TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Worcester, Mass.
August 18, 1996
New England centuries cover a lot of ground
By Lynne Tolman
The calendar of New England centuries -- 100-mile
bike rides -- has grown this year, so introductory remarks must be brief. The
important thing is not to be intimidated by the big, round number 100.
Even if your longest ride to date was less than half
a century, don't count yourself out. Centuries are sociable rides, not races,
and most have options shorter than 100 miles. There's still time to build up
your mileage, and late summer and fall should offer some of the best cycling
weather.
The Great River Ride, a hilly century in western
Massachusetts that mushroomed in popularity after a nice writeup in Bicycling
magazine in 1993, has a new starting point and a new route this year -- but no
less climbing, organizer Don Podolski warns. At the other end of the spectrum,
the Tri-State Seacoast Century is actually flatter than The Flattest Century in
the East.
No matter which route or distance you ride, you get
to share the food, the camaraderie and the bragging rights. Even a quarter
century at a leisurely pace provides more than the minimum daily recommended
amount of aerobic exercise.
The following centuries are not fund-raisers, so you
don't have to collect pledges. In some cases the fee includes a souvenir, such
as a water bottle or T-shirt. To get an entry form, send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope.
- Aug. 24 -- MAD RIVER VALLEY CENTURY, 25, 50 or 100 miles, Mad River Bike
Shop, Routes 100 and 17, Waitsfield, Vt.; $30. Margaret DeFoor and Bruce Hyde,
Hyde Away Inn, RR 1 Box 65, Waitsfield, Vt. 05673 (800-777-HYDE).
- Aug. 24-25 -- NORTH SHORE CYCLISTS FALL CENTURY, 25, 62 or 100 miles,
Salomon, National Corporate Park, Route 133, Georgetown; $14. Joseph B. Lewis,
76 Winn St., Woburn, Mass. 01801 (617-933-9500, ext. 22).
- Aug. 25 -- VERNON TO VERNON, 80 or 100 miles (Vernon, Vt., to Vernon,
Conn.), bus to start from Cycle Center, Route 30 Post Road Plaza, Vernon,
Conn.; $40. Cycle Center, Route 30 Post Road Plaza, Vernon, Conn. 06066
(860-872-7740).
- Sept. 8 -- THE FLATTEST CENTURY IN THE EAST, 25, 50 or 100 miles, Tiverton
High School, North Brayton Road, Tiverton, R.I.; $23 by Aug. 24. TFCE,
Narragansett Bay Wheelmen, PO Box 428, Tiverton, R.I. 02878 (401-831-1494).
- Sept. 8 -- CONNECTICUT VALLEY CENTURY, 25, 50, 75 or 100 miles, Hadley
Village Barn Shops, Route 9, Hadley; $10. Sally Peters, Franklin-Hampshire
Freewheelers, 23 Gaston St., Easthampton, Mass. 01027 (413-527-4877).
- Sept. 8 -- MAINE FREEWHEELERS CENTURY, 62 or 100 miles, Maine Square Mall,
Hogan Road, Bangor, Maine; $10. Tony and Anne Mourkas, 171 Patterson Road,
Hampden, Maine 04444 (207-862-5990).
- Sept. 14 -- NASHOBA VALLEY PEDALERS FALL CENTURY, 25, 50, 62 or 100 miles,
Metrowest YMCA Wayland Community Pool, Route 126, Wayland; $10 in advance, $15
day of ride, $5 for 25-mile ride. NVP Century, PO Box 2398, Acton, Mass. 01720
(508-266-1NVP).
- Sept. 14 -- CASCO BAY BICYCLE CLUB'S LIGHTHOUSE CENTURY, 62 or 100 miles,
Fort Williams Park, Shore Road, Cape Elizabeth, Maine; $10, $12 after Sept. 7.
Evelyn Cookson, 37 Bernadette St., Westbrook, Maine 04092 (Gary Davis,
207-892-8257).
- Sept. 15 -- CHARLES RIVER WHEELMEN'S SOUHEGAN RIVER CENTURY, 25, 50, 62 or
100 miles, Hart Barn Ski Touring Center, Lowell Road, Carlisle; $10. Jack
Donohue, 26 Fox Run Road, Bedford, Mass. 01730 (617-325-BIKE).
- Sept. 15 -- TOUR OF EASTERN CONNECTICUT CENTURY, 50 or 100 miles, Groton
Cyclery, 1360 Route 184, Groton, Conn.; $8. Pequot Cyclists, Box 505, Gales
Ferry, Conn. 06335 (203-464-0174).
- Sept. 21 -- CASCO BAY BICYCLE CLUB'S WHITE MOUNTAIN CENTURY, 102 miles,
Covered Bridge Parking Lot, Kancamagus Highway (6 miles from east end),
Conway, N.H.; $11. Rachel Farrington, 9 Oceanwood Drive, Scarborough, Maine
04704 (207-883-0148).
- Sept. 21-22 -- GRANITE STATE WHEELMEN'S TRI-STATE SEACOAST CENTURY, 25,
50, 62, 75 or 100 miles, Hampton Beach State Park, Route 1A, Hampton Beach,
N.H.; $10, $15 after Sept. 1. Dave Topham, 2 Townsend Ave., Salem, N.H. 03079
(603-898-5479).
- Sept. 29 -- SEVEN HILLS WHEELMEN'S MAJOR TAYLOR CENTURY, 25, 62 or 100
miles, Chocksett Inn, 59 Laurelwood Road, