Bethpage 300K

I ordinarily don't like writing about myself if I can avoid it, but seeing as ride reports are a long-standing tradition in the world of Randonneuring, I suppose I had best give it a shot. This was my third officially sanctioned brevet ride, a 300 kilometer loop that started and finished in Bethpage, Long Island and extended out to the northeastern terminus of the island at Orient Point.

My first attempt at a brevet earlier this spring, the Cranbury 200K in central NJ, ended with a DNF (did not finish) for a host of reasons, including a near-total lack of sleep the night before and inadequate training miles, thanks in turn to a winter riding accident that saw me fall on a patch of black ice and tear a ligament in my thumb, keeping me off the bike for nearly three months. My second effort, the inaugural run of the Ronkokoma 200k, also the first official brevet to be held on Long Island, was a much happier occasion, and I managed to successfully complete the ride in time, with only a minimum of suffering (almost all of which came with the climbs in the last 30 miles). 

I should make it clear that I am not a climber. My cycling career is long and varied, having done very long tours (over 1,700 miles), a few years of alley cat and Cat 4 track racing, lots and lots of commuting miles, and plenty of urban "junk miles" just getting around NYC as a kid, teen and adult. But I have always been heavy, if not plain fat, and going uphill is not my strong suit. I can sprint and descend and carve a nice line through bad traffic on terrible roads, but I am not going uphill quickly and I'm o.k. with that. It does mean, however, that on group rides, I usually fall off the back of the group every time the road heads up, and may not catch up at all, so there's lots of solo riding.

That was the case here, but I was prepared for it. Preparation for this ride was actually pretty good this time. I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep the night before, woke my ever-indulgent wife for a good bye-kiss, and felt right with the world as I headed out the door at 2:30 a.m. to catch a 3:15 train, departing from Jamaica station in Queens, about a 10 minute ride from my home. 

I've been riding my wonderful Boulder Bicycle 650b custom all-road for about a year now, and thanks to shop owner Mike Kone and the  artisans at Waterford Precision Cycle, I have a bike I can depend on to do the job. I had recently installed a new Berthoud bag and decaleur system, replacing my Acorn bag, which worked very well but was too short to work with a decaleur on my particular set-up. I had created a pile of sandwiches -- almond butter and strawberry-rhubarb jam on whole wheat --  and stocked up on electrolyte tabs and a few other essentials, so I just had to get dressed and hit the road. 

I was surprised to see that the train to Bethpage was almost full at that hour, but it was still Friday night for most people on the Long Island Railroad. As the train pulled into the station, I waved to a familiar pair of Randoneusse(s?) in the car I was boarding -- Erica and Gwynna, two very nice and very fast young women I had met on my two prior randonneur rides -- but since the car was so packed, I quickly headed into the next one to stash my bike and find a seat. 

I ended up with my bike resting next to that of Steve V., also heading to the ride, and who I quickly learned was the Vaccaro in the law firm of Vaccaro and White, NYC attorneys specializing in representing cyclists and pedestrians and long-time sponsors of the Transportation Alternatives NYC Century, which I have done on-and-off for over 20 years. We soon pulled into Bethpage station and rode across the street to the parking lot where the sign-in was located.

After getting the paperwork done and having my bike duly inspected by brevet organizer Steve Y., organizer Paul M. gave us a quick update and review of the course and sent us on our way, promptly at 4:00 a.m.

The group maintained a brisk pace over the flat roads leading out of Bethpage, and I slotted in behind veteran NJ Randonneur Joe K. and chatted with Steve V. about mutual acquaintances in the NYC cycling community and our histories on two wheels as the dark miles rolled along. At about mile 13, we hit the first actual climb of the ride and, as I had expected, I bid farewell to Steve and the others and settled into a comfortable but relatively slower pace in my granny gear and wound my way up the hill. As it turned out, I would be riding alone for the next 120 miles or so.

The course was largely front-end loaded, with most of the serious climbing (not that there is too much serious climbing to be found in relatively flat Long Island) concentrated in the next 40 miles. As the sky grew lighter, I found I was rolling up and down some unfamiliar but very picturesque parts of norther Nassau county, through Huntington and along the southern shore of the Long Island Sound. None of the climbs were too tall, but they were surprisingly steep in places. I munched a few mini-bagels with butter as I took in the descents, and was pleased with how well the bike handled the curves with only minimal steering inputs.

At mile 47 I rolled into the CornerCopia deli in Port Jefferson for the first "manned" controle (there was an "information" controle at mile 15, when I briefly rejoined the leading group that had taken a wrong turn, before they sped up the next hill). I tried to be as quick as possible in and out of the stop, getting my brevet card signed and filling my water bottles in short order -- I had plenty of food in my bag, so I just grabbed a banana, applied some sunscreen, swapped my regular glasses for my "serious bike racer" sunglasses and headed out of town and straight up the last major climbs of the morning. 

