Capital City Classic 5k

Race number five in the Capital Area Race Series (CARS) was the “Capital City Classic” 5k this weekend. I’d been struggling with left foot pain for a month now and the cortisone shots I had did not seem to have any impact. I was on vacation this week and that timed out well to get in some additional biking as I’d dialed back my running a bit. I could not decide whether to pass on the race and finally decided on Saturday that I’d at least go and do a warm-up and then if it was terrible I could just jog through. With that plan in place I headed up to Concord for the early (8am) start. Dave La met up with me and we headed out for a course preview warm-up. It looked to be a nice enough day with temps in the low 70s, low humidity and a 5-10 mph breeze (down from 30mph the day before). My foot hurt but wasn’t terrible so I decided to give it a go.

 

I quickly switched into race shoes and headed out for another mile before arriving at the starting line as the final instructions were given. I got 10 rows back figuring somewhere from 50^th to 60^th place would be about right. I’d been in the top 20 at the previous CARS races this year but CCC always draws a faster crowd (and I wasn’t sure how fast I’d manage). Checking the results and calculating time to cross the starting line I would end up passing about 20 and 7 or 8 would pass me. So, my guess on seeding was pretty close.

 

I got out slowly as I was tentative about my foot and had not done anything “quick” in nearly a month. Darrin Brown told me afterwards that he was keying off of me but I didn’t catch him until 1km in. He asked me (in all seriousness) “did you miss the start”. Ouch! I hit the mile in 6:30 which was a pleasant surprise. I was working hard and passing people here and there. The second mile is steady uphill, nothing crazy, and although I moved up it was my slowest mile at 6:48. The real hill at 2.2 really hurt but we also had a slight tailwind at that point which was nice. I drifted to the right and wondered why people don’t cut tangents. Don’t run extra mileage! I had a few folks around to key off and got over the hill and tried to push the downhill. A couple of strong kickers flew by in the final ¼ mile even though I mustered a 6:32 final mile. I ended up 38^th in 20:25, so no complaints. I’m getting slower every race (laugh). I took first in the 60+ which got me $25 to the local running store. Sixth place in the age-graded standings was a bit of a surprise as I’ve taken third at the other races. I’ll have my work cut out for me in the next few races to stay in the top three (which gets cash). Of course, with the way my foot is feeling I’m not sure if I’ll be able to race. Time will tell.

 

Post race I did the loop again with Darrin, getting a chance to catch up with him. We were teammates a few years back in the series (Duct Tape & Spit) and we are teammates again both running for Delta Dental. After that I got in a great 2 hour ride. Nice way to end my vacation week.

With race sponsor Tom Raffio

 

Pl       Time   Pace   Name                      Sex/Age City St                 Div          Div/Tot

38      20:25  6:35   Dave Dunham         M62    Bradford MA  M6064 1

48      21:12  6:50   Richard Clymer        M65    Concord NH  M6569 1

49      21:16  6:51   Jeff Clark                M61    Gilmanton NH          M6064 2

53      21:29  6:55   Vincent Perelli         M62    Hopkinton NH          M6064 3

59      21:47  7:01   Michael Barry          M69    Northwood NH        M6569 2

65      22:23  7:13   David Lapierre        M62    Amherst NH  M6064 4

68      22:38  7:17   William McCann      M63    Bow NH                  M6064 5

74      23:00  7:25   Anthony Belisle       M63    Mirror Lake NH          M6064 6

