Ware's the Quabbin? 300k Pre-ride report

[Emily O'Brien]

Yesterday I went out to pre-ride this weekend’s 300k to check out the route and make sure there are no surprises. The weather was gorgeous, right up until the point where I started wondering if I should be browsing YouTube for DIY ark-building videos. 

What you really need to know: 

1. This is a very rural route with long stretches where there are no services available. So look ahead at where the services are, and plan accordingly.

2. It was a tough winter, and there is a lot of spectacularly bad pavement. Descend with care!!

3. The first leg in particular has a lot of relentless steep-but-shortish climbs, which can tend to separate groups. So if you are hoping to ride with others, I suggest re-grouping at Tweedo’s. The volunteer there should be able to help you figure out who has been through already, and there’s somewhere to sit down and a port-a-john. 

4. RideWithGPS says some parts of this route are unpaved, but it’s lying. It’s all paved, even if some of the pavement is bad enough to make you wish it wasn’t.

The details:

Jake drove me out to the start in the parking lot, and I headed out a bit after 5AM. The temperature was cool but not cold, and I was on my way. The route starts out a bit more suburban as you’d expect, but it was early enough that even on a weekday it wasn’t too busy. Before long, you’re on quiet roads that never have much traffic anyway. The price you pay is that the climbs are steep and relentless. But it was really a very good day for wildlife sightings for a weekday road ride!

The theme of this ride is that most of the time you’re on quiet back roads lined with trees, marshes, streams, small farms, and small neighborhoods. You can hear birds and frogs everywhere, with no traffic noise to compete with. You do need to be paying attention though, because while the road to hell might be paved with good intentions, the road to Tweedo’s is paved with potholes, even River Styx Road.

The stretch from Shirley to Tweedo’s always feels like a grind to me. It’s not that long, but there’s a lot that’s steep. If you’re looking for a stop, Ashburnham Wine and Spirits on the right has a bathroom, as well as some sandwiches and a handful of other snacks. The convenience store has more in the way of snacks and drinks, but no public restroom. 

I stopped in Ashburnham for supplies and to scope out the restroom situation, but on the day of the event there will be a volunteer with water waiting for you at Tweedo’s, and there’s a port-a-john there as well. As I mentioned, I suggest re-grouping here if you want to ride with people, because otherwise it would be pretty easy to just not re-connect for the rest of the day. 

I was getting fairly hungry by Barre. There are services, but not that many choices for brevet food. But I was out for a pre-ride alone, so no reason not to take some extra time, so I stopped and ordered a pizza and took care of a few emails while I waited for it. Mimi’s is a better stop, but Barre is there if you need it. 

The stretch from Barre to Hardwick is particularly scenic with some nice wetland views. I saw a bald eagle perched over one of those and a pair of what I think were ospreys (they were far away) on a nesting platform.

This is also just such a gorgeous time of year to be out. Lots of spring flowers are in bloom and fragrant, and this route gives you lots of chances to appreciate them. 

I stopped in at Mimi’s too, just to say I did and top up my bottles. Mimi’s is a nice place with good sandwiches. If you’re pressed for time, you can call ahead to order if you have cell service. It’s another good place to regroup if you’re so inclined. Make sure you have what you need when you leave there though, because there really isn’t anything else for another hilly 30 miles. 

By this point, it was getting pretty warm. A couple of times I saw guys in waders fishing in rivers I passed, and standing there in the water looked SOO inviting. Hold that thought! 

Getting to the Quabbin requires being on Rt. 9 for a bit, and this is one of the few places on this route where you ever have to be on a bigger road. But even on a weekday, it’s not too bad all the way out here. The park around the Quabbin is really nice, and the ride up to Enfield Overlook is smooth and beautiful. The highlight was seeing a black racer (Coluber constrictor) slithering off into the brush. No photo because it was too speedy. 

After leaving the Quabbin area, I finally stopped in at the trout hatchery that Jake is always telling me I should pop into. I didn’t stop long, but it’s neat to visit the fishes. It only takes a couple of minutes and it’s kinda cool, but for some reason I feel more like doing that sort of thing on a pre-ride by myself than I do on the day of the event. 

The stretch between Palmer and Monson is busier and not as nice, but there are plenty of places to stop. Again, I suggest making sure you’re topped up there because you won’t get another convenience store-type stop for awhile. I stopped in a Dunkin and took care of more emails before continuing. 

Once you leave Monson, the roads get quiet and pleasant again. I forgot to stop at the restaurant in Holland, so I stopped to snack on bike food at the playing field, but the bugs were out in force so I didn’t stay long. At that point, the sky had clouded over and it was threatening to rain. I was thinking a few rain drops might actually feel nice. 

But, be careful what you wish for! It started to sprinkle somewhere between there and East Brimfield. For a bit I thought I might miss the worst of the rain, but that was not the case. Next thing I knew, the rain was coming down in buckets and the thunder and lighting rolled in. There’s really no place to stop, so I just kept going while the storm went from torrential to biblical. At one point there was enough hail for it to start accumulating on the ground like snow. That didn’t last long before it was all washed away in the torrent. At times the road was under so much rushing water it was hard to see. Gravel and fist-sized rocks were tumbling down the road where slopes were getting washed away. Visibility was pretty much nil. It wasn’t too cold though, so I was reasonably comfortable given a flexible definition of “comfort”. 

Two notable sightings for the rest of the ride were a small emu farm with some very soggy-looking emus very close to the road, and another black racer out for a swim across the road. 

The rain did die down to torrential and eventually to merely heavy, which continued for most of the rest of the ride. Nota bene, there are services in Rutland but none of them have public restrooms except Dunkins, which closes at 7. The employee in one of the convenience store did let me use their not-actually-public restroom on account of being soaked, which I was grateful for. The last stretch should go pretty fast, except that the rain and all the rocks scattered on the road (and toads, which look a lot like rocks until they hop) slowed things down a bit.

The rain mostly stopped just in time to finish the ride back at the parking lot, where Jake was waiting for me with pizza, hot tea, and a towel. 

This is a challenging route, but also rewarding. No major surprises for those who have done this route before. I hope everyone has a great time tomorrow!

Emily