Conference noted::bicycle

I believe you are going to have a record number of Charles River 
Wheelmen people:  Lindy King, Al Lester, Jim Merrick, Cathy Ellis (a 
mighty lady on a Terry) and John Tobin.  Many have PBP hopes.

I would be doing it except that I don't want to make all the other 
participants look bad (besides, I'm teaching Rdb so am too busy).

Oh well, Best of Luck to all.

	~Mike

    	I finally met John Ellis last night. He sent mail
    	yesterday saying he was going to be in the area to
    	ride BMB. When I first read the message, I thought
    	he said he was going to be at BXB (Boxborough), since
    	I hadn't heard/read anything about BMB 1990.
    
    	John came over to our place and ate some Veggie casserole
    	and some (good, I believe) raspberry pie. We talked while
    	we scanned the tape of this year's Tour de Trump. He hadn't
    	seen Bauer crash in the TT, so we covered that, too.
    
    	We talked about BMB and Terrible Mountain and Middlebury
    	Gap and Linda Bosquet getting hit by a car and all kinds of
    	stuff.
    
    	It was nice to finally get to meet and talk to John. Great
    	guy.
    
    	I'd like to kina follow some of the ride, but Saturday we'll
    	be looking for a new car and Sunday I'll be at the NVC crit
    	in Nashua.
    
    	Scott

    Ed,
    
    welcome to Oz.  I guess you are coming for DECWorld and that means
    Canberra.  There are some great rides around Canberra, if you get the
    time and can find a bike.  The Brindabella mountains to the West of the
    city are great for off road as well as on road riding.  They should be
    snow covered at this time of year.  I'd like to join you but I'm taking
    two weeks off to go skiing ( :-)  many times!)
    
    Richard.

    I changed my mind about going this year.  There are some other
    priorities right now, over and above pedalling my ass off
    on some long bike rides.

    Good luck to everyone - hope it's a nice ride.

    - Jim

    	I pity those riders today. No rain, but I imagine it
    	is pretty humid. That makes for some uncomfortable
    	riding.
    
    	Scott

	I think I passed them this morning on rt 62 around 6:00am. There 
	were two groups of riders, one just leaving Hudson and the other 
	in Berlin center. They had more stuff packed on their bikes than 
	I put in my car when I go away for a week. Not to mention Blinking 
	lights and orange reflectors. They didn't seem concerned with 
	aerodynamics either, since a few riders had water bottle cages on 
	their front forks. 

	The thing that suprised me was no support vehicles in sight. 

	Paul

re:	The thing that suprised me was no support vehicles in sight. 

BMB rules do not allow for personal support vehicles, and the ride's organization
provides little in the way of support.  Certainly no follow vehicles.  What
support that is provided is available at checkpoints that are supposed to be no
more than 60 miles apart.

The bottle cages on the forks may have been for batteries for the lights that 
are required.  I wouldn't carry a battery there since they're rather heavy and 
could affect your steering, but some riders find that acceptable (or the only
available space).

FYI, BMB is not a race, but a fast tour, and it is supposed to be ridden in a 
self-sufficient manner, thus the rule against personal support vehicles (PSV).  
Actually, a rider can have a PSV, but they can only meet at the checkpoints.
I personally find this rule to be rather unsafe, especially for a fast rider 
that wants to ride thru the night thru the mountains in Vermont. 60 miles 
between checkpoints will take even a fast rider 3 hours, more if at night or in 
the mountains or late in the ride.  That's a long time to be out there alone and
in trouble.  How overdue at the next checkpoint does a rider have to be BEFORE 
they start looking for him/her?  What about the rider that is between check-
points and realizes that s/he has to stop and rest and does so for a few hours?
Now this rider is overdue at the next checkpoint, and a search is mounted for 
no reason...  This is a bad and very dangerous rule, especially considering the
small turnout for the ride and the desolate and difficult terrain it passes thru.

Even so, I wish I were riding it... sort of :^)

Kevin

    I did BMB last year and having done it, I'm glad I did it to keep in
    practice for the 1991 PBP, but, I doubt I'll ever do it again. Charlie
    Lamb's organization of the event was poor at best. The French at PBP got
    the whole route on one, count'em, 1 sheet of paper front and back.
    Charlie's directions for '89 BMB was a major novel rivalling Stephen
    King's "IT" in size and not nearly as entertaining. Considering the
    importance the International Randonneurs has placed on BMB for '91 PBP,
    Charlie and company had better be doing a lot better than last year.

