First Purgatory Ride of the Season

Saturday, 5-30-09 - A group of 9 headed out to Purgatory Chasm from Hopkinton Common. Perfect weather for a nice little climb. The name "Purgatory" scares some people off. We had a couple thinking that this was not within their realm of riding ability. They were proven wrong. All rode strong and all did well. One of the memorable moments for me came when Maryellen got to the top and said "hey wait, is that it? I thought we didn't get to the climb yet." Now for those of you reading this you should understand that this was after climbing for about gradual 5 miles. It's not that steep but it is steady and up.

We started in to the Chasm on our way to the ranger station to get some water and use the facilities when all of a sudden we heard the dreaded sound of a tire going flat. Bob's tube let go. Lucky it wasn't when we were descending out of there. No worries though, we pulled off the road along came "Bicycle Repairman"... (Marc) He had that tire changed in no time though he's not as quick as the original "Bicycle Repairman" - Joel. However this was a quality repair complete with a used GU wrapper to protect the tube from popping through the tire's slice. Hey Bob, don't forget to put the new tires on...

We regrouped at the ranger station and headed out. The return loop had some roads that were in poor shape. My GPS kept shutting off. I assume it's due to the bug in the Garmin related to the battery not being as securely seated as it needs to be. If that were the only problem it wouldn't have been bad. When we got back to the common took my iPhone out of my bike bag and discovered the glass was broken. Yes, it was in a hard case but there was nothing covering the glass unfortunately. I think the swiss army knife in the bag must have smashed down on it while riding on the bumpy roads. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now but warn those of you with similar phones to make sure they're protected if you plan on putting them in your bike bag while riding.

That's it for now. For the first Purgatory ride of the season I'm really proud of how well everyone did. Heck, the pace was on a par with some mid - late season Purgatory rides. The PHATs are on their way to some great conditioning.

Next up... The King's Tour of the Quabbin Reservoir ride...