Successfully went around in circles! [bicycling]

[rebeccmeister]

The shop that hosted this 200k brevet is awesome, New Horizons Bikes in Westfield, MA. I was able to talk with the shop owner for a few minutes after the ride wrapped up, and was also able to buy most of the things on my current bike parts shopping list. It's a well-stocked shop.

I did not have any profound thoughts while riding this 200k.

I had lots of non-profound thoughts, about things like what I was looking forward to eating at the next control, and about the state of my legs, hands, feet, and butt. As one does, on brevets.

I'll post photos and maybe even the gpx track soon. The northern loop went from Westfield, MA up to a town at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain, so now I know where that is. We also biked past Mt. Tom, an area that looked pretty cool. An advantage of riding in the early spring is you can see more when the trees don't have leaves on them yet.

I was amused by biking through Southampton, then Easthampton, then Northampton. What's a "hampton," anyway??

On the southern loop we rode past the Dewey-Granby Oak, and I have to concur, it is one of the most amazing trees I've ever seen.

Also, somewhere in there, the New Old Copper Mine Prison, I think it was? Plus the Old Copper Mine. I'll have to look up more info on what that was all about.

There were sections with headwinds, and some gusting winds at points, but all told it took me 10 hours 31 minutes to complete this one. That makes it one of the fastest 200ks I've completed.

The shower beer after the ride tasted fantastic. The cats were sad that I got home so late.

Comments

[twoeleven]

What's a "hampton," anyway??

A city-sized hamper. Apparently the English colonists did a lot of laundry.

[mellowtigger]

A 2,000-pound pile of laundry? A town with a lot of laundry? :D

Apparently the "ham" refers to farms, with "ton" indeed being a town/village.

[rebeccmeister]

Hahaha, I think ranunculus has identified an alternative meaning downthread. :^)

[threemeninaboat]

YEAH!
I remember telling you one time that my cadence chant is sand-which sand-which.

[rebeccmeister]

Hahahaha, the organizing shop had sandwiches for us at the midway point. For the vegetarians it was those Uncrustables things, and I tell you, two of those disappeared SO FAST.

[ranunculus]

Hampton, according to Wiktionary is from an old Saxon name meaning farm by the bend of a river.

[rebeccmeister]

Ah! That makes total sense, as all three places are along the Connecticut River, heh. I could see them having gotten established in that fashion.

[yarnandglue]

Wow!! Congrats!

[annikusrex]

uh oh i better figure out a way to go on long bike rides, stat!

[rebeccmeister]

I think there's some carryover from hiking, but at least a little saddle time is a good idea! My sister and slydevil are training for the STP this spring, heh, and just got in a 50 mile ride last weekend. Training rides are definitely harder without a bike posse.

[bluepapercup]

Nice! That's a lovely scenic part of Massachusetts for sure. Mt. Tom is a fun excursion, I think sometimes people actually bike to the top but those people are crazy lolol.