had been sweating in my double boots for 3 straight days. At about 3 pm Jeff Oatley, Chris Wrobel, James Leavesley, Jay and Tracy (all of whom I’d arrived in Rohn with in the lead group) were getting ready to leave. With my foot still raw and unbandaged, there was no way I could leave for Nicholai with them. I still was unsure whether I would be able to finish at all. As Jay was leaving, I said goodbye and that I might see them back in Anchorage . Jay gave me a strange look and said to me “Whatever pain you are in now, it’s much less than you will be in next week if you quit this race now. I’ve been there. Don’t quit, just rest up for a bit”. These were tough but sage words of advice. Once my feet were dry enough, I visited a woman in the Cabin who was a trained EMT and she started working on my foot. She put blister bandages, a foam doughnut, and two layers of duct tape over my heal. I wasn’t sure that it could last for the next 140 miles but between that and Jay's message, I started to think I might be able to push on, but certainly fearful of what my lay ahead. About that time (5 pm, Day 4- I had been there for 5 hours) John Ross arrived into camp solo. I knew John as I had ridden with him the second day but pulled away from him after Yentna. He had followed our broken path over Rainy Pass and looked very tired. As he began to dry off, I asked him what his plans were to leave for Nicholai. After some discussion, we decided together we would leave around 1 am after he took a nap. This was quite lucky as really didn’t want to travel the next 90 miles alone, especially heading out alone in the dark.

We left Rohn at 1 am with the hope of making it to Buffalo Camp, a small tent middle of the wind blown “burn” 40 miles away sometime that day. There we could warm up at and get some food on our way to Nicholai. As we left Rohn, I had decided that I would make a decision on my foot (whether to turn around or not) at 10 miles from Rohn, as any further away would be too far to reverse course. After 10 miles of pushing through soft but shallow snow, my heel still hurt a lot, but it didn’t feel like the skin was rubbing too badly and the bandage seemed to be holding up. I kept my pain to myself and we pushed on. Since neither John nor I had raced before, we had no idea how long it would take to get to Nicholai, the last checkpoint before the finish. For 8 hours and 25 miles we pushed our bikes over soft trails and hilly terrain. At about 5 am, while it was still dark, we came across what looked to be a glacier that we have to climb over. I was an eerie feeling to see it as we couldn’t tell how big or steep in was in the dark, but we could tell it had to be an icy glacier of some sort. It was hard ice and very steep. John and I had to help each other with our bikes to get across the steep sections so we didn’t loose hold of our bike or they would slide into the abyss of the glacier and darkness.

We reached Fairwell Lake by 9 am and could finally get on our bikes and ride after three full days of pushing!! We got on the windblown lake and rode through a 30 mph side wind on clear ice where we had to lean sideways into the wind in order to stay upright on the bike, still it was great just to be riding and not pushing. John and I rode for the next 6 hours into “the Burn” (a notoriously windy 40 mile stretch where the forest had burned all the trees were very small) and arrived at Buffalo Camp at 3 pm. It was a nice surprised to get there in the daylight as we thought the trail would be worse. We were very cold and couldn’t wait to get inside and warm up as we had been pushing/riding for 14 hours straight. There was a stove going from the guys in front of us who had been there a few hours before, so it was easy to dry our clothes off, cook some food, and take a quick 1 hour nap. We regrouped and left for Nicholai at 6 pm. Nicholai was 40 miles away, but everyone I had spoken to told me that it was a longer ride than one would expect. We rode a broken trail most of the way, but it was extremely windy and cold. The wind had made some serious snow drifts across the trail. We could see from the tracks that the group ahead of us had been walking through these drifts. I pressed John to let me lead and try to ride through them by basically smashing through them, causing us to ride harder than we wanted but we saved a lot of time. By Midnight, we were still 12 miles away from Nicholai and the hard riding that evening was starting to set in. I could feel the cold and the effort was making me feel like my body was close to shutting down. I warned John that he had to keep an eye on me to make sure I kept eating and drinking until we got to the check point. It was a bad feeling and I don’t think I have ever been so physically tired as I was that evening. We arrived in Nicholai at 2:30 am and found someone driving a snow mobile around the small settlement to lead us to the home which was the check point. We walked in the house and saw everyone sacked out on the couches and floors. We had just pushed/ridden 22 out of the last 25 hours. I looked at the check-in sheet and noticed that Jay and Tracy had arrived 4 hours before us even through we had left Rohn 10 hours after them, so I felt pretty good that we had made up six hours over the last 30 hours of racing. The check point was home of a native Alaskan family who had been serving as the Iditarod Nicholai checkpoint for years. We took of our wet clothes and put in next to the very crowded stove to dry off by morning. I lied down on the floor in my sleeping bag and tried to sleep but my stomach, which had shut down hours before, felt like it was going to explode. I realized I needed to get some sleep for the last day, if only a couple hours, but my stomach was killing me. I walked into the bathroom and made my self throw up everything that was left in my stomach. This was something I had never done before, and hope to never do again. Once that was over ,I felt a bit better and it was easy to get to sleep. We slept till 5:30 am (only 2.5 hours) and then everyone in the house started to get up to leave. John and I agreed we needed to rest a bit more and get some real food in us before the last 50 mile leg to McGrath. We let Jay, Tracy , and Phil Hofstetter leave ahead of us. It was tempting to try to leave with them, but I was just too tired from the night before. Also, at 6 am it was -18F outside so we weren’t that excited to go out with only a few hours rest. I was grateful for the egg and sausage casserole that we had for breakfast at the house. It was very tasty and I had 3 helpings along with 5 pieces of toast and 4 cups of coffee. John and I finally left the house at 8:30 AM as it has warmed up to -5F.

