Harpoon Brewery

Some pics from last Sunday when Kolene and I ate lunch at the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT. We also crossed the "longest" covered bridge, the Cornish bridge.

Kolene is in Denver now. I'm jealous. Soon I'll be rippin' those oh-so-sweet trails, though.

Ride Report: Pomfret Loop

Fellow Cyclists-

Today we asked, and Pomfret delivered. The perfect summer ride.

Jed bailed in the early afternoon due to the arrival of an old friend. Ride plans wavered as I walked home in the thick humidity of the late afternoon. Plans were revitalized with the last minute RSVP of Elle Anderson. I arrived with far too much fender and far too little water bottle cage on my cyclocross bicycle. Anticipating the "large hail" forecasted by NOAA, I figured that the rain bicycle was the solid choice.

The ever-so-Euro Michael Rea joined us for much of the climb up Jericho, but said goodbye before we touched the first dirt. The backside of Jericho provided previews of the views and sketchy descents to come in Pomfret. Pomfret road provided its usual soothing tempo climb with its sweet, sweet reward at the top. As we hit dirt again and then turned onto Cloudland Rd, it became clear that the weather was going to hold. The thunderheads served only to bounce perfect, golden light against the blue sky. We recklessly stirred dirt as we descended to River Rd, where others were enjoying the summer light with a different weapon: the rope swing. We cruised into Quechee, and it was clear: we had to stop at Shepherd's Pie. Baklava and Raspberry-Chocolate muffins were consumed. Conversation was enjoyed. No summer ride would be complete without a jump in the river. And so it was. Glorious. Simply glorious.

Again, if there was a winner today, it was not me. Elle can ride with the boys, and today she beat the boy. As before, I could make excuses all day, but I'll refrain. And certainly nothing beats coming home to fresh carbon bicycle parts on your doorstep. A celebration with Gloria Estefan was in order.

~Ben

28 Miles of Hell

Rode the "28 miles of Hell" with Paul Salipante yesterday. It is the most climbing that you can do within a 30 mile loop of Hanover. Start up Trescott hill. Then right onto King Hill (17.5% grade). We made a brief stop at Drummond Custom Cycles, then onto Eastman, which exceeds 19%. Then right onto Methodist (also very steep). Needless to say, the lactic acid was flowing. Some of the pitches are so steep that one struggles to pedal when standing. This is coming from a single speed mtn rider too.

See the ride report email copied below:

Fellow cyclists-

Paul and I rolled out and found ourselves quickly confronted with Trescott hill. An agreement was made to take it easy, but it wasn't long before we were at King. As quickly as Paul could mention, "and it hits you hard right away," we were in the thick of it. If there was a winner today, it was Paul. He was very strong on the +17% grades and measured his pace perfectly. I was sprinting at every flat like it was the top, only to be decimated once again. I could make excuses all day, but let's face it: Paul is a mean machine with a heart of gold and hairy legs.

It was a fabulous ride.

~Ben

And a few more Prouty pics for good measure. I'll also throw in a few old pics of the copper mine superfund site above Norwich. It makes me so nostalgic for home to see the tires coated in red dirt. Its sort of funny that I need to go to the most polluted site in the area to feel at home. I also managed to earn a personal tour of the site by illegally blowing through a road closed barrier in front of the site manager a couple of weeks ago. Now that's some smooth talking.

I'm so antsy to ride the mtn bike. Its been far too long. And its certainly been far too long since I rode it without scary noises. The new fork is on its way from the UK...hopefully here by the end of the week. I may be an idiot, but it has a carbon steerer this time. Hey...the aluminum one broke before the carbon legs! I'm also excited because it will restore the original geometry of the Raliegh by dropping the front end 2cm. The difference didn't bother me at first, but it has become more apparent in our tight, fast New England singletrack. Wheel flop is not welcome here.

The Prouty

My Dear Family and Friends...This will be a special post for you. So many of you have become personally and financially involved with my Prouty cancer fundraiser ride. Well, this was the weekend.

As JJ, Chris, and I worked on Friday, Alice began her Prouty ride and completed 100 miles before the three of us ever touched the saddle. You see...she did the Prouty ultimate, a two day, 200 mile ride! JJ and Chris arrived on Friday evening. After introductions, the three of us headed over to register and grab our numbers. We returned to Sachem where Kolene had prepared us a personal feast. It was an epic pasta dinner that left the guys asking for nothing. Amazing. Thank you Kolene. The three of us headed back to my place to get the bikes tuned up for the big day. Test rides around Sachem were taken. All was well. Sleep was the priority.

Prouty 100 riders usually roll out very early. Alice wanted to go before 6:30, and given the sketchy weather forecast, I agreed. I had tons of trouble sleeping due to the intensity of rushing to get everything ready the night before. I also had some major pain in my calf from an incredibly hard group ride on Thursday. So, I was worried about that. I ended up being awake before our 5am wake up. Chamois creme was applied liberally, and we rolled out to Alice's house. Her mom was cooking up a storm, so we sat down and gorged ourselves on pancakes. Many others go to the Nelson's for breakfast before the Prouty too. After a final fuel up and bathroom trips, we rolled out at 6:15.