  <<< Note 1692.7 by BCSE::KLASMAN "ALL-IN-1 DESKtop for PCs. dtn 381-0731" >>>
                      -< Lights, PSVs (or lack thereof) >-

>re:	The thing that suprised me was no support vehicles in sight. 
>
>FYI, BMB is not a race, but a fast tour, and it is supposed to be ridden in a 
>self-sufficient manner, thus the rule against personal support vehicles (PSV).  
>Actually, a rider can have a PSV, but they can only meet at the checkpoints.
>I personally find this rule to be rather unsafe, especially for a fast rider 
>that wants to ride thru the night thru the mountains in Vermont. 60 miles 
>between checkpoints will take even a fast rider 3 hours, more if at night or in 
>the mountains or late in the ride.  That's a long time to be out there alone and
>in trouble.  How overdue at the next checkpoint does a rider have to be BEFORE 
>they start looking for him/her?  What about the rider that is between check-
>points and realizes that s/he has to stop and rest and does so for a few hours?
>Now this rider is overdue at the next checkpoint, and a search is mounted for 
>no reason...  This is a bad and very dangerous rule, especially considering the
>small turnout for the ride and the desolate and difficult terrain it passes thru.

I've ridden BMB twice (some stupid things have come up and I had to bag
it this year at the last minute) and feel that the rule has been reasonable.

In the past 2 years, the ride was done "audax style" to avoid having riders
strung out all over the place, so that the organizers could sweep the course
and not leave anyone out in the middle of nowhere for very long.

This year, people are restricted from leaving Middlebury before midnight
to cut down on logistics up to Montreal and back a bit, but otherwise
people can ride as they please.  There should be enough organizers that the
course will be swept pretty promptly.

Basically, it's annoying and unfair to self sufficient riders to have
other riders with support vehicles getting assistance along the way.

If you don't want to take risks, then ride with other people - there is
always a wide range of abilities to go with, so one is never very far from
other riders.

- Jim

re: 

Basically, it's annoying and unfair to self sufficient riders to have
other riders with support vehicles getting assistance along the way.

Since BMB is not a race, the concept of fairness doesn't enter the picture.
Annoying it may be, but no more annoying than for the independent rider who is
faced with the choice of either waiting to ride with others, or pressing too 
hard to ride with others, or risking his/her neck to ride alone at night.

Wayne Phillips rode alone in RAAM a few years back and nearly died when hit by
a hit-and-run driver (probably done intentionally, too)  I believe this 
happened in the desert, where the only real danger was other people.  BMB has
much greater dangers that don't involve people at all.  

The women's leader in the Johnstown NY 24-hr race in 1989 was hit (at night) by 
a hit-and-run driver and was left to die in a ditch.  She suffered a compound 
fracture of the leg, among other things.  Fortunately, some other rider saw her
helmet in the middle of the road and figured something was wrong.  Who knows 
what could have happened had she not been found.  This was on a 32m loop, with
2 checkpoints about 16m apart.  Much easier to monitor the riders on this course,
but its still an exceptionally dangerous course to ride at night, due to the 
darkness (no lights at all on 95% of the course) and constant hills.


A local rider was attacked in broad daylight on a local century.

What are we trying to prove here... how hard we can push ourselves, who fast or 
how far can we ride, or who can take the most foolish risks?

Kevin

    Re .8

    Let me understand this;  the route sheets were too detailed therefore
    BMB is so poorly organized that you won't ride it again??

    Re .10

    Yes, BMB is not a race.  It's a challanging ride, and can be ridden in
    daylight with little trouble, or ridden with other riders.  The mishaps
    you describe do not apply to the situation on a Brevet.

    If you want to prove how far you can time trial in 24 hours there are RAAM
    qualifiers and the like, some of which *require* a support vehicle.
    That's one of the reasons that I haven't ridden some of those
    events, since I don't have someone with a support van to follow me
    around on these rides.

    I feel that since it is designed after PBP, and is not a solo time trial
    that it is not unreasonable not to allow support vehicles.  Of course,
    this is in "theory", while in "practice" some Europeans did get assistance
    along the course in PBP from what I hear.

    Anyhow, this is probably not the right place to debate this - you should
    get in touch with Charlie or Hauke and try and convince them that
    support vehicles should be allowed (perhaps only at night.)

    - Jim

    If you asked me for the time and I told me how to build a LCD quartz watch
    would you think I was poorly organized? No, you would think I was
    either a tremendous geek or I didn't understand the nature of the
    problem or both. I don't think Charlie or Hauke are geeks; their nice
    guys. I do however think their organizational skills are going to have
    to honed on the strap of better planning.
    
    GS

    83 hours 11 minutes.
    
    Better organized but still not well organized.
    
    Rained, some.
    
    Cathy Ellis finished in 71:52.  Yes, I know she's one mighty lady,
    she did 408 mi in 24 hr in Capron, and 373 in Edinburg, no drafting.
    
    Well, gotta catch a plane.
    
    ed

I was driving on rt 122 in MA on Sunday morning in the Barre/Petersham area and
I saw a number of cyclists.  Were those BMB riders?

Rich

    I also saw several riders on that road.  The ones going west were not
    us.  Most of the ones passing me were "us."
    
    Our characteristics included: multiple waterbottles (up to 5); a pack
    of some sort perhaps weighing as much as 10 lbs, could be seat pack,
    fanny, handlebar; lights; some fenders.
    
    There might have been personal traits of determination, fatigue.
    
    If you saw any two hour athletes, you know, no water bottle, stripped
    bike, that wasn't us.
    
