This is a little long...I thought the idea of Ride the Lobster was
really great when I first heard about it, but I didn’t think seriously
about doing it myself until this September. That was when Mark Premo,
a rider with our Montpelier (Vermont) unicyclists club, announced that
he was forming a team and going for it. Mark, who is never short on
enthusiasm and drive, isn’t one to put words to a goal that he doesn’t
intend to keep. I got to thinking that the premier running of the
Lobster ( http://www.ridethelobster.com) was indeed the opportunity of
a lifetime (some would say I need to get a life) and there’d be nobody
better to do it with than my hillclimbing buddy Mark.
Mark contacted Eric Scheer of Rhode Island, to ask of his interest.
The three of us had tried (unsuccessfully) to catch the infamous
Steveyo during last summer’s Whiteface NY hillclimb race, and had
“enjoyed” the experience & each other. Eric was interested in
Lobstering, Mark’s friend Dawn DiCecco agreed to be support person, so
we had a team. We knew that time would be tight for fitting the two
days of qualifying rides in before the late autumn cold hit Vermont.
We picked the last weekend in October for qualifying, and hoped for
luck with the weather.
Day One
Naturally, a spell of glorious Indian summer came to a grinding halt
the weekend of our qualifying rides. Day one dawned with a drizzle and
a forecast of a cold front with rain throughout the day. On top of
that, Eric called, needing to cancel due to an injury. Mark & I knew
that this was our only shot at qualifying before winter, so we left on
schedule, anticipating a soggy ride.
We had agreed on a route out & back through “Moose Alley” to Elmore VT,
and I mapped it out on the USA Track & Field website (link
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=173327 ). We new this route
was hilly, but it was also beautiful and traffic-free. By mile 6 of
the ride, the drizzle had turned to a steady rain, and I was beginning
to get wet. We stopped for food at the Worcester store at mile 10 and
within a few minutes I realized there wouldn’t be much stopping this
day – it was just too cold & rainy. We were feeling strong in spite of
the conditions, so we pushed off for another 10 miles that was mostly
uphill. The climbing kept us nice and warm while we passed through
forested country with all of the drainage culverts gushing rainwater
into a raging brook far below the guardrail beside us.
By mile 18 or so we had climbed far enough out of the protected valley
that we were now exposed to heavy rain and the full force of the winds
in this storm, at this point coming from our backs. The forecast had
predicted gusts of up to 30 mph, and we began to worry about the return
trip. Totally soaked by this time, we turned around at mile 20 rather
than descend all of the way to Elmore (22 miles); we didn’t want to go
downhill only to climb right back up again into a stiff headwind.
I’m new to 36’er riding, but this day convinced me that I’ll want to
install a brake before the Lobster. The downhills from Miles 25 to 30
were the most difficult & slow part of the day for me. I was really
getting saddle sore at this point as well, but we both knew we’d get
too cold if we stopped, so we just kept working our way downhill.
Going indoors at the Worcester store with 30 miles down was a relief.
Sitting inside eating a big sandwich while water dripped into puddles
beneath us, I felt my spirits begin to lift. After some time sitting
there however, I began to shiver and couldn’t stop. We knew it was
time to get moving, so we each put on our one remaining dry clothing
layer next to the skin and went back out. The dry fleece, plus the
calories we’d taken in, made all of the difference for us. We got back
on our wheels feeling energized, warmed up within a few miles, and
rolled into Montpelier with only a few butt-resting stops. We did some
loops around residential areas of town to make up the rest of our
needed distance, and after 6 hours of riding we’d gone our 45 miles.
That evening Mark downloaded his GPS unit. The summary revealed that
we had climbed 1731 meters, and descended the same amount. Even
without any subjective factors in the formula, our 73.4 km route rated
a 318. We were tired but psyched, and looking forward to a dry day with
easier riding on Sunday.
Day Two
Sunday dawned with cooler temperatures and a fierce wind from the
Northwest. The forecast called for winds of 10 – 15 mph throughout the
day. It was clear that the out & back route we had planned would put
us against this strong wind for half of our distance, so we made a
quick decision to change plans, selecting instead a one way route that
would likely give us tailwinds for half of the distance, and be
wind-neutral for the rest of the way. Dawn, our intrepid support
person, offered us a lift to the start point in Richmond VT, which
clinched our decision.
The route featured 30 miles or so of riding along the Winooski & Mad
Rivers and a major climb up & over a ridge extending down from Camel’s
Hump Mountain. This climb, called Harwood Hill, is significant enough
to be included in the point scheme for the King of the Mountain
competition in the annual Green Mountain Bicycle Stage Race. Neither
Mark nor I tend to shy away from hills, and the challenge of Harwood
Hill, which had just been repaved, attracted us both. Here’s the link
to the day’s route, which I mapped after we rode it.
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=174121
Richmond is fairly small town, so before long we were wheeling through
pastureland and corn stubble fields, enjoying the tailwind we had hoped
for. Our spirits were high and we progressed quickly, averaging 10 –
12 mph on the gentle terrain. When we rolled through Waterbury we had
ridden a fast 14 miles, and had stopped only briefly. The climb loomed
ahead.
There are several nice things I can say about Harwood Hill. One, the
new pavement was flawless; two, it wasn’t raining; and three, it
provided us the challenge we were looking for, and then some! The road
climbs over 800 feet in 4.5 miles, with three distinct steep pitches.
I was working at my limit, but found I could keep my wheel turning the
entire way. Having owned a 36er for just three weeks, I’m still
surprised at the way the big wheel seems to carry momentum once it’s
moving, even on very steep hills. There must be some physics that
accounts for this; it can’t be my imagination. While the ascending
burned my lungs, it was the downhill that hurt my legs. The drop is
steeper than the climb, and once again I found I needed to go my
slowest speeds of the day in order to keep the wheel under control. It
felt like my knees were taking a lot of force & stress all the way
down, but I was fearful of gaining too much speed.
The next segment of the ride, on VT route 100B was a total pleasure.
This road, which snakes along the Mad River for 8 miles, has recently
been designated as a National Scenic Byway. The shoulder was wide
enough for us to ride side by side, talking easily as we enjoyed the
yellows & browns of late foliage season in the Mad River Valley. The
following 7 miles on US 2 offered little shoulder but gentle terrain
heading into town.
Pulling into Montpelier saddle-sore and road-weary after 6 hours, we
still had roughly five miles to go and were unsure if we had gained
enough elevation. As a precaution, we rode up National Life Drive, a
200 ft climb in under a mile. We felt this would be a test of our
readiness for the unrelenting hills of Cape Breton Island, and were
pleased to find that we still had it in our legs. As it turns out we
didn’t need the elevation, but we didn’t want to come up short. Our
second day totaled 77 km. in length, with Mark’s GPS recording 1724
meters of climbing and 1658 meters of descending. The distance rating
calculator, factoring in a carryover from the day before, gave us a
rating of 388 for the day.
Mark & I had a great time doing these qualifying rides, and I gained
respect for all long distance unicyclists now that I know what an
exhausting effort it can be. Ride the Lobster is going to be a great
adventure, but I have no illusions about the effort it will demand
along the way!
Equipment Notes
Mark & I both rode Nimbus 36 SE unicycles; right out of the box with
the TA tire. Neither of us used a handlebar or a brake, but I think I
may want both before RTL. I ran 40 lbs of air pressure. I used the 152
cm cranks that came standard and don’t think I’ll ever go longer. I
plan to experiment with some shorter crank arms for the flatter
terrain.
--
bmerry
------------------------------------------------------------------------
bmerry's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11933
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/65377
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com