D2R2 2009

Finish. Long. Ride. Beer.

I'll try to not make this a book. I DNF'd Colin's 24HOGG report. Long events make for long reports, but it is still summer time after all. At least I try to make it a good book.

Once again I signed up for the 170k "long" version. A lot of people do the 100k, as it's still a super-fun ride, and rides more like 100 miles according to people who have done it. My first D2R2 was in 2006. I rode my cross bike with touring tires and it took me 10:15 to finish. Luckily I skipped the inferno that was 2007. Last year I went back with my cheap aluminum commuter/cross bike and a triple crank. Using the same 35 mm touring tires, I had some tube issues, three flats, and a 10:00 finish time despite riding harder than the first time.

Experience counts for a lot at D2R2. The organizers advise 28 mm or greater width tires and a low gear ratio of close to one-to-one. For 98% of the riders who do D2R2, that is good advice. More on this later. This year I was kind of gung-ho to travel light, run 28 mm tires on my aluminum road bike, leave early with the fast guys, and rock the course. That was plan A. I spent $180 on an 11/30 IRD 10-speed cassette, and made sure the 28 mm Paselas would fit the bike. They cleared the back brake by about 3-4 mm. I rode it a bunch like that and thought I was cool. The bike already had a compact, so I'd have a 34/30 low gear. I did it in 2006 on a 38x32 and I'm more fit now. I was all set, but at some point I realized that if the back wheel went the slightest bit out of round from a bump, I was going to have a clearance problem. Furthermore, even though the 28s pumped to 80 psi took the edge off the aluminum frame's stiffness, the ride was still hardly what you would call plush. With all the rain this year, I had fear of severe ruts on some of the descents. I was waffling.

Plan B was to go back to my light steel CX bike. For the dirt it was obviously better. The downside was that it had no water bottle mounts, and did not have a compact. Mounting the cages with plastic frame mounts is pretty shaky, but I did it anyway, reinforcing them with a hose clamp. The job was more difficult because I added a pump holder on the front cage. After last year I wasn't taking any chances. I added a fuel box to the front of the bike to carry an extra tube and some CO2, and a seat bag with tools, tube, etc. I already had a new alloy FSA Energy compact crank and bottom bracket, which I installed, swapping the outer ring for a 46 in the process. The 34/46 shifted like lightning even with the crappy Sora front changer I have on there. This bike was 9 speed, so I put on an 11/32 cluster, for a 34/32 low gear. Finally, I wussed out and bought Michelin Jet clincher cx tires. These are a fast rolling non-knobby tire with just enough chevron tread for dirt road traction. They are marked 700x30 but are fairly tall, and I pumped them up to around 60 psi. The beast of burden was a full 25 pounds with empty bottles, ready to roll out the door.



More experience stuff: the food at D2R2 is good, but you can't go wrong by bringing your own. Friday night, after going for a little afternoon test ride, on which I felt like shit and wondered if I'd even make it through the first hour, I fell asleep on the couch, not waking until 8:30 pm. I had to bolt to the supermarket to buy the foods I'd planned to prepare: homemade egg mcmuffins for the morning and ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch on the bike. Gel and cookies are great but without some real food too, I get pretty queasy after 8 hours. So at 10 pm I'm at the stove cooking. Not so great when the alarm is going off at 3 am. Long story a little shorter, I over slept big-time, managing to hit the road at 5. It's a two hour drive. First riders leave at 6. You do the math. Actually though, a lot of riders left late, and at 7 when I got parked a big group was rolling out. I missed them, and at 7:17 am I was the last official starter for the 170k.

My pockets were jammed with stuff: camera, sandwiches, tubes, two gel flasks, clif blocks, etc. I'd rigged up a scrolling cue sheet holder ala Ed Parsons. In a 20-point font, the directions expanded to 9 pages. My scroller was working like a charm at first, and in the nice sunlight I could easily read it even with just the Mr Magoo distance glasses that I ride with. I'd meant to pick up a CatEye but never got around to it, but I noted the mileage on my Polar at the start. Except after a mile or so and two turns I remembered it wasn't mileage, it was kilometerage. I'm still sharp enough to do math in my head, but converting miles to kilometers out to one decimal place, and then add it to the starting odometer reading (Polars do not have a trip reading), no, not that sharp. So I just figured five minute miles and went by time, and that worked out fine.

