JJ's thoughts on Sunday's ride

I guess I'm just trying to bank enough suffering pre-Jay to survive as I did Hurricane & Red Tail on Friday afternoon and had a pretty nasty slow speed endo resulting in partial shoulder dislocation and mucho pain.

I followed that up with an early Saturday morning (6a.m.) ride with Dr. Ass. We thought a short 2 hour ride to work out the kinks in the woods would do us good. Well we made a minor miscalculation and got back at 3 1/2hrs. Luckily avoided violating hall pass privileges. Ride was very good, still suffering with shoulder from previous day but it was tolerable. Was cold but clear. So much for ride taking it easy prior to the planned long ride on Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and it was 27 degrees when I left the house at 6a.m. So much for sleeping in on the weekends. I met the rest of the NH contingent to the W&F crew at Sears and the day really began. I was having real trouble keeping up the pace into North Conway and was wondering how the day was going to go as I was getting dropped after 6 miles. My legs were dead from the riding Friday and Saturday. Lucky for me, Slim was not prepared fro the cold and his hands were freezing. We made a pit stop at Sids to warm up. I found a Red Bull as I needed any help I could get. We headed north into Jackson and the town line racing began. Without me, Abe made a valiant effort, but our Team W&F designated sprinter reeled him in and nipped him at the line.

Abe then bid us farewell and the 3 of us kept moving north, that is until about 2 miles later we were dealing with our first and fortunately only mechanical of the day. NK had picked up a nail. Once back on the road we headed to Pinkham and the notch. Well it was nice, with a good breeze in our faces we hit the top with the Dr in the lead to take the first climbing points of the day. The ride to Gorham was nice and after a short stop at GGTOC was had a couple more sprints which were contested, but the good Dr continued his winning ways racking up more points.

So as we approach the village of Gorham I see the Welcome to Gorham sign and race towards it. Apparently my fellow compadres didn't feel as though it was warranted. Oh well, I have to take my victories where I can find them. Even if they are not recognized. WE hit the local gas & sip and refueled. Turning East in Rt 2 we stared towards Evan's.

The temps were warming up nicely as we all started to shed layers and started to resemble hunch-backs with our jersey pockets bulging with rolled up jackets and winter gloves. The ride over to 113 was nice, North Road was a sort of relaxing roller coaster getting us ready for the climb ahead. One last stretch on Rt 2 and a run to the State Line. NK had a good 100 yards on Dr & I and we saw him start to make his dash for the line. The good Dr found another gear and tracked him down and got him with about 15 yards to go. If NK had a different gearing he probably would have held him off, but not today, Sven was bound and determined to win every test.

We made a right onto Rt. 133 and turned South towards Evan's Notch. A mere 8 miles of climbing to the top. It stared at a nice easy pace with the three of us chatting and enjoying the ride. After a bit I decided to see if I could go for the top and get a little glory from Dr win it all. I started spinning along and I could hear NK and Dr behind me talking and soon I couldn’t hear them anymore. I kept spinning along, keeping the cadence high. When I made my break my HR was cruising along about 140, about another mile or so and it was 155, another mile further and I was over 160. I knew there was a lot to go with no breaks, keep the pace I told myself. I was still feeling good, HR was 164 and holding. I was afraid to look back I didn't want to know how close the Dr was. I kept moving up and up. Then the last steep section came. I was starting to feel it. I couldn’t maintain the gear I was running anymore, to keep the cadence I had to downshift. I figured as soon as I did I would be caught. I decided it was time to look and see how close they were. I stood up and turned my head, just as I did my bike turned a little and I hit something in the road, I almost crashed in the middle of the road. I got back straight and tried to remember if I saw anyone. I didn't. I knew I had a shot. If they couldn't see me they didn't know how far I was ahead of them. It gave me what I needed and I got out of the saddle for the rest of the climb. I hit the top feeling good, but spent. I finally scored some real points on the day. I stopped at the memorial at the top and waited for the others. It was pretty cool sitting up there alone for a bit.

We headed down the south side of the notch and were ripping along pretty fast, it’s a hairy descent to say the least. We were now all looking forward to the next pit stop at the Stow store, unfortunately we were disappointed as it was closed. After assessing our water and food we decided to make the dash for home. 15 or so miles to go. No more town lines really, but one more State line was up for grabs. I sat behind the Dr as we approached. He stared to go for it and I sat on his wheel waiting to pull out and try to go by him. with 50 yards to go I made my move and as I did the road turned to shit, for both of us. Instead of being a mad dash to the line it was half that and half try not to hit this hole or that crack....at the line I nosed him by a hair. We were all pretty much done by then. We continued at a good pace as we split up at Shermans and made our way home.

It was my longest ride yet, had a great time with super folks. Thanks fellas.

JJ