76      23:06  7:26   Keith Donovan        M66    Pittsfield NH  M6569 3

94      24:49  8:00   Rich Chipman         M65    Concord NH  M6569 4

103     25:03  8:04   John Tuttle            M69    Alton NH       M6569 5

114     25:39  8:16   Michael Quinn       M62    Arlington MA M6064 7

128     26:40  8:35   Chris Baerman      M60    Laconia NH   M6064 8

130     26:46  8:37   Dan Hayes           M66    Methuen MA  M6569 6

134     27:03  8:43   George McGrath   M63    Hopkinton NH          M6064 9

135     27:04  8:43   Paul Horvath        M67    Somerswrth NH       M6569 7

138     27:15  8:46   Jim Glenn            M62    Manchester NH        M6064 10

140     27:30  8:51   Michael Aversa     M63    Nw Durham NH          M6064 11

146     27:48  8:57   Dom Geffken        M62    Concord NH  M6064 12

150     27:59  9:01   Dan Rinden          M62    Hopkinton NH          M6064 13

157     28:25  9:09   Tom Sullivan         M66    Pelham NH    M6569 8

182     30:35  9:51   Will Naser            M62    New Boston NH       M6064 14

187     31:20  10:05  Bruce Johnstone  M67    Weare NH     M6569 9

209     34:42  11:11  Phil Petschek       M65    Chelmsford MA        M6569 10

230     38:26  12:23  Steve Lynn          M69    Rapid City SD          M6569 11

237     40:02  12:53  Tom Raffio          M69    Bow NH                  M6569 12

271     54:46  17:38  Adam Rosenthal  M69    Concord NH  M6569 13

 

MALE MASTERS AGE GRADED CARS RESULTS

Place Time    Agtime  Agegrd%    Name                               Sex Age Hometown                  

    1   17:01   15:10   84.48                   Mike Veilleux           M    48 Weare NH               

    2   17:06   15:14   84.07                   Dave Beaudoin        M    48 Manchester NH          

    3   22:49   15:38   82.04                   Bob Lemaire           M    75 Wolfeboro NH           

    4   17:00   15:45   81.37                   Nicholas Gosling      M    43 Bristol NH             

    5   17:37   16:12   79.12                   Corey Girard           M    44 Pembroke NH            

    6   20:25   16:12   79.11                   Dave Dunham         M    62 Bradford MA            

    7   21:12   16:22   78.26                   Richard Clymer        M    65 Concord NH             

    8   19:51   16:43   76.64                   David Saarinen        M    55 Bedford NH             

    9   21:29   17:03   75.18                   Vincent Perelli         M    62 Hopkinton NH           

   10   20:18   17:06   74.94                   Benjamin Strauss    M    55 New Boston NH          

   11   21:27   17:28   73.36                  Darin Brown            M    59 Madison NH             

   12   19:18   17:29   73.34                  Michael Martinez      M    46 Manchester NH          

   13   22:23   17:46   72.16                  David Lapierre         M    62 Amherst NH             

 

Week Ending 06/21/26

 I took my podiatrists advice and backed off from running for 10 days following the shot. Good timing with vacation and my planned bike across VT. Ended up with 10:47 biking over 142.7 miles along with 76 miles of running. I was on the fence about doing the CARS race and ended up doing it. Foot was not good but made it through. Final activity of the weekend was another fantastic ride. Great company and perfect temperature. Can’t beat that!

 

Week – 76

Month – 221

Year – 1,983

Life – 168,983

Bike across the state

 My game, my rules...

With the ride across VT on the Lamoille rail trail this week I've now biked across (in order) NH, MA, CT, RI, NY, and VT. I'll have to work out some cross-Maine ride. For the most part I've used existing rail trails to ride across a state. NH was really nice with an 80+ mile trek on the Cross-NH adventure trail that ran from the VT border to Bethel Maine.

CT was a fun adventure. Up at 3am. 530am train from Springfield to New Haven. Bike south to north mostly on the paved trail. About 55 miles on the canal trail and 16 (mostly at the end) on roads. Only stopped once when I thought I was lost and the other stops were for traffic lights.

MA was a combination of many different rail trails (paved and dirt) and a fair amount of road to get from Winsocket RI to Nashua NH. Great fun covering 73 miles with Scott S.

