A New Route for the Montauk Century in 2012, and I ride my 50th Century!



My first Century ride of the year was also my 50th Century ride. The 5BBB Montauk Century had a new route this year. Instead of starting in Babylon and finishing in Montauk, we started and finished in Hampton Bays, and did a circuitous route to and from Montauk. The weather was beautiful, but a 20mph headwind made for tough going for the first 48 miles out to Montauk Point. Many of my fellow riders were exhausted at this point. I decided to stop at the MTK cafe for a little hash and eggs at about 10:30 am, and that fuel made the hills to and from Montauk more manageable. Eating your way through a century is often a good strategy.

On the way back we all benefitted from a 20mph tailwind, and made up time rapidly. On the same section of road I was going east at 9-11 mph, and was hitting 20-24mph on the westward return. All I can say about Montauk Point is that It is always a great place to visit with wonderful views. As the majority of the riders were from Manhattan and had never been cycling this far east, I acted as a tour guide to many of my new found friends. I rode for awhile with a student about to start medical school in the fall, and was able to give him some insight from my very experienced point of view, having been a doctor for 30 years now. The new route laid out by the 5BBB has the great advantage of being circular, and is what I would call flattish to rolling. No huge gaspers, but enough +/- altitude to make it interesting. I'm glad I left the fixed gear bike at home and took my LOOK KG381i with plentiful gears.Those with GPS can give you more precise info.

In a way, this ride was a celebration. I wore my 2002 Montauk Century jersey from my first ever century ride. Now its 10 years later and I can confortably still do a day's ride at almost 61. I made a lot of friends along the way, and saw some of the prettiest scenery around. The new route gets you right into the Hamptons and East End, and is interesting from the start. Did I mention that I got lots of exercise too?

A Snowless Weekend in Vermont

Well, not really. We had planned to meet our friends from Boston Ron and Phil in Woodstock Vermont to enjoy a weekend of cross country skiing on the Mt. Tom and Mt. Peg trails. Helen and I had been here in past years and found the skiing excellent. This season, however, has been a disaster for the cross country ski crowd, because natural snow has been extremely scant.With not even enough snow to snowshoe, we decided to do a winter hike instead. That became problematic, as the trails were iced up and had a thin layer of crusty snow at best. The pros at the Woodstock Inn cross country center suggested MICROspikes by Kahtoola, as the only practical means to tackle the trails under these conditions. I bought a pair at the sports shop in town and I have to say that they worked great! At no time did I feel unstable, even on an icy ascent of Mt. Tom. This is a great product for all cold weather hikers! Their website is at http://www.kahtoola.com/.

We got a great view of Woodstock at the top. Generally, these carriage roads of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park are not steep, but the icy conditions made even a casual stroll treacherous. We stopped for a rest at the Mt. Tom cabin and enjoyed the front porch for a while.

Our stay at the Charleston house was again fantastic. It is a great inn, clean, reasonable, and has a tasty breakfast that precludes getting lunch. Our innkeepers were friendly and efficient. We ate at Bentley's the first night, and at Prince and the Pauper the second night for two delicious dinners. Hopefully the. next trip to this area will be more successful from the skiing aspect. Even though our Sunday hike started at 11 degrees F and ended at 14 degrees F, energy and comraderie kept us plenty warm.

Out For a Winter Fixed Gear Ride



A few days of mild weather has melted all the snow from this past weekend's storm. I was off from both the office and hospital. At a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Farenheit and clear sunny skies, it was a great day to take out Miss Pinarello for a spin on the South Fork of Long Island. This was a typical 40 mile ride from Southampton to Easthampton and back, the return made more difficult by a 20mph headwind coming from the west. This ride is very scenic, including huge mansions, uncrowded roads, and lots of water views.

This ride is on flat to gently rolling terrain, and perfect for a fixed gear bike. I have been riding fixed as well as geared bikes together for about two and a half years. Switching between them seems to cause my body no confusion during the interchange of riding styles. Among the many advantages of riding fixed gear in the winter are: less maintinance, silent geartrain, smoother rotation of the legs, superior low speed handling, and extra warmth on cold riding days. I will say that fixed gear riding has become my first choice, except when the course is hilly. It gives you a sense of purity, connection with the machine, and a great workout when time constrained. Unfortunately, it is also considered cool. Unlike some who ride with no or single brakes, I consider safety first and ride with two brakes always.

*

Finally Some Snow ! My First Cross Country Ski of the Season

After the freak October snowstorm, we haven't had any snow to speak of. The weather has been challenging for the active cyclist, and I have not been out on the bike for about two weeks. This has been a time of relatively little physical activity, and I have been working on filing for taxes and doing darkroom work in both medium and large format photography. Yesterday we had our first substantial winter storm, which left about 4 inches of snow on the North Shore of Long Island.

It was a cold and overcast day, about 30 degrees farenheit. The snow was a little crunchy, but very skiable. I would rate it a solid 7 on a ten scale. I had a lot of fun in the fields and forest trails. My Rossignol back country skis with metal edges served me well in this area which has no tracked trails. In fact, there are not any tracked trails on Long Island that I know of. Cross country skiing is a great cardio-vascular workout for both the upper and lower body. I know that most males are watching football playoffs, but I could not resist the urge for this wonderful winter workout.