As we left, I was still feeling a bit queasy and weak from the night before but it was a clear day and we only had 50 miles to McGrath and the finish! We left Nicholai and a couple miles later got on the trail on the Stoney River . We were hoping the snow would be firm since it was so cold but it was really soft and the best we could do was go about 4.5 mph and stay in a really small gear to stay upright. I could tell it was going to be a tough day as my legs had nothing in them and John was pulling away from me, which was never an issue in the previous days of riding with him. I was also really sleepy and kept thinking about pulling my sleeping bag off my bike and throwing it in a snow bank for a few hours of rest. Actually, I was afraid if I did that I might not wake up for a day, so I kept fighting off the temptation. By about 11:30 am I told John to ride off without me as I could feel I was slowing him down, or at least he wasn’t going as fast as he wanted to go. He told me he felt great and I was extremely jealous. We shook hands on the trail and I told him I would see him in McGrath later in the evening. It was s strange feeling as I am not used to someone riding away from me like that but there wasn’t anything I could do but try to enjoy the clear day and stay upright on my bike and think positive thoughts. I was going to finish and given how close I was to stopping just 36 hours before, I should be pleased. I kept looking at my GPS, which I really hadn’t needed much before then, to see how far it was to the finish. The miles ticked off slowly. The next 9 hours seems to take forever, but I focused on thinking of all the things I was missing at home and glided into McGrath at around 11:00 pm. It was a feeling of unspeakable relief. The last 50 miles took about 14 hours. I walked into the host house and everyone was around the dinner table eating and celebrating. Jeff Oatley and Jay Petervary both said it was the toughest Iditarod they had participated in. Kathi Merchant, the race director, seemed to think it was the toughest one ever.

I was the 6th biker to finish, and was about 3hr 50 mins out of 2nd place. Given the 13 hour stop I made in Rohn to fix my foot, I was satisfied with my rookie effort. There were a lot of things I would have done different, but the experience was incredible. Going in, I knew it would be a lesson in pushing my personal limits, but I couldn’t have imagined it would be such a mental and physical test. In the midst of racing, I realized it would be very difficult to describe to everyone back home all the emotions one goes through during an adventure like this. I had plenty of solitude to continually question why on earth I was doing this crazy race but as it came to an end, I realized that the race would be indelibly etched in my mind unlike any other. It was also what I expected - a great way to see the vast Alaskan frontier from my favorite vantage point: my bike. All in all this was an experience of a lifetime, one I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Thanks for reading,
Alec

Photo Gallery:
http://www.kodakgal lery.com/ ViewSlideshow. action?&collidparam= 32531728813. 288871242113. 1237287396225
Race Website:
http://www.alaskaul trasport. com/alaska_ ultra_home_ page.html

Club TT results - 6/7/09

2009-06-07T10:28:00.004-04:00

Beautiful day for the TT. Temp at 7:15 was around 60 deg or so and the winds were low. There were four racers today. (Kind of weak... Where was everyone?) The South Shore crew rolled up from Norwell to do a long ride, hill work, and to cheer on all the TT'ers.

An important note is that this TT is unique in that we track it relative to a person's bike set-up meaning we track if you are riding an aero/TT bike or if you are riding a traditional road bike. The point is that it's a fitness test and everyone should be taking advantage of this to measure how they are progressing thru the season. If you beat a person on a TT rig and you're riding "Cannibal" style then great, but really you should be measuring gains/losses vs. the previous month.

So, on to today's times:

Rider-Style-Net Time-Ave Pace-Plc Overall-Plc Style

James Scott-Aero-16:36-26.02mph-1-1
John Peterson-Cannibal-17:18-24.97mph-2-1
Brian Murphy-Aero-18:08-23.82mph-3-2
Brent Rossum-Cannibal-22:00-19.66mph-4-2

Well done!!!!

-JP

Waterville Valley TT 5/30/09

2009-06-05T15:13:00.002-04:00

Quick note of congratulations to Alec Petro, Dave Dornaus, and James Scott. They participated in the Waterville Valley TT on Saturday 5/30/09.

Here's how they did:

Alec - 10th overall, 1st Men's 45+ category, time of 47:35:46
Dave - 13th overall, 9th Men's 35+ category, time of 48:15:94
James - 21st overall, 11th Men's 35+ category, time of 49:48:15

Well done guys!!!

Let's Hear Your B2B Training Stories

2009-05-31T13:08:00.004-04:00

For my part, I just let JP tow my sorry butt down to Bridgewater and back. And if that wasn't bad enough, we ran across one of the Team Fugi horses, which upped the avg. another 3 mph for 10 miles while he and JP chattered away. Things got so bad at one point I had to pull the always difficult simultaneous double pinch flat.

(Of course, with a tailwind coming home, I was actually doing all the draft work in the back.)

Beautiful day for pain, though.

I hear Ashley spent all day on the bike on Saturday. Get out and ride everyone!

Sunapee Road Race

2009-05-18T20:33:00.008-04:00

Sunapee Road Race - 5/16/09

BHCC had 3 members racing this weekend; Brian Murphy & Anthony Oliva in the Master 45+ group, and yours truly in the Master 35+ category.

The weather was perfect for racing. Cool and partially sunny. The only negative was a pretty steady wind that was blowing @ 10mph w/gusts up to 20.

The M45 group had 75 strong at the start. Murph and AO where looking to get into the pack and get settled in early. Brian did just that, but Anthony began cramping shortly into the race. Anthony pulled out after the first lap. Murph soldiered on and managed to stay with the main group for another 1/2 lap. At this point he shot "OTB"... Not optimal but not the end of the world either. He placed 52nd-ish...

The M35 group had 61 off the line. Being my first race of the season, I was hoping to stick with the group and see where the fitness was YTD. My question was duly answered after 1 1/2 laps when I shot "OTB"! I argued with myself around the rest of the course and finished in 42 plc which helped me achieve my secondary goal of not falling so far off the back that I would be able to give Murph a leadout in the 45 race...

Funniest line from the demoralized BHCC'ers was "Isn't there some flat crits in CT next weekend?"

Kind of funny we have the word "Hill" in our club name... Surely not indicative of any hill climbing ability... Thinking of changing the name to OTB Racing...

Seriously though, we all had a good time, loved the course, and really enjoyed hanging out after the race with some of our buds from some of the other South Shore teams.

Look out CT here we come!

