Playing In Traffic: 2019 Harbor to the Bay Ride

The Harbor to the Bay is the centerpiece of my cycling year. It's a one day 125 mile bike
ride from Boston to Provincetown that raises money for four local HIV/AIDS charities.
100% of the money raised goes to the beneficiaries in this all volunteer run event.
This is my account of the 2019 ride.

A few years ago I overslept my early morning alarm for the H2B. Can you imagine?
Ever since that near fiasco I’ve set two alarms for ride morning. After a night of fitful sleep
I was up like a shot when the first one went off. All week I had been moving my wake up
time earlier, so it waking up that early wasn’t too shocking to the system.

As is my practice everything was laid out the night before. My cycling kit was ready. The tires on my bike had been topped off. Iced coffee was in the fridge ready to go. By 5:30 AM I was out the door in the very cool pre dawn air. It was 50F (10C). The coldest morning in months as far as I could recall. In addition to my jersey & shorts, I also had on arm/knee warmers and a wind vest, so I was reasonably comfortable. I flicked on my full charged head & tail lights and rode off to the start in Copley Square.

The roads were pretty much dead quiet. It was a nice slow ride down to Trinity Church in Copley. I headed downstairs where there was an official breakfast. It was great seeing a bunch of friends -- some of them I only get to see on the ride. What's up with that?

There was some pre ride stretching outside. I continued my now ten year long streak of not stretching before the ride.

And a chance to get some selfies with my friends Carolyn and Andi. I've known them for years -- going back to the old Boston to New York AIDS rides in the 90's.

Then it was time for opening ceremonies. I really felt the concern that each of us get safely to the finish. A ride reflects the personalities of the organizers. I find that to be very accurate in the Harbor to the Bay Ride. Safety and care is the order of the day.

After a benediction, the rollout of the riderless bike, and the singing of the national anthem, it was time to hit the road. It felt really good to get moving -- it probably took around 30 minutes to really worth through my nerves and settle into the ride. It was chilly, but I still preferred it to last year when it was very misty with slick roads. I was riding in a bunch of cyclists, but I didn't know anyone in it.

The first climbs of any note are after Quincy center on the route. As usual, the group sorted out here, with the really fast riders breaking off the front. I was not in that group! One rider had a huge rainbow pride flag flying from the back of his bike. 10 out 10 for style, but minus several hundred and we rode into the headwind we were going to fight for the first 90 miles of the day! There was another guy on an e-assist bike. That's an electric bike with a motor that can vary its output from economy (a little help) to turbo. We chatted a bit and he said the range on the bike in eco mode was about 85 miles. I didn't ask him how he was going to ration that out over 125 miles. I'm sure he had some kind of plan.

Pulling into the first pit stop I ran into my friend Pete. It was kind of funny that I recognized him from the shadow cast by his helmet decorations. I didn't spend a lot of time in the pit. I might have grabbed some food and topped off a water bottle.

Sidebar: caffeine
I regularly drink a lot of coffee. I've found that when I don't take on enough caffeine during a ride my performance kind of drags. For the ride I had a caffeine game plan. I started with my second water bottle filled with sugared coffee. After finishing that, I'd fill it with Gatorade and mix in powdered Skratch labs sports drink with caffeine. I also had two small espresso shots. Lastly (and in the end unconsumed) I had Clif gel shots with caffeine.

Pictured above is the second pit. They had some awesome homemade baked goodies.

Around here I was riding pretty consistently with my friend Pete. We got to the third pit in Plymouth in good time. There was a huge improvement in the Plymouth stop -- this year it was on the town green. There was a lot of room to comfortably sit down. We enjoyed more of the home made baked goodies that the crew stocked. I also finished doffing the colder weather gear I had started in. I rolled it all up as neatly as possible and stowed it in my jersey pockets. The day was turning out to be really nice -- despite the stiff headwind we had been fighting and would continue to work against for quite a while.

The section after Plymouth marks one the beginning of one of the more challenging sections of the ride. It's about 15 - 20 miles of rolling terrain leading to the Cape Cod canal. Somehow on this section I got a pretty significant gap on Pete.

Finally after grinding out this section I saw the big wind turbines and the bridge marking the start of the Cape. It was also the next pit stop -- the lunch pit! I sat down with my friend Andi -- Pete rolled in just a few minutes after me. We chatted with one of the riders who was going to start at the bridge (you don't have to do the 125 mile route, you can do half by starting at the bridge). Given the amount of cycling he described as his norm, he was inexplicably nervous about doing about 68 miles.

