b2b

Here's all that remains of my 7th Harpoon Brewery to Brewery ride: One lonely beer ticket unused, dog-eared  and now expired. How did I let that happen?
As I woke up today watching the rain, I though how lucky we were one week ago  to have
bright blue skies and sunny warm weather for our journey of 900 + riders to VT.  It's a 19 + hour day for me crammed full of adventure starting at 3:30 AM and ending with McDonald's hot and salty fries and a creamy vanilla shake reward stop before reaching home at 10:30 PM.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt pretty trashed for most of last week hinged heavily on the solid lack of
desire to even look at my bike. I worked hard and probably the hardest I have for any of these rides
I have done. It wasn't my intention but the specimens who I rode with kept me honest and many
times, hanging on for dear life.   Specimen A, I rode with last year. One should never assume that
a year's prior performance is a clear testament of what to expect the next year.  Brian came undone
last year at the 126 mile aid station and I left him for dead to finish. Nice of me eh?  This year
we rode together again, and I could barely share the duty of pulling  and continually got blown off
the back on any longish grinding climbs which exceeded my ability to count in total.  One minute I was happy buzzing along with my group, the next counting cows in a field whining because my happy place/draft zone was all but a memory.

It didn't last  long though and before I knew it, I got zapped back into a good place whether it be catching a new group to suck wheel off of or zipping ( ok.. maybe not zipping.. but crawling) into the next aid station and my core group ride posse was there to scoop me back up, Brian and Steve x2,
ready to carry on freshly invigorated with fuel.

Here's the thing about the b2b. The party doesn't get started until the 90 mile mark and if your
not careful and pace yourself,  the hills of VT will bite you in the ass and leave you well... like this:

Numbers don't lie and they are far from impressive but for a long day in the  saddle barring no
major calamity, here's what Mr. Garmin said:
 Distance:147.52 miles 
 Time:8:30:32
 Avg Speed:17.4 mph
 Elevation Gain:7,305 ft
 Whining %: 48.3




In less than 2 weeks I'll be laughing at this elevation gain in the mountains of France. The summer
theme suddenly went from **The Crappy Hill Climber ** to
**She's Not Ashamed Of The Triple Chain**

Thanks for stopping by!