    We were in the BArre-petersham area from Saturday night to Sunday 4:30
    pm.
    
    ed

    
    When I have access to a faster netlink, I'll say more, but 
    BMB90 was for me a strangely enjoyable ride.  Finished on a
    lyrical sunny Sunday morning, 10:38am.
    
    PS: That's 58:38 elapsed time, only about 20 hours behind the
    winners, from California (who did BMB kind of as a race).  :-)
    
    Interesting discussion in the previous replies.
    
    -john

    Ahem, John, I see you hadn't recovered yet.  That appears to have been
    78:38 elapsed.
    
    Even in Oz, I can figure that out.
    
    ed

    
    And g'day to you!
    
    Of course, you are right Ed.  I was trying to factor in the
    time-warp effects of using the aero seatpost.  :-)
    
    -john

    
    This year's Boston-Montreal-Boston had 77 finishers out of
    92 starters, for an 83% finish-rate, according to Charlie Lamb,
    who organized BMB'90 along with Jeff Vogel (NYC).
    
    BMB'90 had recommended stages, but the checkpoint opening-times
    allowed riders to ride through if they wanted, catching as little
    sleep and as much mileage as they desired.  I rode the stages,
    as in BMB'88, and I think only a handful did not.  More about them later.
    The stages were a bit different from '88 (and '89):
    
    Day   Miles        '88               Miles        '90
     1     228 - Wellesley-Middlebury VT  236 - Wellesley-Middlebury VT
     2     206 - Rouses Point NY          190 - Rouses Point NY
     3     160 - Ludlow VT                210 - Brattleboro VT
     4     160 - Wellesley                113 - Wellesley
    
    This year's first stage went out Mass. route 62 to Barre, rather
    than out MA/NH route 119 - adding a few extra miles on that stage.
    The second day's route through Quebec was somewhat shorter than
    in '88, making for a much nicer route.  I ended up liking these
    stages, though it made Day 3 a challenge to look forward to, what
    with 210 miles including Middlebury Gap, Andover Ridge, and Terrible
    Mountain in one fun-filled day.  :-)
    
    This made for three days of doubles, more or less, culminating in
    a "breeze" (relatively speaking) into Boston on day 4.  
    
    Next installment:  How the Riders Fared.
    
    -john

    
    The weather for BMB'90 was not ideal, but after scorching in 1988,
    even some rain doesn't seem so bad.  People say it rained more last
    year than this year, by the way.  This year, it just *looked* for a 
    while like it might not stop. :-)
    
    Day 1    70� start; fog in Eastern Mass, 
    	     becoming clear, crisp, low 80's
    
    Day 2    68� start; moderate showers in the morning, tapering;
    	     overcast in Quebec, except sunny in Montr�al, where
    	     the rain had not yet reached; p.m. showers in NY and VT
    
    Day 3    heavy continuous rain after midnight, 70� 
    	     p.m. showers and sun, 85� and sultry in the sun
    
    Day 4    early fog, 60's, start; 
    	     later steamy and sunny, SW (tail) wind, 80's.
    
    Next installment:  How the Riders Fared!  (I promise)
    -john

    
    BMB'90 inaugurated an optional 10am start.  This was for fast people
    who intended to ride through (without much sleep), and maybe wanted
    to sleep in before the ride.
    
    Three out of the 92 starters chose the 10am start option:
    
      David Signor and Joseph Moore (San Francisco area), and
      David Tanner (Indiana)
    
    Some people (myself included) doubted whether they would be such 
    hot-shots, but in fact the Californians came in at 58+ hours,
    the shortest time by a long shot.  I came in soon enough that
    I got to talk to them.  (They'd gone off, slept, and come back
    for the picnic.)  They were just regular guys, friendly, engaging
    and serious but casual.  
    
    What kind of training had they done?  Rides like "Bat" Buchanan
    mentions - the Markleeville Death Ride, the Kaiser ride, and a 
    couple of others.  There is also plenty of hill-work they could
    do just in the Bay area (e.g., toward Santa Cruz).  They had done 
    one (1) 24-hour ride, and to simulate the effects of sleep 
    deprivation, had stayed up partying the night before. In fact, 
    one had driven back from Yosemite the previous evening. They had 
    David's parents as support (an RV as PSV).  They slept a total 
    of about 2� hours the whole of BMB.
    
    They said they weren't too much bothered by drowsiness, but were
    concerned about rain on night-time descents.  Having support helped,
    even though it was only at checkpoints, allowing them a fairly bright 
    lighting set-up, with fresh gel-cells periodically.
    
                                   - - -
    
    The riders fell into three broad categories  (the 10am starters forming
    perhaps a fourth):
    
     (10%)  - those who rode through, rather than doing a stage per day;
     (50%)  - those who did the stages expeditiously;
     (45%)  - those toward the trailing edge of the check-point windows.
    
