Fondo Pre Ride July 7
Re: Fondo Pre Ride July 7
On the very steep and sketchy downhill in addition to highlighting bad pavement with spray paint I think a CAUTION! sign on the side of the road at the top of the hill is a good idea. And, yes, the intersection of Barre and Rt. 62 is the intersection Brian is talking about.
KT
Re: Fondo Pre Ride July 7
Glad that you got a free ride. Almost any Uber or Lyft should be able to fit a bike. I got stuck in Sherborn and the guy took me in a Honda Civic. I had to remove both wheels, but the bike plus both wheels fit in his trunk. Almost all cars now have a back seat that folds down, so not sure how the driver can say that your bike won't fit. I know I can fit my bike in almost any sedan with only the front wheel removed, if the rear seat is folder down.
Doug
Doug
MarkMiller321 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:02 pm Just a little follow up for the guys that were on the ride.
I managed to hook up with an Uber right away that was going to cost $28.00. I called the guy up and asked if my bike would fit in his trunk which he promptly replied with a matter of fact no. Probably too many dead bodies to fit the Tarmac. I was setting up another Uber when an Old Timer smoking a cigar pulled up. He offered to drive me to the brewery, we just needed to let his son know first. This old dude was the man! He was in the process of breakfast consisting of a stogie and a cup of black coffee. He informed me that his only other plan for the day was a second cigar and a glass of Jack Daniels after dinner. Cool dude that was either 82, 83, or 84 depending on which of his stories that I wanted to believe.
Crazy old dude that almost made the mechanical worth it! Hope the rest of the ride went well. I will be looking to get down there again in the next couple of weeks.
Mark
Hup Hup
Fondo Pre Ride July 7- Ride notes
Here are my ride notes: The steep downhill, as others mentioned, needs signage or a Marshal warning people to take it slow. The long stretch on Barre Road, once you cross into Templeton has bad pavement, mostly on the far right. It is also a false flat, you look down the road and swear you're going downhill when in fact your climbing a 3-4% grade. Parts of the ride it seemed like we were going downhill for miles, but obviously there was plenty of climbing.
There is one section of disintegrated asphalt.. it's not really gravel, it's just what's left of what used to be a paved road. The gravel sections for the most part are not smooth dirt like Battenkill or Vermont roads, they are rocky, with some larger and sharp rocks. I definitely would not do the ride on light weight race tires. I rode it on Vittoria Pave 700 x 25c tires and was happy with the way they rode, although I should have gone with lower pressure. I let some air out before climbing North Road up Wachusset, which has some sandy parts and is pretty rough.
Riders need to use caution when descending Wachusset, as there are multiple places where hikers or pedestrians are crossing the road. Hikers are not always looking for a bike coming down the hill at 40 mph.
Even if it's a sunny day, I would wear clear or only lightly tinted glasses for this ride, because a fair amount is in the shade and it's often hard to see the potholes or rocks in the places where it is shaded.
Doug
There is one section of disintegrated asphalt.. it's not really gravel, it's just what's left of what used to be a paved road. The gravel sections for the most part are not smooth dirt like Battenkill or Vermont roads, they are rocky, with some larger and sharp rocks. I definitely would not do the ride on light weight race tires. I rode it on Vittoria Pave 700 x 25c tires and was happy with the way they rode, although I should have gone with lower pressure. I let some air out before climbing North Road up Wachusset, which has some sandy parts and is pretty rough.
Riders need to use caution when descending Wachusset, as there are multiple places where hikers or pedestrians are crossing the road. Hikers are not always looking for a bike coming down the hill at 40 mph.
Even if it's a sunny day, I would wear clear or only lightly tinted glasses for this ride, because a fair amount is in the shade and it's often hard to see the potholes or rocks in the places where it is shaded.
Doug
Hup Hup
Re: Fondo Pre Ride July 7
Stay tuned, but pretty sure I have solved the "shit/dangerous downhill" problem and figured out how to avoid both of them and also discovered a really nice gravel climb in place of the gravel section along the farm on Root Rd.
Dave Mingori
Re: Fondo Pre Ride July 7
If I pre-ride that course again, I won't want to do it on the day of 
Hup Hup
Re: Fondo Pre Ride July 7
So here's my latest version. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28022700
Avoids both horrible descents. Avoids all but ~.5 mile of Barre Rd.
Cuts out the loose stone flat gravel section by the farm on Root Rd (open/exposed) and replaces it with an awesome 1K packed dirt climb (shady) on Cook Rd.
Next Monday or Tuesday anyone?
Avoids both horrible descents. Avoids all but ~.5 mile of Barre Rd.
Cuts out the loose stone flat gravel section by the farm on Root Rd (open/exposed) and replaces it with an awesome 1K packed dirt climb (shady) on Cook Rd.
Next Monday or Tuesday anyone?
Dave Mingori