No, It's Not Your Grandpa's Bike Ride

 Richard, Jay, and I have been ramping up the mileage for Outriders.  A one day 128 mile ride from Boston to Provincetown. Just. For Fun.  No fundraising.  The past couple weeks we've intended to go out for about 65 miles.  On both weekends we ended up doing just 54 miles.  This weekend, though we were determined.  The first weekend we cut it short due to bad weather.  The second weekend, we had to change the route due to road construction.  This weekend? Marlboro Man.  No, we weren't going to smoke a pack and call it a day.  The route goes out through Marlborough.  I was sure it was about 65 miles in its shortest variant (I do have a longer 90 mile ride built off it).

Meanwhile, somewhere in Sudbury

This is kinda sort the route, but not quite.  Oops

We met up around 9:30 AM.  It was a little chilly, but sunny.  So I decided to go with a vest, jersey, arm warmers, thermal bib tights, and wool socks.  It worked out pretty well for the day.  I wore a cycling cap under my helmet and had a thin gaiter in my back pocket in case I did get cold.

Getting ready to roll out

We spun out easily from Brookline.  I think there was a bit of a tail wind.  I had taken the day before as a rest day off the bike and got an excellent night's sleep, so my legs felt really fresh.  In Weston we hopped on the MCRT rail trail where we were passed by an absolute lunatic yelling "on your left" at the top of his lungs.  I was embarrassed as a cyclist, an American, and as a human being.  He scared the bejesus out of a pedestrian.  When we passed her I said in as a conversational tone as possible "uh, we are not with that guy.  Sorry about that."  While we were hanging out at the MCRT, Richard revealed he had done a 72 mile ride earlier in the week.  I think he's ready for Outriders already.

Snack stop at the end of the MCRT in Wayland

Riding out through Water Row were were overflown by an incredibly majestic bald eagle.  I've never seen one that close up before.  It was amazing.  I immediately thought how very wrong Benjamin Franklin was to have preferred the wild turkey as our national bird.  Weather wise, it was an odd day.  If the sun was out, it was warm.  If it was behind a cloud, it was cold and you wanted your arm warmers on.  While riding down Water Row we saw a right hand drive range rover with a dog in the passenger seat.  It totally looked like the dog was driving the car.  Don't drive angry, Rover.

126 was a mess -- they're prepping it for repaving.  It was a relief to bang a left on 117 and take it west.  It was also quite scenic.

We stopped at a convenience store/Dunkin Donuts in Sudbury where Richard finally released an inchworm that had hitched onto him in Newton.  We split a gallon of water.  As we continued on through Stow, Maynard, and Bolton, traffic was pretty heavy at times.  Finally, we got to the intersection with route 85.  One of the things I like about "Marlboro Man" is how simple a route it is for such a long distance.  126 to 117 to 85.  Then take the Marathon Route back into town.  For the 90 mile version, just keep going on 85 to Milford.  Then jump on 16 into town.

Always salacious Betty Boop

After passing through Hudson we stopped at a gas station/convenience store for more food.  Jay seemed to be very hungry.  I'm not sure he'd been staying on top of eating consistently due to food fatigue.  You can get sick of eating the same bike food all the time.  It can make it difficult to take on enough calories to keep going.

All along 85 we were generally going up.  Sometimes the ascent was steep, sometimes, less so, but the general trend is up up up.

The old DMV building. As seen in the film Knives Out

After passing through Marlborough, Northborough, and Southborough, we finally got to Hopkington, 50 plus miles into the ride.  At this point I realized it was going to be quite a bit longer than 65 miles for the day.  I forgot that it was an earlier version of Marlboro Man that was 65 -- that one went out via Watertown.  By going out to Wayland and Sudbury, we'd tacked on quite a few miles.  It was also apparent that Jay was having a difficult day.

It's a steep long climb up to Hopkington from Southborough.  Jay was not having fun.  

Jay is not having fun.

Welcome to Hopkinton

The good thing about arriving in Hopkinton is we'd finished with all the tough riding.  While there was still about 20 miles left, it wasn't going to feature much significant climbing.  Also, since it's along the marathon route, it's a bit of a known quantity.  We rested at the gazebo.  Richard & I made sure to eat.  Finally, it was time to fly down the big descent from Hopkinton into Ashland.  At this point I kept seriously gapping Jay and Richard.  After a bit I rode along side Jay and found out he hadn't eaten in Hopkinton!  We pulled over and I gave him my Skratch Labs drink mix.  We weren't too far from Natick and we planned on stopping at a bakery there.

Scones!

At the bakery we got some scones and filled our water bottles.  There was a young girl in the bakery looking at us through the window.  I waved hello and she came out with her father.  He said she was calling us "the grandpa group".  Honestly, my day would have been better if I hadn't heard that.  The grandpa group.  Ooof.

Anyway, we saddled up for the last 12 miles of the ride.  A segment I know extremely well since it's my normal bike commute route.  It kind of flew by and we were done.  78 miles.  oops.  I felt really bad about it, because clearly 65 was the right number.  And a better increment from the 54 mile loops we'd been doing.  Oh well.

Inside of 128.  Finally

Back in Brookline after 78 miles.

We'll probably do another 78 mile loop, likely the same ride.  And then try to squeeze in a 100 mile ride before Outriders.  As always, you learn every year the importance of eating and drinking.  A couple weeks prior I had really bad leg cramps after riding.  This time I had stayed on top of hydration.  I weighed the same after the ride as before.  So, no leg cramps.

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