Non, je ne regrette rien.

In June I bagged out on doing one of the tentpole events of my cycling season, Outriders, due to a bad weather forcast.  This decision was clearly going to bug the crap out of me for a long time to come, so there was only one thing to do.  Do the ride on my own.  

Cancel a ride based on a forecast? This aggression will not stand.

Well, kind of on my own.  I've been riding increasingly long distances with a few friends this year.  They generally aren't yet ready for an unsupported 130 mile/210 km ride.  Fortunately, the MBTA has a solution: The Cape Flyer train.  This train runs from Boston to Hyannis on the Cape with a stop in Bourne very close to where the Sagamore Bridge hits the Cape.  You can take bikes on this train via a dedicated bike car.  Now, if you live in a European country that all seems kind of obvious.  But here in the States it's sort of amazing.  The MBTA has a pretty long history of outright hostility to bicycles.  Anyway, it was a good option.  I'd meet Jay and Richard about halfway after cycling the first half solo.

There was a whole lot of hemming and hawing about dates for the ride and everyone's equipment set up.  I put a third waterbottle cage on the bike as well as a larger top tube bag for more on the bike food.  There was also some last minute negotiation about where to meet up and should it be in Plymouth instead of the bridge.  The former Christmas Tree Shop across the bridge remained the meet up spot.

Three bottle cages, not two.

Then at the last minute (two days prior to the ride) my friend Alan decided to join me for the whole shebang.  Alan is a regular bike commuter and said he had done a century ride.  I knew he had done a lot of touring, so I figured he knew his cycling abilities well enough to judge he could do this kind of distance.  We agreed to meet up and get rolling at 5:15 AM on Sunday.  I prepped my bike and kit on Saturday afternoon.  Tires pumped, trunk bag packed, vest and flip flops bungeed to the outside of the trunk because the small five liter bag wasn't quite large enough.  I even made a breakfast to warm up on Sunday morning.

It did feel like we had a lot of moving parts that could break. Would Alan or I oversleep?  Would the train be delayed?  Richard ended up in a hotel partway to Bourne so he could go to a concert the night before.  What if someone had a bad mechanical?  On that point we did have partial coverage.  There is a shuttle bus service out on the Cape that does go to Provincetown and their buses have bike racks.  This would cover three of the four of us, since Alan rides a recumbent.  Worthwhile to note that between the Cape Flyer train and the bus system, you could do a car free vacation on Cape Cod.

Oversleep? Heck the first hurdle was getting to sleep early on Saturday night!  Well, after a while I managed to get a bit of sleep.  My alarm went off at 4:30 AM and I was up.  I hit brew on the coffee maker, started warming my breakfast, and checked that my bike tires hadn't gone flat overnight.  Alan texted me, so I knew he was up and good to go.  I got ready in short order.

After some last minute fiddling with my little bluetooth speaker, we were off.  We passed one medical worker on her bike ride to the hospital.  I think she was a bit surprised to see anyone out at that early hour.  Riding along the Emerald Necklace along Jamaica Pond was really nice at such an early hour.

It was cool out, but the humidity was off the walls.  As long as you were moving on the bike it was alright.  The forecast was for moderate temperatures with cloud cover the whole day.

Stopping in Quincy for a quick photo op at the President John Adams statue

Roxbury, Dorchester, and Quincy are fairly urban and built up.  The riding isn't exactly scenic.  It takes a while to get through this chunk.  I think Alan was a bit like "Uh, when is this ride going to get beautiful?"  And the crazy thing with the route is it that it just kind of happens suddenly.  Around Weymouth or so they flip the switch and it feels increasingly rural.

We just spun away the miles chatting.  We got to see some wild turkeys.  Alan had also brought three water bottles and we were pretty much on the same eating/drinking schedule.  Though one of my water bottles was filled with heavily sugared black coffee and Alan is caffeine free.  I don't know how he functions.

