This was not the first time I've ridden the Westfield 600K, but it was the first time I've completed an event of this distance since my August 2010 accident. I love riding in the Catskill Mountains and I can't think of a nicer way to complete my super "re-randonneur" season. Other than a few sprinkles at the start, the weather was outstanding; warm, but not too hot with little humidity and virtually no wind.
In Woodstock, Brian and Doug organized the most gracious checkpoint I've ever encountered. They made sandwiches, filled water bottles and was generally made riders feel like royalty.
Right after Woodstock, our work really began with the climb through Devil's Tombstone. The Catskill Mountains sure look a bit different up close.
After the Catskills, we enjoyed a sweet descent down the backside of Windham Mountain into a rolling section that inched towards Albany through the Helderbergs.
The least scenic section of the route involves the stretch through Schnectedy, but I was able to find a small slice of beauty anyway. If you can forget that GE dumped millions of tons of PCBs into the Hudson over the years, it's easier to see the beauty.
I woke up on Sunday with a sour stomach, but upon arriving in Bennington, VT, I craved an egg sandwich. Sadly, the only place I could find this protein-rich delicacy was at McDonald's. It was delicious and the coffee hit the spot too, and helped fuel me up the monster hill just east of town.
While I was generally well-hydrated throughout the event, at some points, I wondered about halucinations. Take this milk bottle for instance. Doesn't it make YOU thirsty?
So in all, it was a great weekend. I learned that 600 kilometers is still within my reach. While this was not my worst time on an event of this distance, it was certainly not my best. I returned to Westfield with strength, confidence and the hope that with more training and conditioning, I will be able to ride greater distances and at higher speeds.
Congratulations on a hard earned award. Way to make a comeback!
ReplyDeleteGeorge, nice ride and I am glad that you bagged the SR for this year!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support and encouragement! It's been a great year and I'm so very grateful to be back riding and enjoying long brevets again. Hope to see you both on the roads soon.
ReplyDeleteThis is a late comment, but... You wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe least scenic section of the route involves the stretch through Schnectedy, but I was able to find a small slice of beauty anyway. If you can forget that GE dumped millions of tons of PCBs into the Hudson over the years, it's easier to see the beauty.
One also has to forget that GE exploited the town and its residents fairly mercilessly for many years. When I lived in Schenectady ('89-'99) GE had all but abandoned its factories, leaving chemical waste to stew near the downtown core.
It's interesting to see that in June, the GE sign was showing red and green. My memory (I could be wrong) is that they set it up that way for the Christmas season, and that the rest of the year it was done in white lights, like the rest of the sign.
Great point! GE is just another example of what can happen when a corporation no longer finds a particular location to be in its interest. A warning for sure to us all that sometimes we need more than the free market alone to regulate industry. This memory is not so very distant to those who fear the potential of the whole fracking process to extract natural gas.
ReplyDeleteThe sign was quite picturesque. I'm not sure if it changes colors throughout the year. Happy travels.