This is where I want to be, this is how I want to get there. So said the old Outriders t-shirt from 2003. Outriders is a one day 126 mile bike ride from Boston to Provincetown (just for fun). I've done it off and on since 1999. As the name suggests, many (maybe most) of the people doing the ride are LGBTQ, but it's a welcoming group and I've never caught any flak for being straight and participating.
The goal line (well, kinda)
I prepped my bike a day or two early and followed my big bike event checklist to make sure I had everything I wanted for this ride:
Helmet
jersey & shorts
gloves
cycling cap
2 water bottles
sunglasses
HRM
six Clif bars
two powdered gatorades
clif shot
sunscreen
lip balm
arm warmers leg warmers
shell/vest
cue sheet holder
wallet
paper towel
under the saddle bag w/tools, tubes, CO2
space blanket
Bag w/post ride clothing including sandals/flipflops
Dinner was work: gnocci, beans, vegetarian sausage. I wanted to be carbo loaded for bear. I had brand new Specialized Armadillo Elite tires mounted on the bike. Clothing was laid out and I even prepped my breakfast for the next morning. Alarms were set for 4:45 AM. Organization & checklists eliminate stress and mistakes. This makes it easier to fall asleep. I got into bed with plenty of time for eight hours of sleep and read a book until I felt drowsy.
The next morning I was up with my first alarm. Got everything ready and I was out the door and rolling to the start line in the South End. My wife and kids had gone to Provincetown the day before, so I didn't have to worry about making too much noise so early in the morning.
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| Efficient check in. Give them your rider number et voila |
Arriving at the start I was quickly checked in and my rider number was written on my leg. I met up with a friend and we took off a tad early at 5:50 AM. The route officially opens at 6 AM.
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| One fun tradition is your rider number is yours forever. The lower the number, the longer you've been doing this. |
Early on, maybe around the old Boston Globe building on Morrissey Boulevard a fast group came zipping by. I jumped on the back of the train. We were setting a blistering pace through Quincy. Then someone said they thought they had a flat and pulled over. I know that just a couple blocks away was the first big climb of the day. I figured I wasn't going to be able to keep up on the climb, but if I left then while they changed a tire I could get over it and then hang on afterwards.
I probably said something like, "I'll catch you guys on the road" and took off. It was rude of me, honestly. I should have made sure that someone was good at changing tires and explained my intention. Anyway, just after that the bluetooth speaker I had on my headset came unvelcro'ed. I pulled over to resecure it and the group came ripping past me. I guess they didn't have a puncture after all. And there went the train. Oh well.
My friend Pete must have been spit off the back of the group, since he came by shortly thereafter while I was just clipping back in to get rolling, so at least we were able to ride together. After a bit we came upon one of the people from the fast group and picked her up too. I figured we'd collect a few more cyclists from it, but that turned out to be incorrect. So, we three continued on together until we reached the first official pit stop.
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| Hamentaschen? Yes! Please! |
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| Wide variety of food, water, and Gatorade. |
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| Friendly volunteers! |
After the pit I kind of upped the pace a bit and dropped Pete and Karen. I made sure to eat and drink by the clock, not by the pit stop. I felt really strong and that all the hard work I'd been putting in to be ready for this cycling season was really paying dividends. All the squats, deadlifts, hours long wintertime spin sessions inside, early spring cold rainy rides, it was all for this: to be back in form flying to Provincetown.
My time at 62 miles was something like 3:30. By far the fastest metric "century" I've done in many years. This pace was akin to how I rode 17 years ago when I was as fit as I've ever been. Every skipped dessert, extra slice of pizza, beer, and martini was my payment for this (I've lost 35 pounds so far this year). And I was enjoying it thoroughly.
Before crossing the bridge I ran an important errand: I stopped at the Dunkin Donuts for a larged iced coffee. I put a water bottle in my jersey and the iced coffee fit in my bottle cage nicely. On the way over the bridge I met up with Pete who had caught up while I was in Dunks.
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| In queue to order my iced coffee. |
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| Pete and I just over the bridge on the Cape proper. |
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| My new rig, a Trek Emonda. Note the iced coffee. |
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| Lunch stop! |
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| Keep those salty crunchies coming! |
I hung out for a bit at the Sandwich pit stop, eating and drinking. Then, it was back on the road. The next notable stretch was the service road that parallels route 6. Traffic was backed up badly on route 6 and Waze/GPS services was routing a fair amount of poorly behaved drivers onto the service road. It was less than fun sharing the road with them.
