Today the order was reversed. The tasty afterglow of my visit to Kane's Donughts in Saugus (see previous post), home of the "world's largest coffee roll" and delicious doughnuts, soon gave way to guilty motivation to get on the bike. Fortunately, it was a beautiful sunny, warm day to burn those extra calories.

Photo credit: Pink Sherbert Photography

So, now the track appears to be up and running under a new name - The Northeast Velodrome.

Photo credit: Incase

Photo Credit: Gregory Leaf

There's something about riding to that big, round, 3-digit number of miles with a simple mechanical device that it totally human-powered. It's a feat. It's a great goal.

Completing a century ride is a satisfying accomplishment, and a rite of passage for new cyclists. And, once achieved, is a recurring milestone in each subsequent cycling season. So, when will you ride your first century? Or your first century this year?

Three classics are provided by the Charles River Wheelmen, in the Spring, Summer, and Fall:

CRW Spring Century

CRW Climb To The Clouds

CRW Fall Century

Enjoy the ride.

Photo Credit: bp6316

Six inches in front of you is another rider doing the same. Keeping your efforts in sync is critical, not only to be efficient now, but also to be safe.

And, of course, there is another rider just six inches off of your back wheel. Doing the same. Trying to keep smooth and steady.

You're all barreling down a public road, with potholes, traffic, broken glass, pedestrians, and other hazards. So, where do you focus your attention, visually?

"Look at nothing. See everything."

If you stare at the back wheel in front of you, you may become distracted and miss an upcoming hazard. If you look around for hazards, you may not notice a slight adjustment of the bike in front of you. A subtle slowdown that could cause wheels to touch, or a bit of a speed up that could open up a gap.

You've got to somehow take it all in (at once) yet be aware of each individual detail. Peripheral vision becomes part of your primary vision. You discover a delicate balance, soaking it all in, aware of the details. Focused on them without lingering. Seeing each without focusing on any exclusively.

You're looking at nothing, yet seeing everything. Zen vision can be very handy for cyclists.

Photo Credit: Tony the Misfit

The interface is a bit clunky in that it's hard (impossible) to zoom in on areas where there are many routes, but if you dig around there are a ton of resources. Because they are gathered from so many sites, you'll need to deal with getting info in a variety of formats and popping out to different external web sites, but the authors are to be commended for their efforts. I've not come across another site that attempts to gather and categorize so many great resources all in one place.

So, go check it out as part of your ramp up for spring and summer riding. The direct link to the map resource page is http://www.bikenewengland.com/bike_maps.html.

Photo Credit: Bruce Berrien

The Harpoon ITT was my first goal of the winter, and this was my second. But instead of mustering up the motivation to compete (only against myself, really) during a 12-degree January cold spell, today's challenge was to show up indoors for an event while it's mid-70s and sunny. I met that challenge by riding to the event. It took just about an hour and was a good warm up, and riding home was a good way to relax after an all-out effort. (And it was great to be riding outside today!)

The race is smaller than the Harpoon event, but it's surrounded by a fantastic Expo with all sorts of vendors with all kinds of cycling, running, and swimming gear, nutrition, and information. I was happy to have beaten my time in the event last year despite dropping my chain mid-race - the hills of the course (based on Central Park NYC) had me shifting between my big and small rings periodically.

All in all a great day for cycling. Really looking forward to this weather being around more consistently. And that seems more possible now that it's the first day of Spring.