-JP

BHCC Battenkill Result in Cycling News

2009-04-28T11:11:00.005-04:00

JP reported on the race earlier (the "Hell of North New York"), but it is cool to see the Blue Hills Cycling Club listed in the race results on cyclingnews.com, the premier site for reporting race results world-wide, from the pros on down:

See Robin Sheedy, No. 43 in the Womens Cat Pro 1/2/3:

April 25, 2009 Moose Hill Ride

2009-04-26T08:05:00.006-04:00

Marathon Monday Ride

2009-04-21T11:11:00.007-04:00

Here is a photo from yesterday's "Marathon Monday Ride". It was a great ride, just shy of 70 miles, averaged around 17mph, and the route & marathon atmosphere were fantastic. We were definitely EXHAUSTED as we pulled back into Milton but those of us on the ride agreed that we should make this an annual event!

Ashley Sanders

Race Results 4/18-4/19

2009-04-20T13:44:00.002-04:00

Fairly busy weekend for some of the Club's racers. Robin Sheedy raced the Women's Pro/1/2/3 at Battenkill. Dave Dornaus and Brian Murphy both raced Myles Standish in their respective Master's division.

Here are their results:

Robin - 43rd out of 55 finishers

Dave - ? Not shown in the results.... But rumor has it he was there with 2 to go...

Brian - 6th place. Nice!

Well done all.

-JP

2009-04-06T17:28:00.001-04:00

Dave Dornaus grabbing a top 10 spot at the Michael Schott Circuit Race in Marblehead on Sunday.

April TT Results

2009-04-06T14:36:00.006-04:00

James Scott, 18:13, 23.63 avg (aero style)
John Peterson, 19:11, 22.52 avg
Andy Willet, 19:43, 21.91 avg
Mark Roman, 19:52, 21.75 avg
Brian Murphy, 19:15, 21.69 avg (aero)
Eric Thorbahn, 20:44, 20.84 avg
Brian Foley, 22:10, 19.49 avg
Danny Crespo, 25:30, 16.79 avg

Welcome to the 2009 BHCC Season!

2009-04-06T14:22:00.003-04:00

This year, as the others before, promises to be another success for the BHCC with increased growth, participation, training and fun!

Lets get down to it!!!

Weekend Rides
We will be meeting Saturday morning at 6am to ride the Ghandi loop. Saturday rides in April and in May will focus on base building and maintenance. The mileage for these rides will increase over time to help everyone build up to Harpoon. This Sat= 45 miles @17mph avg. I will be watching the avg speed and will keep the group at that pace. Rain/wet roads cancels ride.

If anyone wants to bring a box of DnD for JP and I to munch on while we hang on the back, please do!!!! :)

Weekday Rides
We will be starting our weekday morning workouts starting this coming Monday, April 6. Mon/Wed/Fri will be the structured group rides. 6am start.

Clothing
We are putting in a clothing order for the spring and hope to have it before the B2B. Please resubmit orders. We are working with Pactimo this year and am currently submitting our design to them.

Shop
Please be aware that I will no longer be offering mechanic services this year. I have seen the amount of free time that I have shrink and I can no longer commit to the quick turnaround's we all are used to.

Thanks all - looking forward to seeing everyone again.

- Sean

Ari Finishes 2008 Green Mountain Stage Race

2008-09-03T21:10:00.000-04:00

Editor: While Ari writes that he gorged himself on humble pie, you cannot eat it if you don’t show up; it’s better than eating nothing at all. No one should underestimate Ari’s accomplishment at the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont, making BHCC’s first appearance and, more impressively, first finish at one of the hardest stage races in the Northeast. Ari has had many top finishes this year, bu his respectable 29th place finish in the GMSR is one of the best performances yet by a BHCC rider.

Congratulations Ari!!!

PROLOGUE – 5.6 Mile Individual Time Trial - 9/3/08

After a slightly late start from Walpole and a longer than anticipated lunch stop, we arrived in Warren, VT with just enough time to sign in and get myself suited up and on my bike for a 25 min warmup prior to my TT start. The only knowledge I had of the course was via the mapmyride.com/Garmin profile, which showed a 2 ½ mile climb followed by a slight downhill, some rollers and one short, steep descent with a 12% .2mi climb into the finish. Looks easy enough…

I shot out of the start with Maya and Sue cheering me on and hit the climb feeling great. During the first mile I kept the tempo high and steadily gained on my 30 second man. Then, the pain hit. A short 10% ramp at 1.3 miles put me into the hurt box and destroyed any rhythm I had going. I had to completely dial it back for the remaining mile of the climb and couldn’t do much to increase the pace on the false flat near the top. No chance of catching my 30 second guy and the rider starting 1 minute behind me came past like he was on a motorcycle.

I settled into a steady pace and ended up finishing in 17:29, which was 3:28 behind the winner and in last place among the finishers (I at least beat the DNF’s).

A tough way to start my first stage race, but it was obvious that there were some very competitive CAT 1’s and 2’s in the field.

Stage Result – 45th
GC Standing – 45th

STAGE 1 - BRIDGES RESORT CIRCUIT RACE

With the reality of Masters 30+ field quality, I refocused on trying to get some points in the sprint competition for the Green Jersey. Today’s stage consisted of two loops around a 30mile circuit which featured two shots at KOM points atop a 2.5mile climb and sprint points awarded to the top 5 in the intermediate sprint at mile 34 and at the finish. I planned to compete for the sprint points.

The pace during the first lap was pretty tame until we hit the KOM climb. I dropped my chain at the bottom of the climb and had to chase back on to the peleton. By mid climb, I was already in some serious pain, but managed to hang on in the middle of the pack. We then hit a fast 4 mile descent that shot us out onto RT 116 for a fast 10k to the end of the circuit. I went with a number of moves off the front in an effort to be well positioned for the intermediate sprint. It all came together by 2k out and I went at it like it was a race finish. I thought I grabbed 5th for a placing in the sprint, but they had me just behind at 6th. Unfortunately, there was an acceleration from the group just after the sprint that left me hanging on by a thread to the back of the peleton, trying to recover. The 30+ category was only 45 deep, so there was really nowhere to hide. We hit the rollers and I couldn’t hold onto the group when the road tilted up. The guy in the SRAM car was nice enough to pace me back on, but I burned whatever matches I had left getting back to the field and got dropped for good on the KOM climb. I spent the next 10-12 miles solo (and lonely and dejected) until being caught by a groupetto. We rolled in together 13:24 off the winner. Ouch!