The climbing starts pretty early on and I caught my first rider, a fit looking woman riding solo on a touring bike. While appearing to be a veteran of many century type rides, this was her first D2R2. She did not have a compact. Might have had a 28 on the back. She was turning about 50 rpm, standing, and we were still on pavement, 109 miles to go. I tried to be cheerful, but if she were my dog I'd have had her put down right there and then. You're in for a long day ma'am.

Riding alone is cool because you can set exactly the pace you want to ride. No stopping unless you want to stop, and no waiting. I caught a few more riders, but for the most part I was taking a slow and steady approach. I don't know the route by heart, but most of it was familiar. Then on one of the gnarlier dirt roads, as noted on the cue sheet, there was a giant pig/hog/boar type of thing just standing there. He had a black mane and was sort of wagging his tail, looking pretty friendly. I regret not taking a picture, as sights like these are what D2R2 is all about, but my pockets were so stuffed with crap that I didn't want to mess with pulling out the camera and repacking. Update - someone got a photo. Blog entry here. Plus a main component of my speed strategy this year was to have as little down time as possible.

Shortly after that I had my only navigational miscue. I came to an intersection that was not on my cue sheet, so I turned around and went back. Running into a couple from Landry's, they read their sheet back to me and the road was on there. Apparently when I enlarged the font and reprinted mine somehow I deleted that line. Turn around and keep going... The water stop at 20 miles came up in 1:51. Yeah, there is a lot of climbing in the early stage of this route. Shortly after that I passed a guy who was walking up a hill. He had a single speed. That's -- I don't know what that is.

East Road was graded this year, and with the CX bike and Jet tires it was a pleasure for a change, as were most of the downhills. This bike has a crappy handlebar bend, and the 9-speed DA levers are not as nice a shape as the 10 speeds either, but I had top mounts, and used them on almost all of the dirt descents. Bombed down East Hawley Road and then started the notorious climb up 8A/Mountain Road. Here I caught a bunch more riders, including a young kid who had stopped to rest before pulling out in front of me. He was riding a Cervelo with regular road gears, turning about 40 rpm. After the first food stop I found myself behind a big group of fast guys who would hammer and then stop at every turn because they did not have their cue sheets out, so I rode through them. Then they would pass me and repeat the process. I was getting annoyed, but I knew Achambo Road and it's 27% gravel grade was looming, so I kept my cool and pace. We passed a couple on a tandem right after the turn. These guys all started whooping and swearing when they saw the climb, and one of them pulled alongside me, nearly swerving into me once as he fought to keep his bike up. I stayed right and powered through while he faltered. Anxious to rid myself of this cluster, I put the hammer down and did not look back.

Saw the CCB guys stopped at the side. Then I hit Hilman Road and it's long grueling pitch, high-fiving old pal Mike Ramponi who was stopped at the top waiting on a mate. Had a sandwich flying down Christian Road and then started to get aggressive on Franklin Hill. Here the 100k and 170k routes are merged and there was beau-coup bike traffic, but nary a car in sight. On the descent I passed a group of ten who were attending to an injured rider. He looked shaken but Ok; not sure how he made out.

