After almost 7 weeks in Europe we flew back on Tuesday morning early. I had our bikes packed up Monday morning and in the afternoon we drove to Schiphol were we stayed our last night in a hotel.
Tuesday afternoon we arrived safely including our carry-ons. But not with our bike bags. Another TAP hickup. In the end they showed up a week later. Paula's on Sunday and mine on Monday.
Wednesday joined David for my season's first CX training session in Amherst. The combination of riding a lot and then 2 days off the bike made me fly along the course. My legs felt really good.
The next day I ran for 2.2 miles. That had not happened in a while. Later in the day rode 57 miles in a big loop around Greenfield. First South descending Rocky road.
Just after I left the sandy roads in the valley I found out the sealant of the EverOrange's tires had dried out and therefor did not stop a slow leak. I had to put in a tube.
I also made sure to include a Maple creamee in the route.
Friday had a rest day. Saturday went on ride with John. He had mapped out a 71 mile loop northwest from Conway. We rode towards Charlemont via Labelle. There we stopped for coffee anf I also needed extra water for the rest of the ride. Since I had only two bottle cages had to improvise to location of the water bottle I bought. It miraculaously stayed lodged between the seat stays and the seat tube.
After riding along the Deerfield river for a while we veered off towards Pelham and took a left to climb the steep gravel Tunnel road. It had warned the road was closed and for sure the 2nd part of the road was completely washed out and made for an interesting but beautiful descent.
From there we crossed the Deerfield river over a dinky wooden bridge. For a while we stopped and overlooked the whitewater rafts floating down the river.
Right after the bridge we went up the Whitcomb climb. Although not all the way up, as at some point we turned left on Church street that brought us to the Savoie forests. Here we rode some challenging jeep tracks.
At this point my energy levels were pretty low. Fortunately we almost had all the challenging stuff behind us and once we where in Ashfield it was all downhill from there. So far it has been my 4th hardest ride of the year. Therefor made Sunday a rest day.
This week on Veloviewer:
