August's Waning Days: D2R2 Ride Report

It's not really fall yet in New England, but the signs are all there – the temperature is struggling to crack 80 degrees more and more, nights are getting down to the 50s, and the Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnee was this weekend. I rode the 100k with my friend James, and figured it was worthwhile to write it up.

D2R2 is the main benefit fundraiser for the Franklin Land Trust, a Western Mass based conservation non-profit based in Franklin County. The organized ride has around for almost 20 years officially (FLT says 2005), which almost definitely means it predates most organized "gravel grinder" events (and maybe the term?).

the route

This is my second year doing the 100k route, which was almost completely the same as last year (except for one stretch in the last 5 miles, which I loved). You can see the whole route here, or read about all the route options on their site. This is actually one of the easier routes they offer – the 180K and 160K routes are insane.

The route rips. You burn through like 2000 feet of climbing in the first 13 miles (for reference, I consider any route with 100+ feet/mile of climbing hard), hit the first rest stop, refuel, and then do some rolling climbs until you hit a pretty decent reprieve, which is a paved descent into Colrain, MA, where you're at like a -10% grade for a half mile, which feels seriously steep.

You then roll onto the state highway for a few miles, which follows the valley of the North River, before taking a right turn onto a really quiet road, where you switchback up another 2000 feet of climbing and cross into Vermont. Once you hit the top, you're at the highest point of the ride, and you get a really long extended downhill to lunch at the Green River Covered Bridge.

The rest of the day is a really, really nice extended downhill on Green River Road, which is so nice that they have a separate route option that's just that road. You then get whacked by a good deal climbing out of the river valley, as you've still got 2000 feet to go, and a particularly silly sustained 10% paved climb up to Apex Orchards, where I had a pretty good peach and some maple syrup. Then you go up and down and up and down around some unpaved roads closer to Deerfield, before rolling back home.

The ride to me is sort of a love letter to biking in New England, and really to the terrain of New England in general. I think what I was struck by most this year was how much you can feel the terrain around you as you ride – you're basically living the contour lines. On MA-112, which takes you from Colrain back into the hills, you follow the river, and you're flanked by the hills that you will eventually climb up into and over. You get the benefit of wide, well-maintained gravel once you hit Vermont and descend back from the hilltops to the river. If your brain and legs aren't totally fried you can really take it all in.

That's as much waxing poetic as I'll allow myself to do about this, but really – biking is one of the best ways to experience a place.

the experience

On the other hand, I felt awful for like the first two hours of this. I felt awful through breakfast, it was just nausea that I couldn't shake, and I was hoping just getting on the bike and blasting through it would shake it out. It didn't, and at the first aid station I tried to eat as much as I could, within reason, figuring that a calorie deficit was the culprit. It basically was – I felt mostly revived once we were on flat roads again for a bit.

Nutrition for these types of rides is a constant battle. I've beaten it a few times, but at a certain point it just feels like I can't get enough energy during and I crash. Strava/Wahoo thinks I burned like 5600 calories, which is a number I really doubt, but even if it was like, half that, I probably didn't get nearly enough to make that gap.

The one benefit of feeling this terrible for the first 13+ miles was that I paced myself really reasonably for most of the climbing. By the final kicker of climbing, my legs were smoked, but I was able to go up to Apex and back home without walking the bike or stopping to rest.

the bike + gear

I rode my Trek Checkpoint ALR5 (2022) for this. I bought this for this type of ride, and I'm close to 4000 miles with it.

I've really rarely had mechanicals with this bike. The worst one I had was at Vermont Overland last year where my chain got thrown into the hub from the largest cog, which I fixed with a lot of brute force. It's served really well and works great for stuff like this. I failed to take a photo of the actual bike during this, but as a quick laundry list for my gear this year:

• Wheels: DT Swiss CR1600. I bought these on clearance at The Pro's Closet for like $500 shipped (wheels like this are usually like $800!). It's their aluminum cyclocross wheelset with reliable hubs and a decent rim width/depth.
• Tires: Teravail Cannonball 42x700. I really like these. I ran them tubeless and had no issues, although the bead on them is a bit stiff and I always mess up my nails trying to seat them.
• Bags: I use a Revelate Mag-Tank for all food and my multi-tool, and have an Ortileb small saddle bag behind my seat, which I kept a spare tube, CO2, a derailleur hanger, a shifter cable, a tubeless repair kit, some valve cores and chain quicklinks in.
• Water: Skratch in one (electrolytes), water in the other (I get sick of just electrolytes).
• Food: I had a bunch of stuff with me. If you eat too much of one thing you feel weird. Stay on the bike long enough and real food feels fake.
  • As "real food" I had Nature's Bakery Fig Newtons, which I eat too many of.
  • As "actual gels" I brought 1x Maurten Gel 100 (left uneaten). I've liked SIS ones in the past but didn't order them in time for this.
  • The rest was basically Untapped waffles and their packets of maple syrup. The syrup was basically all I could handle by the end (it tastes normal, my body understands it as food)

overall

A great day on the bike. I think something special about this ride is just how understated it is. It's not a race, Franklin Land Trust isn't making hardo Instagram posts about how tough it is, there isn't a mass start, but the riding is just silly hard. It's just a route to do as you see fit – skip the hard stuff and beeline to lunch, beeline home after lunch, take it slow, take it fast. Just enjoy New England.

Bye for now!