Garmin Stats: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6671500
(notice the 3700’ of climbing. This was supposed to be the flat stage for the sprinters)

Stage Result – 39th
GC Standing after 2 Stages – 40th

STAGE 2 - MAD RIVER ROAD RACE

The road race stage is billed as one of the hardest days of racing anywhere in the Northeast. 75 miles with 3 major climbs totaling 6243’ of climbing! Being so far down on the GC and without any sprint points, my goal was to just ride as conservatively as possible and try to make up some GC ground by having a good ascent up the Baby Gap and App Gap. I also hoped to stay with the lead group up the 9 mile Brandon Gap climb from mile 24 to 33.

Following a chilly neutral start down the Sugarbush Access road we hung a right on RT100 to start racing as we made the ascent to the top of Granville Gulf. A break went off immediately and quickly gained 3 minutes on the peleton, which kept things very smooth for the first 25 miles.

Once we hit the bottom of the Brandon Gap climb, the pace continued to ramp up. By the half way mark, we started dropping riders off the back. I was suffering, but kept pace until the 1k to summit marker. The road tilted up steadily to 11% and I was too afraid to blow up with over 40 miles and a huge mountain top finish remaining. I sat up and settled into a more manageable tempo and picked up two others at the top as we hit the descent. We bombed the downhill (check the max speed on the Garmin stats http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6671498) and caught on with a larger group.

This all stayed together until the bottom of the Baby Gap, which is prelude to the monster App Gap, but still goes up over 1000’ in less than 4 miles. I again opted for the conservative approach and ended up passing some riders who set out faster at the bottom. Strangely, I was starting to feel more comfortable as the climb went on.

Once over the Baby Gap, there’s a brief 1 ½ mile descent and then the road ramps up VERY sharply onto the App Gap for 3 miles until the summit. I’ve never been on a climb like this before. The App gap was steady between an 8-10% grade with switchbacks between 18-20%. Afraid of going too deep into the red and not being able to turn the pedals over on a switchback, I “spun” mostly in my 23 and 26. As I got closer to the top, there was carnage everywhere. At the 1k marker, the roar of the crowd at the summit was audible and at the 500m marker the finish was visible, although it appeared to be 500m straight over my head – very steep! Rounding the last switchback and coming up the last 100 meters to this mountain top finish was incredible. Even though I was finishing 27 minutes behind the winner, it was still an amazing experience.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6671498

Stage Result – 35th
GC Standing after Stage 3 – 31st

STAGE 4 BURLINGTON CRIT

The course is set up on a .62 mile, 6 corner loop through downtown Burlington. Everyone’s advice was to go hard immediately, as anyone caught off the back of the lead group was likely to get pulled.

Well, I went hard early and was in the front group with a little gap back to the field. The pace was fast and I was hoping it would let up soon. No such luck. I popped after 5 or 6 laps and rode solo for a few laps until being caught by what was remaining of the peleton. I still hadn’t recovered, though and couldn’t hold the accelerations out of the corners. So, solo again for what seemed like forever until catching on with a chase group for a while until we finally got the hook from the race official, as the 4 man break started breathing down our backs.

Stage 4 Result – 27th
Final GC Standing – 29th

The GMSR was a great experience. There’s no question I was in over my head with this 30+ field, but I would absolutely go back and do it again.

Norwell Circuit Race (August 19, 2007)

2007-08-29T09:13:00.000-04:00

Here is Ari's recap of the Norwell Circuit Race, where Ari, James, and Smooth flew the colors:

James and I raced in the 3/4's yesterday afternoon. There ended up being quite a few walkups, as the starter said the 3/4 field was @ 45 riders deep.
James and I were happy to sit in for the first 3 laps. An IBC rider went out solo on the only climb at the beginning of lap 4. I bridged up to him and realized no one else followed. We worked together for a few miles and openened up a pretty good gap until the peleton came charging back. I sat up and by the time we were caught, James was on the front controlling the pace and allowing me to sit on his wheel to recover - this was very much appreciated!

The pace seemed to ramp up every lap to the finish. With two laps to go, there was an acceleration on the climb and then again on the false flat that split the field in half. I was lucky enough to be in the front group and continued to follow the attacks leading into the last lap. I worked my way to the front in preperation for the 90 degree right turn into the uphill finish, but had to sprint repeatedly to hold my position. This was hard work and left me with very little gas in the tank for uphill sprint to the finish. I couldn't eek much of an acceleration out of the legs for the sprint and rolled through at 13th.

James looked strong and relaxed all through the race, but got caught on the wrong end of the split in the second to last lap. (Moore flatted and could take no part in the finish).

The course was good and the roads were in excellent condition - no potholes! The road closure is a bonus, too, as it allows the opportunity to actually manuever in the field.

2007 PMC Recap: On Your Left!

2007-08-08T20:48:00.000-04:00

Once again, BHCC was well represented at this year's Pan Mass Challenge -- and represented well -- by an outstanding group of riders:

John Diesel Peterson
Dylan "Capt.-She's-Got-No-Power" Sanders
James Power Tap Scott
Ari Hook Shocket
Eric Viking Thorbahn
Andy Ace Willet, and Julie "She must be a Saint" Willet
Bill Zucker & Lolly Delli Boui

Before we start with the recap of the fun 'n floggin, it is important to remember and acknowledge what PMC is really about. You can't pedal a mile of the long ride without seeing the battles that families go through when fighting all forms of cancer, the loved ones lost, the tragic and the miraculous stories, and most of all the courage, love, will power, and life that cancer patients and their families demonstrate every day of their lives. It's not PMC's motto, but applies all the same: they teach us all how to LiveStrong.

