GSW Tri-state
I did the Granite State Wheelmen’s Tri-state century on Saturday. Beautiful day for the most part. A killer wind on the way back, though.
I got there at 7:00 sharp and already had to park in the overflow lot! It was more crowded than I’ve ever seen it. Of course, last year it was pouring rain. This year it was humid, but cool; overcast until 1:30 when the sun came out for the rest of the day. I think what I might do next year is get there, then do the first loop before registering. It’s the 16-mile down-and-back from the start at Hampton to Newburyport. The queue to register was almost 45 minutes and I didn’t get on the road until 8:00. The A-D line was especially long and slow moving. At 9:00, when I got back to the start (which doubles as the first rest stop after the Mass loop) there was no line, and they register people until 1:00 pm. That’s definitely the move for next year.
My knee really started acting up at mile 75. I think it was due to the cold weather at the start, at least that’s my guess. That, combined with the wind, was making things painful on the return loop from York Beach, ME. So I decided to cut off the 10 mile “busy work” loop at Rye and head straight back. That meant I got only 90 miles in, not 100, but it was the right choice. I was pedaling with one leg by the end.
The only real incident of note was the Kittery police were being real jerks. There’s a big drawbridge (sorry, I forgot my camera) over the Saco River separating Portsmouth, NH and Kittery, ME. When I got there, the bridge was up, so there were about 200 riders waiting to cross. It’s a steel grate bridge (with wide spaced grates) that you are required to walk across on the sidewalk (for good reason). When we got to the other side, there were two Kittery cops standing in the middle of the street, legs apart and arms crossed scowling. I understand the jackbooted mentality of wanting to enforce all the rules to the letter, but come on. You’re not going to get 200 people single file in the five feet they were allowing. Especially not while they’re yelling “you’re holding up traffic” and it’s they who are standing in the middle of the road.
This is a ride that’s in its 34 th year. People know what they’re doing. It’s not Critical Mass and no one is trying to make a statement. People ride single file the whole day. All 1000 participants. The six or seven cop cars that were patrolling the route shoving people to the right (right into the door zone) was simply uncalled for. I’d recommend going around Kittery from now on, but there’s no way to do it.
Apart from that, it’s a nice ride.
