Flogged by a Dead Horse and other hills

Day 2
From Worcester MA
To Windsor Locks CT
Mileage estimated 65
Mileage actual 70
Top speed 41.25
Riding time 6hrs 42 mins

Today was a tough day for any number of reasons. We started at 8am in familiar weather with a chill in the air. Within five miles we had skirted round the centre of Worcester and arrived at the bottom of Dead Horse Hill. This was a 'stepped' hill that went on for just over a mile and was a rude awakening to the day. I haven't got a clue where the name came from but if anyone out there knows, I would be very interested. The dead horse certainly kicked a few of us today!

Things went on from there with rolling hills for the whole day until just after the second SAG stop when the terrain levelled out to something more manageable.

The whole day was hot (for me) but the locals just laughed at that and said, 'If you think this is hot, wait till we get down South!' I also found it very humid and I noticed moisture on the handlebars, brakes and frame all morning. Hills aren't my forte and today was difficult because of that. Another big factor in the day was road surface quality.

I had not cycled in heat like today since I was here last year and I had also failed to keep account of just how appalling the roads were here. There are a couple of examples below and these were typical. The fact that these were on a slope (I was going up this one and sensibly, I felt, walked round the mess) made descending pretty dangerous. If you can imagine getting a wheel in here when descending at today's top speed, then you would probably agree that things could get interesting!

Another thing that didn't help was the sunshine, believe it or not. The roads were all surrounded by tall trees but the sun did manage to get through and that caused bright and dark patches on the road surface. Put that with the surface and sometimes it was challenging to work out what you were about to ride over. All of these pictures show the cracks that run 'down' the road and not across, and the first shot shows the bike front wheel in a pothole about 3" deep with a flap of tarmac exposed at 'ten past'.

When you discuss this with the locals, they have no answer on how to deal with it; when you ask what the local / highway authority do about the roads or what compensation a rider could get if injured as a result of the state of these 'roads', merriment erupts.

Needless to say, all this affects the concentration and I needed to maintain that all day with the end result that I was both physically and mentally tired at the end of a long day.

All this aside, it was a great day to be out riding in beautiful countryside. Although it could be almost claustrophobic, the tree surroundings threw all sorts of shades and shadows and there were lakes and streams suddenly appearing all day. The sun shone all day, which was wonderful but it was not too pacifying when I passed a bank with a display that read '3.12pm' then flashed to '92 degrees'. And it's going to get hotter?

Got into the hotel about 4.45pm which I felt was a reasonable time, but most had been in for 3 hours then. Got a shower then went to Route Rap and dinner which was at a restaurant.

Conversation round the table at one stage centred on the Olympics and there was a certain amount of incredulity that some sports were being taken out of the Games. These were sports such as Baseball and women's softball (guaranteed USA Gold medals perhaps?) and the feeling was that it was stupid that they should be scrapped. When I suggested that perhaps they were being removed because they weren't played by many nations and may make the Games less a 'global' Games, the fact that Puerto Rica, Cuba, Japan and Australia (?) played or had players in the NBA was put forward as being good enough reason for it to be kept in the Games.

Oh, I do have some educating to do this year and it could be difficult!

We have now completed 3 states in 2 days; today we got to Connecticut (locally pronounced Connedycu) but again there was no State sign, so we don't feel very welcome. Tomorrow we hit New York state and I have been promised that there will be a welcome there.

I wait and see!