Day One Riding in the Rain

The day finally arrived and I said goodbye to the sleepy family in the cold early morning After making a couple of last-minute adjustments to my gear. After training in loops for years it felt really great to be going in a straight line.

If you didn’t know already, central mass has some really beautiful spots. I got to see some gorgeous vistas in Oakham and Hardwick that I had never seen before. However, Google maps is up to its ticketed ways again. At one point it’s had me on a bike trail, which ended up being OK being that my particular set up is closer to a mountain bike than most. But had I had a traditional skinny tire touring bike the rutted path would been a little difficult. The rain was pretty much constant With a mix of drizzle in the morning and have your showers in the afternoon. I thought it was cool that I finished my first 10 miles in exactly 1 hour, one minute, and one second according to my ride tracking app. Some other factoids are that the ride was 60 miles; I climbed 3400 feet(quite a bit more than google had led me to believe); and I burned 3200 cal in the process. It was mostly country roads until a stretch of route nine near the Quabbin Reservoir with not much older. The final 15 miles were glorious because they were almost completely on a paved bike path. You got a love Western Massachusetts For their serious fake infrastructure!

I arrived at my cousins house in North Hampton around three and promptly hose down my bike to get all the grime and grit off of it. Needless to say that shower felt amazing! I had a wonderful time talking with the family and they even took me out to a tasty Middle Eastern meal downtown. I really appreciate your hospitality, Mark and Ben.

although it doesn’t look to be sunny, tomorrow promises slightly better weather, which is great because I think it will be the most difficult day of the ride with more vertical gain and about as much distance as any day.

By the way, the contributions keep rolling in and we are flirting with the $7000 mark. You guys are awesome!