Holden Reservoir Friday Ride

Today I took a casual ride to Holden reservoir and took some pictures.

Reservoir street going south

North side of the reservoir

Going down south street towards Reservoir street

Intersection of South and Reservoir

Seven hill wheelmen monday nite social ride goes up reservoir street. For those getting into road riding, give the monday nite ride a try.

Interesting article

I've been reading Red Kite Prayer for a few months now. I discovered it by accident. There was a post about road feel, which got me thinking.

Road feel is really personal. What I consider "good" road feel is probably going to be very different than someone else. For example, a friend of mine hates aluminum and carbon frames. He used to ride a steel frame and loved it. When it was stolen, he tried to find a new bike and wasn't satisfied.

My wife has an old Kona mountain bike from the 90's and Trek road bike from the 90's. I have a Trek mountain bike. My Dolce is aluminum with a carbon fork. The Giant Avail is all carbon. The road feel of a mountain bike is complete different than a road bike.

At this point, I don't have enough experience. It's not like I can get on a bike and tell what kind of material the frame is made of. At the end of the day, I go by comfort. If my butt is comfortable and I can turn the crank without discomfort, it's half way there. Next is how well it climbs and turns. Some of the roads around central MA are in poor shape, dirty or dangerous. For example, a down hill street with a left turn near the bottom. On skinny road tires, it can feel a little bit slippery. It's even worse when there's sand and dirt. I tend to take these turns slowly. Pine hill road in Princeton is a prime example of a dangerous hill.

One thing I do notice is the effect tires have on road feel. My Dolce has 700 x 23 tires. The Avail has 700 x 25 tires. Turning with the avail feels "safer" on the wider tires. If all roads were in great condition it probably wouldn't make much difference, but New England streets aren't always in good condition.

Things I've seen on rides

This summer my wife convinced my father-in-law to get a bike and start riding again. One day he rode around North Hampton while waiting to have work done on his car. Afterwards he said to me "I see the world in a complete different way. Things that I normally don't notice in a car suddenly are there on a bike."

I'm sure other people have had the same experience. Last year while riding on the Holden Rail Trail, I saw a hawk catch a squirrel. Other things I've seen on the rail trail include deer, and turkeys.

Earlier this month I was climbing up to Wachusett and saw this on the road.

At first I thought it was alive, but it was dead. I didn't really notice it at first. If I didn't stop to take a drink from my water bottle, I wouldn't have seen it. I've also seen deer on mile hill road on the north side of Wachusett.

One nice thing about Fall

Even though I'm getting anxious about cold weather, there is one thing I look forward to.

Thanksgiving I usually make a turkey and get together with family. Cooking is a passion of mine and I enjoy making delicious dishes for everyone.

Great place for hill training

This summer, I climbed Wachusett mountain quite a few times. Many of them were with 7 Hill Wheelmen on group rides. Often I like to ride up to wachusett through holden, and princeton.

I don't have a picture of mile hill road, so I googled and found these picture.





Right now, summit road is closed. Hopefully by next spring they will finish the road work. According to Mapmyride, the climb from the base all the way up to the top is a CAT2 climb. Having ridden it a half dozen times this year, going up the steep side is harder than going up the south side of mount greylock.

Changing weather

September is almost over and October is just a few days away. Soon it will be too cold to ride and kids will be out in costumes. Back in 2009, the kids made a robot to give out candy.

Last year, I carved a praying mantis on a pumpkin and the kids made a different robot.

I hope farmer's almanac is wrong and the weather doesn't get too bad too quickly. It would be great if I can ride through October.

Holden reservoir

Today I took a few pictures of the road to the water treatment plant next to Holden Reservoir.

Reservoir street has lots of shade, so it stays cool on hot days.

The lower end of the servoir.

The road to the water treatment facility.

One of these days I'll take pictures of the reservoir itself.

My Madone Experience

Back in July of this year, I tried out a Trek Madone 3.1. I didn't keep it for several reasons. Before I go into the details, we own several Trek bikes. I have a Trek mountain bike and the wife has a classic Trek road bike. Trek makes good bikes.

The madone 3.1 is beautiful and light. I tried the Madone on hills up to Wachusett and flats. Before I decided to return the bike, I rode 75 miles. I'm glad I tried the Madone and learned some important lessons.

The first is that personal comfort is #1. Doesn't matter how advanced, fancy, light or pretty a bike is. If you don't feel comfortable on it, get something else. The biggest issue with the Madone was geometry. I felt too stretched out and the handlebars were too wide. The end result is I couldn't generate power efficiently and at high speed it didn't feel comfortable. I'm a short guy at 5'3". I have short legs and short arms. Someone might say "you need to fit the bike to you" and not "fit you to the bike". That's all true and good, but here's my take.

If I spend 2K on a new bike, I shouldn't have to spend another 600 to change the handlebar, stem and saddle. I shouldn't need to spend 150.00 to get a professional fitting. When I bought my Specialized Dolce last year, it just felt good. I adjusted the saddle height and moved it back a little, but that was about it. The bike shop tried to hard sell me on a fitting, which is a huge "turn off". I have no plans of ever going back to that bike shop.

The second big issue with the Madone is the saddle. It was totally uncomfortable and felt like someone was kicking me in the jewels. I'm sure there's plenty of people who like the stock saddle, but I didn't. Saddles are very personal. It either works for you, or it doesn't. On both rides with the Madone, I felt slower and was slower. Going up to Wachusett mountain I know how it feels on my Dolce. On the Madone, it didn't feel good.

For those thinking of getting a carbon fiber bike, the key is to take it out on a long ride with some good hills. Riding it around a parking lot isn't going to tell you anything. Seriously, it isn't going to matter.

