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D2R222 - 24 August 2013 click here for slide show |
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 The Green River Timber Crib Dam Careful observers may note the odd title at the top of this page. Cyclists from New England and beyond are perhaps familiar with the D2R2--the fantastic Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnee. But the D2R222? Say it out loud, then take a spin through the slide show (link above) if you haven't already before reading on. |
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Jeff's Latest Adwrenchures in Bike Maintenance and Repair Wise riders hew to a fundamental cycling axiom--don't try anything on a big ride that you haven't thoroughly test previously. So what was I doing just after lunch on Friday--fewer than 24 hours prior to rolling out for the D2R2--with a chain whip in my hand struggling to remove a resistant cassette? The Fuji Cross Pro is a light bike. That is, when it's absent its crank and chain rings, chain, bottom bracket, wheels, and saddle. Why this level of disarray so close to the ride start? I had long planned on using a cyclocross bike for this ride, mostly for the wide tires and to a lesser extent the more relaxed geometry. (Disclosure: I don't really know whether the road-cross geometry difference makes the latter more relaxed, nor what exactly relaxed means when it comes to geometry, but it sounds both knowledgeable and comfortable.) I'd previously ridden the 'cross bike only a handful of times, and only on modest road rides. During a 'cross practice two days prior, I had put the gearing through its first real paces and found it to be lacking. I spent most of my time at the low end of the modest/middle gear range (48-39 in the front, 12-25 in the back, for a 1.56-4.00 span of ratios) on a course with only one real hill. Finding myself wanting a lower gear on the steep but short climb, I knew I'd want it all the more on the real climbs of the D2R2. So, my options? I could buy a new crank, chain, and cassette. But that was more than I wanted to spend. Hmm, I had an old 11-27 cassette laying around--I could at least swap that on to gain a few teeth. Of course, that would require a new chain. I could at least borrow the 50-34 crank from my road bike for the weekend to keep the cost reasonable. That would give me 1.26-4.54, a considerable improvement especially on the low end. A quick inquiry to my mechanic-muse (you know who you are) revealed that the Truvativ (SRAM) bottom bracket wouldn't accommodate my Shimano crank. Bottom brackets aren't all that expensive, so off to Landry's. Two choices--Ultegra or Dura-Ace. (The high end of the Shimano line of mechanical component groups is headed by Dura-Ace, then Ultegra, then 105--think of them as gold, silver, and bronze.) Ultegra, I thought--no sense getting out too far ahead of the rest of the 105 components. And then a light dawned. Why not Dura-Ace? Dura-Ace. I've never had any Dura-Ace. Why not move the 105 bottom bracket from my road bike to my 'cross bike and install the Dura-Ace on the former? On the drive home, it occurred to me that constantly (or even occasionally) swapping the Shimano setup (crank, bottom bracket, and chain) onto and off of the 'cross bike would get old in a hurry. Why not track down a used second Shimano crank to leave on the 'cross bike (I'd want it for racing in addition to the D2R2)? Wanting to know what a good price for a used crank would be, I took to the Interwebs. Hmm, that low a price for a new Ultegra model? Why not pair a new Ultegra with the Dura-Ace bottom bracket (blasphemy in some circles, I suspect) and really spruce the road bike up? A plan finally in place, I had some work to do. Step 1 was to pull the cranks on the 2 bikes and get the bottom brackets off. I'd do that Thursday, then tackle the reassembly Friday. - 'Cross crank off, check. - Road crank off, check. - Left 'cross bottom bracket off, check. - Right 'cross bottom bracket off, ..., uh, ... nothing. Damn that was on tight. And my pipe extension for the wrench was nowhere to be found. Well, I could at least get the road bottom bracket off. (Maybe the reluctant 'cross bottom bracket would be easier later?) - Left road bottom bracket off, uh, nothing. - Right road bottom bracket off, uh, nothing. Back to Landry's. It's a wonder what a 3 foot socket wrench will do--good to go. An hour or so Friday afternoon for the reassembly struck me as being about right. Chain whip, old wheel with the 11-27 cassette, let's get this party started. Or not. Damn that was on tight. Finally, it came free. Off with the old cassette, on with the "new." Except that for some reason, it didn't quite fit--the small gear wouldn't engage. Double-check--both are ten-speed cassettes, right? Right. What to do? 10-speed Shimano 105 cassettes are neither a single assembly nor a collection individual gears. Rather, they consist of a joined assembly of the three largest gears, separate gears for the remaining seven, and a series of spacers. The real point of the exercise was to benefit from the largest gears. Why not combine the 3-gear assembly from the 11-27 cassette with the 7 individual gears of the 12-25 cassette and see if that "hybrid" (my mechanic muse would no doubt use more severe language) would work. Bingo. On with the bottom bracket. No issues. On with the crank. No issues. On with the chain (the one from my road bike, since it's length was already set for the 50-34 front/11-27 rear). No issues.* (*Actually, issues, just not ones that were yet apparent.) Out in the parking lot with the pedals under load, the chain wouldn't stay in the lowest gear. A few adjustments to the derailleur improved matters, but the chain was still skipping. Time was running short. "An hour or so Friday afternoon for the reassembly struck me as being about right." Ha. Try 3 hours and not yet a satisfactory result. I disassembled the hybrid cassette and restored the 12-25. Still with the skipping. Well, if it's going to skip, better with the 25--back to the hybrid. Final test on the stand--no skipping. Well, maybe the D2R2 on-site mechanic could make good what I couldn't. Load the car, Betsy and Michelle arrived, we packed their stuff, and were off for Deerfield (or is it Greenfield?). |
Jeff's Latest Adventure Actually on the Bike: the D2R2 Ride Betsy, Michelle, and I arrived in Deerfield (or was it Greenfield?) a bit after 8pm. Our first stop was the Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnee (D2R2) registration tent. It was nearly empty, so within minutes, we had our wristbands, electronic numbers, and cue sheets (40mi | 100k | 115k | 150k | 180k). (Betsy wondered why the 40mi route was measured in "second class citizen" miles while the other four were measured in "elite rider" km.) That mystery set aside, dinner. We headed north on Route 7 for a recommended pizza place. Two dueling smartphones later, we headed south on Route 7 for a recommended pizza place. It was staying open late on a Friday to accomodate cyclists. We arrived before 9p. It was closed. I know, I know, I promised a ride report. Soon enough! Plan B was to head to the (irony alert) Quality Inn to check in and get a dinner reservation. We drove from Deerfield to Greenfield (or was it Greenfield to Deerfield?), found said Quality Inn, checked in, then headed to Taylor's Tavern for an excellent dinner. Back to the QI, readied our gear, and slept.  Commence ride report.
