Sure, Cycling 127 Miles is Tough, But Have You Tried It On No Sleep?

So, almost every year my family and I take an end of the summer long vacation in Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod.  I kick this off with an unsupported ride from my home to Ptown.  I was pretty excited for this year's ride.  I had resolved to take my time; stop for coffee when I felt like it, take photos of things, that sort of thing.  Given that I had done the route on Outriders earlier in the summer and that I had ramped up my mileage nicely, I felt good and ready for the ride.

A couple years ago I saw a GCN video about the aerodynamics of a trunk bag in place of panniers.  I dug around trying to find my old trunk and couldn't find it.  Maybe I gave it to a friend at some point?  As a result, I continued to do these long rides with the aero profile of a billboard.  The huge capacity of my panniers also lend themselves to overpacking.  A couple bottles of gatorade? Why not?  My kindle and street clothing? Heck, if I have a mechanical and have to wait for a ride, I'll want that!  And so on.  Well, this year I caved and got a small trunk bag. I took one extra water bottle, some food, and some warm cycling kit in case the forecast was wrong and it rained or something.

I wrote up my packing checklist, got everything set and went to bed early for my 5 AM wake up.  Perfectly planned and executed, thank you.

And then I woke up at 11 PM.

And could not get back to sleep.

....

Maybe I dozed a bit here and there, but no. Just a lot of tossing & turning.  And not like the song.  Heck of a night for insomnia.  I got out of bed around 4:40 feeling like garbage.  The only good thing was I'd get out on the road early.  Heck, the thought had crossed my mind around 3 AM to just get on my bike and start riding then.

I was rolling by 5:30.  It wasn't just pre-dawn, it was dark out.  I had to turn my headlight on high intensity.  Oddly, I passed a group of serious road cyclists stopped on the bike path by the Riverway working on a flat tire.  Yes, I made sure they were all set as I passed.  I have to say with a lighter load in the trunk bag the Secteur felt great.  I've ridden it plenty of times without panniers and it just felt different this time. I, however, felt TERRIBLE.  

The sun came up as I was rolling through Dorchester.  Traffic was light, but it was a bit surprising to see how many people were out at such an early hour.  I took a straight shot down 203 to hook up with route to Ptown.  There's no shoulder, so getting through this section safely was something of a concern for me.  When traffic is heavy it's a stretch that a cyclist is wise to avoid.

I'm so tired; I haven't slept a wink

I got through it and hit the bridge over the Neponset into Quincy.  Just beautiful.  It was easy cycling with very light traffic.  The weather was comfortable, overcast, low 70's, but very humid.

As I rolled along I sipped coffee, water, and grabbed a few nuts & dates from the snack box on my top tube.  I was TIRED.  I got to the pond by Wamsutta park in Halifax.  I sat down and polished off the rest of my heavily sugared black coffee as well as a Clif bar.  I swapped out my empty coffee bottle with the full water bottle from the trunk bag.

It had been a long long time since I'd done anything this physically demanding on so little sleep.  As long as I judged I was riding safely -- not wobbly, not failing to notice cars/obstacles -- I'd continue riding.  

Anyway, this area of the ride is really scenic. There are farms, horse paddocks, I think I saw a donkey in a pasture, in short, it's lovely.  This continues until you go through Plymouth where the suburban sprawl on the outskirts is sadly typical (box stores, franchise restaurants, multilane roads that look like highways).  Fortunately, you pass through that quickly.  Around here I leapfrogged with another cyclist who gave me a friendly hello, but didn't stick around to talk any time we passed each other.  The mild weather meant I didn't have to stop to refill my bottles and I pressed on toward the Cape Cod Canal.

After the fun rollers leading to the canal I arrived at the Dunkin Donuts.  I got a coffee, an egg & cheese sandwich, and refilled my water bottles.