It also should be said, as much as we are enamored with our own ride, the volunteers work even harder, and with amazing cheer. They are what make the PMC the best fund raising vehicle in the nation. And without them, we would not have the fun we do.

And now, on with our story:

Prologue

The ride had humble beginnings, when JP and Dylan met at Glover Elementary School Friday morning, and began turning the small ring to pick up Shocket, who was enjoying a last-minute espresso on the side of Route 109 in Westwood. That's right. In true Blue Hills fashion, these three knuckle heads were not content with 190 miles, but had to tack on another 63 by riding out to Sturbridge on the hottest day of the year. Obviously the heat, already stifling, had quickly gone to our brains.

It was all fun in games in the beginning, as we never missed a chance to sprint for a town or state line. However, doubts about the wisdom of the prologue had set in between Medfield and Medway, where a steady, strong headwind and 95 plus degree temperatures started taking their toll. But there was no turning back, rational as that might be. Unfortunately, the route had not been reconn'ed. We expected big, rollers, but beginning with Uxbridge, we ascended approximately 25 miles of climbing with rarely a rest. Every crest or corner brought no relief, just more ridiculous climbing. Whose idea was this?

After a short detour into Connecticut, we spun the last 10 miles to the door of the Hampton Inn. There we quickly showered, met up with the rest of the crew. Together we picked up our registration and, more importantly, our first of many Harpoons of the weekend. (Later, it was Viking who pointed out that Peterson, Sanders, and Shocket seem to have a Pavlovian need to get on their bikes to cycle to any town where they hear Harpoon is giving out free UFOs. See, e.g., Windsor, Vt. - Sturbridge - Bourne - Provincetown. Further testing, however, is needed.)

Day One

The first official stage began with a 4:30 am wake up and the traditional thick Assos apply. The Hampton served a great breakfast, so much so that by the time we arrived at the start line there were thousands of cyclists ready to roll. But that didn't stop our heroes from using a little argy-bargy to claim their rightful spot at the front and strategically near the Porto-Potties. (And a big thanks to Andy's mom for carrying our luggage to the start.)

Stop me if you've heard this before: The "plan" was the usual one. Find a good group and sit in for at least the first half of the 110 miles to Bourne. Alas, BHCC training kicked in quickly, and it only took the first seven miles -- i.e., until the first significant hill -- for the BHCC pace line to form at the front and start driving the peloton up and down the big rollers. The work was spread evenly, everyone anxious for a turn at point. "Now that's a train," one non-club rider was heard to say as the express went by. At one point I turned around and saw over 20 other riders sitting in, with less than five trying to help. That didn't last long. A 44.7 mph descent down the largest roller separated the Blue-crew from the crowd. Average for the first 40 miles: 21.7 mph.

For the next 30, we settled into a steady, rhythmic pace line. Again, each took their turn at point, and lunch at mile 70 arrived quickly. After lunch, few passed the velo-infernos, and most of those were quickly brought back by the steady pace, content to hitchhike. At one point a guy jumped in to say he knew us because Sean used to be his boss. (We doubted his credibility instantly. Can't be the Sean we know.) Feeling so good, we skipped the last rest stop at 100 miles. The group then broke up around mile 105, with attacks, gaps, chasing, bridging, and everyone doing generally whatever it took to empty the tank before the free beer. The massage tables came none too early.

Day Two: "On your left."

The second day will forever be revered and celebrated in BHCC lore as "On your left Sunday."

As in the prior year, the crew slept late, not so much from the Harpoons as much as from Viking's....Well, I don't need to tell you what kept him or us up.

We woke, however, to a catastrophic, cluster f-k of Biblical proportions. A dust storm had covered the thoroughbreds with a complete coat of sand. There was much profanity; Dylan was handing out his attorney's card left and right. Cooler heads prevailed, however, and we located hoses that were intended to fill water bottles, and shoved the insulted steeds under the shower. Ari had the foresight to pack the lube, so that we could saddle up without too much anxiety that the Campy would rebel from grinding pedal strokes.

We hit the road, shaking off the effects, or lack thereof, of bad coffee. The pace line missed Andy's strength. He is obviously in shape to be the first BHCC'er to tackle Mt. Washington! He said was going to ride the second day with Julie but . . . more about that later, or maybe you should just ask Julie about Andy's chivalrous conduct in the headwinds.

Sleeping late has one other advantage: unlike everyone else (and 1900 of the 2000 other riders set off before us), we could watch the sunrise from the Bourne Bridge and the Cape Code Canal as we warmed to the task. After navigating the Bourne Bridge, which is the closest we came to crashing (due to an inability to track stand), we re-formed the pace line along the Canal. Ari gradually ramped the pace up. As we left the water Viking (making up for making us all stop for a nature break after only 5 miles) led the squad inland and, followed in turn by the rest, pushed the group up and down the troughs and peaks of the big first rollers. You could not tell the difference in speed from the uphills and down hills.

And there the infamous moniker attached. See, we had received a rather pointed email from Billy Star warning riders not to play loose with the yellow line, and we certainly got the message. However, with 1900 riders on the road and free UFOs ahead of us at the end, this made compliance somewhat of a challenge. And so, there began the chorus of "on your left," one we never stopped singing until Provincetown. Estimated repeats: 500 times.

For Day Two we had ditched the defective PMC jerseys (one of the few things they don't do right) and broke out the BHCC kit. And fly the colors well we did. We caught a rather strong group of 20 or so riders from the same club. Everyone but Eric took the opportunity to sit in comfortably at a 22 mph pace. (Eric was riding strongly, but we still don't know what he was doing or who he was working for.) This lasted about 8 miles, when Diesel, Shocket and James decided the pace, strong as it was, left something to be desired. They made their way to the front. (I, giving a preview of coming attractions, continued to sit-in to, uhh, record the reaction. Yeah, that's it.) As they pushed forward, I heard more than once, "Hey, Blue Hills, let's sit in with these guys for a while." The club's -gang's --reputation preceded us. You guessed it, the strong pace quickened even more, and now I heard from more than one tongue hanging in the wind, "This is killing me." After doing several strong turns, James floated back with Sanders and Viking. Big mistake, because the pace being set by Hook and Diesel kept opening gaps in the line 5 riders back. They would turn around and look at us, as if to say, "They're your friends, you close the gap." Of course, we did. Following the 40 mile rest stop, and a few dangerous but uneventful miles on the bicycle trail, we found some open road on the trail and went in the drops for some solid team trialing.

