Brentani’s Cycling Blog

I went back to Rt. 102 today, and this time went up it. It’s a nice hill, and it’s a pretty steady moderately steep hill that lasts just over a mile. I’ll definitely be adding it as a regular. At the top of the hill, I took a left on Central Ave, a road I hadn’t been on before. There are some nasty climbs on that one as well. The direction I was headed (west) definitely seemed the easier of the two, but there were some difficult climbs that way as well. From there I continued on to the High Point of Rhode Island (an impressive 800 feet–well, apparently the Johnston Landfill is a bit taller, but I don’t know if bikes are allowed up that). Total climbing for the day was 3782 feet over 45.6 miles. I was tired at the end of this one, though that probably had something to do with the heat. anyway, here’s the route:

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=2834

I decided to take 102 down from Snake Hill Road to the Scituate Reservoir. I discovered a rather large hill, but today I only had to descend it. It seemed fairly steep, but also seemed like a pretty consistent gradient. I generally prefer this kind of climb to climbs (like Wilbur Road) that are always changing gradient, so I’m looking forward to going back to this one. Here’s the link.

And I can’t help but mention the cycling news of the day: Alexander Vinokourov has just tested positive for blood doping at this year’s Tour de France. I can’t say I’m surprised, except that it is just so stupid. He really thought no one would notice? Here’s what I’m wondering, though: he had been under fire for his association with Dr. Ferrari, and his only defense was essentially that “Lance worked with Ferrari too,” as if that’s supposed to convince anyone (except apparently people who actually believe that Lance didn’t dope). I’m just curious whether this whole fiasco will escalate and finally wipe that stupid self-righteous grin of Lance’s face and we’ll find out that he doped all along.

After my ride today I decided to give Jenckes a try. I’ve done it several times before, but this is the first time I’ve done it starting from Main Street. To do Jenckes this way, you head up Main Street (this is in Providence, by the way), and just pass the left turn for rt. 44, you take a right onto Star. This is pretty much just an alleyway that connects with Benefit. According to GPS, this is the steepest part of the climb, but I don’t really buy it. Surprisingly enough, this little addition actually seemed to make the climb easier. The second half of Jenckes is just long enough that (for me, anyway) I am not able to make it up by sprinting and powering my way through it, so I always explode somewhere near the top. While it was difficult today, I took a controlled pace the whole way up, and that seemed to work better. I would have been happier if I had been in a 39-25, but the 39-23 was still reasonable. I can’t wait for my compact!!

So I’m looking for a name for my bike–something to put on the top tube by the seatpost. Here are some thoughts:

Belgium Related:

• Oudberg 52 - This was the address of the apartment Carrie and I had in Belgium my first year there. Great little apartment on a great little street, in a vaguely Turkish neighborhood.
• Jacob van Artevelde - A Flemish statesman who was killed on the street on which I lived for my second year in Belgium. I think he may have haunted my apartment. See more about him on wikipedia.

Holland Related

• Noordwijk – little town on the North Sea that I biked through all the time the year I lived in Holland. I also named a movement of my Hörspiel about the North after it.
• Zandvoort - also a town on the North Sea–the next town north of Noordwijk. I just think Zandvoort sounds fast. I think there is also some sort of Formula 1 track there, not that I really care about such things.

Literary References:

• Tübingen – The town where Hölderlin lived. I visited the Hölderlinturm last summer.
• Bugradgesang - A peculiar word from an important Paul Celan poem. Another possibility would be just the eighth-note under a fermata that Celan wrote under a manuscript for that poem.
• In der Fließen - title of another Celan poem, the second line continues “Nördlich der Zukunft” ["North of Future"]

North/Churchill Related:

• Birdfish - the symbol of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, where I’ve spent some time as a researcher (sort of) and later as a volunteer doing work on their website.
• The Pas – a city about 1/2 way on the train from Winnipeg to Churchill. It figures prominently in Glenn Gould’s Idea of North. Pikwitonei might also be a nice name. Unfortunately, Churchill doesn’t seem like a good name to me.

Other ideas:

• a demon from The Lesser Key of Solomon.
• the date of completion of the bike
• the name of one of my compositions: Algos, Nomina Nuda, etc.

And there are several spots to put this sort of thing, so I can also combine them, though I don’t want it to be cluttered. The prime spot is on the top tube by the seat post. There’s also room on the non-drivetrain side of the rear triangle, but I like the “Handbuilt in Providence” that circle A usually puts there. There’s also the back of the seat tube, which might be a good place for the eighth-note fermata. And then there’s also the front of the top-tube. (I’m leaning towards “Oudburg 52″ on the top tube by the seat post, the date of completion on the opposite side of the top tube, near the stem, and maybe  the fermata on the seat tube.)

I went back up to Wachusett for another attempt. This time I parked at the same place (the Ski Lodge) but rode south on 140 to 31 and then climbed from the southern approach which begins on rt 62 at the intersection of 62 and 31. It climbs pretty steeply at first (as you turn onto Mountain Road), but then levels off, and rolls gradually up to the entrance to the park. From there on, it is the same route that I did last time with Radu, but I felt much better at that point since 1. I hadn’t already ridden 40+ miles and 2. I missed out on the very steep bottom portion. Overall I felt better and climbed better than I did the first time. My time up the climb was somewhere just below 30 minutes (from Rt. 62). And unlike last time, I didn’t really feel like I was drastically over-geared in a 39-23.

I had been planning on trying out this ride for some time. My in-laws live in Manchester, CT, so I figured that I could easily ride there, my wife could drive, and then get a ride home. The total distance was about 65 miles, and it was very hilly. Total climbing according to veloroutes was almost exactly 1 mile (5213 feet). When I finally hit 384 (and had to disobey the prohibition on bikes on the highway for about 1/4 mile) it certainly felt like I had climbed a mountain. The ride starts with rolling hills that go up relentlessly to the high point of Rhode Island at 820 feet. (There’s some problem with the
elevation data on veloroutes, since it lists the starting elevation in providence as about 270–it should be about 60, but the high point is right.) After that, you get a pretty easy section with some long fast descents. Once get to Route 44, though, it gets tough again. It feels like you’re always going up all the way until Manchester. There are quite a few descents, but the hills are long and steep.

Here’s the route.  and here’s the elevation graph from veloroutes:

This one is up to the North of Providence, off Diamond Hill Road. It isn’t very difficult, but it’s one of the longer climbs in the area at just over 2 miles:

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=1866