May Day Metric Report (5/2/10)

May Day Metric Century, Cycling Concepts, Glastonbury – May 2, 2010

An even dozen Thread City Cyclers headed out to Glastonbury this morning to ride the 2nd annual May Day Metric Century, hosted by the Cycling Concepts Bike Shops in Glastonbury and Rocky Hill. The inaugural event in 2009 drew 88 riders. With temperatures projected to rise into the upper 80s, 175 showed up this year, with all but 20 of those electing to ride the longer 62-mile route.

We split into two groups, with the “B” group consisting of Beth (still my current wife), Fran, Ron, and Ray Torres. Ray started riding last year and was a frequent 2009 participant of the Scott’s 8:00 AM beginner rides. Today’s ride left little doubt - Ray has graduated!

The “A” group included yours truly, Skip, Joe D., Agatha, Steve Yau, Amy K., Eric Anderson, and Dave Jacobowski. As usual, we picked up few hitch-hikers along the way who were happy to ride our wheels on the flats and downhills and less happy when we pushed the pace on the uphills, leaving them shattered in our wake.

The route headed south out of Glastonbury on the smooth fast pavement of Main Street, but quickly turned west and rose up the fearsome Birch Mountain, crossing Route 94 near the top of the hill before a fast descent down the other side. At the 20 mile mark Dave indicated we had already climbed 2000 feet (that’s a lot). Somewhere on the Birch Mountain descent, a few of our super-charged youngsters (or at least, young at heart) broke from the rest of the group and beat themselves up for the next 12 miles to the first aid station. Eric, Agatha, and I embraced the concept of “discretion is the better part of valor”, and used our discretion to proceed at a more leisurely pace, with Steve Yau and Amy behind us being even more leisurely and making new friends.

Few of the roads were familiar to us with the exception of a 10-mile section in Andover and Columbia that overlaps with our route to Colchester (Lake Street, Hennequin Road). The route was well marked, which was a good thing, because there were lots of turns and the organizers seemed to hit every back road between Glastonbury and Andover.

The aid stations (one at 32 miles and one at 49) were well stocked with salt, sugar, and fruit – the staples of the cycling community. Agatha supplemented this fare with a hefty supply of beef jerky that she ferreted away in her jersey pocket. We have determined that dried meat is her secret to greatness, and several of us enthusiastically accepted when she offered to share her paleo-snack food.

The youngsters who had ridden off the front earlier were much better behaved in the second half of the ride, having all made major withdrawals from the endorphin Savings & Loan in the first half of the ride. We rode together for the balance of the circuit, which included a hill I call “the wall” – a truly nasty one-mile climb that came at about 47 miles and had all of our tongues on the pavement. Another interesting diversion was provided by a short dirt section at 50 miles with a hill steep enough to spin tires.

Everyone finished successfully with no incidents and none of the projected thunderstorms. My hero of the day was Ray – who after riding the Scott’s rides last year rode, chose a 60-miler with nearly 5000 vertical feet of climbing and a humid 80-degree day for his longest ride to date.

The spread at the end of this event is a thing to behold, with burgers and dogs, grilled vegetables, potato salad, chips, and a dessert table with cheese cake, cookies, and gloppy bar things that stick to your fingers. I highly recommend the ride to anyone ready to test that winter fitness with a little good old fashioned hill climbing. If Agatha offers you beef jerky – accept it – you will not be sorry.