The next stretch was a fairly unbroken flat haul over 52 miles all the way to the end of the North Fork of Long Island at Orient Point. Paul M. was stationed just a few miles down the road for a "secret controle" that took just a minute, but made sure we weren't taking any short cuts. I enjoyed fairly perfect conditions, with a light breeze crossing north to south across the road and sunny skies as I headed across the flat expanse of northern Suffolk county and onto the North Fork. Over the past several years, my wife and I have spent some time vacationing and taking day trips out to the wine country of the North Fork, so much of Middle Road was familiar to me. I rolled past the sod farms and vineyards that dot the area, feeling good and making decent time on my own.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had made it to the information controle at Orient Point, the turnaround point for the ride at 99 miles, before 1 pm. Another pleasant surprise was Paul M., manning the controle with a car fully stocked with water, ice, beverages and fruit -- I lingered for probably 45 minutes, taking time to chat, stretch, re-apply chamois cream and sunscreen and take a few pictures before I loaded up and started the return leg of the ride.

It was just a short 10 miles to the next controle in Greenport Harbor, but thanks to a missed turn and some "bonus miles," I was feeling a little less chipper at the 7-11 stop. I could have kicked myself, because I know the town of Greenport Harbor fairly well, having spent a few weekends there, most recently for my wife's birthday last September, and even though the turn for Main St. was not well marked on the road, I should have known where it was anyway. In any event, I headed back on the road just a bit annoyed at my error, but feeling decent. 

However, by the time I got to the next stop, a Subway restaurant in Riverhead some 20 miles down the road, I was starting to feel a bit weary -- my eyes were pretty red and I was beginning to notice some minor nagging aches in my knees and back. This was close to the maximum one-day mileage I had ever done, about 150 miles in total, so I decided to take my time here, having a solid meal, washing my face and eyes, and indulging in the air conditioning and some Alleve, while getting off the saddle for a bit. As luck would have it, the last 3 riders on the course caught up with me at the Subway, and I got to chat with a very nice couple, Wade and Michele, and their companion Gary, as we ate.

 
We headed out as a foursome with about 45 miles to go, and shared the pacemaking across the return stretch, arriving in good time at the controle at mile 162, a Dunkin Donuts (there seemed to be one every two miles in this part of Long Island). We dawdled a bit too long though, and as we headed out for the last 28 miles of the ride, the light began to fade just as we started the first of the climbs. Did I mention that there were a bunch of climbs in the last 20 miles? There were.

In hindsight, this was some of the most technically challenging, but rewarding riding of the entire brevet. As we entered the Dix Hills section of Long Island and then moved into some very twisty & dark stretches of unfamiliar climbs, I was surprised at how totally dark the road was, away from street lights and with the full moon almost completely concealed by tree cover. Luckily, I was well equipped for riding in the dark, with the excellent Schmidt dynohub and front and rear lights, and a helmet-mounted Princeton Tec lamp that had a very useful low-light red LED mode, so that I could read the cue sheet on my handlebar bag and still see well enough to navigate in the dark.  Climbing and descending these roads in total darkness was a new experience for me, but as it turns out, nothing I couldn't handle. 

Once we topped out the last climb, appropriately named "Mt. Misery Road" at mile 182, we had a blissful and quick decent into the town of Bethpage and a fast roll into the parking lot, where Paul snapped a few pictures, collected my brevet card, and directed me to the train back towards Jamaica, which was scheduled to arrive in just five minutes. 

I was a bit disappointed at this news, because I had planned on having enough time to scoot to a nearby deli and grab a well-earned beer for the train ride home, but time was short and if I missed the train, it would have meant an extra hour's wait. I said a quick goodbye to Paul and my riding companions and headed for the train platform. Imagine my surprise, then when, as if by providence, I found some pre-gaming Saturday night party passengers had left behind two beers on the train platform -- and good beers at that -- Victory Summer Love Ales, still cool to the touch! Even better, it turned out the train was a few minutes late -- I managed to pop the tops and polish off both beers before the train arrived, and enjoyed a very happy ride to Jamaica station. A few well-worn miles from the train station to home, a glorious shower and a quick meal was followed by 12 hours of well earned rest. 

I managed to put in a full day of chores on Sunday, including a visit to the local garden center and hauling a few big bags of mulch around, with no lingering major aches or pains. Today, back at the office, I found myself searching for upcoming 400k rides I could conceivably do this summer, in hopes of completing a full super-randonneur series (200, 300, 400 and 600k rides in sequence). I wonder if I can make it to Pittsburgh in August?