[amitoj]

RUSA Coastal Cruise Permanent

I rode the Randonneur USA's Coast Cruise Permanent, a 100K ride that starts from Newburyport in Massachusetts, goes north along the coast through New Hampshire, into Kittery, Maine from where it turns around and heads back down south.

Being a coastal route, it didnt have much elevation, which was a welcome change for me!


I love how the state of Maine supports cycling. Simple things like signs that explicitly ask motorists to share the road:



Had a simple breakfast at mile 40.



This darn bridge is always closed when I approach it

[amol4184]

On 15th Aug, completed my first 100k in the US. My first ever 100k was on 26th Jan of this year! I am hoping to do at least a couple more before summer ends here. This ride was on the periphery of lake Washington, approximately 50 miles RT but my home to starting point makes it 62 miles/100 km~ conveniently. Very scenic.
While the roads are super nice and covered under bike routes or trails, its littered with crossings, stop signs and red lights not to mention people on earphones and dogs with 30ft long leashes running haywire. I need to find more country side routes soon.

[docmoya2007]

From Today's Ride


My first 100k

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by docmoya2007

Attachment 2349199
From Today's Ride

Attachment 2349200
My first 100k

Not just a regular first 100 KM , but 2000 m Elevation gain in 5.x hrs is kickass

[vb-saan]

Good to be back on the bike – after almost 2 and a half months

[goandude]

Woke up early, and didn't know what to do, so took a ride. Streets well lit and hardly any traffic.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by docmoya2007

Attachment 2349199
From Today's Ride

Attachment 2349200
My first 100k

Many congratulations docmoya2007 on your first century ride. As Fillmore has mentioned the timing of 5.x hours for 2000m of elevation is quite commendable. Last year when I had participated in the Arcade Sahyadri Classic, 3 ghats challenge, it took me 07:09 hours to cover 102 km with an elevation of 2535m.

[docmoya2007]

@ Fillmore @ AutoIndian: Thanks for the kind words. The climbs were manageable. The weather had made our ride more difficult than it should be. We were greeted with light showers at the start, which got us drenched till our socks after some time. And made the roads, wet, slippery, slushy and muddy in some areas. Our bikes and our kit were covered with mud in no time.

And on return, we had to endure the scorching heat. And dust kicked up by the vehicles plying on the road. I will share a brief video of our ride. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdEx5KwQgec&t=536s

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Good to be back on the bike – after almost 2 and a half months

Attachment 2349307

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The bike looks stunning in that matte green shade. How different is it from your erstwhile BMC?

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by amol4184

The bike looks stunning in that matte green shade. How different is it from your erstwhile BMC?

BMC was great, but not sure if it was geometry or the overall setup, something that was not agreeing for me. The Scott feels more chuckable, lighter (10.5 kg), and has a much more forgiving ride (could be the carbon fork). I looked at the Canyon Roadlite 6 also as an option but that was not in stock back then.

[AutoIndian]

Didn't get a chance to ride my Scott Addict for last few days & tomorrow i.e. 27-Aug, have to participate in the Independence Day Ride to Shivneri fort (200+ km to and fro) organized by IAS (Indo Athletic Society), Pune Chapter. So I was desperately looking to stretch my legs & do some practice. Luckily today morning after the swim got a chance to ride to Talegaon lake. What a beauty this place is. Wish the authorities had built a proper road/foothpath along the periphery of this water body. This would become jogger's and walker's paradise. Right now it is inundated with muck and slush all throughout the border. Nevertheless was able to capture some beautiful pics.

[ninjatalli]

^^@autoIndian - could you share where did you source those additional bars? And for what price?

Btw given the season, I'm sure any direction you head out of Pune city, the locales are going to be awesome to ride through

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

^^@autoIndian - could you share where did you source those additional bars? And for what price?

The aero bars costed me about Rs 2500/-. Fitted it from the same shop, Pedal Drive from where I had purchased the bike. However I didn't like the gloss finish on the bars, hence got it taped by Syncross tape, that costed my another Rs 1500/- But after taping the grip is awesome & gives a very relaxed feeling while riding. You engage your core more while riding with the aero bars.

Btw given the season, I'm sure any direction you head out of Pune city, the locales are going to be awesome to ride through

True and that is why I am looking forward to tomorrow's ride to Shivneri fort.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

27-Aug, have to participate in the Independence Day Ride to Shivneri fort (200+ km to and fro) organized by IAS (Indo Athletic Society), Pune Chapter.

Today morning completed the 200+km ride from Pune to Shivneri & back. Visited the 2 ashtavinayak temples of Lenyadri & Ozhar as well. The ride had 275 participants. It was flagged off from Nashik phata @ 06:00am. We had the first pit stop at Manchar for breakfast at 08:15am. We then proceeded to Narayangaon from where we took a left turn towards Junnar. Reached Junnar at 11am and then to the base of Shivneri Fort at 11:30am. We hiked and payed tribute to the birthplace of the great Maratha king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. After 1.5 hours of sight seeing on the fort we came down and rode our bikes to the lunch venue. Had nice lunch "maas-wadi", rice, roti-bhakri, raw onion & jalebi. Took some rest and then proceeded to Lenyadri at 02:30pm. Took the darshan of Girijatmaj ganesh and admired the buddhist caves. From there we rode down to our night stay at Ozhar Bhakta Niwas. Freshened up & went to the lake side where we had experience sharing and medal distribution ceremony. Took darshan of Ozhar Vighnahar Ganesh, dinner @ 08:30 and hit bed at 10pm.

Today got up early morning at 04:00am and started the return ride at 04:45am. From Ozhar we reached Narayangaon in 30 mins, had a glassfull of hot masala milk. Little did I thought what's in store for me in the next 10 mins. Within 3 km of crossing Narayangaon and joining highway the bike hit a deep and wide pothole at high speed in pitch darkness resulting in the rear tube getting punctured for both me and my friend. Both had multiple punctures and tube replacement was the only solution. One of the fellow cyclists offered me his spare tube as my spare tube had a different valve. Other cyclist helped me in replacing the tube. Without the prompt help provided by these 2 gentlemen my ride would have been screwed up. Really want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. Fortunately no surprises after that incident and reached home safely at 10am.

Sharing some pics below.

[goandude]

@Autoindian great write up and pics.. Managing such a large number of cyclists would be so difficult