2008 cycling in New England

I found the Northeast Bicycle Club on the internet and contacted them.

Cathy Rowell invited me to her house for spinning in the dead of winter and started scaring me with her mountain biking war stories. I was excited to go to the race clinic the club had in April and learn what bicycle racing was all about.

New England thawed and my new bike arrived in May. I won my first race on it thanks to help from my NEBC teammates. The next weekend, I invited myself to a group ride of 6 Gaps in Vermont that Patrick read about on the internet. This ride was lead by Doug Jansen and you can read his account in his May 25th entry.

The ride has 6 climbs and one of them, Lincoln Gap, is really punishing. I could feel my front wheel losing traction on that climb which was disturbing. I was going full out to stay on the bike because the grade was so steep. I figured that if I unclipped, there would be no way to get back on again. The descent off Lincoln Gap was very disturbingly steep on gravel. Once may have been enough for me riding on Lincoln Gap.

After that, it was off to the races. Patrick and I went all over New England going to bicycle races. I am going to make posts for some race reports that I have.

We found out pretty quick that it is not easy to become a bike racer. Patrick was not able to keep up with the group and after a few experiences of finishing the race alone, decided he wasn't having fun. He was a great supporter for me, taking me to races and taking care of my bike.

Just when we thought we had enough, we started all over again...learning how to ride off road and race cyclocross. Patrick has a lot more fun with this, because in cyclocross there is not a big group to keep up with. Most people are pretty spread out so you can enjoy the ride at your own pace.

Late cross season, ice came to New England. The first day there was ice, I fell on it outside our apartment when I was leaving for work (I ride to work most days). I cut my chin open and did not have the confidence to finish out the cross season. Patrick got me some studded tires for Christmas.