Boston 600K.
This one was pretty beastly. 4 states. A ton of climbing. 5 Controls in 600k, the first 2 within 78-miles.
Started out riding south from Concord down into Connecticut. Roads were rolling and super nice out to the first Control, kinda NW NJish but with less diesel pickups trying to murder you.
After Control 2 the route heading back north into MA and then up into NH. We stopped in Amherst for Ice Cream and Starbucks around breakfast time, perfect.
Just after that stop I hooked up my external battery because my Garmin was about to die. About 2 minutes later I hit a pot hole and the battery pack bounced out of my bag and got wrapped in my front rotor, shredding the wire in the process. At the time, it wasn't a big deal, I just let the Garming die and followed Line and David figuring I can get a new one when we get to Brattleboro, VT. (that's where that first straight line in my Strava file came from) Dick around in VT looking for a wire. Nowhere has a Mini USB. WTF? A group catches up to us and one of the girls, Kirsten has an extra and let's me borrow it. She joined us for a bunch of hours while my Garmin charged up to 100%.
The last 53 miles of the first days was where the big climbs were. Not a huge grade, but 35 miles of steady climbing. It got super exposed towards the top and super humid, I started to get HOT. There are no spots to resupply for about 45 miles so I went into a bit of panic when I ran out of water something like 20 miles into the climb. I dropped off the group looking for water anywhere I could. There were no houses anywhere. Damn. I catch back up to Line and David and they're also out of water. Right at the peak there was a tiny little town with no stores and like 10 houses, but they had a schoolhouse with a water spicket!!
We rode down off the hill into some little College town. There my wire search continued while Line and David headed out to the turn-around Control to get their drop bags and whatnot. I knew my stop there would be super short because I had everything on my bike with no drop bag. But again, no wire. Rode over to the control which is some guy's mansion on a huge hill right on the NY border. He's a Rando guy with space to sleep everyone in this castle place. Was crazy. Being with 2 Summit folk that will not sleep on the floor in a stranger's mansion, we rode back into town to our booked hotel. At this point we passed Matt Roy and the Rapha guy he was riding with and were technically in first for about an hour. We get to sleep around 1am. There's only 200k for the next day so we planned to be up at 7 and on the road by 8, giving us 12 hours before the time cut-off. No problem?
Problem. Literally out of the hotel we have this monster climb. I have no Garmin at this point but have the Strava App running on my phone. Fine for recording, but not for navigation. My legs take some time to come around, especially on climbs so Line and David went ahead and would wait at intersections so I wouldn't get lost. I could see them just up the climb the whole time. We went by a big group of folks that left earlier. At the top of the climb I knew there was like 30 miles of downhill into Deerfield. Get to what I felt was the top and Line and David weren't there. I waited for the guys I just passed because I didn't know which way to go. I made a right at this point and sat in a school parking lot trying to load the route on the RWGPS App. But there was no cell service. I assumed they should have cought me by now and I should've made a left instead. I rip the downhill no convinced I need to catch the group. Quite a few miles went by descending at 50mph. When it finally leveled out I saw signs for Vermont with corn fields and shit and immediately was like, OH FUCK.
Rode into some little town where there was a Staples to again look for a wire, this has to be the place. It wasn't. Apparently, my Garmin 810 and GoPro are obsolete. The girl behind the counter looked at me like I asked for a rotary phone. But, my phone had service!! I loaded the route. Called Line and David, who thought I rode off the road into a ditch or something and told them to just go. I went about 20 miles off course and would have to back track to the point I went off, which meant going back over that climb. Again fuck. At least I'd have another awesome descent. Nothing like adding 40+ miles to the second day of a 600k. I velcro'd my phone to my bars for navigation. I had a micro usb to charge that so game on. I even (gulp) started reading the Cue Sheet.
I caught back up to the group I went by on my first trip over the climb and rode with them for a bit. Traditional Rando folk take like an hour at each stop ordering bagettes and fromage while I grab a Red Bull and Snickers bar and jet. Started to get hot and the miles went by at a fairly steady click, I was definitely feeling the day and had already completed what should have been the day's mileage. I catch up to a Recumbent guy with about 25ish miles to go. We stopped at a little deli. Not really paying attention I haphazrdly leant my bike against the wall and it fell over. Hits the ground and I watch my pedal body bounce across the sidewalk into the street. Really?
I leave it all laying there on the sidewalk and go inside to eat before I throw my bike into traffic. 10 or 15 minutes go by before I head back out to deal with this BS. The body had just come off the spindle. I laid the bike on it's side, found a rock, and beat the pedal body back onto the spindle. It had to last another 2 hours. TOPS. I rode gingerly, but it held together. After all the shit I finished about 2 hours behind Line and David, about an hour and half before the 40 hour limit. Easy the hardest ride I've ever done but worth every single pedal stroke.