2011 Charles River Wheelmen Fall Century

My third century of the year was Charles River Wheelmen Fall century. The weather was a bit chilly, so all of dressed in winter gear. Dave, Matt and Jawahar joined me on the century.

Dave is pulling up to the first rest stop, followed by Jawahar.

Dave used to race professionally in England. Since I started riding last year, he has been very gracious with sharing knowledge and wisdom. Great guy to ride with. His son Matt is wearing one of his old jerseys.

Matt is fueling up at the second rest stop. The organizer did a good job and the roads were well marked. For comparison, the road markings for Mount Greylock was hard to see and rather small. King's tour of the Quabbin has huge road markings also. There was 2 tandem bikes on the century. At several points, I cheered them on at the bottom of a hill.

One day I hope to do a century with one of my kids. Both tandems finished the century.

Jawahar and Dave pulling into the second rest stop. Rob and I decided to push the last 5 miles to the second stop. It was nice to let the legs go and stretch out a bit. At the start of the "big" climb, dave got a flat. Once it was fixed, everyone got up the hill.

Dave, Matt and Jawahar pulling into the third stop.

I decided to sprint the last 6 miles to the third stop. Comparing the first two centuries of the year, the Giant Avail made a big difference in comfort. At mile 70 I had no fatigue at all.

Jawahar and dave finishing the century. Everyone finished and had a good time.

2011 King's Tour of the Quabbin Century

Before I did Mount Greylock Century, I rode King's tour as a training ride. That day the weather was wet, drizzly and cold. When I got there, several people were putting their bikes away. The weather was just too miserable for them. Being a nut, I decided to do the century. Part of it was a fear of Mount Greylock century. Plus, I already got up early, had breakfast and drove out to Ruttland. Luckily, it was drizzly, but not freezing.

I headed out around 7:30. When I got to quabbin reservoir, I took a photo and bathroom break.

Even though it was overcast, it was still quite beautiful. I'm not an earthy crunchy kind of guy, but the scenery was inspiring. Once I got to the midway point, the weather started to clear up.

The last 20 miles, the sun finally came out. I managed to finish with a ride time of 6:12. According cyclemeter, the ascent was around 6800 feet. I don't know what the actual ascent was, since GPS has a big margin of error for elevation.

Mount Greylock Century

This summer I rode Mount Greylock Century out in the Berkshires with some friends.

Dave, matt and rob joined me on the century. The summit of greylock is 3.491 feet.

The century started on Berkshire rail trail. It's right next to the mall.

Rob and Matt finish the century. Next year I plan to do the century again.

Even though it's been over 2 months since the century, I still remember the descent on the route 2 Mohawk Trail. It's worth climbing up Whitcomb summmit just to go down. At one point, I hit 47mph going down. Some people were going faster. They have far more skill and courage than I have. Of the three climbs, the third CAT2 climb up Hawley is by far the hardest of the three.

The first climb up mount greylock has a short steep section right at the visitor center. After that, the grade is pretty gradual. Once you get into a good rhythm, it's not hard. The second climb was the easiest of the three big climbs. Route 2 up to Whitcomb summit is a steady grade. Once I got into a nice rhythm, it wasn't bad.


What makes Hawley harder than the first 2 climbs is the change in grade. The steepest sections are over 9% grade. The longest steep sections are about 1/4-1/3 mile. There's a few sections around 3% grade where you can catch your breathe.

After Hawley hill, the rest of Greylock century is pretty easy.

Giant Avail Advanced

I love my Avail Advanced.

At first I tried a specialized Romin saddle, but it was a bit too hard. Now it has a specialized women's Riva saddle.

Already the handlebar grip tape is getting black. Part of this is due to getting flats on the road and having to ride with greasy hands.

Good hills in Holden

There are a couple of hills around holden I like to ride. The first one is reservoir street next to Holden reservoir.


The traffic on reservoir road is minimal and the scenery is nice. When the weather is nice, the water is glassy and mirror like. It feels quite peaceful and soothing as my gears go round and round. On hot days, the road is cooler due to the tree cover and water.
Another hill I love in Holden is Elmwood to Ball Hill Road. It heads north from route 31 towards route 62. There's no traffic on the road and the tree cover is nice.




There's a couple of ways of getting up wachusett mountain. One is to go through princeton center, the other is to go up allen hill.

Learning how to climb

Last year I started road biking with zero skill or knowledge. Since then I've been learning stuff from friends. One particular lesson I learned from my friend dave, is how to climb. Now, it may seem like a "no brainer", but there's more to it. When I first started riding, I would pick a middle gear and grind through it. After a few months of riding and going up to Wachusett, I switched to low and slow.

There's nothing wrong with low and slow, but it didn't really help me get better at climbing. This summer I bought a Giant Avail Advanced 2 and finally started to apply the lessons dave shared with me last year. At the time, I didn't really get it and couldn't really absorb it. This was due to several factors. The first one is lack of skill on a road bike. Knowing when to shift and how to pedal is not a natural skill. In fact, it's quite hard to develop. The second is conditioning. It is much easier to work on new skills when the body cooperates. When I was just starting out, my conditioning was "ok" at best. Just getting up a hill was a challenge. I couldn't even begin to think about the best way to get up the hill, until my conditioning was good enough. The third thing is having a regular route with enough hills to challenge you.

So what is the right right way to get good at climbing hills? At the bottom of the hill, you want to pick a gear that challenges you, but not so high you're burned before the top. As you get close to the top, you want to get out of the saddle and try to sprint the last bit. This means going up to the next higher gear. Once you crest the hill, go up another gear and push for another dozen strokes before sitting down.
Having a regular route with good hills makes it easier to practice this. The reason is simple, if you don't know where the hill ends, you won't know when to push. Around Holden, there's lot of good hills to practice climbing.