Yeah, I wanted an iced coffee, but I correcting my order just seemed like too much of a hassle.  Taking off my shoes & sitting on the ground seemed like luxury!  FWIW, I'm still not doing any kind of indoor dining due to Covid rates in eastern Massachusetts.  Yeah, I'm fully vaccinated & boosted, but I don't want to lose a week or two of cycling to a bad cold (or risk long Covid).  While I was sitting there I saw four or five cyclists going by heading to the bridge. You have to wonder on a nice summer weekend how many people are doing some or all of the Boston -> Provincetown route.

After this nice break, sufficiently caffeinated, I crossed the bridge and was on the Cape proper.

I'm smiling, but really I hate crossing the bridge with its too narrow sidewalk.

Six different cycling arrows on the ground after crossing the bridge. I was following the green one.

Sandwich on the Cape was its normal picturesque self with just a bit too much car traffic.  Fortunately, I hit the access road soon enough.  I elected to follow the Outriders route with its squiggle down to Hyannis instead of the terror inducing shorter route on route 6A in Barnstable.  Hyannis traffic is busy and unpleasant, but I think it's the better of the two options.  Perhaps some day the access road will cut directly to the trail head of the rail trail in Yarmouth.  

And speaking of, I hit the rail trail!  Yay, smooth sailing off the road.

There's no sign to indicate it, but this trail in Falmouth cuts by a golf course and leads to the actual Cape Cod Rail Trail.  There weren't too many people out on the rail trail, so I was able to make good time (while being careful & polite while passing other trail users safely).

At some point a cyclist who I'd passed caught up with me.  He was a young guy who had just started bicycling earlier in the year (Jai was his name, I think).  Jai was riding about 60 miles -- from somewhere west of the bridge to Eastham where he was meeting his wife.  He was very strong and fast.  I kept up with him for a few miles, but I had to let him go ahead.  I was also out of water.  Fortunately, it was only a couple miles to the bottle filling station across from the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans.  I crossed the hundred mile mark for the day around here too. [Edit, somehow in 2023 Jian ran across me on social media. He rode 63 miles from Kingston to Eastham]

I pulled over at the picnic tables by the water fountain/bottle filling station (I know they are pricy to provision, but I really wish water fountains were a standard feature on rail trails & town centers).  Before I even dismounted a guy started talking to me "I really like your jersey."  Well, after I gulped down my first bottle of water (maybe I hadn't been drinking enough on this not to warm, but still very humid day) I started talking to him.  I probably even started making sense after I wolfed down one of the peanut butter & jelly sandwiches I'd been carrying in my trunk bag.  As it turned out this guy and his wife were from Sacramento, California and were planning a bike tour for a group of 30 in the Cape & Islands.  Nice people.  They had a bike wrecked in shipping, unfortunately.  I wish I had exchanged contact info with them.

With two full bottles and some calories on board it was time to continue to the end of the bike path in Wellfleet -- and a pit stop at PB Boulangerie!  During the first winter of the pandemic I had rented a place in Brewster right on the rail trail.  The ride out to Wellfleet had been my daily spin.  If I woke up early I could even extend it out to Truro.  When I was planning out my route for the ride I had intended on taking Ocean View Road all the way out to Newcombe Hollow Road and then heading east on Route 6.  This is some of the loveliest roads for cycling.  Unfortunately, given my lack of sleep I had to change my route.  I opted for Route 6 all the way until I got to Highland Road in Truro.  Far less scenic, but shorter and with just a bit less climbing.

But first, espresso, Gatorade, and a chocolate almond croissant at PB!  The line was kind of long, but it was worth the wait.  I also had a fun conversation with the nice people behind the counter and the other customers when they asked me how far I was riding.  For a charity? No, 125 miles just for fun? Really?  

Double espresso, aka go juice

Sufficiently caffeinated it was time to nail the rest of this ride.  My family had already arrived in Provincetown and was waiting for me.  I was TIRED.  I couldn't remember how many miles were left and I couldn't do the math to figure it out.  Still, I rode along spinning away the miles.  Finally, I crested the last hill in Truro and saw Beach Point with Provincetown just beyond it.  I zipped up my jersey and whooped it up punching the air.  The last couple miles just flew by and I was done for the day.  A shower and pizza awaited.  Then, the sleep of the just.