August 2002 Rides

31 August: Short afternoon ride up to New Canaan.

22-25 August: Quad centuries. Ride paralleled BMB route. First day up to Brattleboro. Rode mostly with Chris Grealish, who wound up with fastest time. Second day up to Middlebury. Saw lead riders again in the afternoon coming back from Montreal. Third day back to Brattleboro. Tough two hours in cold rain. Fourth day back to Boston. Nice way to get to know BMB route without all the pain. Rode with Dad and Dale from VT. Ken also started out a few days with us.

18 August: Gimbel's ride. We went Extra long today. Tempo pace. Hung with them on the sprint on Purchase St. Got fifth.

17 August: First ever race in Brooklyn for me. Category IV. There were about 50 or so riders. There is a slight hill on the course. A four man break was off the front for a while, but it boiled down to the sprint. I got fifth place! and twenty bucks! Not bad. I had though the four guys were still off the front and we were sprinting for fifth, I need to pay attention.

13 August: Bethel race. Very hot out. Kind of killed the pace. Breakaways would only last a lap at the most. It was brutally hot. I worked a lot in the front. Pack finish in the middle.

11 August: Westfield 3/4 crit. Very technical tight turns. Scraped pedal on one. Two guys were off the front with four laps to go. I took off with one other guy. We held everyone off until the end. Ended up with 17th. Maybe next time I'll wait a little bit longer? Who knows. Tough with those turns and sprinting is still not my forte.

10 August: Westfield Road Race. Tough, hot, hilly 100K. Three major climbs. Got popped out the back on the second climb. Worked like hell to catch the pack at the base of the third climb, also known as "The Wall". Ended up 3:40 behind the winner. Brutal but beautiful course.

7 August: Ride out of Greenwhich High School. This is one of the toughest ones around. We went extra long today, up into South Salem in what seemed like endless hills. Stayed with the pack the whole time, some Kissena guys were powering up the longer stretches of climbing.

6 August: Bethel race. We had a plan to attack of the line, but it kind of fell apart. The wind in the back section was brutal and it was difficult to work together. Got off a few first good fast laps and we dropped quite a few people. Made a solo attempt at a break for three laps, got caught. Wound up being a sprint. Got boxed in good but still got top ten. The biggest guy won, probably because he was blocking the wind so good nobody had the guts to try and go around him.

3 August: Gimbel's ride. About 20 of us went long. We went a different more twisty, steeper instead of up through Chappaqua. It was interesting and dangerous. Did well on the Purchase St. sprint - up there with the top four. Hot ride back, picked up some much needed lemonade at a stand on Chestnut Hill Rd. in Stamford. Did I say it was hot?

2 August: Ride up to Bethel. Moderate pace, warm down with Gary and Andy through Westport and Norwalk beaches. Hot out.

Total mileage for month: 959 miles

Archives