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Yesterday was the Major Taylor Century in Whitinsville Ma.

What a bee-yoo-tiful day. Picture perfect.

I couldn’t sleep. Again. So I got right when the alarm went off (5 am) and was ready to head for the car by about 5:45. I got to the checkin in Whitinsvile, a section of Northbridge, right around 7:00. Bela, champion cat herder, came driving up shortly after, and we took off right around 8:00.

It was cold in the morning, so I wore all the warmers I own along with the windbreaker vest. The organizers did a really nice thing when, at the first rest stop, you could throw your stuff in a bag and they hauled it back to the start/finish. By then (about 30 miles) it had warmed up enough to jettison the warmers, so that was a really nice thing of them to do.

Almost everyone got lost right at the start. Since it was a mass start, I (and apparently others) weren’t watching the road marks, but were watching the person in front and when the first one went wrong, so did everyone else. I don’t think it added too much mileage (as I ended with about 104) but it was some nasty under construction roads and there were lots of punctures. We lucked out when some guy came riding along from another direction and said the route was “that way”. He was one of those who looks like he rides about 10,000 miles a year and clearly knew the route backwards and forwards. “Go up here, bear left, turn left, coast to the right, turn right and you’re back on the route.” So we did and we were.

I wasn’t going for any particular time or with any particular goal, but was just keen on enjoying the ride. This is one of my favorite ones as the scenery is so nice, but it does have an awful lot more busy roads than I remember from last year.

Right at the halfway point, just past the covered bridge, I got a flat. When I got the bike ready the night before, the tire was way down, but I’d figured it was because it had been patched during the Tri-state and I had been told that tires filled with CO2 cartidges deflate quicker than tires filled with “air”. But just after the covered bridge there was that unmistakeable pffffft. Still, it didn’t go completely flat, and as Bela didn’t seem me stop to take a few snaps of the bridge, I decided to see how far I could get on the tire as it was (my guess is it had about 60# of pressure ). I got to the intersection at the top of the hill (which, I think, must have been from Quaddick Rd to CT193) and decided the tire was just too squishy to ride. But I also saw Bela had stopped and was waiting, which was nice of him.

Dist: 100.99; Climb elev: 6532.57; Climb dist: 50.33; Desc dist: 50.66

I fixed the tire as people kept riding by. But unthinkingly, I had fixed the tire standing in the sun and when I got back on the bike I was a little woozy. Must remember to find shade next time. My energy level seem to come and go all day. For periods I had lots of energy, then it would just all die out. I suppose I should start carrying my glucometer again.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. Lots of farm country, lots of traffic in places. The 2d rest stop wasn’t until mile 70-something which is a bit long to go between stops, especially when the middle half is the hilliest. But it was all good. After the rest stop, I rode with Lynne Tolman for a ways which was nice as it was the first time I’d actually gotten to talk with her other than exchanging e-mails every now and then.

They had a nice spread at the finish line (hot dogs, chips, &c) and a radio playing the Red Sox game. All in all, a very nice day. I was really wiped when I got home, so I took my time in fetching the dog. Didn’t sleep well again last night either. Can you be too tired to sleep?

This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2005 at 1:58 pm and is filed under Rides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.