In January I entered a contest to lose weight and get faster on the bicycle. So I cut back on my calories and the weight came off; I'm down from 178 to 153 (on a good day).
I am also getting faster up the hills on my bike. Since returning from China six weeks ago, I try to get in a long ride every weekend and do the NEBC Hill Ride every Wednesday with my bike club.
Over Memorial Day weekend, I rode down to Cape Cod twice to watch Nick play in a soccer tournament. The first day I took Route 3A the whole way and enjoyed the scenery along the coastline, passing salt marshes, cranberry bogs, many beaver lodges, and a swan sitting on its huge straw nest. I stopped for ice cream after I crossed the bridge and asked directions to the soccer field. I was told the turn was just a couple of miles down the road and I couldn't miss it. But somehow I did miss it and ended up adding 6 miles to my trip, making the total 85 miles.
After resting on Sunday, I rode down again on Monday. This time I reduced the distance to 71 miles by taking shortcuts on Route 53 and Long Pond Rd, and by not missing the "can't miss it" turn.
The following weekend, Nick was in another soccer tournament at UMass Amherst, so I rode my bike 94 miles to watch him play. I took Rte 2A, Rte 62, Rte 117, Watoquaddoc Rd, Rte 62, Rte 32, and Rte 9 to Amherst. In Barre, I stopped for coffee at a shop with teddy bears and gingham in the window. Inside they sold antiques and glass jars. The owner was a middle-aged man who was talking to a customer about some spider plants he was propagating. The other guy working behind the counter was about the same age, but very muscular with lots of tattoos. I found the two of them incongruous with the shop's decor. And it wasn't until I was finished with my coffee and ready to ride again, that I figured out they were a couple.
Last weekend I rode with Jay. We planned to do the Apple Pi loop through the apple orchards west of Boston for about 75 miles. We went hard for the first half of the ride and I was able to keep up with Jay on all the hills; a first for me, so the training is paying off. We were almost home and discussing what a great route it was, when we saw Alexa heading the other way with her bike club, Quadra. She asked me to join her, so I said good-bye to Jay and joined Alexa for another 30 miles, making my total for the day about 95 miles. It was misty while I rode with Jay, but it rained pretty hard while I rode with Alexa. We stopped at Fern's, the general store in Carlisle about a mile from Bubba's house, and warmed up with some excellent beef stew. We almost turned in Bubba's drive to bum a ride home, but didn't wimp out and finished the ride in the cold rain. I got home, took a warm shower and then rushed to Michael's baseball game. I was so tired, I sat down on the wet grass and fell asleep in the rain until the cheering for Michael's team winning at the end of the game woke me up.
I've also been doing the Hill Ride every Wednesday and I'm able to hang with the leaders for longer each week. I used to get dropped in the first third of the climb, now I stick with them until the last third of the hill. We regroup at the top and then ride to the next hill to do it again, 5 or 6 hills in all (depending on how you count them). Last night we were descending the last hill towards Woburn Four Corners when I crashed. I was taking the S-curves at a bit over 30 mph, when I came around a curve and saw an SUV parked in my lane. I couldn't steer around it so I grabbed my brakes, too hard it turns out, because I began to skid toward the curb. If I let off the brakes, I thought I'd hit the SUV, so I sort of panicked and braked harder. My bike slid into the curb and I tumbled through the grass. I was unhurt but a bit embarrassed to take a tumble in front of so many strong riders.
Oh well, it is all paying off. I've improved my time on the hilly time trial course I use for the contest from 11:40 in January to 10:13 in June. The contest ends on August 1, so I have a few more weeks to lose a couple more pounds and get a little faster. I'm looking at routes from Ithaca to Boston because I'd like to ride my bike home from our family reunion in the Finger Lakes Region in July. Another opportunity for long rides in July is provided by Nick playing on the District soccer team, so they will play other District teams from all over Massachusetts.
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