    The ride was hardest for the first and last groups.  I was in the
    middle group, though repeatedly wondering whether I shouldn't be
    enduring more pain, discomfort, and anxiety by going for the front. :-)
    (The percentages are pure guesses.  There were only a handful who
    rode through, and maybe 40% really did the stages expeditiously.)
    
    It was the first and last groups that got very little sleep (for
    different reasons), and faced riding after dark in evening traffic.
    
    I spoke to some in the first group (the Californians, of course,
    Dave-from-Pennsylvania, Cathy Ellis, Amy Regan, Lindy).  Some of them 
    finished only an hour or three ahead of us (and Lindy finished 10
    minutes later).  For this modest gain, their ride had a wholly
    different character:
    
      - They were alone a great deal of the time, which can get
        old in the rain in the dark in the deserted woods or in
        traffic (a lonely experience).
    
      - They slept in odd places and much less than the stage-riders
        (Amy slept the last night on a pile of lumber in a lumberyard;
        Lindy asked at a house near Orange, Mass., about a supposed
        motel nearby, and was invited to sleep at the house).
    
      - They had to deal much more with sleep deprivation, and
        metabolism fall-off in the whee hours when at times it was
        raining, and body-heat was important.
    
    For all that, the leading-edge riders got valuable PBP-experience,
    and were tested in ways beyond the other riders.
    
    The middle group, the stage riders, had a challenging ride, especially
    the first stage (236 miles with climbs), but for example I got in at
    5:40pm the second day, 6:40pm the third - with hours of daylight remaining,
    ample time for a meal, massage, work on equipment, and maybe a disco. :-)
    
    The last group had a difficult time for reasons described - both
    physical and mental.  Some reached checkpoints minutes before they
    closed.  We would be eating breakfast doughnuts at 3am alongside one 
    or two people just pulling in, going for their dinner pasta.
    
    This group had to show a lot of courage and persistence - in some
    cases, they were performing to the max of their abilities, or maybe
    had had some mechanical difficulties, or in some cases it was lack
    of experience in budgetting time.  Whatever - they had a harder time 
    to accomplish the same ride as the front runners.
    
                                      - - -
    
    One of my favorite things about rides like BMB is meeting neat people
    and good riders (often overlapping in one person :-)).  Certainly
    people like Cathy Ellis fill that bill, the Californians (seen only
    after the fact), and the pair I rode quite a ways with - Bob Cadwalder
    from Indiana (qualified for RAAM in Capron) and Melinda Lyon, CRW,
    plus really countless other transient partners.
    
    I don't know of any serious crashes, except for Fran�ois Policier,
    who crashed near Sudbury on the final stretch, breaking his clavicle.
    
    There was at least one rider with a mountain bike.  I saw one disk
    wheel, mounted on a bike with fenders.  This incongruous set-up
    must have been wonderful climbing the green mountains in the rain.  :-)
    There were plenty of aero bars, and I just saw one handlebar bag (mine!).
    
    Personal Support: a handful of riders had personal support - typically
    RV's - and these could meet their riders at checkpoints.  The PSV's
    were therefore not a big problem for the other riders, but in a ride
    like BMB, I find PSV's a little discordant.  For the extreme front-runners,
    PSV's were almost essential - to keep up the nutrient and lighting
    level, and to provide dry clothes.  For the randonneur-type riders,
    a PSV didn't make much difference.  There is enough camaraderie and
    official BMB support for most riders, I believe.
    
                                  - - -
    
    Next installment: Anecdotal Narrative of the Stages!  
    
    If you wonder why you haven't ridden BMB 'til now, I hope that
    the following will tell you ... if the foregoing hasn't already.  :-)
    
    -john

    
    Hey, are there any support crew Digits or Digettes out there?
    
    Maybe they have a story to tell!
    
    -john

    
>>    Hey, are there any support crew Digits or Digettes out there?
    
>>    Maybe they have a story to tell!
    
  	Nope,
    
    		Just us chickens waitin for John's next 
    	installment to hatch :)
    
    					_Jerry

    
    Day 0: Mont Vernon to Nashua
    
    (17:00) Bike back the 25 miles to Spit Brook Road from a day-long
    woods meeting in Mont Vernon.  Spend the evening enhancing nutrient
    levels (with two cheeseburgers, in anticipation of 4 days' healthy
    food on the trail), rigging my lighting system, and polishing my
    bike (in anticipation of the wonderful weather that must follow :-)).
    
    Day 1: Wellesley to Middlebury VT (236 miles)
    
    Up at 1:00am, after 1� hours' sleep, to drive to Wellesley for 
    2:00am registration.  At 4:00am precisely, the 92 starters are off,
    immediately testing out the security of their lighting-system mounts
    on the potholes of route 16.  As per BMB tradition, the transit through
    the unlighted golf course is announced by exclamations of "SPEED BUMP!!
    kabump, kabump" or "Aieeeee! Kabump, kabump" every 10 seconds or so.
    