Near mile 55 on Day 2, sits Col d'Beach Comber. The long climb may have been the club's finest moment of the weekend, as first Hook, then Diesel, then Hook again, drove the train up the incline, and into a wall-of-a headwind, at a murderous pace of over 20 mph avg. (The speed, I mean, not the headwind, which was gusting higher). No one in the pace line left the drops or broke line for the entire hill! Many of those we passed screaming up the hill appeared to be standing still, or going backwards. The long climb, however, emptied Crash's tank, and he had to be nursed into womb of the pace line, there to suffer in silence and humiliation for the last 20 miles. (At the top of one hill, Peterson tapped Viking on the shoulder and said, slow down, Dylan's being dropped. Viking, too focused on the red meat and free beer he couldpractically taste, didn't get the joke).

The home stretch down Route 6 featured yeoman pulls into a head-on gale by Peterson, Shockett, Scott and Viking, evoking Hincapie, Boogerd, etc. Diesel's pulls were epic efforts. Once we hit the last three miles of rollers in the dunes, the last fun began. Hook tried every trick in his book to solo into Provincetown, but he couldn't shake the grinning Diesel and slobbering Viking. Ari, however,definitely shared man of the weekend honors with the Diesel. After crossing the finish line and a needed shower, we hit the recovery drinks and celebrated a fantastic weekend.

Two Day Stats:
Distance: 190 miles
Avg.: 20.2 mph
Max Speed: 47 mph
The Zuckers' Tandem Avg over 2 days: 18.1 mph!!!

Three Day Stats:
253.8 miles
18.7 mph avg

THE END

Click Here For More Photos From The 2007 PMC

The Zuckers' Recap: A Tandem Odyssey

First time my wife and I have done the PMC and first time we have ever attempted anything like that with our tandem. It's quite an amazing ride. Anyone who hasn't done it should think about doing it. We thought of it initially as a personal challenge both in whether we could go the distance and whether we could raise the money. But it is really not about any individual effort. The challenge is to everyone.. It has become a community of effort that becomes clear as you ride and that makes it so spiritually uplifting--the thank you from the "bystanders" who are participants in their own way, the children, who are out there saying thanks because they are nine or eleven or whatever through funds that have been provided through the PMC, the people who want to help with your ride and actually setup their own little stand for sharing, and all of the volunteers. It leaves you speechless. Coming into the Rehoboth waterstop with the pictures of the kids lining the entrance really brings it home.

I thought we would do the ride once and probably not again. I have to say we are now hooked. On the second day, we got back to the MMA late (we had stayed with friends). The rest of the BHCCer's left by 6 per JP but it looked like everyone else was up and out soon after 5:15 am. When we got there the breakfast tent had closed and our bike was the last one in the field. When we started (probably around 6:30) there was no one around. It was eerily quiet and quite different from the start the day before. It turned out to be a good thing to ride from the very back of the pack. We started picking up riders over the Bourne Bridge, where we passed a couple of riders who must have been in their eighties. We rode leisurely down the canal warming up and started to pass some other riders. By the time we hit the service road, we had really started to move through the pack of riders. It is simply amazing the people who are doing the two day effort. They are not roadies. You really have to admire that they have decided to go the entire distance. You can see the motivation in the suffering that they are going through. That's when it really hit me that the PMC is not about your ride but about everyone's and everyone's participation is what makes it such an outstanding event.

Our ride started in Wellesley. We had thought about Sturbridge but wondered about the logistics with a tandem. On the first day, we felt the heat. Our tandem is a truck. It weighs 43-44 lbs. Great going downhill, good on the flats and good on the rollers once you have built up speed. Tough on the hills and it sure does not accelerate. We were lucky to ride for a while with a titanium tandem (it weighed only 26 lbs) and to take turns pulling. I'm not sure how but eventually they slipped back. The thing about riding a tandem is that everyone tries to duck into your draft and no one wants to share the load. It felt like we were continually riding into the wind on the first day. We had a train behind us for a long time. On the second day, riding through the pack was a little bit difficult especially on Route 6A as cars slow for the slower riders (the drivers were remarkably patient) but with a tandem you are stuck behind the cars. Enforced leisurely pace turned out to be nice because it gave you more of a chance to interact with the people along the road. Also we did some promotion for BHCC as a number of people asked us about it. We actually met Simon (I don't know his last name) who apparently is a member of BHCC and rode with his group during the long stretch before you hit the gradual up that goes into Ptown where we lost a mile or two in speed on the climb. There was a nice guy from Ventura, CA who had been drafting behind us and who also went by us on the climb. When we made the turn to the family finish (5.8 miles to go), my wife piped up- let's finish strong, how about if we go as fast as we can. I have to admit that I was starting to dog it and my response was - "glad you are feeling fresh" but we did pick up the pace to the finish line. What a ride!! To everyone at BHCC, I would say --if you haven't done it, you should!! Everyone could do it. We wound up averaging 18.1 mph for the two days.

2007 B2B Recap

2007-06-17T13:55:00.001-04:00

Happy Father's Day!

This year the club had 7 riders in the B2B with two first year riders:
Ari Shocket
Andy Willett
Dylan Sanders
Eric Thorbahn
Jay Mozek (first year)
John Moore (first year)
and yours truly...

We started in Southie @ 7:15am w/a group of 19-20mph riders. Weather was absolutely perfect. As usual, the staff at Harpoon had the thing planned to perfection. (For those that haven't participated in a Harpoon sponsored event, you really need to. They are by far the best cycling friendly sponsor around)

The roll out thru Boston is magnificent. Sun's coming up and you're rolling thru the financial district and then over the "Salt & Pepper" bridge with a stunning view of the Back Bay and Charles River.

