Yesterday. Did an old standby ride I guess you can call it. This was the second time going through the motions of crane pine and plain over to Bay. I'd secured one definite "i'm in" from one team mate and one "let me check with my wife." Wound up with one. Andrew. Andrew is a former lightweight crew guy. HS and College, he knows how to train and is built as a lightweight rower should be, turns out that translates REALLY well into a cyclist. He floats over the rises in the road, and he'd never ridden Blue Hill access road.
Headed out a bit later in the morning, was just going to be a short ride. Nothing to serious... it took me 5 miles maybe to warm up to get to the point of pedaling more than eighteen miles an hour. Wasn't the best sensations to start the ride.
But slowly the pace picked up a bit, we chatted a bit on the roads that permitted it, was nice. I ate a sandwich there as we got onto Pine. I should have waited until Plain, (pine was too hilly to eat and try and keep up with andrew). The food prep was less than ideal the day before, no where near enough carb to totally top up the energy reserves.
I was riding with absolutely nothing on the bars. no speed, no clock, not even a watch. I had no idea how fast we were going but I asked Andrew, have we gone about 20 miles? I was getting hungry, 20 miles seems to be about how long it takes for me to get hungry... and yeah, 19 miles. I waited a half mile to a mile and started eating.
Bay was more or less single file all the way up to Blue Hills. Wasn't too bad. The road is super super super shitty there in Sharon leading into Canton. Wow does it suck. And then Washington from where Canton Cup is held down to 138 ain't so smooth or fun.
We hit the base of the access road and I'd been in the lead for 5-10 miles or so, mostly because Andrew didn't know where we were going and I just wound up in the front. We hit the bottom of the access road and I said, there's a good KOM waiting for you up this. By the second switch back he was out of sight. I was going slowly. 38x28, jersey unzipped, slow. I meant to suggest that Andrew just turn around at the top and rocket to the bottom and do a second climb, because that's how slow I was, but he was up there waiting for me when I finally arrived minutes later. He decided against doing a second one right away and we rolled down to see some of the coolest and most talented bike builders around (there are lots of really cool and talented bike builders, these guys just happen to be close). Andrew had peaked at their webpage the night before knowing we might stop and he was blown away, couldn't wait to check out the shop and the bikes in person, he is riding an Airborne Ti frame and his appetite was certainly whetted for what the guys at Firefly are doing.
We got lucky in that yes, the garage door was open, someone was playing with Ti. Sure enough there was Tyler elbow deep in the bead blasting machine. Everyone else was on vacation. We chatted for a few minutes, topped up the bottle, ate a sandwich, collected a tiny little sample for the SEM, and headed back south.
I prodded Andrew about doing another run, no way in hell was I going to do it but he's certainly welcome to go. He declined and suggested that maybe doing weights on Monday after racing Saturday and Sunday hadn't left much in his legs for a second attempt. He still posted a very respectable time for his very first run on the road without knowing how long or how steep it got.
I ate my 3rd sandwich on Plain, didn't finish it until almost to the turn off Pine, and while I was eating an older gentleman rolled up on our wheel.
It was Il Bruce's Father-in-law. Recognizable anywhere first in stature, second in effortless and perfect form on the bike, and the accent. He'd left the house in Wrentham for his regular solo ride, 50-70 miles, just riding around. So he hooked up, and we rode and chatted. My legs were pretty fried from motoring with Andrew down Bay. We weren't killing it but we were not being pokey, it took all i had to stay on his wheel over some of the little rises, but then when I was in front I was pretty much in the 13 or 14 the whole time, ticking over a decent cadence. I was starting to feel the legs fading. And Ray's company helped give me an excuse to take the speed down a notch or two as we rode along.
So our average was definitely skewed with the last pile of miles.
As we parted ways, we turned left on Agricultural and he turned right off Tremont, I just didn't have much juice to crank it up. Once we hit Read over there heading to walker I did manage to find some speed and legs for the downhill, that was fun but by the time we rounded the corner and were between the fields at Wheeler Farm, I was dead. Legs had nothing. Zip. Empty.
Totally drained.
All told the weather couldn't have been more perfect. 72°F and over cast all day, calm to light winds and dry. Andrew was great to ride with, he pushed me pretty hard in some spots and I needed that. Here's to hoping it kickstarts the prep for the impending season. The ride was pretty short by long ride standards, only 89 miles. But, well it was enough.
Couldn't sleep much the legs were so out of it. My post ride circumstances certainly contributed to delaying any healing or recovery, I should have at least managed a self-massage or something, but yeah, nope. Didn't do it. Had to grab a few things at the store on the way home, wandered around the place a few times, doing laps with a basket, desperately wanting something right then, unable to identify what I wanted beyond EVERYTHING, so I didn't get anything.
Probably doesn't bode well for the TT. I'm still not back 100% from being sick. But much better than last week.
And I managed a long ride in July. Nothing as epic as June's 156 miles to woods hole and back, but it was enough with just the two of us out there pedaling. I look through the Strava numbers and feel a bit better about how short it was, it still is longer than nearly everything posted in the feed. And riding with Ray was worth every potential mph hit to the average speed. 
He even won a townline sprint. And that lead to a great story about racing them as a kid, and how no one wanted to take the time to glue up a tubular properly and they would crash quite frequently (he talked about the scars on his head, no crash helmets in those days). Totally blind panda shots. The only pictures from the ride. We passed quite a few ponds with beautiful blooming lily pads in the woods, and the roads were mostly wide open and deserted. There really is some fantastic riding out around these parts. No we don't have multi-mile climbs or descents but these roads are pretty nice to hang out on. Tree covered most of them too.
After parting ways, I couldn't help but hope to still be riding as much as Ray is riding when I'm his age. Remarkable.
Life continues to throw logistical curveballs that are making everything seem impossible, but hey, it is what it is... gotta keep plugging away. Moving forward. Making it work.
heddwch
G
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