October 14 didn’t start out great. We took shelter in the Portugese American Club and watched the rain fly sideways and pelt the window at 9am as we registered for MV Cycle’s ride around the Island of Martha’s Vineyard. As weather does around Vineyard waters, the storm passed as quickly as it came. It was cloudy but not wet as we set out around 9:50am.
We had selected the 100K ride thinking that 50K was too short. We were in the mood for a long ride and my knee injury had prevented us from making our annual bicycle treks across the twenty something mile Island. Since I’m still recovering and my longest ride since the injury has been a flat 25 miles, I didn’t think I could go the full 100K and figured I would just play it by ear and so I had alternative routes in mind.
About 15 miles into the ride, we came to our first rest stop at the Chilmark Community Center. From here, I had to decide if I would continue out to the western and most hilly part of the Island. I decided to go for it as I really would have hated to forgo my last opportunity of the season to make our annual trek. The route via Lobstervile took us a slightly different way than our normal route so I found myself remarking how I still discover new sights on this large Island.
I favored my right leg on the hills and while I was as slow as 3mph at times, I made it up all of the hills until the Gay Head light house came into view. The world class kite surfers skimmed, danced and leapt in the distance in their natural playground on this very windy day. It was, in fact, the wind, that caused me to have to abandon my first hill which wasn’t even much of a hill. I lost momentum and for the first time in about a decade I had to walk my bike about 200 yards to the peak.
Heading back for the return, I realized I was at the back of the pack. I arrived back at the Chilmark Community Center and found a fellow bike mate, Lu, with whom I had been riding at points. She had left the last break station before me to try and catch her up to her party – her fiancé and his friend. I told Mike to go ahead without me, and Lu and I became new best friends for the rest of the ride. As we rode, the sun gradually appeared and it became wonderful riding weather. About 50 miles into our ride, we had a decision to make whether or not we should do the 7 mile loop around Katama. Figuring I didn’t want to overdo it, the wind would be fierce, and Lu had never ridden more than 25 miles before, I suggested a short cut and she was happy to have a local guide at her disposal.
About five hours, fifty-five miles, and 3,000 burned calories later – and a new bicycle distance record for me even despite the bad knee -- we arrived back at the Portuguese American Club and were greeted with a wonderful hot meal buffet including a roasted pig. I was never so hungry!
