At the risk of beating a word to death, this ride was EPIC. I know BikeSnobNYC pokes fun at it’s overuse but it really was epic for me. From the day before (at race packet pickup) until the bus ride home it was a great overall experience. Hard, long (148mi) and a ton of fun.
I had heard a lot about the B2B from friends over the past few years and had thought about doing it for the last two years. It’s hard getting an entry because they open up registration pretty early (6am) and it fills up within a few minutes (700 entrants). This year I was working until about 3:30AM the night before so there was no way I was going to get into it through traditional channels. Luckily, I knew someone who knew someone and we ended up getting a couple of bib #s after the event had already filled up.
I had put in a couple of nice long rides (Quabbin century on an involuntary quasi-fixie) and felt pretty good by the time the date arrived.
Bissanti and I lined up with the final fast group(as they let groups go in order of estimated speed, ours being the 22+ group). Joining us were Vic, Matt M., Kona John and Dan B. It was pretty cool as we were corralled into the starting area. I was lined up behind 2007 US National Cyclocross Champ, Tim Johnson,
his wife, Lyne Bessette
,
2003 US Pro Road Champion, Mark McCormack
and a host of other Team Psycho studs; Dede Griesbauer,
Karen Smyers
, etc…. you get the picture. There was some serious firepower in the pack and it was going to be great to rub shoulders with some of the local elites. I didn’t really belong hanging with this crowd…. but I did enjoy it. I felt that as long as I could hide I’d have an okay time until the big 4-mile climb at the 90-mile mark.
We buzzed through Boston, Cambridge, Arlington to the first stop at mile 25. It was a quick pee stop. It’s clear the pros don’t like to waste time so I kept an eye on things to make sure I didn’t linger too much. It’s good practice not to dawdle at the stops – it keeps the legs fairly fresh and keeps the mind on-task.
Stats for the first segments:
1st hour getting out of town:
length: 17 mi / 1hr 5min
watts: 105w
speed: 15.5 mph uggggg stop and go
2nd hr
length: 22 mi / 1hr
watts: 175w
speed:22 mph
3rd hr:
length: 21 mi /1 hr
watts: 220w
speed: 21 mph
Kona John
was seemingly the first to drop back from the group. Cort C. was on the front doing quite a bit of work. Our own stud, Vic,
Vic
was also taking turns at the front. I was playing the role of Dog on the way to the Vet when I got near the front…. just without the yelping. I quickly scurried to the back as soon as it was time to take a pull on on the front. I would do anything and everything to hid behind some bigger bodies. Drafting Dede Griesbauer wasn’t much relief (skinny much?) as was drafting behind some recent Dartmouth guy who weighed in at about 118lbs. Mark McCormack was a nice big one to tuck behind so I sat in behind him as much as possible.
Hitting a quick rest stop at mile #50, Dan was a little slow coming out of the Port-o-johns. In Seattle, they call them Honey Buckets. Hard to eat honey on toast after living in Seattle. So Dan got left behind and was never-to-be-seen after that point. He did arrive after soloing most of the next 100 miles looking ghostly and completely shell-shocked. He obviously pushed very, very hard to bring it in the final 100.
Bissanti had snuck out early from the
pitstop and when I caught up to him had to start a little trash-talking in his direction… about him sneaking off without me. The next thing I knew all the trash-talking led me to get fired up and I was off the front.
There was a 2-mile climb that I did mostly alone. I was able to bridge up to another Tri-guy who was really hammering. I sucked his wheel for awhile but I was writing checks that my legs couldn’t cash. After the crest of the climb I soft-pedaled to get back into the group…. Lyne Bissette let me jump in front of her wheel (i’m not worthy).
hill @ 50 miles stats:
length: 2.04mi, 7 min
watts: 315
speed:17.25mph
watts/kg: 4.15
It was nice rollers from there until the rest stop around mile #90. The pace was quick. Most of the flats I looked down to see 26-29mph. We buzzed over little roller hills here and there. Some good chance for conversation but the pace was quick enough where things were relatively quiet.
One highlight was coming down a nice long decent. I hit 52mph which is the fastest I’ve registered on this bike. The last time I was up that high was on my steel Derosa back in the 90s coming down the airport road in Worcester. (that was a much scarier 54mph)
So the big test came at mile #90. It’s a 4-mile climb called ‘The Leviathan’. I started out with the pack and tried to hang as close as possible. In the end, I just didn’t have what it took to keep up. I could see Vic and Matt M. looking pretty comfortable but I popped back with Karen Smyers and Bissanti. I even turned to Bissanti to say – “I’m cooked”, figuring he could go on without me. But just going back for 30seconds to recover at 230watts gave me a little time to regroup and get back even with him.
About 17 minutes later, the climb was over and it was time to assess the damage.
Leviathan stats:
length: 4.05mi / 17 min
watts: 290w
speed: 14mph
watts/kg: 3.8
I teamed up with Bissanti and about 4 other guys from MRC. We all worked really well together hitting some nice segments at 24-25mph. Bissanti spotted Karen at a little convenience store and we decided to make a quick stop at mile 108. A little combos pretzels and coke and we were back on the road. There was another, longer stop at mile 120. I downed about 10 pretzel rods and another pepsi. That was pretty much all I needed to bring it home. There were 6 of us all working really well together. Nice long pulls, good rotation. Karen was a stud on the front doing long-ish pulls of 3-4 miles. It really helped as we were cruising at around 24-25.
As it came to my turn at around mile 135, I pulled out my fake cigarette (including fake powder smoke). I made a big puff on it and offered it to Karen. I think the rest of the guys laughed…. we needed something to keep it light as all of our legs were starting to ache. Maybe Karen’s legs weren’t aching because she’s a machine and machines don’t ache.
The final 3 hour clip in our group was pretty awesome coming in at 21.4 mph. This is a real confidence booster knowing that 4 hours into a ride I can stick and and log another speedy 3 hrs @ that speed. My watts were down in the 200 neighborhood since this was a good paceline effort where I could hide nicely for 10 minutes at a time.
The final climb was much less of a challenge than I had heard. Rumors were abound that it was 15% for 1/2 mile or so … so I was holding back a little to save something to get up it. It was over before I knew it and I was pulling into the finish area to be greeted by cheerful volunteers. Pretty much negligible.
A quick shower, 3 beers and some basic BBQ and I felt pretty good. That was the longest ride I’ve ever done. I entered with the goal of being pushed, going fast, and building more fitness and I think I achieved all of those.
Entire ride stats:
Length: 148mi/ 7hr 10min
watts: normalized: 230w,
Avg power bands:
total for ride: 180w
1 min=420w
5min=325w
10min=315w
20 min=290w
60 min=220w
avg speed: 21mph
notes: Best 10 minute wattage ever @ 315 (4.14watts/kg). Best 20 minute wattage at 290 (3.8w/kg).
I recommend the ride to anyone. It’s really well run, the scenery is great and you make your own destiny as far as how hard you want to go.
I’ll be back for years to come. I hope to work on my power to be able to hang with the main group over Leviathan. It’s going to take some work as those guys were seriously quick going up it.
-R
p.s. Mad props to Vic and Matt M for hanging tough with the lead group. What an awesome performance by both of them.
One Response to “2009 Harpoon B2B (Brewery to Brewery) ride”
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definitely no overuse of the word here, Randall. Lots of e-p-i-c-ness doing these days…Greylock, B2B, Quabbin…I’m like: “damn”.