Plymouth! America's Home Town

I think around Weymouth or Plymouth we realized there was no way we were going to get to the bridge on time.  Well, there's not much you can do.  We needed to go a pace that we could sustain for the whole day.  Jay and Richard were just going to have to wait a bit.  As we went through Plymouth both of us pretty much drank the last of our water.  So we stopped at a convenience store for refills.  Alan's bike attracted a lot of attention.  As usual.

Refilling water bottles

When we hit the road we were faced with some rolling up and down hills before we got to the bridge.  Somewhere along here (hmm, maybe earlier) I found my first cell phone of the day.  It was by the side of the road with a cracked but functional display.  It wasn't locked.  So, I threw it in my trunk to try and return it to its rightful owner.  As of this writing, I'm still working on that!

After a whole bunch of up and downs we finally got to the bridge.  Whew!  We crossed over for the second half of our ride.  At the former Christmas Tree Shop we met up with Jay and Richard.

Jay kindly pointing out we're a bit late

The building is pretty heavily themed, so there was something of an abandoned amusement park vibe to meeting up there.  People had been stopping by asking if it was closed or not.  I think three different carloads of disappointed scented candle seeking people stopped by while I was there.  The chain only recently entered some kind of bankruptcy protection and clearly not everyone has heard.  

After a few minutes of talking it was time to saddle up and start the Cape Cod section of our day.

Nothing creepy about an abandoned amusement park, no sir

The next bit of the ride is one of the less than totally pleasant bits of the route.  It's up 6A to Sandwich to the service road that parallels Route 6.  It's a suboptimal way to start a ride and I suspect Jay & Richard were wondering what they had gotten themselves into.  Fortunately, after the long but gentle ascent up to the service road, things quiet down.  At least traffic wise.  The service road is lots of rolling hills.  Some of them you can boogie down fast enough to pretty much make it up the next one.  There was a lot of joking about how everyone (who isn't a cyclist) will say,"Oh, the Cape.  I guess it's flat."  We continued on past the end of the service road into Hyannis.  There was one incredibly unpleasant yet not dangerous pickup truck driver. 

The route hooks down into Hyannis.  It's pretty busy, but the road is generally wide.  This is far better than the old route I used to take that went on Route 6A.  Finally, after some rough bits we got out of Hyannis and into Yarmouth.  We had to take a quick pit stop and then we looked for the unofficial starting point of the Cape Cod Rail Trail.  It's under construction for a new extension and was tough to find.  First we accidentally went down some soft sandy road.  Then someone noticed cyclists rolling in the woods adjacent to us.

Pit stop on Higgens Crowell Road.

The trail extension in Yarmouth goes through a golf course.  It's kind of narrow and has some very hostile fences at road crossings that force you to dismount.  It's meant to prevent (heavens forefend) inconveniencing drivers, but it ends up with them waiting longer while cyclists mount & dismount in the crosswalk.  We stopped at a public restroom that has a water fountain.  Unfortunately, the fountain was non-functional and we were all running low on water.  We poured off water to make sure that everyone had about a bottle each and ate a bit of food.  

Remounting we got back on our bikes planning on stopping at a store that's just off the rail trail in Brewster.  Alan had been having a tougher time with the humidity.  His recumbent has a partial faring which blocks the wind.  Great for aerodynamics and reducing drag.  A negative for cooling.  The seat on his bike is also large -- like a beach chair.  This meant his back was covered, so he didn't benefit from any evaporation there.

It took quite a while to get to Brewster.  I drank all my water.  Alan finished his.  This never makes for a fun time.  We got to the store and had a tough time finding gallons of water.  They were in closed boxes.  Anyway, we bought a couple gallons, some gatorade, and I got some peanut M&Ms.  Things improved for everyone as we sat, drank, and then left with full water bottles.

The rail trail wasn't super busy.  But we still took care to be as polite and careful when passing other cyclists and pedestrians.  I felt quite nostalgic for the first autumn/winter of the pandemic when I had rented a house in Brewster.  I was out on the rail trail (and beyond) just about every day.