The ride itself was awesome. The weather ended up being perfect. The views were incredible. My calf settled down after the first thirty miles. It was great paceline practice for JJ and Chris. We, of course, made sure to coddle Alice as much as possible. Even though she's clearly a beast, she would get a personal escort back to the peleton if she fell off the back. Generally, we stopped every other SAG (food) stop to fuel up and rest. There was one fifteen mile stretch that we had a massive tailwind and sat in behind Alice's family friends on a tandem. It was like being pulled by a freight train. We averaged over 28 mph for that section, and I know that I did no work. Chris pinch flatted on a booby-trap pothole that was disguised by a local car wash. It was quickly changed, and we were off again. Overall, the group was strong, even into the later miles. Though a stupid school bus pulled out just as we were finishing and the finish line was on grass, I still managed to do a bit of "the robot" as we crossed the line and get a few laughs. Chris, JJ, and I totaled 106 miles at an average of 18 mph. That is quite rapide. Kolene, Nancy, and Darcy met us at the finish, as did more food that we could imagine. After gorging ourselves and saying goodbye to Alice, the three boys headed home to shower and do some serious laying/sitting around.

Personally, I felt very, very strong. I felt like I could have ridden quite a bit more when we were done, and I did almost all of the pulling. I just can't imagine saying that a year ago. I feel as though I'm finally feeling real metabolic benefits of my unilateral orchiectomy, whether placebo or not. And as with most things, the people were what made the Prouty special. The actual 100 seemed kind of peripheral to meeting JJ, Chris, and Alice. It was so great to reconnect with the current state of the team and offer advice/help. It was also a wonderful reminder of how awesome Williams kids are. I can't wait to go down to Williamstown to ride with the guys.

More pics to come.

In other news, I've joined Ed in the ranks of riders who have broken their rigid mountain bike fork. I was finally able to isolate the clicking noise on my mountain bike to my fork. And though it hurts me to think about buying a new one, it is cheaper than a new set of teeth. So, it goes...

Holiday weekend report

Well, the 29er came back from powdercoat, though it is not perfect. The creme and brown had some sort of a chemical rxn, producing orange at the margins. Scott was great about it. Only charged me a nominal fee, and said he'd redo it come winter. Unfortunately, clear coat got in the headtube. And unfortunately, I had to deal with Omer and Bob's. Though they said they had a reamer/facer, turns out that they only had a facer (after I left it there for two days), and they did a crappy job facing it. Hopefully, the headtube is ok and the headset cups aren't moving in it because the bike has a horrible click in the front end under hard braking. Sound familiar? Yes, this battle might be as epic as the Serotta...its already well on its way there. The sound sure sounds like it is coming from the fork crown race...so we'll see. Hopefully the carbon fork isn't about to snap and introduce my face to the ground.



So, Friday was spent building up the freshened machine, making Lasagna, and doing a big Pomfret loop. Pomfret is just beautiful. It is, quite possibly, the most beautiful road ride here, especially when you add in Cloudland road.





Saturday the 4th was quite uneventful, except for incredible thunderstorms. Crappy weather delayed my planned trip up to the Kingdom Trails of NE Vermont. Most of the day was spent futzing with the clicking 29er, tracking the tour, making basil chicken chili, and baking banana bread. I also walked Mia, Dr. Pepin's labradoodle that Will asked me to watch for the weekend. It was a quiet, sort of lonely 4th, but hey...what can you do?



I made it to bed early on the 4th and awoke to clear blue skies in Hanover. It felt good to release the expander straps on my camelbak and pack it with seemingly strange foods for cycling, like Lasagna and corn muffins. It took me back to clear, warm days at home last year. I'd pack my black bag, fill my waterbottles with ice, load the bike on the car, and head for the mountains. And though it wasn't quite the same, this felt pretty good. I stopped by to let Mia out before heading to the Kingdom Trails. For those of you who don't know, the Kingdom Trail system is a dedicated mtn bike trail system in NE Vermont. You have to pay to use the trails, but its supposedly worth it. They receive rave reviews in mtn bike magazines, so I figured that it was about time for a visit. And what better place to test out my beautiful, refreshed, loud clicking bicycle than the ultimate New England trail system?



So, were the trails amazing? Yes. Were they as good as the west? Definitely not. Even a quick trip to Buffalo Creek would put these trails to shame. Though the massive banked turns of sidewinder were fun, they cannot compare to the big, open, smooth sweepers of the west. I met up with several people, some very cool and some very weird. Lots of French Canadians ride at the Kingdom trails, so that was interesting.

Returning home, Mia and I went over to the boathouse to swim and play fetch. I'd throw the stick, and we'd race for it. The river's definitely warming up, and the blue skies are a welcome sight after nearly a month of solid rain. I even managed to get in a shakedown road ride after 4 hard hours of riding at the Kingdom.

Kleia, Treetops, and S'mores

Some delayed pics from last weekend. Saturday was spent with Kleia, Dr. Katz's dog, at her beautiful house, Treetops, in Norwich, VT. Kleia is the only dog in the universe that rivals Sophie's energy level. Needless to say, its a good thing that the Republicans haven't figured out that we have access the most powerful intergalactic weapon by bringing Sophie and Kleia together. A black hole would surely result. Treetops is just gorgeous. We had showers off and on all day, but that didn't stop Kleia and I from running, playing, and swimming.

On Sunday night, Shahid returned briefly from the rural scholars service trip before heading home to Texas. Kolene, Shahid, and I grilled. Turkey burgers, corn, onions, brussel sprouts, s'mores.