Conference noted::bicycle

3020.0. "BikeBoston 95: Wet, Wet, Wet!" by NETCAD::BRANAM (Steve, Hub Products Engineering, LKG2-2, DTN 226-6043) Mon Sep 18 1995 13:19

Eastern Mass hasn't seen a total of 1/2 inch of rain since late July. Yesterday,
the day of the ride, it rained non-stop from dawn to dusk. 37 miles around
Boston, 4 1/2 hours in the rain (no, we weren't the last ones in!).

My wife and I got to MIT just in time for the start. According to one of the
rest stop volunteers, there were some 1800 riders pre-registered, and an unknown
number of ride-day walk-ins (probably not too many due to the weather!). This is
just a joy-ride, not a race. The course went through Boston south into Milton,
Canton, and Quincy, passing through the Blue Hills Reservation.

Lots of good support from the Mass State Police at intersections, giving bikes
the right of way through the lights and around the rotaries. Also plenty of ride
marshalls pointing the way, although there could have been more, especially in
Boston's notorious maze of streets intersecting at all angles. We got off the
route only once, though, toward the end when we turned onto Dorchester St. in
South Boston. A nice young fellow with a badge in an unmarked car recognized our
red vests and pointed us back to Broadway. The post-ride party at the Hatch
Shell was a bust. Everybody got their T-shirts, munchies (ah, those hot perogies
were heavenly!), and hit the road back to the car.

Memorable moments: Chickatabut Hill in the Reservation (or as my wife naturally
called it, "Chickataw Butt Hill"). The climb, for those with poor climbing
skills, was long, steep, and relentless (readers in Colorado may smirk
contemptuously). I managed to make it in first gear, but stopped to rest at the
top (really, I was just waiting for my wife...). The descent was wild, too.
Long, steep, and curvy on drenched road. At the bottom, an ambulance crew was
putting someone on a stretcher. He or she (never found out) had apparently hit
the concrete embankment and flipped over it. We wish the poor soul a speedy
recovery. Then crossing the Neponsett Bridge from Quincy into South Boston. This
is the Rt. 3A bridge, 5 or 6 lanes in each direction, more a long freeway
overpass. We entered on one ramp and then had to cross two lanes of entering
traffic accelerating to get on from a second ramp. This was not quite riding on
open expressway, but close to it. Yeesh! I think it would have been a lot safer
for us to have gotten on the second ramp.

So how did we manage nearly 5 hours in the rain in relative comfort? Good
layering! We each had on a long-sleeve polyester undershirt, 50/50
polyester/cotton jersey, heavier polyester jersey, and polyester shell. The
shells were great, the water just beaded up and ran off (thanks to GearWorks in
Leominster for letting us in after closing time Saturday night to buy them). My
wife complained at the first rest stop about feeling clammy, but I assured her
that was just sweat, not rain, and sure enough an hour later we had both dried
out underneath, the poly undershirts doing their job. We both had poly-spandex
tights, so while our legs were not totally dry, at least they weren't freezing
and drenched. Our feet, on the other hand, were totally unprepared, since we
just had cotton socks and sneakers. Polyester shoe covers would have been nice.
A nice fleece headband completed my ensemble to keep my ears warm, which is
usually what determines my tolerance for cold and wet.

Along the beachfront north of the JFK library, rain coming down pretty heavy, I
turned to my wife and said, "This may sound pretty stupid, but this is very
pleasant!" Having a warm, dry torso made all the difference. I saw people in
nothing but cotton T-shirt and bike shorts, which seemed pretty dumb in the rain
at 50 degrees F. They didn't look like they were enjoying it much.

I told my wife I was very proud of her (she had had her doubts, and grumbled
about catching the sag wagon). She had done nearly 40 miles, in the hills, in
the rain, in the fall, in New England, and managed not to get run over by the
Boston drivers!