The pace in the city/Cambridge/Arlington is pretty controlled around 15-17mph. Once we got into Arlington heights we started to pick it up a bit.

We got the pace comfortably up to 20-22 from there on out. BHCC did a fair amount of the work to mile 50 which gave us a 20mph average to that point including the roll thru Boston!

Unfortunatley the first 50 showed some of us what kind of day we were going to have later...
The next 25 miles is pretty hilly. The first big hill is in Ashby It's a really pretty climb thru a tree covered pass w/stonewalls and a river. Very scenic! This year we were well behaved! Nice steady 12-13mph pace. The only action was a town line sprint on the climb. Clean heels for JP

Once came over this pass it was Dylan's turn. He put on show as to how to handle a long climb. Steady consistent pace. High cadence exclaimated with the "Praying Mantis" position...

After you make it thru this series of hills there is an unofficial rest stop at a Mobil Station. We pulled in and restocked our drinks and got some tasty junk food (Potatoe chips, candy bars, anything but GU!!!) BTW: still at a 20mph pace...

The next 25mi to the official 100mi rest stop was fairly uneventful. More of the same rolling hills, gradual decents, occasional head/cross winds. At the 100 we noted we'd maintained the 20 pace which was from the Brewery in Boston, so a fantastic effort by everyone! First year guys, Jay and Johnny, were looking good and anxious to finish.

The last leg of the ride isn't as well advertised, probably because no one can remember that part of course given the delusional state they're in, but it is probably the toughest. You come out of the rest area and do about 10-12 miles of big NH/VT rollers. Very tiring! After the rollers, there's a 3mi climb thru a wooded area that is probably the steepest climb on the course and at mile 120 it hurts. A sampling of the guys thoughts on that climb were best summed up as "Cruel"

Sticking to last year's playbook, the BHCC group splintered in this part of course. As I had mentioned earlier about the first 50mi telling some guys how the rest of the day was going to be, namely me, I gave in to a head/chest cold that had gotten progressively worse over the day and rolled off the back of our group at mile 115. The creep home was painful to say the least! The rest of the guys stuck together in small groups; Smooth w/himself, Dylan & Shocker, Eric, Andy, & Jay. The final pace for the lead group was 20.1mph! Nice, nice work!!! Yours truly managed to limp to the finish w/a 19 average.

Great post ride barbie and brews. Awesome group of riders. Lots of story telling on the bus ride home. And plenty of tired legs! The day ended w/a post ride feed back in Boston at La Poloma in the Big Q. Margarita's and mexcian fare for everyone.

Mark your calendar for 2008!

-JP
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Tailwinds Forever

Click Here For More Photos From The 2007 B2B

Welcome to BHCC

2006-12-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

If you are new to the club, or a visitor:

BHCC is based in Milton, Massachusetts and the Blue Hills Reservation. We have riders from all of the surrounding towns, and alumni as far flung as San Diego. We were formed in 2003; our membership is currently over 45 and growing. Most of our riders focus on road riding, but we have a solid core of mountain bikers and several triathletes. We welcome riders of all abilities. Our Saturday morning rides feature both hard training and "no drop" rides for those beginning or just needing a recovery paced ride. For more information, click here: BHCC

B2B 2006

2006-06-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

Most importantly, everyone from BHCC that started this 136 mile (wink-wink-140 mile) ride finished safely so congratulations.

However, the most impressive performance was that of Bill Connolly. Bill and his cohorts from his "Mistress" bike club proceeded to tear up the course. Billy was all fired up on some home brewed potato concoction laced with something other than sea salt Seriously, the man rode unbelievably today and put everyone to shame, so kudos to you Bill, you were by far the man of the match.

Second star went to Dylan. He tapped out some great pace in the rollers today and was a huge help to everyone in finishing in a respectable time.

So for the stats:

140 miles from S. Boston to Windsor Vt in just over 7 hrs - we averaged in the mid 19's for the whole ride and from outside the city to Windsor we averaged over 20 mph. Very strong showing by the group. This was a solid dry run for PMC.

Over the course of the ride we only had two flats which were both caused by potholes that were unavoidable.

Comments on the ride:
Very well done by the sponsors with good support and excellent food/drink at the end. For the money spent ($156 - which included food/drink, the ride reg, a cycling jersey, and bus fare back to Boston) it was tremendous value

It's definitely a ride worth doing, but is not for the faint of heart. You either need a ton of pre-ride training in your legs or a strong group to do it with. The course is challenging yet scenic once you get West of Boston. Very nice change of pace...

AO we could of used you today!!!! Lots of rollers....

2005 Ride for Roses

2005-08-01T07:29:00.001-04:00

"Hook'em horns!"

That was the greeting we received upon our arrival into Austin-Bergstrom Intl. Airport. The University of Texas was playing Texas Tech that afternoon and the locals love the Longhorns... (BTW: UT has quite a football complex - the stadium looks to hold 60K or so)

So, back to cycling and our experience riding with the Boss for his big charity.

We arrived on Saturday @ 3pm and went immediately to the hotel to inspect the bikes and assess any damage they might have received on the trip. Our plan was to hit a local bike shop after building the bikes back up if we found we needed any parts.

Fortunately everyone's bike was in perfect condition, so we went directly to the Livestrong Expo to take in all the sites. Various vendors had booths set-up, mostly Discovery/Lance sponsors. One very cool thing on display was LA's time trial frame from this year's TdF. We also saw some pretty stuff from Subaru, with their new SUV/wagon. The highlight of the expo was seeing George Hincapie. He was on hand to support the event and was doing an autograph session. When Sean pointed out that George had about 200 autographs to sign and that he looked so pumped about that very fact, Hincapie looked up at us and smirked, at which we all started laughing...

From the expo it was back to the hotel to map out dinner. The hotel manager was kind enough to recommenc a good Tex-Mex restaurant in downtown Austin. For those who have never been to Austin, the city boasts a vibrant restaurant and pub scene in the downtown area. Tons of bars and clubs overflowing with college kids and young professionals.