We arrived at the ride start, partook of an excellent continental breakfast, readied our bikes, and rolled.
The plan was for Betsy to ride the 40 mile Green River Ride while Michelle and I would ride the outbound leg of the 115k route and the return leg of the 100k route. Why the mix and match? Hills (avoided) and peaches, naturally. A bit of cue sheet deciphering confirmed that Betsy could ride with us to the first water stop at the 15-mile mark without dramatically varying her route. So alter the plan we did. Once off of Route 5/10, we rolled north on the bike path a bit before making our way to Green River Road. It took us longer to leave the pavement than we expected, but once we hit dirt, it was almost all dirt until right before the finish.  At the rest stop, we parted ways.
Betsy and her road bike (25mm tires) headed north on Green River Road while Michelle ('cross, 28mm) and I ('cross, 32mm) crossed the river and headed up the east side.
The plan was to meet Betsy at lunch at the covered bridge, despite the fact that she'd likely arrive there well before the two of us.
Twice, Michelle and I had to dismount to climb short but steep pitches with loose cover. For me, the problem was my skipping low gear. For Michelle, the problem was me. But she humored me and walked anyway. The highpoint (literally) of the outbound leg of the 115k route is the 4 mile, 1000' climb up Ames Hill Road. While I'm not a particularly great climber, I enjoyed that climb, getting passed by roadies on road bikes and practically flying by dirtdogs on mountain bikes. It's a great feeling getting to the top. Several families were meeting their riders there. After the top, though, the cruel joke was that there was still another fairly steep bit to go. After that second steep stretch, the beauty of the 115k-100k hybrid emerges: 16 miles of descending, including lunch 6 miles along that distance. Lunch! 
Betsy had arrived at lunch early, then decided to throw in a climbing loop before returning to wait for us.
I've had a lot of great lunches in my day, but few have equaled the D2R2 lunch at the covered bridge over the Green River.LOTS of cyclists to chat with. LOTS of bikes to ogle. LOTS of scenery to take in. LOTS of food to take in. The only downside was getting started again. But getting started down the 100k route meant 10 miles of descending (rather than the 5 miles of climbing offered by the 115k route heading out from lunch) before the road turned up. 
The sharp right onto Nelson road marked the beginning of 2 miles of climbing, 2 miles of descending, a mile of climbing, and then the short descent to the Apex Orchard.
I'm pretty sure that the Apex Orchard was the main reason that Michelle opted to repeat last year's D2R2.
Sure, she touted peaches when I ate plums, but what's a minor fruit disagreement among friends.
My fruit needs for the year taken care of, we rolled out for the home stretch.
Yes, there was a bit of climbing still ahead. But overall, we had over 700 feet of elevation to give back. A big part of that "give back" was the "gnarly" (yes, it said that right there on the cue sheet) descent of Hawk Road (Betsy and her 25mm tires wisely sought an alternate route). My assumption had been that it was gnarly due to steepness on dirt. But it wasn't all that steep. No, it was gnarly due to its loose cover. Perfect surface for a mountain bike. Too bad I was on a 'cross bike. I ended up LOVING that descent. I kept my speed and plowed through the crud. I probably got a bit lucky. But I had a BLAST! At the bottom of Hawk Road, we exited out onto pavement and the final flat miles back to the finish. Betsy ended up logging not only her longest ride ever, but also her first metric century. 
Showers were an optional shuttle ride away.
We opted for a draped towel and a cylinder of wipes.
Then, an excellent dinner--I still can't remember the last day I had three meals as good as those of the D2R2.
My friend Tom Keane joined us to eat--he'd ridden the 180k route and had similar glowing reviews to report.
I hope to have it to do all over again. I might try the same route or I might piece together a different one--one additional beauty of the D2R2 is its network of interlocking routes. Two things I might do differently: avoid the "Quality" Inn and stay over Saturday night to enjoy more of the evening. The numbers
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