    Hit some wet fog on US-20 through Weston.  No untoward events, but
    riding in a pack of 91 other people crazy enough to do BMB in dead
    of night on US-20 in a fog is, well, not relaxing.  :-)  First light
    shows us the mill towns of Hudson and Berlin, and the fog breaks to
    cheery sunshine as we toil over the backwoods hills of Central Mass.,
    out Route 62 beyond Princeton.
    
    Right at the top of the umpteen-percent incline into Barre we meet a 
    secret checkpoint - a welcome excuse to snap out of the pedals
    for a moment.  From there, it's hills and woods into NH and Vermont
    at Brattleboro, the second checkpoint (mile 113) at Putney, and then
    a series of chunky hills and steep little climbs, softening us up for
    the bigger climbs of Andover Ridge and Mont Terrible, which would
    in turn soften us up for the final lunge up Middlebury Gap at eventide.
    
    The Ludlow Checkpoint, at the base of the Mont Terrible descent, gives us
    sesame noodles, with optional hot-hot sauce, doubtless to take our minds 
    off muscular pains. :-)  After climbing Killington on VT rte. 100, do
    some pace-line work in the valley up to Hancock, and then hit the
    aforementioned lunge up Middlebury Gap.
    
    Right at the crest, which coincides with the steepest part of the grade, 
    a photographer crouches, waiting to capture our grimaces ("The Agony of
    Victory"?).  Instead, some of us manage to twist our faces into 
    contorted toothy grins for the microseconds needed to squeeze off a
    shot, while others (I'm told) practice certain hand gestures ...
    for their cathartic effect.
    
    (20:10) I've made it down the mountain in broad daylight, thankful
    as ever to clear the pass before night.  After this string of flawless
    accomplishments, I puncture on the flat, wide expanse of US-7,
    four miles from Middlebury VT.  Of course.
    
    (22:30) Fast asleep on the gym floor, after pasta and a cold shower.
    
    Next installment: "Day 2 - Quebec and Lake Champlain"
    
    -john

    Go for it, John. After such a heroic effort, you get to tell us all
    about it.
    
    Next time, also come and push your bike all the way to Nashua
    
    regards,
    
    JP

>>    Day 0: Mont Vernon to Nashua
    
>>    (17:00) Bike back the 25 miles to Spit Brook Road from a day-long
>>    woods meeting in Mont Vernon.  Spend the evening enhancing nutrient
>>    levels (with two cheeseburgers, in anticipation of 4 days' healthy
>>    food on the trail), rigging my lighting system, and polishing my
>>    bike (in anticipation of the wonderful weather that must follow :-)).
  
    	John,
    		Having been a 3 yr. resident of Mont Vernon (N.H. I
    presume) and having a trained eye for potential Woods Meeting sites
    I noticed two things wrong with this.  1.)  There is no reference to
    the heretofore infamous Mont Vernon hill (Route 13), obviously just
    a *mere* hill by your standards, but this hill has caused many a Granite
    State Wheelperson to shudder in shear horror at the thought of having
    to climb it to get home. 2.)  There is virtually no public accomodations
    for a Woods Meeting in Mont Vernon.  Even the locals refer to  the
    Mont Vernon General Store as the Mont Vernon *Mall* since it's the
    largest building (except for some of the houses on the rich hill)
    in Mont Vernon.  Fess up John...was this a bona fide boondoggle :)
    					_Jerry

    
    Jerry,
    
    You are right, Mont Vernon is a tiny place.  Actually, though,
    I *was* discussing actual Computer Science with an engineer at 
    his home (which is why I had stretched my legs up the memorable
    Mt. Mont Vernon that morning).  :-)  I was staying in Nashua.
    Of course, the scheduling of this session was very nice for BMB, too!
    
    -john

    
    RE: .-4
    
    Hey, JP!  How's it going?
    
    Thanks for the encouragement!  You will doubtless appreciate
    the travail with Quebecois in the next installment.  :-)
    
    Your personal name makes you sound like real Randonneur material.
    After all, being sleep-deprived by twins should be ideal training.
    
    Remember the motto: "Real randonneurs sleep in the saddle and
    eat eggs and green beans" (PBP-fare ... rather than quiche).
    
    -john

    
    (Middlebury VT) (2:50am) Wake up. (3:15am) Breakfast.  (3:50am) Head
    northward on US-7 with two other riders, Bob Cadwalder and Melinda Lyon.
    A PSV passes us, waves, and then stops ahead, at a dip in River Road.
    Its headlights are illuminating a good sized tree trunk which is
    blocking the road.  We wonder how earlier riders handled this. It's
    not something you expect.  :-)
    
    I fall behind as we hit short but precipitous drop-offs (still at
    night).  By daylight, it starts a moderate, continuous rain around
    Burlington, nicely coinciding with Friday rush-hour traffic.  The
    rain continues as I stop for a hot dog and Dr. Pepper at US-7 x US-2
    (the road to the Champlain Islands).  A pace-line passes and I catch
    up.  We fly over the Champlain Islands, our gargantuan quads aided 
    (just a little?) by tailwind across flat terrain. 
    