I ate my other two sandwiches on the descent. This is more experience. The lunch stop was at the bottom. There is a huge climb back out of the valley when you leave. Lessons from years were: a) don't eat too much at the rest stop, and b) don't stay there long either, as your legs will seize up c) don't make eye contact with people you know (see b). My mid-ride aggression having bumped my pace, I arrived at the stop 5:13 from starting. Holy crap. The place was mobbed! There must have been 200 riders there. Bikes overflowed into the street. There was a line for water. There was no Gatorade. I got my bottles filled, put a bunch of Oreos in my pockets, and prepared to leave. "Hey Dave!" It was Jonny Bold. We'd chatted at Attleboro about doing the ride together, but Jonny is, umm, pretty strong, and to be honest I thought that would be my quick ticket to a shallow grave somewhere out in Colrain. He was with Kevin Hines. In cross races, I normally see Kevin twice, at registration, and then when he laps me. Both of them were resplendent in their MTB national champion's kits and matching Stevens CX bikes. Starting as late as I did, these were the last two people I expected to see. Apparently they were doing the 210k version of the ride, having ridden off course a few times, taking in a few 15% climbs that weren't on the program in the process. They were willing to take it down 5 watts or so in order to tap into my knowledge of the route, so what the hell. It's not every day I get to ride with these guys. With Jonny I usually get about a lap and a half in the break at Wompatuck before he saws off my legs and sends me back to the safety of the peleton. Today I was going to get 80k!

Of course, we roll out and my cue sheet scroller stops working. I think it got wet, or the takeup roll started to grow too big and bind. No matter, as the latter half of the ride is less complicated and I almost have it committed to memory. Only one problem -- remember the thing about one-to-one gearing being right for 98% of the riders? Well let me introduce you to the other 2%. Jonny had a 38x27, Kevin a 34x25. And these guys were not in the 45 rpm club. The rest of the day went something like this: three guys hit the climb together. Going starts to get tough. Dave starts to get dangerously close to the red zone, relents, shifts into his 34x28 or even 34x32. With four hours to go he's not ready to start burning matches full-on. Jonny and Kevin maintain normal cadence in the not-so-low gears that they have, leaving Dave in the dust, literally and figuratively. They ease a bit at the crest, which is usually about a mile away. They wait for their navigator, who chases furiously. Lather, rinse, repeat.


You'd think these guys would know you don't take a BOB rider to the line.

Highlights: Female officers from the Leyden Police department cruise the course with coolers full of ice-cold water and Gatorade, making quick roadside feed stations. And one of them was pretty hot. Jonny decides to do a 20 minute interval, because what the hell, he's only been riding for seven and a half hours, so what's 20 minutes at 380 watts? I honestly thought I'd never see them again, but an unmarked turn was my savior, as they waited there. So I attacked them. Then on a high speed descent, my scrolling cue-sheet holder failed the wind tunnel test and exploded in my face at 80 kph, cardboard flying everywhere. At least I knew the rest of the way. The boys threw down again on Patten Hill, whereas I had a bad patch. In hindsight, despite my experience, I should have taken on more carbs mid ride. The ham was great for settling my stomach, but without the Gatorade I think my sugar reserves got low. At the Little Big House stop, the last one, I scarfed down a dozen more Oreos and I was a new man shortly after. We blitzed the descent down to Route 2 and then did a TTT the rest of the way and as described on Jonny's blog, got me in to the finish at 4:11, under 9 hours total. Total down time for me was only about 32 minutes, so my ride time was still at least 30 minutes less than in previous years.


The rest stop at Patten Hill, in front of the Little Big House.


The remains of my cue sheet reader. Next year, a quality mailing tube.

All right, that was a book, sorry. Going in I thought this would be my last time doing the 170k. Some other uhh, older guys I sometimes ride with had convinced me the 100k option was more fun. Certainly I could sleep later, as it starts at 9. But after doing this again this year, I see no reason to stop. Now that I know the route, and keep learning new tricks, it was better than ever. Thanks to Jonny and Kevin for making this one special. You won't find two guys with better tempermants to do a long hard ride with. In the finish tent I also got to meet and chat with Mookie, who once again rocked the place to finish in somewhere near 8 hours flat. I had 175k on my odo, not sure if this is accurate, as it was calibrated for 700x23 tires so it should have been reading under. This is the first time I went fast enough that my Polar did not run out of memory. The altimeter recorded 3800 meters (12,400 feet) of ascent. 21 kph may seem like a slow average, but this is not an ordinary ride. I think I'll do it again. Thanks for reading.