The ride started at 4am, the usual start time for the 300, 400 and 600k events. There was rain forecast in the afternoon for the area, so I brought along the rain gear, plus a change of clothes and a towel in the drop bag destined for Hillsboro, check point 3.
I rode the first segment partially with Aaron Bigio, and when he scooted off with a tandem bike, I found Dwight Atherton, whom I had rode with for a time on the 300k. The first segment was a familiar one: It was the same route up to New Boston, NH that the 200k took us on. This time, there was much less traffic on the roads, due to the earlier start. The two-mile climb up New Boston Rd was not so bad, now that I realized where it was and planned my energy for it.
At the New Boston checkpoint, I went about my usual routine, getting my brevet card signed, filling up with water and supplies, a bathroom break, and dropped off the bag to be transported to Hillsboro. In 10 minutes time, I was ready. Aaron was ready to leave at the same time, so we were going to be riding partners once again. Before taking off, I did a tire check, and found that my rear tire had gone soft. A closer inspection revealed that the tube had failed at the valve stem, where the tube joins with the stem. I’m not the fastest tire changer, but I do hold my own, getting the job done. Once there are a few people watching you do it, however, you start to feel like you do not know what you are doing! I always struggle with the final bead popping to finish the job, and that is when Bruce Ingle, one of the volunteers for the day, gave me a lesson in popping the last section of bead, which was to start opposite of the last section to fit, taking up all of the slack, so there is extra tire at the portion where the bead needs to pop, making it so much easier to finish the job. I was very grateful for that tip, I’ve struggled with that last step so many times!
Aaron and I got on the road, and passed Greg Misicko just coming into the check point. He wasn’t in there for very long, as he caught up with us in a short time. Greg and I have Garmin cyclo-computers, and had maps loaded in them created from the cue-sheets. Shortly after leaving New Boston, our GPSes were telling us to turn left, which corresponded to the cue sheet’s instruction to turn left onto Breed Brook Rd, following the sign to Parker Rd. We took the turn to find a barricaded roadway, and, recalling the conversation with one of the volunteers at the start of the ride, he mentioned that there would be a barricaded road that we could still ride on, no detours were needed. We got past the gate, rode on a really short section of road and another barricade, then a grassy hill that led to a dam with a sand and gravel path trail. After unsuccessfully attempting to ride on the loose rocky surface of the trail, we opted to walk the half-mile, following the route, which eventually led to Route 114, but not before trekking through someone’s backyard and alerting the resident bulls to our prescence. They promptly ran over to the fence and stared at us like we were brightly-colored aliens.
We travelled past the Everett Dam in Weare, the landscape turning into actual climbs rather than rolling hills at this point. The air was getting rather muggy and I thought for sure that we’d start seeing some raindrops, but the rain held off.
At mile 91, we arrived at the Shaker Village in Canterbury, a national historic landmark and museum , with 25 restored and 4 reconstructed Shaker buildings. Its 694 acre site includes picturesque gardens, fields, ponds and forests. The village offers tours, exhibits, workshops, family programs, hiking trails, unique shopping and delicious food. If it weren’t for the legions of motorcyclists roaring by (it was Bike Week in Laconia), this would have been the most beautiful part of the trip. Visually, it was, but the roaring background noise took away from the total enjoyment of the view.
The 12.8 miles riding on Route 106 was, well, long. We were warned to bring an earplug for this part of the trip, due to the asphalt-splitting motorcycles that were rumbling around the area for Bike Week – thousands of them! While they all seemed to give us our space, the vibration note of the tailpipes was uncomfortable. I was glad to finally get off of the 50mph route and onto slower roads.
Riding into Meredith Center was fun. To see all of the bikes lined up in front of bars was a sight, and riding out of the center and seeing Lake Winnipesauke was a treat.
