A man playing the bagpipes entertained the riders on the 2010 D2R2 in Deerfield, Mass.
This past Saturday I completed my second D2R2. I got up early and drove up to Deerfield, Masachusetts with Rob from my cycling club for the 9:00 am start of the 100K ride. I wasn’t quite ready to do the 112 mile route. Earlier in the season I may have attempted it, but the past month my time on the bike has suffered due to long hours at work, and family visiting from out of town. The start of this year’s ride was near Historic Deerfield in some farm fields. We parked and walked over to the registration tent to sign in and get our brevet cards. The organizers had a nice spread of food for breakfast, which I’m sure the people that camped over night appreciated. I got a cup of coffee and a muffin.
A large group started out together at 9:00 at a moderate pace. Rob and I moved up a little in the group. I remember the previous year’s first hill was a little crazy, and this year was the same. A lot of riders were in the wrong gear or couldn’t keep moving on the first steep gravel climb. When one person lost momentum and got off to walk, it caused a big chain reaction. I was just caught in the mayhem, and had to get off my bike and run for a bit before I could remount on a less steep section. Rob and I got separated for a bit, but he caught up to me before too long and we stayed together the rest of the ride. The weather was perfect this year, and I felt a lot better than last year, but this is still a very difficult ride. We made and effort this year to make quick stops at the check points to keep the legs moving.
Making it to the midway stop. Photo by PyZahl.net. See his ride album At the midway point next to a covered bridge in Vermont was the main lunch stop. It was a perfect location next to the Green River in the shade. I saw a lot of riders in Rapha cycling gear at the check point and figured out that this was the Rapha Continental team cataloging the D2R2 as one of their epic rides on the East Coast. I look forward to seeing their ride report and photos. Their report from a ride in Litchfield included many of the roads I have the privilege on riding on frequently from where I live in Northwest Connecticut.
After the lunch stop the 100K route follows the Green River on a mostly flat section for about 10 miles before the climbing resumes. We were to take a tight left turn from the river road. I just missed the turn and had to turn around. While I was pulling a U-turn my front tire sunk into the soft sand at the side of the road and I immediatly went down hard on my left shoulder. That hurt, but I there was no serious damage, so I got up and brushed myself off and continued on. I also got some sand in my front shifter, so for awhile shifting to the big ring was a problem. The last few hills were tough, especially the stair step climb to the last checkpoint at the orchard, but it was rewarded with some of the best ripe peaches I have ever had. The last dirt section includes a very steep rocky descent that tested my bike handling skills. Chris from my bike club came flying past me on the downhill. He was riding the 112 mile ride on a suspended mountain bike.
We made in back to the finish in about 5:10 ride time and 5:39 total time. That is probably the hardest 100K you can do. For tires I was running 32c Specialized Tires at about 95 psi. Next time I would run lower pressure. Maybe 75 or 80. I felt like I was bouncing a lot on rocky sections. The food at the finish was not quite up to the Burritos of the previous year, but I didn’t care too much. We didn’t stick around too long and before long we were on the road back to Connecticut.