After the service road I was quite concerned about what 6A was going to be like. There's a long stretch on 6A -- maybe 7 miles -- and tourists are lost and locals are angry. As it turned out, this year it was fine. No close calls and even a few very polite/careful drivers. It's an intense section and I was glad when I got to the next pit in Yarmouth. I entered it with my traditional sarcastic, "Wow, that section was fun! Let's do that again!" The riders in the pit seemed nonplussed at my attempted humor.
At this point I was drinking a full bottle of Gatorade in each pit and then another in between pits. Also, the bottle I was using for Gatorade had a broken seam and was leaking a bit. It was getting kinda gross. I kept meeting up with the same riders at the pits. I think they were faster than me, but I was spending less time in the pits. I didn't introduce myself, which was kinda dumb on my part.
This stretch of the ride zipped along. It zigs, zags back onto 6A for a moment, and then it's back up to the middle of the Cape in Brewster to get to the Cape Cod Rail Trail. In the past I've made up some time here and raised my average speed. I might pulled back a little time in this stretch, but it wasn't much. At the 100 mile mark I was averaging 15.4 mph. This was my best century time in many years. I was gratified.
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| 100 miles. 74F Perfect. |
You do have to be careful on the rail trail. There are a lot of quite inexperienced cyclists, children, and dog walkers on it. My feeling is that there's a better chance of getting hurt on this stretch, even if the end result is probably not as bad as getting tagged by a car. I ran into one cyclist -- not a participant in Outriders -- who had hit another cyclist. He was kind of bloodied and had broken the chainstays on his carbon fiber Giant bicycle.
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| The Cape Cod Rail Trail: chock full o' newbies |
In any case I pushed along and this traffic sort of thinned out. I ran into a few more Outriders including one guy who was really concerned about how much further we had to go until the next pit. He seemed to be having a tough day. Once you get over 100 miles it really is like breaking an important barrier. It's a distance that most cyclists never do. The weather was just perfect. And the smell of the tidal flats and sun baked pine needles was just, well, it was the smell of Cape Cod to me.
The next pit was the second to last pit. It was at the very end of the bike path in Wellfleet. I stopped and ate a bit. The best thing they had was the watermelon. It was really refreshing. The volunteers were great. I recall that one of them was one of the ride organizers, Sondra. I was kind of getting tired of eating though. With 20 miles or so left in the day, this kind of food fatigue is not a good thing. I really should have immediately left and gone to PB Boulangerie (right around the corner) for a croissant and a double espresso.
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| The always mellow pit at the end of the rail trail. |
Sadly, I didn't do this and I think the lack of caffeine boost was impacting my mood. Anyway, the next leg of the route is probably my favorite stretch of cycling anywhere. It features Oceanview Road, some awesome S turns through kettle ponds down to Wellfleet center, and then a gorgeous stretch through the marshes around the Pamet River in Truro. Although the starch was out of my legs and I lost a bunch of time on the climbs here, I just loved it. It was a perfect sunny day to be cycling on such quiet classic New England back roads.
At this point I passed the rider who had asked me about how far it was to the next pit. He was having a tough time. I think he said he knee hurt earlier. Anyway, I did a bunch of my usual patter to distract him. "Hey, you're doing great" "Look how gorgeous this is, we're lucky to be out here" "Did you know it was around here the Pilgrims stole corn and beans from the Wompanoag". At the time I thought he wasn't buying it, but afterwards he reached out to me on Facebook and let me know he appreciated the effort. 😃
Finally we came to the last pit, the stop in Truro. Since I had a lot of water left in my bottle and bunch of food, I shouted out my number, and just checked in. I also chatted very briefly with another of the ride organizers, Lew. And away I went to put this ride to bed. I finished what Gatorade I had, slammed a Clif shot (with caffeine), and chased it with some generous gulps of water. I got down in the drops and hammered.
Wow, it felt GREAT. I still had a lot of power in my legs. I made it up over the last couple climbs in Truro and got my first view of Provincetown. Whooping and hollering I descended into Beach Point one gigantic grin plastered on my face.
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| This is where I want to be. This is how I want to get there. |
I crossed into Ptown, rode down Bradford, and there I was. 8:37 and done. 14.9 mph. Best time in years. My family was there. My friends Joe and Rene were there. It was fantastic. I got off my bike. Ate some real food. Hung out. I couldn't have been happier. It turned out that one of the guys I'd been leapfrogging during the latter part of the day remembered me from 2017 -- and my whacky piece of advice "Remember, it's an eating contest with some cycling thrown in".
Outriders 2018 marked a real return to form for me. I could not be happier with my performance on the road. As always, this ride is a challenge and a high point of my cycling season. One of my favorite events. 🚴💖🚴🚴🚴