Checkpoint 2: Blueberry Hill Rd – 1.1 miles of climbing more hills to get to Checkpoint 2 is only fitting for a brevet I guess. It wouldn’t be a brevet if you didn’t have to work to get to the checkpoint! We got to Blueberry Hill Rd at 1:45pm, and were greeted by my friends Mike and Ellen Gutermuth who live in nearby Gilford. I was so happy to see them, as I haven’t seen them in over a year! We sat and chatted for around a half-hour, and my group of four saddled up to move on out on the third leg of our trip.
The third leg of the trip, we rode through New Hampton, Sanbornton, Hopkinton, Franklin, Salisbury, Cantoocook, Henniker, to our check point 3 in Hillsboro: Peter White Cycles. The motorcycle traffic thinned out after the interchange with Route 93 in Sanbornton, and we could once again enjoy some peace and quiet and take in the incredible views of mountains and farmland. We stopped once to re-fuel in Franklin, mile 143, re-loading with water and some snacks. I was craving some effervescence, so I opted for a Sprite, just for something fizzy and cold to drink. I wasn’t quite sick of the Perpetuem drink yet, so I didn’t feel the need to get any food. Plus, I had turkey jerky in my pack for when and if I did get sick of the liquid nutrition. Aaron split a jug of spring water with me, and we were off.
We arrived at Peter White’s shop around 8pm. Again, another check point located at the top of a hill! We huffed up the grade, and were greeted by Linda and Peter White, owners of Peter White Cycles: the mecca of randonneuring bikes and accessories. I wasn’t really chatty when we arrived there, feeling pretty tired and just wanted to sit and relax for a bit, so I didn’t talk any shop with them. I did fill my face with Linda’s baked beans though! Mmmmm! Those hit the spot! There was also the usual array of cookies, cold-cuts, Nutella (MMMMM!), potato chips and pickles. I had some pickles and potato chips along with the beans. Later on, I’d find out the hard way that pickles do not agree with my delicate stomach (sorry Emily). But the beans did agree, and that made me happy. Aaron, Dan, Greg and I stayed at Check 3 for about an hour to digest a little and rest up some for the last 70-mile leg of the trip back to Concord. We hit the road at 9pm.
It was very dark out in Hillsboro when we left Peter White’s place. Not many street lights out in the country. The four of us stayed in a close pack to channel our lights and create a super-beam to ride by. It was definitely cooler out now, and I had realized back at Peter’s house that I had left my arm warmers behind back in my truck at the start, so I had decided that I wasn’t going to put on the rain jacket just to keep the arms warm; rather, I would play it by how I felt later on – if it got too cool out, then I’d dig it out, but I really didn’t want to fuss with a jacket just then.
Leg 4 had more downhills than uphills, and we were all grateful for it! The downhills were at times very fast. We enjoyed coasting, as we all were pretty tired from all 11,654f feet of climbing that the previous 182 miles presented to us! There were some climbs, most notably mile 195, climbing Crotched Mtn in Bennington. 715ft up to 1,136ft in 3.7 miles. Even in the granny gear, I was struggling to get up the grade. I was definitely tired, and was lagging behind the other three. I’d catch back up with them on the massive downhill. There were a few other climbs from that point , but they were few and far between the descents. Nice!
After midnight, we all really needed to watch each other for drowsiness. I had some Cliff Shot Bloks in Cola flavor with caffeine in them, and others had forms of caffeine chews and drinks. We planned to have a bathroom stop once we were in Hollis.
It was around 2am when I really started feeling the fatigue set in. I’m finding that I don’t struggle with holding my line, my eyelids do not feel heavy, I just yawn a whole lot. Yawning excessively is tiresome in itself.
The closer that we got to the end, the more excited we were to get there! As we turned onto Lowell Rd, we started getting our legs back and blazing it towards Concord Center. And Virginia Rd, with the short kicker of a hill at the end – what hill??? We powered up the hill, turned the corner and prepared to descend into the Hanscom Civvie parking lot.
The group’s official time in: 3:42am. Total time: 23h42m. Great ride!!
Lynda with Ellen G
Lynda with Mike G
Lynda Beaulieu, Aaron Bigio, Greg Misicko, and Dan Sullivan
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