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| Meeting up to ride with Andy & Richard |
I had a couple friends bag out ahead of time. One was in Vermont for a bar mitzvah and the other had to start a new job on Monday. Then at the last minute I had another friend, Andy, decide to join me. My buddy Richard was going to ride regardless. Last year Richard was just getting into cycling. This year he's a seasoned veteran. So we had a group of three. There was also a group put together by coworkers, but they were starting later than I wanted.
Just a few days earlier I had returned from Israel where I was visiting my daughter. So jetlag was a real thing. As a result I wanted to go on the early side. Maybe 7 PM.
In the event we spent much of the day worrying about weather and trying to decide if to ride at all.
I was really leaning towards bagging out entirely. I get plenty of rainy cycling done while commuting by bike. Also, jetlag. Fortunately, Richard wasn't going to have any of that and got us out of the house and meeting up around 8 PM. Kudos to Richard for getting me off my couch. The toughest part of any ride.
It was in the low 50s (about 10C) with some rain in the forecast. So I wore my new waterproof Pearlizumi jacket, insulated bib tights, shorts, jersey, and arm warmers. I also carried hand warmers, space blankets, three water bottles, and food. In case it got cold, I also had a fleece gaiter & helmet liner.
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| Some of the snacks I carried, three water bottles in the background |
We had a nice easy spin out of town. Since it was a bit early in the evening there was still a surprising amount of traffic until we got past Newton Center.
Ten miles in we stopped to eat & drink a bit. And some light rain started. Andy didn't really have a whole lot of miles in his legs for the year, so we wanted to make sure we kept the pace down -- and that we stayed on top of eating & hydration. 52 miles with no official pit stops is something.
The rain continued on and off. We made some porta pottie stops. When we got to Framingham Richard had a puncture. Fortunately, this was right by a gas station, so we were able to get under cover in a well light area to work on it. When the roads are wet it's easier to get a puncture. We were joined by another group who had a puncture as well.
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| Tubeless tires, still unfamiliar to me |
While we were stopped there Andy took advantage of the break to buy a snack and a sports drink. This was the first time Andy had done the Midnight Marathon Ride. It seemed like he was having a blast.
After getting it all sorted out (I was vaguely freaked out when I realized I forgot my mini pump at home), we resumed heading west. We very carefully went over the two sets of train tracks -- as close to a 90 degree angle as possible. The importance of doing this was underlined by seeing someone take a spill on the other side of the road. He was in a big group that stopped for him, so we pressed on.
After Framingham it gets very rural in Ashland. We could hear the frogs making a racket. There were also people who had come out of their homes to have a bit of a party/cheer on the cyclists.
We took another break just before the really steep bit of climbing up to Hopkinton.
This year my friend Tyler was away on vacation, so I didn't have anyone to meet with at the marathon start. We made it up the big climb -- and there were a ton of cyclists up there. We took a short break to eat & drink some more. Amid the huge crowd of cyclists there was a group of roller bladers in the gazebo. On the climb up to Hopkinton we had been passed by the group of my coworkers, but there was no chance of finding them in the dark.
If it had been a long climb up to Hopkinton from and through Ashland, it was going to be a fast dark descent back down towards Boston. I reminded Andy and Richard to set their headlights on high if they could. I had two headlights. A 1200 lumen Magicshine as my main light and a PlanetBike Beamer 700 as a secondary light. Normally on a nighttime commute, I run the Beamer on blink and the MagicShine on high. Since the Midnight Marathon Ride is a long ride entirely at night, I was using the MagicShine on low to conserve battery. Only turning it on high on descents or when the rain picked up (as it turned out I finished the night only having used half of its rechargeable battery). The Beamer I had left off to use in case of a problem with the MagicShine, though I would turn it on during descents when I wanted extra coverage of the road. Towns along the route generally clean and patch all the Marathon roads, but you just can't be too sure.