As we passed 100 miles every turn of the wheel was a new PR for Alan.  Jay and Richard's PRs would have to wait until Ptown.  Both had ridden over 65 miles in the Tour de Shuls just a couple weeks earlier.  Me?  My single day mileage PR is 200 miles.  I set it 23 years ago and I doubt I'll ever beat it.

Past the 100 mile mark on the rail trail, Jay & Alan are in the background

Finally, we got to Wellfleet and the near mandatory stop at the PB Boulangerie for coffee and croissants.  The line was slow but it was totally worth it.  If they didn't have kouign amann I was hoping to get an almond croissant.  Since I was fumbling with my mask I let Jay in ahead of me.

This was a fatal error on my part.

They didn't have any kouign amann and Jay scored the very last almond croissant.  I had to make due with a pain au chocolat.  As we ate our pastries Jay could not have been happier.  He said "I regret nothing."  Richard commented that it did look a lot better than our pain au chocolat.  I'm sure it was.

Gentleman fixing my iced coffee. No kouign amann, no almond croissant.

Jay was very happy with his almond croissant. He said "I regret nothing"

After leaving the PB Boulangerie we continued up Lecount Hollow Road to Oceanview Road.  "Oh, guys, I promise you this is one of the most lovely bits of cycling anywhere.  The view is just tremendous."  We got up there and ... we were totally socked in by fog.  I'm not even sure we could hear the ocean.  Oh well.  When we left the boulangerie I turned on music for the first time in the day.  You know, just to play some Edith Piaf for Jay.  I left it on, so we got to hear a bit of Little Richard as we rode along Ocean View Road.

As we went continued the long but gentle climb we went past the Beachcomber, the town beach, the kettle pond that's way down below the road.  Even in the fog, I love that road.  Just before the big down hill to Cahoun Hollow we banged a left on Gull Road.  It was a long wooded descent down to Route 6, just opposite Moby Dick's.  And that left Route 6.  Well, there are worse roads.  The shoulder was large.  But the cars were going by frequently at at high speed.  It was loud and unpleasant.  We could have gone down Long Pond Road to Wellfleet Center and then to Pamet Marsh, but it was getting late and I thought our energy levels weren't quite there.  Oh well.  Finally after a longish slog on 6 we got to the turn to Highland Light.  Whew! Back on a quiet rural Cape Cod road. 

One last pit stop remained before the last climb of the ride.  We stopped at the Salty Market.  Even though it was late and we were losing any hangout time in Provincetown, it made sense.

Jay does regret not buying new cycling shoes.

Alan swapping out water bottles

Finally we saddled up, and took that last insulting climb up.  Is it a single climb with a false summit?  Two climbs?  More than that?  No climb at all according to Richard's bike computer?  Well, authorities differ.  All I can say is we finally crested it and were rewarded with a clear view of Provincetown.  The descent to Beach Point was fast and whoop filled.

It was a long stretch down 6A in Beach Point, but we had a nice tail wind pushing us.  And then what did I see on the road?  A phone.  We stopped.  It was an unlocked iPhone.  Jay turned on the "find my phone" feature.  We tried texting some people to no luck.  Unlike the phone I had found earlier in the day, this one probably didn't fall off a car.  The most likely scenario was someone walking or biking from one of the hotels on 6A.  We moved it safely off the road and continued on.  I hope the rightful owner recovered it.

We made it!

After a slow ride down Commercial Street we made it to Canteen.  There wasn't a whole lot of time so we bought our dinners to go, intending on eating them on the ferry.  I ran into a couple coworkers and said hello.

We were tired and a bit sore here and there, but it was an amazing day in the saddle.  For me, it completely erased any bad feelings from bagging out on Outriders.  For Alan, Jay, and Richard, the day meant new long distance PRs.  131 miles for Alan, almost 70 for Jay and Richard.  It's really impressive to see both Jay and Richard consistently increasing their longest mileage rides.  It looks like we'll be doing the 100 mile route of the Blazing Saddles Century next month.  And Jay signed up to do the Boston to Provincetown route of the Harbor to the Bay with me in September.

