Belated post regarding my May 17th assault on the 6 Gaps Route with Jessica Eckhardt. I was excited about the prospect of a all woman (yes, even just 2) 6 Gap ride. Jessica has been riding likely about 10 x more than I have this year so I figured if I could stay on a bike all day, Jessica would have no problem. The Friday morning before the big day I was so tired that I felt queasy- sadly this state was brought on my late nights at work not overtraining. Thinking about getting up at 4 am to drive to Vermont seemed ridiculous. I decided to call Jessica to cancel, but did not have a break to get to my desk all morning. By the time I did get to my desk, she had sent an e-mail about how excited she was and had purchased and installed a mountain bike cassette. I hoped for the best.
Jessica arrived after 10pm at my house with bug spray and sunblock attached to her bicycle with velcro. Hmmm, I have never found bugs much of a problem on a road bike. I have found extra weight to be a problem. I assisted her with lightening up this set-up.
9:30 on Sat morning, out bikes were rolling towards Brandon Gap. Patrick did a nice job driving us to Vermont as well as climbing Brandon and Middlebury Gap. He then left us for a nap. Lincoln Gap was tough for Jessica, as she had a pinched nerve from a previous injury act up during the slow grinding section. Given that there really was no rush, I found that it is possible to do a track stand for half a mile and finish the climb without getting the heart rate up. This is a super slow method, but faster than pushing. On the descent from Lincoln, my cable broke in the right shifter, setting the stage for the most challenging climb of App Gap ever. We tried to give Patrick a call to let him know we could be stuck on the other side of the mountains with the mechanical- the call went to voicemail so we set about jury rigging the shifting. Jessica really did a wonder on the bike and managed to get the chain into the 2nd easiest gear. The cable was held in place using a multi tool and medical tape we bought in Lincoln. We had finished Baby Gap when Patrick arrived. He got a signal when he got to Warren to bring us snacks. We replaced the cable and I headed up App with all gears in play. Jessica was not in great shape when we took our snack break- the pinched nerve was a frustrating concern. She was determined to knock off the last 2 gaps though so with the sun low in the sky we headed up towards Roxbury. Roxbury is a dirt climb which is challenging with 80 miles in the legs. Loose gravel made it quite more challenging. Considering Jessica's modest experience riding gravel, I wasn't too surprised to see her pushing through that section of road. (I found here that if you go slow enough a dusk, actually bugs can be a problem) I thought that this might be it for the ride and offered to turn around. No turning around for Jessica - the bike could be pushed to the top and off we went. We worked though most of the last climb in the dark and had a thrilling nocturnal descent to the car. Jessica's headlight is so bright that I briefly thought that she was a car.
We finished around 9 or 9:30 and happily ate the two pizzas had Patrick bought for us while discussing the constellations overhead. Really a great ride. Unfortunately, Patrick had spent nap time delivering the cable to us, so did not get a nap. He did manage to drive us back home with home sweet home at about 1 am.
I'm hoping for some more long scenic rides this summer and hope Jessica is able to fulfill her dream of racing across America next summer. This weekend she is riding her bicycle to Maine where she has business. I hope that she is expensing the miles and lots of gummi worms.