After finishing our sandwiches we got up (Andi joined Pete and me), walked over the bridge, and started the second half of the ride.

Andi, Pete, and Me on the bridge

When we got to the Christmas Tree Shop parking lot, it was time to remount. I always feel sluggish after a long stop. It takes me about 15 or 20 minutes to warm back up and feel comfortable on the bike again. Fortunately the terrain in Sandwich isn't too bad. The road is a bit narrow until it becomes a state road again, though. The drivers were fairly polite and cautious around us thankfully.

We then hit the access road which is yet more rolling terrain, very similar to the rolling terrain prior to the canal. I guess it just makes sense -- the canal was built at the lowest point. It must have been a valley. From there you've just got to climb up for a while. Eventually you hit the highest elevation in the ride. It's a fair amount of climbing.

Which then leads to my least favorite section of the ride. It's something like a seven mile stretch of route 6A. It's very narrow and twisty. If there were no cars and trucks it would be fun. Unfortunately, there are cars and trucks. Andi, Pete, and I stuck together on this section. After one close pass by a trucking towing a fairly large boat I joked that I really didn't want the headline "Cyclist injured in boating accident" to apply to me.

We took a quick stop at the pit stop that breaks this section in half. I always find that at this point in the ride some people become awfully concerned about how much mileage is left. I'm sorry, it just grates on my nerves. Do the ride. Ride the bike. Don't concentrate on how much is left. Don't whine about what's achy. Keep on top on of eating & drinking and ride that bike. I recall I said an aside like that to Pete and he just laughed. Not everyone is like me. Alternatively, this could be ME getting tetchy and whiny at this point in the course!

Anyway, Andi, Pete, and I set off to finish this ugly section of 6A. I think I gapped them a bit here and I got to the next pit at Yarmouth ahead of them. It is always such a relief to get to the Yarmouth stop. It marks the end of the long stretch on 6A.

In any case after the Yarmouth stop I jumped in with a fast group and hung on as long as I could. There's a couple of little climbs on this section that made it tough to hang on and then a gentle climb to the pit in Brewster -- which is also where we pick up the Cape Cod Rail Trail.

It was really nice to sit down in a folding chair, eat, and drink. Pete and Andi showed up shortly and joined me. It was 80 some odd miles into the day with another 40 to go. I felt good and I knew that we would be out of the headwind we'd been facing the whole day -- both due to the trees that surround the path and the fact that soon enough we'd be taking the turn at the elbow of The Cape.

I always count on making good time on the bike path. It's fairly flat and protected from the wind no matter which way it's blowing. When we remounted and hit the path I immediately put the hammer down -- and I heard Pete say something to the effect of "uh oh, there goes Adam". It got better.

After warming back up I was passed by a group of three women just hauling the mail. I jumped on the back of their line and hung on for dear life. They were going FAST. One of them was doing most of the pulling up front. I took a peek and she wasn't even using clipless pedals! She had platform pedals and was pulling us along better than 20 mph. When some guy would try to pass (and it was always a guy), she'd up the pace until he was spit off the back. Like I said, I was barely hanging on. It was incredibly impressive. Honestly, with the power and aggression I saw she really ought to be a racer. I was looking forward to talking to them a bit at the upcoming pit stop, but we just blew through it.

After we finished up with the bike path we hit the rolling hills of Route 6 and I was off the back of the group like I was going backwards. The whole section of riding with them had been tough and I hadn't had much chance to eat or drink. Plus I typically don't do a lot of riding like that, so keeping up really burned a lot of matches.

Route 6!

There were a couple of medium fast cyclists and I tried jumping on with them to catch up with the group if they hit a red light, but it was to no avail. I drank whatever water and sports drink I had on the bike and ate a little something trying to recover from the big effort. Fortunately, I wasn't too far from the last pit stop where I could get some more fluids.

Above, Joe Richard and me at the last pit stop in Truro. I'm no longer cross-eyed from riding well above my normal pace with that fast group.

After recovering, refueling, and chatting with the people staffing the pit it was time to bang out the last few miles of the ride. It is always such a thrill to crest that hill above Beach Point in Truro and see the bay curving towards the picturesque skyline of Provincetown. It's just a magical sight.

Pulling in to the finish line

It was 4:30 so I had a little time to grab some food, go to my hotel, and clean up before the final bike parade ride in to the center of town for closing ceremonies.