A Ride4Claire Newbie Report
Day 1
We woke up to light rain, devoured a quick breakfast and had some coffee before getting our bikes and nutrition ready for the day. Ryan Larson, David Talbott, myself, and Matt Curbeau were the riding team for the day, with the possibility of a few friends finding us somewhere out in the wilderness for some miles. As we were ready to leave for the start of Ride4Claire, we had a surprise visit from the girl herself — Claire woke up early to see us off and snag a pic with the crew.
As we rolled out of the driveway the weather immediately shifted from light rain to torrential downpour. It rained like that for the next 45 minutes. All I could think was “this is going to be how we are going to spend the next 11 hours”. Luckily for us, we rode out of that weather into some dry and overcast conditions, with the sun shining through from time to time from mile 20 to 110.
We only stopped a handful of times to snag food and liquids, trying to just keep the pedals turning over. Over the first 5 hours we had a handful of mechanical issues: Curbeau suffered a puncture which wouldn’t seal, so we threw in a tube while overlooking the Quabbin Reservoir. A few miles down the road his freehub disengaged from the rear hub. Typically an issue which calls for a new wheel, which we didn’t have 100 miles from home in a place where the cell reception read “SOS calls only”. We got it fixed and got back to riding before David’s left eTap shifter died. Luckily, he had a spare coin cell battery on hand. A quick fix. It wasn’t long after that when my right eTap shifter died. We had about 15 miles left to get to Mt. Wachusett with a solid chuck of climbing left. I was stuck in the 54t front chain ring through many steep sections of road where I desperately needed to be in the 39t.
Friend and teammate Cam Cogburn sent us an uplifting text that he was at mile 150 with donuts and coffee and would ride towards us. We intercepted him at mile 120 and he told us he had just come through a massive storm…which we were all now riding back into. It absolutely dumped on us for the next 30 miles as we made our way to the donuts and coffee at Mt. Wachusett.
We rode up to the visitor’s center and collapsed inside, inhaled 4 donuts…each, and took turns drying our gloves and socks in the bathroom with the motion-activated hand dryer. I stole Curbeau’s coin cell battery from his heart rate monitor to get my shifter working again. We got re-dressed, dried off and mentally prepared ourselves to finish out the final 50 miles. We profusely thanked Cogburn for his generosity and for single-handedly saving our day with food, towels, and dry clothes. We headed out to descend the mountain in the pouring rain and cold. I’m glad we spent so much time drying our stuff in the bathroom only to be soaked 3 seconds after leaving the visitors center.
At this point my head unit (GPS) had died. I turned Strava tracking on my cell phone and hoped it wouldn’t kill my phone’s battery in case we needed to make an emergency call for help. The final leg of 50 miles is a blur. We took turns rolling through on the front keeping as high pace as possible after 7 1/2 hours in the saddle. We interacted very little other than to call out turns and point out road hazards. We were miserable and very ready to not be pedaling bikes and being rained on.
After 10 hours of ride time, we rolled back into Matt’s driveway; wet, cold, and completely wrecked. Matt’s wife Kait and daughter Claire were waiting with tacos, chips and salsa, and beers for us to refuel. In 12 hours time, we’d be doing it all over again.
Day 1 we rode 196 miles with 13,000+ feet of climbing at an average speed of 19.4mph. I averaged 205w until my computer died, and I’d wager 220w in the final 2.5 hours. The final 2.5 hours was our fastest segment of the ride, averaging 21mph just riding on pure rage aiming to get home as fast as possible while getting pummeled by rain.
Day 2
After tossing and turning with my mind racing through the day ahead, I woke up and stumbled to the kitchen to make coffee and start fueling for the day ahead with more pop tarts, banana bread, and oatmeal. The guys slowly stirred in various states of exhaustion, delirium, and relief (Ryan, knowing he would be driving home and not having to sit on a bike for 200 miles).
Luckily for David, Matt and me, a few workhorses with fresh legs would be joining us: Erik Levinsohn and Logan Kasper. I was determined to not ever take a pull knowing they’d be there to shepherd us through the day. That’s exactly what happened.
We pulled out of the driveway at 6:20a. For the next 3 hours, we didn’t stop other than to take quick bathroom breaks in the wilderness. The fatigue from the day before and the enormity of the task ahead settled in. We’d ridden for 3 hours and were less than a third done with the day. Thankfully, we rolled up on an absolute oasis in Westport, MA: a bakery. We loaded up on fresh baked cookies, coca-cola, and water to refuel our bottles.