RI was a rare "out and back" mostly on the Washington Secondary Bike Path (38 miles). East Bay Path, India Point Park, Old Bridge Path and Trestle Trail. About 15 miles on road to connect and about 10 miles of really (REALLY) rough trail in Coventry to get to the border. That part, locally known as the Trestle Trail, is really torn up and either sand or railroad track ballast. Brutal. Washington Secondary path, especially the part in Coventry was great!

New York was a weeklong adventure riding with 300 others on the Erie Canal. Great fun, despite being super hot most of the trip.360 miles!

I guess you could argue that most of these don't fully traverse a state, but the ocean, a lake, and just nothing convenient to complete the mileage may have kept me from going from one border to another...but like I said "my game, my rules".

Be careful out there!

Lamoille Rail Trail - Day 2

 Day 2 of the Lamoille ride would be easier (a relative term) with 2/3rds of the distance completed the previous day. I had 33 miles to go and unlike day 1, there would be no significant climbing. It was essentially all downhill from Jeffersonville to the finish in Swanton.

I did not sleep well, but that isn't too unusual for me. I was up at 5am and out the door by 515 for a run on the Cambridge Greenway and Lamoille Trail. My legs were definitely heavy from the long previous day. After the run I headed over to the gas station and got myself an XL coffee. I slammed the coffee and was on the bike by 655 am. It was 53 degrees and sunny so I put on gloves over my padded gloves and a long-sleeve and light windbreaker over my short sleeve biking top. I had 33 miles in front of me and was in no rush to plow through it. This section of the trail was especially scenic with many farms, bridges over streams, and just nice wooded trail. As the day before the surface was mostly very firm packed dirt. There were some sections with softer dirt (usually near farms) and there were a lot of small road crossings to keep engaged.

By 10 miles in I was sufficiently warmed up that I decided to take of the windbreaker. Of course, I didn't want to stop so I carefully pulled one sleeve off, then the other, then started pulling it over my head. I hadn't taken into account the bike helmet and snagged on it and was completely blind! I quickly applied the brakes and luckily did not crash. The 15 seconds I took to get untangled was the only stop I'd made over the two days of riding. The 33 miles featured mostly downhill but a lot less than yesterday with 400' of drop but a big chunk of it (200') was in the last 10 miles. I enjoyed spinning along with little soreness except a saddle sore on one side. The morning went by much quicker than expected and I managed to complete the ride in 2:15, about 15 minutes faster than I thought I'd do.

The trail ended at the very interesting depot which is now the Swanton Historical Society building. Well worth a visit! I took a short tour before heading back to the car. Another state crossing in the books!

Stats and maps:

Weather changes

 In prep for my long ride on the Lamoille trail I tracked the weather when it was 10 days out. I made my decision 3 days out. It was funny to watch the forecast change as it got closer. It turned out to be just about ideal conditions for a long bike ride.

06-06     

       

 06-07  

06-08 

06-09

 06-10   

06-11 

06-12

Lamoille Rail Trail

 From the Lamoille Rail Trail official site:  

Ramble across Northern Vermont

At 95 miles long, the LVRT is the longest rail trail in New England and connects 18 towns from St. Johnsbury to Swanton. The LVRT is a four-season, multi-purpose recreation and transportation corridor for walking, hiking, cycling, horseback riding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, dogsledding, and snowmobiling.

I had planned out a trip across VT two years ago but was thwarted by pouring rain and cold temperatures. On that trip I ended up biking from Morrisville to St Johnsbury (50 miles). Since then, I'd been planning on returning and doing the entire trek. I decided to break the ride into two parts and also chose to go from west (St Johnsbury) to east (Swanton). The advantage of west to east is that the first 20 miles climbs (nearly 1,800') but then the remaining 75 miles features a steady downhill of about 2,000'. The disadvantage is that generally the wind comes out of the west (headwind).

