Couch to D2R2

I wouldn't recommend doing D2R2 straight off the couch but sometimes life throws curve balls at you and your plans to do a full summer of "gravel" riding go up in one big dumpster fire. Don't get me wrong I had a FABULOUS summer. But I live in the flatlands. And am more of a woods rider than a gravel rider. I am great at braaappping around the woods for 2 hours. But a window opened and D2R2 was sitting there saying "chip you know you looooooovvvveeee gravel..." Honestly D2R2 is one of my favorite rides of the whole season. This was my third time doing it. The other two times were a mixed bag. I have learned from those past rides though and this year vowed to just enjoy it. No "racing" D2R2. No "crushing" D2R2. Just ride. Chill pace with a good crew. And then go full send on the downhills. That is kind of a D2R2 mullet that works great for me. 

 Gravel riding is blowing up. What started as just riding dirt on a drop bar bike has evolved into its own beast. Hey when Bikereg adds a tab with gravel rides you know your jam is legit! Shimano even just came out with a gravel group! And as much as I love the elegance of the term "gravel" it is sometimes a misnomer of sorts. But I guess D2R2 is a gravel ride. I like the term Road Randonnee better myself. I mean that definition above is exactly how I went about this year's rendition. For full disclosure I only walked ONE tiny bit of a climb that frankly was just as fast walking as riding. But those downhills. Oh my. I have had my new bike for about a year. This was the first time I was able to ride it on legit downhills in western mass and VT. Stiggy is the first carbon bike I have ever owned. It is a beast. As they say it is never about the bike but in this case it really is. I mean I am out of shape right now. Going from random 1 hour rides with 600 feet of climbing to 5 hour rides with 5,500 feet of climbing is no joke. And I am not a climber on my best day. The Stigmata loves to climb. And descends like a demon. Well maybe not a demon. I suspect descending like a demon would mean you overcooked turns and went straight into a tree. It is the most confidence inspiring bike I have ever ridden.

 But I digress as usual. We had a simple plan. HUP OG reunion. Somehow we got the band back together. I still can't believe it happened. Jimbo, Mike Salvatore, Stephen Jablonski, JZ and me. We opted into the 100k but ended up doing a sort of D2R2 choose your own adventure. One of the things I LOVE about D2R2 is how chill it is. No racer freak outs. No crappy attitudes. Just people of all sorts and levels of fitness on all manner of bikes. It is like a bike reunion. At breakfast I sat with a crew from Philly. It was on accident. But I am drawn to people like Philly like a moth to a flame. I mean they were a good looking bunch. I sat there eating my eggs and muffin quietly soaking in there conversation until I couldn't hold it in any longer and said 'You guys are from Philly aren't you?" The look on their faces was priceless. You would have thought I had accused them of having dog poop on their shoes.

I laughed and said I love people from Philly and mentioned I had gone to SSCX Philly. That broke the ice. We chatted a bit and recalled that amazing weekend. We sorted through who we knew and all that jazz and then it was revealed I was standing in the presence of the LEGEND who modified the Grail. Now this man is literally a hero. He somehow got his hands on the oft contested Grail that was stolen and restolen between PDX and Seattle over the years. It is basically a keg with a bunch of stuff on it. This gentleman is a legit metal artist. He welded a visage of Ben Franklin onto the Grail. It was amazing. The folks from Seattle weren't say as excited as us east coasters. I think it was one of the greatest moments in SSCX Worlds history and to meet the legend behind it was incredible. My D2R2 was already a huge success.

I wasn't really nervous about the ride. I assumed I was screwed. No riding. Hopped up on antibiotics because of dirty ass tick and just feeling less than fresh. But damn there is something about riding with a great crew like HUP that just washes off all of that BS and you just have gratitude for the moment and the ride ahead. The best part was seeing so many people I haven't seen since the Ronde. We rode with HUPster Meg and her sister for a bit. Then they dropped us like the old men we are. Bumped into my friend Seth in his CB kit. Saw the Team Awesome crew! The Firefly Crew! Meg and JD came out and said hi at Lunch. It was such a great day. I could do this ride every weekend.

At lunch we were feeling a bit less fresh and decided to do a the bail out option. D2R2 offers a ton of routes. Super long ones and super mellow family style routes. It is so well supported. They have garmin files of the routes, maps, people at aid stations. It is so rad. So we ate our lunch at a covered bridge in the shade right near a river. It has to be the most glorious lunch spot on a ride in history. We made the call to do the River Ride home. We ended up doing the same mileage but cut out about 2,000 feet of climbing. Was it all downhill? No but the River Road is incredible. 8 miles of twisting gorgeous hero dirt winding right next to a river. My only regret of the ride? Not swimming. It felt like if we went swimming we would never get back on the bikes though. So we weren't gonna risk it.

We got back to Deerfield and Mike took us on one last amazing choose your own adventure sector. Apparently there is a gravel road that goes through Deerfield Academy that is one of the oldest continuously used roads in the US. It went through a corn field and was fantastic. We got back to the start/finish all together and grabbed a cold beer. D2R2 goes all out. You get breakfast, lunch and dinner and FREE beer and a pint glass with your entry. That cold beer at the end of that ride with HUP OG was one of the best beers I have had. The best beer really is one you earn after a ride with great friends. And is cold.

We sat around together enjoying dinner and talking story about the ride. D2R2 is one not to miss. It is on my to do list moving forward. I wouldn't change much next year. Maybe swimming. Maybe getting a bit more riding in before. But I am ready to do it again this weekend. Thanks to all the volunteers who make it happen. It is an unreal crew that put this event on. It was a great pre-CX season reunion. So nice to see so many people having fun on bikes.

Seth rock the Cambridge Bikes kit! This kit in my mind is the best kit in the NECX. The CB team were like a horde of Visigoths. HUP and CB had such a great rivalry/friendship in the early years of the NECX.

Do Epic Shit is my new motto. Seeing Jimbo made my day. He is one of the coolest HUP dudes of all time. He's really the embodiment of what HUP is all about.

Mike, Jim, Stephen and JZ Thank you for dragging me around and making me laugh so much. That was honestly the best time I have had a D2R2. Such a solid crew. We need to ride more gentlemen!