Thursday night rides are one of the highlights of the rides that leave the ORS parking lot. They have been a little slow to get started this year, but we have a really great ride last night- some solid pack riding with a few town line sprints thrown in for good measure. As to be expected, the pack broke a bit as we climbed toward Duxbury gap, nonetheless there is just something to be said for shaking the cobwebs out of the winter legs. Nick powered us over the gap and we sailed down the three mile descent into Waterbury. Regrouping along Rt2, we got the pace line back together and it was home to Montpelier and beers a ‘Cuddies.
We’ll be out again on Saturday morning for a leisurely ride to Elmore and back. Some of us will be jumping into the Camp Ta-Kum-Ta Time Trial at 10am.
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Mark leading the second climb, Montpelier's capital in the background
Pushing it up the final ascent
Mark, Andrew and Jean exiting the top of the second climb
Well, perhaps “dry” is not what it quite what it was- a little bit of snow, or maybe it was rain, hard to tell really. But the roads were dry and occasionally the sun popped out for a moment or two. One can’t expect too much from April in Vermont. We rode laps for 2 plus hours, a few leisurely, a few at speed. Most of us had ridden the course before, but this was a chance to ride as a pack and get our sprint on. Or the overwinter “damn, my trainer never feels like” this on.
The course has two climbs, the first comes out of a corner from the modest decent. One can shoot through apex to apex without loosing much speed as you hit the steeper part of the climb. The second climb comes after a slight dip at the top of the first climb. This is a broad sweeping turn that you can see in the pictures which leads back into the parking lot for a sprint finish. There’s just enough time for some recovery before you heading down the decent to do it all over again. In terms of vertical feet, the course is somewhere north of 70 per lap, which my legs are currently reminding me of.
In the aesthetic and convenience dimension, the course actually has some stunning views of Camels Hump, as well as the Capital building. Check it out for yourself on National Life’s webcam. The course is directly off 89n, has good parking and quick access to coffee and bike repairs and parts at our kick ass local bike shop.
It really feels like the course offers a good diversity of terrain, making the unexpected… well I guess you’d say expected. Bring your legs and we’ll see you on Sunday.
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