The restaurant we went to was called the Iron Cactus. It had a sweet second floor balcony/patio section where we camped out to carbo load and enjoy the 80 degree Austin evening. Everyone enjoyed their meals of enchiladas, medalliones de pollo, margaritas and of course Shiner's...

We all ate and drank our fill and strategized about the next day. The game plan was going to be dictated to some degree by the weather which is always the case with cycling events. The initial forcast was for the Sunday to start in the high 50's and eventually reach the mid 70's. Temperature wise we looked to be in very good shape for a good day on the bike.

However, as anyone who has ridden in TX will attest, it's the wind that tends to get you and it tends to get stronger as the day goes along. Again, the initial forecast looked promising with the wind projected to be around 1-2mph at the start and getting up towards 10mph by our projected finish.

Given our analysis of the weather conditions, we decided that we would try to find a group of 20-30 riders of similar skills and conserve energy as best as possible within the bunch. Our goal was to average 20mph or better.

All four of us had various levels of fitness going into the ride. As you know, the weather around here has been awful for cycling and with the diminishing sunlight in both the morning and afternoon, it's been impossible to get any long miles in. Needless to say, we knew we had a tall task ahead of us if we really wanted a 20+ average for 100 miles.

Sunday finally came and we broke out the BHCC gear, bikes, fluids, etc. and headed to the Travis County Expo Center for the start. We arrived at 6:45 for the 7:30 start. We did the typical pre-ride checklist, locked up the van and headed to our chute.

Chute 3 was designated for the riders doing 100mi and projecting to be in within 4-5 hours. Once in the chute, we heard Lance read the mission statement of the LAF. He gave a quick pep talk, typical Lance, no nonsense... Robin Williams told a couple of jokes, and Mike somebody (guitarist for the Wallflowers?) played the national anthem ala Hendrix style.

Once the opening ceremonies were done with, the celebs and tandems were sent off. Then came our group...

Things started out as planned, we latched on to a decent size group within a mile or so, and then started making our way thru the crowds. The pace was fairly tame at first with the flats averaging 20-22mph and the hills averaging 15-18mph. (Austin is hilly btw) The BHCC boys were well behaved for the most part (Sean and Bill "Who you callin' Grampa?" Connolly) Me and the Colonel were getting a bit antsy with the hill pace. By the second or third rise Dylan had had enough. He went right to the front and upped the pace. The sorting out began!

Within our group of 20 or so riders was a group from Monterrey Mexico called Cassi Squadra. They ended up being a very solid group and we shared Shiner's with them post ride, but more to come on that later. The Squadra boys were doing some decent work on the flats, but weren't as willing to go hard on the rollers, so that duty fell/was taken by me and Dylan. Dylan was on a death mission and I was feeling pretty good, so between the two of us we kept the group pace very high thru the hills and subsequently thru the first 50mi or so. Rumor has it that we were averaging something like 25mph for the first 50mi

About mile 50, Sean decided to take out a very aggressive Phonak wannabe. Actually, the guy was a very strong rider and on a sweet bike (Oscar Freire's World Champ version of the C50). This guy started attacking the group every hill. After two or more attacks, he realized he picked on the wrong group, cause the BHCC bitchstick came out lead by Campbell and finished off by Peterson, Sanders, and Connolly. We matched him up a long rise and then proceeded to drive a 30mph pace for a mile or so after the hill. What'd ya know? No more Phonak guy! Oh, and for those of you that don't know, BHCC is no longer a social cycling club, we're a bike gang...

Just kidding!

Back to the ride. At this point we've completed over 50 miles in just over 2 hours and our group is down to the 4 BHCC members, 6 Squadra's, and 5 or so other hanger-ons. BTW: still no stop. We roll thru mile 60 and I'm almost out of fluid as is Bill. Dylan conveniently drops his chain at a poorly marked water stop that consisted of 4 5gallon jugs. We had no clue he lost the chain and the group kept rolling. Eventually the Colonel got back to us thanks to a well deserved break at the 80 mile mark. The organizers had a great stop set up with music, food, fluids, etc. As I mentioned, it was there that Dylan came back to us after riding 15 miles solo.

When we stopped at 80 we lost the Squadra's. They were riding thru. Unfortunately we couldn't continue without rehydrating and dehydrating

We left the rest stop and decided that the 22+ mph average we had thru 80 was good and that we we now try to maintain 20mph home. This was before we realized how strong the wind had become.

Sean started us out with an amazing pull for 3 miles or so at 25-27mph. He was in that groove. BHCC was in a tight paceline. All in our drops, and I can tell you we were getting some looks from people who were coming back in from the 70mile course! I think they were a bit shocked to see that kind of pace at that point in the ride. After Sean's pull, the rest of us each did our turn on the front, and we did the next 10 miles at a 25mph average.

This is where the fun started. Right hand turn at mile 90 into that TX headwind. And it was blowing real good! Estimates were in the 15-20mph range. Needless to say the pace came down dramatically. Our foursome fractured on a long climb with Sean and I out front, and Dylan and Bill behind.

The rest of the way in was a desparate search for a "live wheel". Meaning we were all starting to fade and the wind was getting us. So were the rollers in the course that was supposedly flat. Basically, we all suffered at some level the last 10 miles, but we finished and did so in a very respectable time.

Sean and I rolled across first, completing the 102 miles in 4:38 of ride time. Dylan and Bill came in next a couple of minutes behind.

On my computer, I had us clocked at exactly a 22mph average at 100 miles. Not a bad day's work!

After the ride, you guessed it! Texas barbie with free Shiner's (local craft beer favored by the Boss)

We ate and drank our fill and also met back up with the Squadra boys. Real nice set of lads. They even had a club van they had purchased! Yes the thought crossed Sean's mind, and no it won't happen because his wife thankfully shot down that idea!!

After the party we headed back to the hotel to shower and pack the bikes. Everyone thought it would be good to get some more Mexican, so it was back to downtown Austin.

In all, we had a great weekend. The TX hospitality was superb, the course was challenging, and the stories were plentiful. It is an event we highly recommend to our club. FWIW: LAF is planning a New England ride next year so stay tuned....

Your humble reporter...