Chocolate Frappe from Lewis Bros Ice Cream

I made a point of getting a frappe.  Really, it's an excellent recovery beverage.  Between the frappe, the sandwich, and a water bottle on the ferry, I avoided any post ride leg cramping.  I did have some pickle juice at the ready.

Hanging out while I get frappes for me & Alan

On the ferry back to Boston

Tofu banh mi from Canteen

Provincetown receding into the distance as we depart

The ride home from the ferry tacked on another six miles for the day.  It was a fairly low stress ride along Boston's bike lanes.  We even met and rode with three younger people who had spent two days riding from Plymouth to Provincetown camping along the way.  It sounded like they had a pretty big adventure too.

Things that worked well: the Cape Flyer Train, the ferry, three water bottles, the larger top tube bag.  

It was wonderful to come home that night.  It was hard to believe that the whole thing was just one day's ride.  It felt like I had been away for a week!

Anyway, thanks for reading.  Keep the rubber side down.

Cycling in Cooperstown

This July 4th weekend we went to Cooperstown, NY to visit family.  The cycling around Cooperstown is outstanding, so I made sure to bring my bike.  Even if I only had time to do "stretch your legs" rides, it was worth it. The forecast was kind of marginal, but the misty rain on the first day was far better than the smoke from the Global Warming caused Canadian wildfires.

Mist shrouded hills past the Susquehanna 

At least it was a warm misty rain.

The roads are a bit narrow in places, but they're generally quiet.  The local drivers are careful around cyclists as a rule.  The Baseball Hall of Fame visiting tourists?  Well, your mileage varies with them, but it's generally better than eastern Massachusetts.  Yes, that's something of a low bar.  My rainy spin was out from town along River Road to Milford.  This goes past three breweries, including the excellent Ommegang.  I then got on the state road, route 28.  This was wider with a shoulder, but much more heavily trafficked.  I cut back over to River Road for a quieter ride.  

Post ride coffee at the Stagecoach Cafe

After the spin -- only about 20 miles I went to the Stagecoach Cafe.  The B&B I was staying at, The Cooperstown Bed and Breakfast was outstanding, but their coffee wasn't the kind of high test that I need to function.  Otherwise I can very strongly recommend staying at their wonderful B&B.  I had a funny incident where I lost part of my helmet clasp, but a passing family helped me find it in short order.

The immaculate front lawn of the wonderful Cooperstown Bed & Breakfast

The next day I did a slightly longer 25 mile ride out to Glimmerglass State Park.  It was gorgeous.  I took East Lake Road to the park.  

You don't have to go to VT to see covered bridges

For some reason I decided to skip the snack bar at the state park.  Not sure what I was thinking.  I rode up past Hyde Hall to an unmarked gravel road.  It was a bit wet and muddy, but nothing that the 28's I'm running had any trouble with.

After the gravel road I got onto a paved road that gently went uphill.  It passed several very tidy farms.  Some growing corn, some raising dairy cows.  I love the smell of dairy cows.  Always reminds me of the Israeli kibbutz I spent several summers on when I was a teenager.

The climb became progressively steeper.  With some wonderful views.  There were lots of flowers by the side of the road.  If I had the time I would have stretched the ride out a bit by continuing down to Springfield and then continuing to Route 20.  Since I didn't have a lot of time I turned around when I got to the crest of the climb.

Amazing view looking down the climb I just finished

I didn't go back exactly the way I came.  Instead of hooking back to Hyde Hall I stayed on the paved road.  It had some fantastic high speed tight turns.  Which I took far too conservatively.  Anway, it got me back to East Lake Road which I took back to Cooperstown.

East Lake Road. Far better than the other side of Lake Otsego which has more car traffic.

A little waterfall next to the road

Don't tell anyone, but passing the last downhill turn into town I saw I was exceeding the posted speed limit of 30 mph.  Zoom.

One thing worth noting about Cooperstown: they have a water bottle filling station and a bike repair station next to a bike rack on Pioneer Street.  Very impressive for a small town.

The only pity was I didn't have more time to do any more longer rides while in Cooperstown.  I missed out on Murphy Hill and Roseboom.  Well, maybe next time.