    By the Rouses Point checkpoint, the rain has let up, and we split up.
    The border official makes it easy, by asking "So, you're American?"
    (yes), "And you're going to Montr�al by bicycle?" (yes), "Well then,
    have a good day."  I could have done this without even stopping.
    
    The road in/out of Quebec has full-sized latitudinal cracks, producing
    a bump-bump, bump-bump ride which my posterior recalls all too well
    from Capron last month.  So I take it gingerly.  Very gingerly.
    This new route is better than 1988's, for one thing because there is
    less of it.  Quebec roads are flat and straight, leading the locals
    to see "90kph" and drive "90mph" if they can.  The few-but-big trucks 
    seemed to follow a "point-and-drive" policy at a goodly rate of speed:
    it looks like they aim the vehicle, set the steering wheel, then do 
    something else for a while, until a real course correction is needed,
    hoping no hedgework or bicycles get in the way in the meantime.
    
    Where the route crosses an expressway, I spy a couple of cyclists at
    a gas station (Stationnement de la Petr�le), and stop in.  I buy some
    authentic cookies, then think to practice my skills for PBP, by asking
    the lady, "Bonjour, madame, est-ce qu'il y a une toilette ici?"  After
    a pause, she replies, "Eh? Comment?"  But I eventually get my point
    across.  I had planned to follow this up with some pleasantries such
    as, "Allors, comment aimez-vous les Sox Rouges cette ann�e?"  but I
    think that may be pushing my luck (especially if she is a fan of les
    Jays Bleus), so I hit the road again.
    
    The tailwind is still behind us, making the journey seem effortless
    as the pace line reforms.  Up ahead, the sky is blue on the horizon,
    and indeed it is sunny in Montr�al.  I think, ahhh, the rain is 
    leaving and the wind will turn when we do.  Hahaha.  Actually, the
    rain just hasn't reached Montr�al from the south yet.
    
    My paceline mates seem grateful to have a veteran (me) along, helping
    them negotiate the approximately 5 dozen 4-way-stop intersections and 
    15 turns in the totally harmless suburb of St.Lambert.  The route gets 
    right up against the river, for a great view of the skyline and Expo '67
    on the other side. At the checkpoint are the traditional spaghettis [sic], 
    wonderful Quebec bagels, and a swimming pool for us to look longingly at. 
    
    I head back into the wind and gloom with Lindy, and make it to Rouses
    Point (the stage stopover) at 5:40pm.  Well, this is frustrating -
    veritable hours of daylight left.  But I resist the call of more miles,
    especially since I've paid for accomodations here, and do not fancy
    joining Friday night traffic around Burlington.  Meanwhile, showers 
    move in.  Bravo to the souls (including Lindy) who have pressed on!
    
    I myself get a massage (and a critique of various muscle groups),
    then it's pasta and bed.  Bob Cadwalder asks what's for dinner. 
    "Ziti."  "Oh, some kind of fish?"  Well, apparently Indiana has
    neither a big seafaring nor Italian influence.  :-)  Randonneurs
    find humor where they can, I guess.
    
    On that note, we turn our minds towards The Big Day tomorrow, 210
    miles, including all the Big Climbs from Day 1.  
    
    Next Installment:  "Day 3: Vermont Top-to-Bottom"
    
    -john

    
    (Rouses Point NY) (2:30am) Wake up. Bike in light rain from the motel
    to the checkpoint. (3:00am) Breakfast of o.j., doughnuts, and last
    night's ziti.  A couple of haggard, wet, but determined riders come in
    from Quebec and start on dinner. (3:30am) Bob, Melinda, and I start out
    into continuous, moderately heavy rain, 70�, headwind from the south.
    
    Since it is dark, I don't notice how much the rain is obscuring my
    vision.  I just keep the white line in sight.  In the first 40 miles,
    we dismount once, after passing the "WARNING: DRAWBRIDGE" sign ...
    and walk across the grating.
    
    (5:50am) It is becoming dimly light, allowing us to see the rain blowing
    at us.  We stop at the gas station at US-2 x US-7.  We get snacks and
    sit on the front porch.  A motorcyclist couple stops and talks.  They
    are heading for the Maritimes. They are a bit incredulous we are doing 
    this ride.  Bob and Melinda explain that "not everyone" gets to go on 
    this ride.  Oh no, by no means.  You have to *qualify* ... and *pay money* 
    to go on this ride.
    
    The motorcyclists go off in search of a motel.  Melinda glances sideways 
    and notices I am eating a hot dog with a Dr. Pepper.  (It is 6:00am, and
    they are eating healthy, breakfast-like things.)  This is fuel for
    amusement the rest of the day.  :-)
    
    A pace-line of 8 or 9 riders pass us, throwing up spray like an
    18-wheeler.  We remount and chase... eventually passing them around
    Burlington.  There are flood watches today for southern Vermont.
    We can see why.  Rain is coming down in buckets, and crossing the
    road in streams.
    
    (...to be continued!)
    
    

    
          Well so far I, for one, am beaucoups impressed!
                              
