Possible Titles for yesterday's misadventure: Real Slow, Shorts not to Wear for Long Rides, Catastrophic Bike Failure

Sometimes at D2R2 http://www.franklinlandtrust.org/randonnee.html, a wonderfully long hilly bike ride in the late summer - I see people that look like they rode to the start on bicycles loading with camping gear.  The area around Deerfield is so quiet and scenic and ripe for bicycle exploration that this has been a little fantasy of mine for a while.  Yesterday was a 300k Brevet from Bedford, Boston area to the river valley in the Berkshires.  I decided to bag on plans for training for racing to go on this exploratory trip.  The morning got off to an excellent start as I arrived to the start on time at 6 am fully packed up and ready to roll.  I rode near the front of the group, enjoying following others through the turns and not worrying about the cue sheet - I had decided to leave my GPS off to conserve battery for later in the ride.  About 8 miles in, I shifted into the big ride on a slight descent and felt the chain drop - to the outside - then an odor of burning tire and significant bike wobble.  I wanted to raise my hand to alert those behind me - but I was holding the bars tight trying to keep the bike up.  Those behind me made some yelps as I worked through the group to the ride side of the road and dismounted.  The derailer had torn into multiple bits which I assume scattered on the road, severely scratched the crank and wrapped around the cassette - oh and on further inspection had also bent half the spokes and broken the seat stay. 

Well, there went any chance of completing the ride and getting home for dinner - actually how to get home at all was a bit of a question.  The ride coordinator offered to pick me up and drop me at my car.  Back to the race training plan (no exploring) except crap - no racing bike to train on.  I called former teammate, Sam, and we had a good laugh about the demise of the bike.  Patrick to the rescue bringing the beast out ready for action - minus pedals or wrench to remove the ones from the race bike.  A friendly jogger led me (coasting the bike with no pedals) to her house to borrow a wrench - and I was back on the course about 1 hour and half later just as the summer heat was moving in.

 It seemed like I just couldn't get the beast to move - kept stopping to check out directions, backtrack to the course, look for more water.  Following the cue sheet gave me a chronic case of "Are we there yet?" constantly looking for the next turn and wondering if I had missed it.  I considered how long it would take me to catch up with others at the slow pace - quite some time indeed.  There were some lovely views and it was a hard ride.  My shoulder ached and my shorts turned out to have been a very poor selection for the trip.  After a while fingers on the  left hand started to tingle from that shoulder.  Oh and did I mention hot foot - I got into the habit of coasting down about any stretch of road that could be coasted.  Stops were minimal as I pressed on in the hopes of catching up to someone and having a chat.  The empty roads seemed terribly lonely.  After over 6 hours, I did catch up to other riders that we nice enough, but they also kept stopping so it was hard to ride with them.  After a lengthly stop to chat and try to force food down followed by a pretty significant scenic detour - I realized I had made 5 miles of progress on the course in nearly 2 hours.  I was on pace for a 2 am finish - my rear end was flaming and my shoulder was irritated by riding in drops, standing, bumps, and gravel - pretty much all riding conditions.  My mindset in the previous hours made me consider just how challenging a long solo trip really is (this had been less than a day after all).  I decided that at least today (and yes at the time I thought NEVER AGAIN - I didn't have it in me and was greatful for an offer of a ride back after 140 miles.