Andy, Richard, and I walked over to the start line mounted up, and began the zoom downhill. I kind of outpaced them here and had to slow down a bit after a while. At this point, late at night, on very quiet roads, we should have ridden side by side to talk, and no single file. Being in front I also couldn't gauge what was a comfortable pace for my friends, so I kept creating a gap. Pretty dumb on my part.
We got passed by some of the roller bladers, who were not enjoying the wet roads. Apparently, roller blades aren't particularly grippy. Can I do a shout out to my Specialized All Condition Armadillo tires? They may be slower than race tires, but they are tough, and they grab onto the road even when it's wet.
We crossed back over the sets of tracks in Framingham without incident.
Shortly thereafter my rear shifter cable snapped. My bike is overdue for a tuneup. There was about 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of shifting on that cable, including lots of crap weather cycling.
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| Landry's Bikes removed this from my shifter |
When your rear cable goes, the derailleur loses tension and goes to the hardest gear. I still had the front rings to shift it, so it was a choice between tough and super tough gears. Any incline at all felt like a huge hill and I had to get up out of the saddle to keep turning the cranks. On flats & downhills I had to go faster so I could ride with a comfortable cadence.
I pulled over and tried to figure out some way to jerry rig the bike into a better gear to no avail. Now I was going to have to ride faster than Richard and Andy were comfortable with -- and do my best on the hills. We talked about it. There was some thought to have Andy grab a rideshare home and circle back with his car and its bike rack. Meh, I thought. Meh! While I was not going to do Heartbreak Hill in the decidedly wrong gear, I was pretty sure I could do my commute route home. That would mean Beacon instead of Comm Ave. So, still a few hills, but I thought I had a shot at it. We agreed to stay in touch via texts and split up.
Going up hills was tough. My back was already hurting from the effort. Still, I was managing to do it without walking up anything. I got into a largish group while going through Wellesley -- I was still on the Marathon route. My split off it wasn't for another few miles.
I talked to another cold, tired, and hungry cyclist about the route. He wasn't sure where the next turn was. It turned out he was one of my coworkers! Though I didn't realize it until he pulled away and I saw he was wearing company branded cycling kit.
Going down the descent from Wellesley to the Charles River there was a cyclist on a mountain bike holding a phone making a video of the plunge. I was not happy. We were in a big group, so I couldn't hit the brakes to back off or pedal harder to get away from him. Late at night on wet roads in a mixed group is not the time to ride with one hand on the handlebars not paying close attention. Once we leveled off and slowed down a bit I gave him my open and honest opinion ("Put the f'ing phone away, jackass").
And here is where I had to split off the Marathon route. I rode along the Charles on Quinobequinn Road. The hill up to Beacon Street in Waban is so steep that I did have to walk. Kind of a bummer. There were lots of rabbits out and about, though.
The rest of the way I was able to ride in the pedals. Cranking up hills somehow and deeply thankful that I had hit the weights over the winter. I would not have had the leg strength without those heavy squats and deadlifts.
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| Well, it was worth trying |
In Newton Center I saw that the Hubway/Bluebikes were out, so I grabbed one and tried to ride a bit in the parking lot holding my bike with my left hand (uh, it's not a phone, I guess and I wasn't in a pack). It was no go however. So I put the bikeshare bike back in its rack and kept going. It was something else to climb up out of the saddle standing in the pedals. I usually spin up climbs, I don't jam on the pedals.
In Cleveland Circle I rejoined the Marathon route. There were just tons of cyclists on the road. Finally, I got to Coolidge Corner where I was going to end my night. Riding on a single speed in the wrong gear just isn't my thing. And I was hurting (the next day I was amazingly sore).
I took a few photos and then rode home. 46 miles instead of 52. Oh well. Still I had both kinds of fun. Type 1: fun-fun. Riding with my friends, kidding around with other people, taking in the spectacle and the scene of the Midnight Marathon Ride. And then Type 2 fun: it hurts in the moment, but you look back on it with a sense of accomplishment. I confirmed that Richard & Andy were almost home too. So, it was all good. Anyway, thanks for reading and keep the rubber side down.
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