After 10 minutes sitting in the grass and inhaling as many calories as possible, we got back on our bikes and rolled out. “If we keep pace, I think we can make this a two-stop day!” Erik said as we left Westport. I wanted to kill him. But it’s hard to complain when you sit at the back and roll along at 22mph all day.
At one point, I told Erik sitting on his wheel was “my pull”, to which he replied “Am I pulling too hard?” Yes Erik, yes you are. Never change.
Erik wasn’t wrong about how many stops we’d take. The next time we stopped came after we took a quick seaside photo in Rhode Island, 125 miles into the day. The only shop we could find in the town was a meat, cheese & wine store which luckily had some soda and bottled water. We bought every bottle they had and collapsed on the benches outside for 20 glorious minutes spent at 0mph.
By this point I was sufficiently cracked. I found myself mentally checking out as we raced along, completely on autopilot. Drinking, eating, and pedaling. Erik, Curbeau, and Logan took turns setting tempo on the front. David rolled through at a very calculated 1 pull-per-hour. About twice the rate I was on.
At mile 150, I sat second wheel behind Curbeau as he pulled us on a perfectly rolling road at 26-28mph. He pulled off and I pulled through, determined to keep the pace he was setting. I held 350w for 5 minutes staying as aero as possible. I pulled off and rolled to the back and promptly told David, “I had one pull left in me and that was it. I won’t be going up there again.” I wasn’t lying.
From mile 155-190, Erik and Curbeau took turns while Logan, David and I dangled at the back of the paceline. Logan had entered the day thinking we’d be riding 100 miles…not 200. What an absolute legend. I mentally and physically prepared for these rides over 6 months. He rolled out of bed, showed up, rode hard, and didn’t say a word when we hadn’t even began to turn towards home at 100 miles into the day, a state away in Rhode Island along the ocean.
At mile 190, Curbeau called off the dogs. We all sat up and rode two abreast through the final few climbs. Soaking up the sunshine and the effort we’d put in all day.
After 9 hours, we rolled into Millis. Dry, proud, and completely wrecked. My head unit read 198.4 as we turned into Matt’s neighborhood. We did a lap of the town, after 196mi the day before, I wasn’t about to roll in under 200. We turned onto Matt’s street, where his family was waiting in the driveway with balloons, cheers and applause. The grill ready to cook up hot dogs, burgers, and ice cold beers ready to guzzle.
Day 2 we rode 201 miles with 7,500 feet of climbing at an average speed of 21.8mph. I averaged 197w, doing basically nothing but holding on for dear life.
Post-Mortem
Coming into the weekend, the furthest I’d ridden was 125 miles (on the trainer) in 5.5 hours. That was actually in 2021. In the lead up to this weekend, I did one single 5 hour ride, in my temperature and humidity-controlled basement on IndieVelo. Saturday was the very first outdoor road ride for me since October 2022. To say I was entering the unknown is an understatement. At no point did I ever question whether or not I’d finish the weekend successfully.
Having known Matt, Kait, and Claire since Claire was born in 2019 and diagnosed with cancer shortly after — Ride4Claire holds a special place in my heart. I’ve followed along with their struggles of watching their only daughter go through chemo, regular exams, follow-up appointments, set backs, and leaps forward in progress, and now finding themselves in a place where they can take a much deserved sigh of relief as no new cancer cells have been detected in quite some time. As a dad myself, I can’t fathom going through what they have. Getting to join the ride this year on Father’s Day weekend had me thinking of Brody a lot when I was suffering, grateful for his health and missing him more than anything.
Over the last 3 years, I’ve watched from the sidelines as Matt has moved heaven and earth to do this ride mostly solo. I’m so glad to have been able to get out to Boston to join in the challenge — to go through the ‘spirit quest’ that you can only experience by riding 400 miles in 36 hours. I’m stoked the crew was able to raise over $11,000 for Boston Children’s Hospital, putting Matt over $50,000 since he began the Ride4Claire.
I saw this quote on the wall at a client of mine a few days before we began this adventure and it really embodies how the weekend played out: “Nothing truly valuable can be achieved except by the unselfish cooperation of many individuals.”
I’m grateful for the unselfish cooperation of the individuals who donated, followed along, and rode their bikes absurd distances in absurd conditions. I can’t wait to do it again.
