Monster hauling bikes and a trip to Maine

Who's up in the middle of the night, envisioning train wrecks involving 3 days of hastily packed gear strapped to a bike, to cover a 50+ mile spiderweb of undefinable streets (50+ turns) across who-knows-where, to get to Salisbury Beach campground by nightfall and rainfall, to set up a tent, rinse, repeat for 2 more days, with just 2 pair of clothes, a mini-toothbrush, and a frame bike pump? Why, this girl, yes, is up, with a racing mind and pulse at 2am. Here goes the 3-day bike trip to Portland, Maine.

No smiling allowed

Sharia-compliant visa photos: check!  Ok, Iran, let me in.

(Thanks, photographer Mom!)

Diplomas, visas, and riding in circles

This week I graduated from Bentley!  The degree name is a mouthful: Masters of Science in Human Factors in Information Design.  Which basically amounts to MS in UX (User Experience).  

Me, in front of Bentley library on the last day of school!

Visas

1 visa done (China), 2 to go!  I boomeranged my passport out with paperwork for a Tajikistan visa.  

By the way, who knew that if you show up to Fedex with your papers, that you won't be able to send a package until you go back home, set up an account online, and print shipping labels?  Fortunately, USPS was next door, and they did send my package to the Embassy of Tajikistan with little ado.

Fun Tajikistan paper work

Rides

Another solid weekend of training.  32 miles of hills, 40 miles around Cape Ann.

One of the biggest differences between riding in Massachusetts vs riding in Arizona is that MA rides are all loops with 50,000 turns.  Typically, I have no idea where I am, which direction I am facing, or how much farther I have to go.  (I guess I should set up my cycle computer to help with that...)  During the Hills, hill, hills ride on Sat, a driver asked another cyclist and I which town we were in –– at that point I couldn't have told her what state we were in (either MA or New Hampshire!).  It is only by following markings on the pavement which denote the turns that we are able to follow the route.  

Typical cue sheet for a MA ride.  55 turns on a 40 mile ride.  Note the specified Route mark, which is painted on the pavement before and after every turn.

Arizona, on the hand, might have a cue sheet for a 50 mile ride with 1 line on it:

• Mi 25....  turn around.  

On an Arizona ride, you can often see the mountain in the distance that you will pass 6 miles later, giving you a very visible indicator of progress.

Hills, hills, hills ride evidence:

Robin and Laurie who I did most of the 32 miles with

Sunday took me back to Cape Ann with the North Shore cyclists -- and it was a beautiful day, riding mostly along the water.

Beware riders mowing down children!!

Stay tuned for more fun cycling / prep adventures...!

Of coastal rides and bonking

Weekend success!  I completed my first 1-2 punch training plan for the weekend.  The next <2 months will be much like this: commute to work 3-4x / wk (10 miles round trip), with two progressively longer training rides on the weekend.  (And crossfit in the mornings, ~4x/wk)

This was my first ride joining roadies, and I wasn't sure how my new bike would hold up to the road riders' carbon fiber bikes and skinny tires.  The verdict: pretty good.

I joined the Charles River Wheelmen for their recurring South Shore Coastal Loop ride around Scituate, MA.  What a cool ride! Awesome views of the ocean, massive New England coastal homes, and at least half of the ride smelled like mulch, fruity ocean, pine forest, or swamp.  Super.  Strong winds off the water.  I got dropped by the fast group around mile 18 when I stopped to take this picture:



After I was dropped, I stopped to take more pictures, until the slower group showed up.

Fly fisherman:



This is probably near Musquatchcut Pond:

By the time I met up with the slower group, I was realizing I hadn't had enough for breakfast.  As we took off and started climbing some hills, I started feeling some pretty sugar-craving-induced despair.  ("4000 miles of this!?")  Surefire early signs of bonk-age.   The things you forget... Bring food on a ride!

More views from the ride.  Bottom right - return to Boston.

39 miles done!  (See the map for the first 27 miles of it here.)

First training ride: Minute Man Trail and some dirt road riding

Welcome to May!  Spring is finally showing up here in Boston, and I finally took my Salsa Vaya out for a nice ride.  The goal of this ride was to putz along for the fun of it.  I left the cycle computer at home and meandered down the Minute Man Bikeway – the very same trail that Paul Revere rode his bicycle on at midnight to warn the people of Lexington that the Red Coats were coming.  This is one of the few semi-straight routes in Boston, so it definitely is the quickest way to get to Lexington.


Top: one of the train cars that belonged to the rail trail (in Bedford); bottom left: downtown Lexington; bottom right: many inline skaters, bikers, runners out and about today.

From the end of the Minute Man, I continued along the Reformatory Branch Rail Trail.  This is a dirt path – and a true experiment for me.  As a skinny-tire road rider, I usually have steered clear of anything remotely off-road.  But since I now have fat-tires on my Vaya, and since I'll be dealing with at least a couple weeks of dirt road riding in Tajikistan, I reckon I ought to get accustomed to riding in less than ideal scenarios.

Truly, at the beginning of the 4-mile path, I was quite nervous and cautious.  Rocks, mud - what to do!  By the end, I was feeling pretty steady and actually quite enjoying myself.  Although I could still use some tips on how to ride through mud...

Saw this critter along the way:

Enjoying the trail.

A fortuitous cafe at the end of the trail, called the Trail's End Cafe.  A quesadilla and some coffee before my return trip.

Some 32 miles, and a very pleasant day.  Fun ride: check!