On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 22:44:36 -0400, "TomCAt" wrote:

Let me see if I have this right ............

You show up and pay $25 dollars, get a T Shirt and go for a bicycle ride
....

AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO COMPLAIN!

YOU SNIVELLING SACK OF ****. GO AWAY. DON'T RIDE. WHAT AN ASSHOLE!

Seemed like a fair evaluation to me. It does seem unusual that only bananas
and water were available at the rest stops. Is 25 bucks a fair amount for a
ride like this - just asking. ;-)

jj


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"Pete Salomone" wrote in message
...


*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got a
t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts were
left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the rest
stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water stops –
“only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and got two
bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the first
riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour is not a
race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the 75-mile race. I
wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water that
you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles that I
expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders took the 30
and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was not busy and
then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of SAGs, emergency, and
police directing traffic on the route. On this stretch I met a husband and
wife who lived near the top of West Mountain Rd, Canton, a climb we often
avoid on easy weekday rides but a good one to use for hill training. CT341
ended with a very long downhill (over 3mi) as it reached Kent. Several
cyclists(racers) were making the climb in the other direction; I presumed
they were doing hill training; they picked the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode with
a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often pass
thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about the
Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes right
on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I was
less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the bridge.
Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we started
climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked about bike
clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the while we rode thru
beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy highway,
although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into Norfolk. The
climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of good news. We
still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272 AND most of the
route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information on
the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks, and
rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a bailout
route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches and
pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like to
see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and Gatorade,
lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned about
3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one Clif Bar,
three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide two
things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back
to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go on an
invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs every 25
miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will hunger
for d carbs once; but not twice.