“RE: Pan-Mass Challenge 2005: Day Zero, Huckleberries, West Stockbride to Sturbridge”

As you know, I've done the Huckleberries ride for six years now, and consider it one of my favorite parts of the PMC weekend.  In some ways, I imagine it to be similar to what those first PMCs were like.  You know, the ones ridden by less than 4,000 cyclists?  It is a unique experience to get together with the same group of guys just once a year and feel such camaraderie. 

This year's ride was similar to last year's in that we had a flat pretty early on.  The rider who flatted this  year was Dave Grossman, and unfortunately, poor rim strips caused him to flat several times during the course of the day.  It must have been pretty frusterating for him...

When I rode up to you at the front to suggest you slow down, I said it so the group that stopped with Dave would have a chance to catch up.  When you told me the guys said for you to "go ahead", I thought you were talking about the group that had stopped.  It was at that point that I went to the front.  Later, I realized that it was not the group that had stopped who told you to ride on, but someone in our group.  In hindsight, I think we should have slowed since the flat happened so early in the ride.  Oh well, we eventually regrouped at Huckleberries.  As for Huckleberries, I must admit I was a bit disappointed that they were out of muffins.  I mean, really, how does a muffin shop run out of muffins at 10 in the morning?  Nevertheless, the apple strudles were excellent, and will probably be my first choice for a snack on next year's ride.  Still, I think we should remember to contact the shop to forwarn them of  the fact that there will be 20 + hungry cyclists descending on them next year.

The climb up Route 66 was tough once again, but you rode uphill very strongly despite your size.  As hard as it was to keep up with you on the ascent, it was even harder on the bombing downhills!  My fastest speed of the day was on breakneck hill (love that name) where I hit 49.7 mph.  Still, I couldn't close the gap to you and Mark.  It was fun trying though.

Lunch at Atkins Farms was great.  This year I opted to go with salads instead of a sandwich.  It was a good choice as the potato and seafood salads were great.  I was a bit concerned about Dave though as I was half way through lunch and he still hadn't arrived.  Jim's dad went out looking for him, fearing he had missed a turn somewhere.  It turns out he was cramping up a bit and just took it slow.

As I recall, we left Atkins Farms together and rode at an easy pace trying to get Dave back to speed.  It seemed that when you took to the front, the speed would increase and Dave would start to fall off the back.  I chose to hang back and nurse Dave along.  I don't think you realized that you had created a gap and when Dave decided to stop in Belchertown center (at the top of a long, gradual climb) I would have had to kill myself in order to bridge up to you and Mike. 

It is clear that we (you, Mike and I) don't ride in groups very often as our paceline skills need work.  The best pacelines, in my opinion, are the ones where everyone shares the work by rotating through from front to back, usually by taking pulls that last no longer than a minute or two.  It seemed that on Friday, once you (or Mike, or I) got to the front you just stayed there.  Our ride after lunch is an example.  You got the front and just motored along.  While it is usually easier to follow in someone's draft (especially yours!), it is difficult to gauge how well the other riders are doing so when Dave started to drop off the pace, you never knew.  In the end, even though you were pulling at the front, it made it harder on the group (despite your draft).  I also think its a lot less fun to just ride passively in the back.  As an aside, my favorite ride of the weekend was on Sunday when Andy, Mark and I rotated consistantly for most of the day.  Although they were stronger than I, the rotating paceline was a blast and really felt like teamwork.  We should work on that more when we ride together.

Back to Friday's ride... After I stopped with Dave in Belchertown center, I waited for 15 minutes for the other group to catch up so I wouldn't have to ride alone.  Even after waiting all that time, they never showed up (except for Jim Boyko and Tim Conry) as Dave Grossman had another flat (the poor guy).   At that point, Dave Schlageter and Jim decided to stop at his parent's house nearby to cool off under the hose.  Tim and I decided to continue on with the hopes that the other group would catch up.  After a while, the group finally caught up to us, but then we stopped again just outside of Palmer center because some of the other guys overcooked trying to catch us.  Soon we were riding again when my cell phone rang as I climbed the hill toward the picnic area.  I was glad we were able to regroup with you and Mike there, and got a kick out of seeing Mike holding his cell phone as mine rang in my back pocket. 

It was fun riding into Sturbridge all together as one big group.  I got a kick out of all the cars with bikes on racks driving to the start and giving us the thumbs up sign.