                            8^)
    
                                                   Steve
    

    
    Thanks, Steve ... and now on with our story:
    
    (When we last left our BMB riders, they were swimming in hefty
    showers southward on VT-116 from Burlington to Middlebury VT.)
    
    A police car passes us and disappears over a rise.  We think,
    oh no, one of the cyclists (cringe).  We soon catch up and find
    that a pickup truck has slid off the road into a ditch.  Whew...
    
    Since 3am, we have been thinking how nice it will be to descend
    Middlebury gap in heavy rains, brakepads taking the day off.
    But as we approach Middlebury, the rain lets up.  
    
    (Middlebury, 9:20am, mile 86)  We do our checkpoint duties, 
    eat some soup and cookies, and then head out of town, aiming 
    for the Gap.  At the very base of the climb is the steepest part
    on this side, where you round a hairpin turn, then have to crane 
    your neck upwards just to find the horizon.
    
    A bit further up, we scream through the village of Ripton (at 5mph).
    Suddenly two ladies decide they would like to cross the road
    just as we pass.  In fact, one looks straight at me and, pinning
    me with her stare, marches out to intersect with my path.  While
    she is hefty enough to stand in for the Immovable Object, I do
    not feel, at 5mph, exactly like the Irresistible Force, but plod
    ahead anyway (at some risk to my frame).  We are at close quarters,
    when she feints just enough to let us pass.  Melinda, Bob, and I
    spend some time theorizing how we would have explained a collision
    ("Pedestrian Overturned; Bike Parts Bent Beyond Recognition") to
    Charlie or the Media.
    
    Still further up the climb, we pass through Middlebury College, where
    cyclists in fresh lycra on clean bikes with no lighting gear are
    milling around - doubtless warming up for some event.
    
    We make it over the Gap, then Bob flats on the descent, allowing
    us time to get chilled for the rest of the downhill.  :-)  Just
    at the base (Hancock VT) it starts to pour again.  The timing is
    just right.  We really can't complain.  We are passed by a PSV
    and a BMB official taking our pictures as rain streaks past us.
    If these and the Gap photos are publicity shots, they'll be perfect
    for assuring a large BMB turnout ... of masochists.  :-)
    
    We are riding a little pace line, more for morale than for motive
    advantage.  Bob says he's not used to this, but tries to help out.  
    He will take a turn pulling, telling us to shout if he gets too far
    ahead (and vowing to buy one of those funny helmet mirrors), then
    he'll drop back ... about 100 meters, not taking any advantage
    of our draft, then come forward after a while and take his turn.
    He has no difficulty keeping pace with us.  On the hills, he stays
    effortlessly in his aero-tuck, and waits for us at the top.  We
    eventually catch that he was one of the three men who qualified
    for RAAM last month in Capron.  (No wonder he looked familiar!)
    He tells me later that he did Capron as a training ride for BMB,
    but now would like to do RAAM, since he happened to qualify.  :-)
    
    The showers are now spotty, intermixed with steamy sun.  We climb
    Killington.  At the crest of the ridge, we meet many cyclists in
    fresh T-shirts, with flags on their bikes.  They are VBT cyclists,
    and they look cheerful and invigorated, even through they've just 
    climbed the other side of the ridge.
    
    We have now dried off considerably, so that we are now primed:
    just before the Ludlow checkpoint we go through a truly gushing
    shower ... which extends to within � mile of the checkpoint.  At
    the checkpoint it is dry as a bone, and it looks like we must have
    stopped off at a local carwash.  We fortify ourselves very quickly
    with healthy cream-cake, and before our muscles are cement, head
    out to hit Mont Terrible just outside of town.  
    
    The photographers are especially persistent here, as they see a
    big potential for gut-wrenching facial expressions on this climb.
    Meanwhile, a pleasant "ping-ping" sound has been telling me that
    my rear-derailleur cable is slowly snapping.  (It's had lots of
    workout on BMB.)  I know it will be ... awkward ... if the cable
    snaps ascending Andover Ridge and throws me into a gear suitable
    for a 60mph descent.  So Melinda helps me switch cables between
    the climbs, and we head up the ridge.  The writer from Bicycle
    Guide (a friendly, engaging fellow, it must be said), is waiting
    halfway up to snap more pix.  Not seeing the angle he wants, he
    jogs on up ahead of us (yes, easily outpacing us on our bikes),
    eliciting remarks of outrage ("Show off!") from us.
    
    The rest of the miles to Brattleboro show how really steep and
    tiring those choppy hills are, when you have 580 miles in your
    legs already.  Much of the roadway is wet from recent showers,
    but the sun peeks out, sending steam up and making things glisten.
    
    (6:40pm Brattleboro) We've gotten here with plenty of time to spare,
    and ready to ride another ... 5 or 6 miles ... easy!  
    
    We debate cleaning our bikes for the triumphal finale tomorrow, and 
    hanging our shoes and clothes out to dry. My toes are micro-disaster 
    areas, having been pinched and damp since 3:30am.  We inhale some 
    excellent pasta, bananas, and COOKIES!!   (21:00 to bed.)
    
