My first Brevet! I got up very early at 4:50 am, and left the house at 6:00 am for the 40 minute drive to Westfield. Coleman, Beth, and Rob met me there. There were a max of about 20 people at the start.
It was cold! I decided to bring my Litespeed with Carradice saddlebag so I’d have some space to stow my extra layers when it warmed up. The Litespeed is heavier than my K2, and I noticed it. I felt pretty slow for the most part.
The roads are terrible in Mass. I spent more time looking for potholes than enjoying the scenery. The route along the valley north of Northampton was really nice. I felt like I had to pee for most of the first part of the ride, and finally stopped and ran into the woods about 5 miles before the midway checkpoint. I felt better after that. Coleman stopped too, so we had a nice conversation as we headed for the checkpoint.
The clerk at the convenience store signed our Brevet cards, and I took some photos of all the bikes and riders. There was an interesting assortment of bikes for brevet riding.
We started off as a group of about 8 to 10 riders from the stop. The 2nd half of the ride had more rolling hills, and it was very scenic, but still lots of potholes. The que sheet was pretty good, but there were a couple of places where we were not sure if we were going the right way.
About 10 miles from the finish it warmed up enough to take off my wind jacket and arm warmers. We stopped at the gas station next to the shop to have our Brevet cards signed. We completed thr ride at 11:30 for a total of 4.5 hours (including stops). I feld pretty good, but could stand to drop some weight, and get some longer rides in before the 200k on April 30th.
I don’t know if I will do this ride again next year. Although it was nice to see some new scenery riding in a different area, I spend most of the time on the lookout for potholes. Next year I’ll probably wait until the 200K.
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