I had vacation this week and the shuttle runs on Monday and Wednesday, so I charted the weather leading up and with a few days to go chose the Monday shuttle. I hit the road at 5am on Monday and stopped in Lebanon for a nice run on the Northern Rail Trail. The rain had passed and the temperature and humidity were both headed down. I continued on to Swanton and parked at the recreation department field near the end of the trail. I had enough time for another run before the shuttle arrived. The noon shuttle was not ideal since I'd be getting to St J in the afternoon and likely not finish the first day's ride until after dark. I was ready to ride when the shuttle arrived a few minutes before noon. The ride went by quickly as there was only one other stop along the way and I was in St J at 2:30. As the driver removed my bike from the trailer my back tire came off!  Fuck!!! Apparently all the rattling had loosened the quick release (how that happens is beyond me) and the nut had fallen off. As he began calling local bike shops I went back to the trailer and unbelievably found the nut! What a lucky catch. It must have fallen off as he lifted the bike off the rack otherwise it could have been anywhere over the previous 100 miles.

I quickly hooked up the saddlebags (panniers) and got rolling at 2:40 pm. I figured based on the terrain (all dirt and uphill for 20 miles) that a good ride to Jeffersonville (66 miles) would take me about 6 hours. I guessed about 10 mph for the first 20 and then 12 mph from there on. I certainly wasn't going to push the pace but I also wasn't going to go easy. It was nearly ideal temps with upper 60s at the start. The wind was blowing steadily at about 15mph out of the NW. That just happened to be the way I'd be going so there would be some tough headwind at times. There were some people out on the trail especially at the start and now and again when I passed through a town. The craziest was a guy riding an off-road unicycle!

The miles passed and I was mostly just counting down to the top of the climb. I reached 20 miles in 1:43 which put me well ahead of my "hoped for" time of 2 hours. Now I'd have about 50' of drop per mile with a very steady downhill to help move me along. With many miles to go I settled in to a good rhythm.

It was getting a bit cooler as I carried on at about 15mph with temps dropping under 60 degrees. I'd only gone with a shortsleeve, shorts, and gloves. Mostly it wasn't "cold" but my hands would have been better with full gloves (I had them packed in the bag for the next day and didn't want to stop and get them out). I hit a few open areas where the wind was tough and there were also spots where the dirt was a bit softer and slower. Mostly it was very nice packed dirt and steady long straight stretches. I did have to be very cautious on the many dirt driveway and dirt road crossings...not to mention the crossings of the main roads which had very fast moving traffic. The trail really felt remote as I rolled through fields and farms and every once in a while a small town.

I had a little issue with saddle sores (despite lubing before and reapplying "on the fly") but otherwise everything seemed okay. I realized around 50 miles that I might finish the ride in 5 hours, well under expected time. I ended up rolling into Jeffersonville by 7:35 pm and cracked 5 hours (4:55). I did have a little trouble with the bike computer getting confused in the traffic circle in Jeffersonville and had to loop it twice.

I got to the hotel and even had a few minutes before the general store closed to get myself some VT cheddar cheese and some chips for snacking. I hadn't drank anything during the ride and only had 1 gel and 4 chomps over the course of the afternoon. It was time to call it a day as the sun set. I was a bit wiped out with 10 miles running and 66 riding.

Week Ending 06/15/26

 Rough week with my foot/ankle feeling much worse. Saw my podiatrist on Thursday and got 3 cortisone shots. Xrays showed severe arthritis which wasn't a surprise but probably now at the point where I'll need to do something else. Hoping the shots offer some relief and will get an appointment with a rheumatologist. Also struggling with a huge (and deep) blister on my heel. So, with the shots I needed to back off a bit for at least a few days. I bumped up the biking as a result, which wasn't bad timing as I'd planned on a long ride this coming week. In addition to the running this week I got in 9.5 hours on the bike. Onward.

Week - 61

Month - 145

Year - 1,907

Life - 168,907

A rare ice coffee on Friday