    Next installment:  "Day 4: Brattleboro to Wellesley"
    
    -john

re: Mont Terrible

While I was riding the Mt Greylock century I heard about some people climbing
Mont Terrible in a thunderstorm.  (I believe that it was Rose Kostin that was
giving this account.)

Rich

    
    RE: Mont Terrible
    
    That could well have been so (a thunderstorm climbing Mont Terrible).
    I saw Rose a couple of times, notably Friday morning as we left
    the Middlebury checkpoint.  It was a stretch for her, but she did
    a great job (a BMB finisher after little more than a year cycling).
    
    -john

    
    Brattleboro (2:30am) Wake up.  (3:00am) Breakfast.  (3:30am) Depart.
    Bob, Melinda, and I are joined by Charlie Lamb, resplendent in his
    neon green jersey, who decided to ride the last stage with us.  He
    is a welcome, fresh presence ... although he may have gotten less
    sleep (as organizer) than we (as riders).  Charlie had also ridden
    the first stage, in about my time, with something like a 13-21 cluster.
    
    The first hills into NH (route 9), down through Chesterfield (route 63),
    and into Massachusetts (route 119 then MA 78) have patchy fog, but
    no traffic, so the descents through fog aren't as horrendous as they
    might have been.  :-)  It is serene and pleasant, upper 60's.  Nearing
    Barre, we pass Lindy, who went off on her own and slept near Orange.
    
    Barre (7:00am, mile 62)  At the Barre checkpoint, we've done a metric
    century already, and explore the lobby and restrooms of the baroque/
    victorian (and now burned down?) Barre Hotel.  It is now becoming
    sunny and quite a cheerful day, as we plunge down the Barre drop-off
    and hit the remaining hills as if they are mere bumps, spurred on
    trying to keep up with Charlie.  Our only incident is being passed
    by a car near Berlin - the driver says a biker behind us (Lindy)
    has parts falling off her bike.  It turns out it is her front shift
    lever braze-on.  Fortunately, the big climbs are already behind.
    
    On US-20 in Weston, we pass happy Sunday bikers.  Melinda is tempted 
    to join a ride of her local club - only a 20 mile ride, she suspects, 
    but we might be able to collect a second t-shirt for it!  But we zoom
    on into Wellesley by 10:38am, and Jeff Vogel (co-organizer) takes our
    picture in front of a large banner - a fate reserved for every BMB
    finisher.
    
    As a practical measure, we adjourn down the street to a place that
    serves home-made ice cream and we each inhale a frappe.  (For nutritive
    value of course.)  And that's that... all that remains is to wait for
    the picnic, talk with the early arrivals (such as the Californians,
    Cathy Ellis, et al.), and applaud the other riders streaming in.
    
    I'm almost tempted to do another BMB... :-)
    
    -john

    
    So that mysterious mild-mannered fellow who kept following us,
    snapping our pix at uncomfortable moments, and making many scribbles,
    has surfaced.
    
    Yes, Christopher Koch's piece on Boston-Montreal-Boston '90 has
    just come out in the December '90 issue of Bicycle Guide.
    
    The photos are very nice, and it's a reasonably well-done piece,
    if the goal is to expose the cycling-public at large to this type
    of event.  Its shortcomings are mainly omissions, probably because
    of space constraints.  But it succeeds in giving the flavor of the
    event - the psychology, the trauma, the whimsical insanity.  :-)
    
    A few minor comments:
    
    - Jeff Vogel, co-director for BMB'90, isn't mentioned - while Charlie
      and Hauke are.  At least I don't recall seeing his name.  He also 
      is a PBP veteran (of course), and "won" BMB'88 by riding through
      the final night in true randonneur spirit while the rest of us
      sweated in the Ludlow youth hostel.  :-)
    
    - The two Californians who polished off BMB'90 in 48 hours are only
      obliquely mentioned as two of the three 10am starters - that they
      were fast enough to catch up to the 4am starters.  Of course, not
      only did they catch up, they beat all the 4am starters!
    
    - The first-day "American" style of riding individually and "dropping
      your buddy on the next hill" is contrasted with the lock-step PBP
      Euro-club team togetherness.  This is true.  However, it's well to
      footnote the drawback in sticking together, especially if you are
      just buddies, rather than a well-drilled riding troupe.  Charlie
      warns PBP hopefuls not to wait for others - he says it cost him
      quite a few hours when he did PBP'87.
      
    - David Wall's (I think that's the name) reaction against the 4am
      starts sounds funny, if he's a RAAM veteran.  Those guys don't start
      at 4am, admittedly ... they probably haven't gone to bed by then
      for their 90 minute snooze!
    
    - In a tangent to my write-up, the cloudburst that soaked Melinda Lyon 
      in the BG piece was the one that caught Melinda, Bob Cadwallader, and 
      myself as we neared the Ludlow checkpoint.
    
    All in all, I have to confess I'm pleased to see BMB, RAAM, et al. 
    get such a spread in a major cycling publication.
    
    -john