It's the Midnight Marathon Ride! The kick off event of my cycling year. The ride is an ad hoc show and go thing. Thousands of cyclists ride the Boston Marathon route the night before the Boston Marathon. Many, like me, bicycle out from Boston to Hopkinton, the starting point of the marathon, and then ride back. The biggest wave of cyclists start at midnight, but there are people out on the course all night long.
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| Cyclists in Ashland heading west |
As always the weather was a concern. This year, it was cold, almost freezing. It had been raining, but it stopped shortly before I was going to roll out at 8 PM. I wore a fleece helmet liner, a thin gaiter, cycling jersey, winter cycling jacket, a screaming yellow shell, winter cycling gloves, thermal tights, cycling shorts, wool socks, and booties over my shoes. I also put hand warmers inside my shoes. In addition to two water bottles, I had hot tea in my bike bottle shaped TK Travel Kuppe.
My friend Jay had a death in the family and a couple of my other regular riding buddies have Raynaud's syndrome, so the cold weather was keeping them off the road. I arranged to meet up with another friend, Andy, later in the evening along the route (just like last year).
Despite the cold weather there were quite a number of cyclists heading out. I decided to ride out along Beacon Street instead of Comm Ave. I thought it meant I would end up riding solo, but I met up with three guys from Framingham. I guess they were doing a different kind of out and back? Maybe they drove in and left their car near the finish line? I can't believe I didn't ask them. Anyway, they were riding a bit slower than my pace, but I slowed down a bit and showed them my route through quiet side streets that cuts out most of the 128 interchange. When we got back onto the regular marathon route, I said goodbye and went back to my regular pace.
It was clear out -- there was a slight waxing crescent moon low in the west with Venus shining below it. Just amazing.
I had a mellow ride out to Hopkinton. I stopped a couple times to IM family & friends. It was pretty cold, so I did not like unzipping my jacket to get to my phone & reading glasses. This meant I took far fewer photos this year. I made a point to check in on cyclists who were stopped by the side of the road and had to stop for one who had taken a spill on the railroad tracks in Framingham. She was able to raise both arms without any discomfort, so hey, her collar bones were OK!
It was great to get to Hopkinton to see my friends Tyler and Marsha. They were in the gazebo providing water (cold AND hot) as well as Clif bars to the cyclists and rollerbladers there.
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| Tyler and Marsha (making tea!) |
It is just amazing that they come out like this every year. And it was COLD. While I was hanging out with them I started to get pretty chilled. We were also talking to two young women who looked super cold -- they got some hot beverages. At the time I was worried about them, but later in the ride I met them again while we were going up Heartbreak Hill and they were fine (and riding faster than me).
After saying goodbye to Tyler and Marsha (and thanking them again profusely for their support), I started on the way back to Boston. It was a bit after 11 PM. Holy moly I froze on the descent from Hopkinton. How damp was my cycling kit from sweat? I found out. It evaporated and wow, you could feel the heat escaping. Nice in on a summer day. Tough on a chilly night. My refilled insulated bike bottle with hot tea in it from Tyler & Marsha was a real treat. My high speed for the night was 32 mph and it was likely on this bit that I hit it. For the descent I turned both my headlights on high. My primary light is a stupid bright MagicShine that I was running on low for most of the night. I had an optional high capacity battery which ended the night just below 50%. I also had a secondary PlanetBike light which isn't bad on its own. I kept it off for most of the ride, leaving it in reserve in case there was an issue with my primary light.
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| DISCO BIKE HELMET! |
I was so happy when I finally got off the hill and had to start really pedaling. On the flip side, Hopkinton and Ashland just fly by. By the time I got to Framingham I could feel myself warming up nicely. For a while I played leapfrog with three or four other cyclists who were in a group. It was their first time doing the ride. They were kind of impressed with my bluetooth speaker. I try to keep the volume down, not wanting to be that guy, but it's nice to have a bit of music on these long rides. I told them it was my bluetooth enabled entertainment/navigation system. Later on while we were riding together Andy called me and I had the muscle memory to hit the right button to pick up! OK, it's the same button that you have to hit to start/pause music. I rarely take calls in the saddle.
Though the night I noted a disturbing percentage of riders who had no lights -- and some didn't even have reflectors. It was tough to see them at times, and I saw a couple instances where drivers were giving well-light cyclists a wide berth and coming too close to the unlight cyclists who were very tough to see. In general traffic was light all night and amazingly polite.
There were people out on their lawns in a number of places cheering on the riders. Many of them had small fires going. In Ashland there was the traditional ENORMOUS bonfire.
I met up with Andy in Wellesley. It was great to ride with a friend! We just chatted the rest of the way to Boston. Extremely fast roadies passed us impressively. Other people were having a tough time on Heartbreak Hill. We just spun our way & talked. Later on we stopped and I gave him an extra pair of handwarmers I had. Somehow the group I had been leapfrogging with rejoined us in Brookline. How they got behind us I'll never know.
It was amazing to see some of the lights and decorated helmets that some of the riders had. We also saw a number of people on the heavy Boston bike share "blue bikes". Ouch.
It's always tough to ride past my neighborhood. My warm bed is right over there! Why am I cycling past it on a cold night?
We had a nice uneventful ride through Kenmore and then -- a turn or two -- we were coming up on the finish line!
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| You can see the finish line from here! |
The police wouldn't let us get very close. The ride is not an official event and you get the feeling it's just barely tolerated. Well, that's an element of the fun for me. Even if it meant the cops started firmly asking us to move along. Oh well.
After a celebratory snack of dates and almonds from my bag we mounted back up and rode back to Brookline. That cold wind was sure blowing from the west.
After I got home, I showered, snacked, and when I went to bed I started shivering! It had been a long cold night. But a lot of fun.
My Midnight Marathon Ride tips page w/ links to write ups of previous years
Thanks for reading. Keep the rubber side down.
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