A nice passer by took a portrait of me with my skis and the open field as a backdrop. We are meeting our friends Ron and Phil in Woodstock Vermont in early February for a weekend of cross country skiing. I can't wait to ski those pristine Vermont trails of the Mount Tom network. We also need to get away for a few days. Who doesn't?

42 Degrees Farenheit Today, and Winter Riding Has Begun

The temperature has been dropping, and we got a preview of winter during our outrageous October snowstorm. Today's high temperature will be about 42 degrees F, just right to begin winter riding. This season is a quieter time, without pelotons or mass participation rides. The quietness , wind protection, and calorie burning terrain of the woods welcome me in the cycling off season.

For today's ride, I have laid out warm clothing to keep me toasty all afternoon. Long underwear, wool socks, fleece under my Showers Pass Elite II jacket, insulated gloves, and a balaclava complete the outfit. I will have to get used to all this clothing until the first day of shorts riding in the Spring. The woods are uninhabited except for myself, squirrels, red tailed hawks, and white tailed deer. One must be careful of collisions with deer, as they can be extremely damaging for both parties.

As usual, the roads of Caumsett park were extremely muddy after a ferocious rain the day and night before. My Jamis Nova was built by me from scratch to be durable under the muddiest conditions. A recent trashing of the rear derailleur by a stick on a singletrack route has generated a new replacement Shimano XT mechanism. It performed well and got me through the muddy roads and trail as illustrated. The bike was built with survivability in mind, and has done well for 8 seasons.

My standard 2-3 hour route in this park includes pavement, hills, flats, open fields, fire roads, singletrack, and sandy areas. In general, it is designed to include a little bit of everything, while being scenic. It is also circular, in case I have to get to the hospital to take care of any emergencies. Riding off road in the winter avoids the dangers of vehicular traffic, and keeps me warmer due to sheltering from wind chill and the more intense nature of the pedaling. Besides, I love mud, and that's all there is to it

Fall is Here, and the Last Ride in Shorts of the Season

It's unusually warm for mid November, so we took a ride on the South Fork of Long Island last weekend. It was probably the last day in shorts until Spring. Our route took us along beaches that were crowded this past Summer, but are sparsely populated at this time of year. It has been a good cycling season for me. I did several century rides, on both fixed gear and geared bikes. The accomplishment, fitness, scenery, and comraderie were terrific. I'm getting my cross country skis, snowshoes, and ice speed skates ready for the winter. We've already had an early snowstorm, and this winter is predicted to be cold and snowy. I think that I will sell my recumbent bike, which I put 10,350 miles on from 1/06 to 6/09. Sometimes activities are time limited. I loved recumbent cycling, but it ran its course. That's just the way some things are.

Another Fixed Gear Seagull Century, Lots of Crabs, and I Take Mom Out For Her 91st

I took my usual trek to the Delmarva peninsula ( Delaware-Maryland-Virginia ) this past weekend and did my fourth fixed gear century ride, and 49th overall century ride. It's a great three day weekend for me, which includes lots of crabs, a flat century ride, and a visit to mom at about her birthday time. This year I stayed in Cambridge, Maryland, and fueled up the night before the ride on crabs and beer at the Odyssey Crab House in Cambridge. The next day, Saturday, I was ready to ride, and we all left for the century ride at 7am. This is the largest century ride on the East Coast, with about 6,500 participants. Most of the ride is out in the countryside with wide open farmland areas over well maintained roads. It does not feel crowded.

I have to say that the support from Salisbury University was excellent in every way. The students were helpful, and all of the rest stops had plenty of snacks, fluids, and live music. There are two century route choices plus a 100k for those so inclined. For the second year I chose the Snow Hill Century route, which has no Atlantic beach rest stop, but is more scenic with less crowded roads overall. I live minutes from Fire Island, so beach access is not so important for me. Those living inland might feel differently. The stop at Public Landing has a long pier that extends into the surrounding bay, and is a great rest stop. I just could not stop eating oranges.

The ride would have been an easy flat century except for the tremendous 20-30 mph head and crosswinds that we all encountered along most of the route. I was the only one who rode in a fixed gear that I know of, although tandems and recumbents were there in good numbers.  Nonetheless, this is a great century to do with a fixed gear, as there is no climbing to speak of.

The last stop at Nassawango Country Club included Apple or Cherry pie, which was much appreciated by all after our dayling buffeting by the strong headwinds. Of course, the club is along the scenic Nassawango River.

Exhausted at the end,I had tons of crabs and beer to celebrate the completion of a usually easy century which became moderately difficult due to the prevailing conditions. I went to my favorite place, the Old Mill Crab House in Delmar. It is the best in the area in my opinion. The next day, fueled by local eggs and scrapple, I went to visit mom in Rockville Maryland. She will be 91 soon, and is going strong with 100% mental capacity. We  met my brother Robert, his wife and son Linda and Richard, and our cousins Robert and Connie Gottlieb for a great lunch at the Matchbox in Rockville. Another fantastic mid October weekend has passed. That's it for organized rides for the season. I've been thinking about Cross Country Skiing lately...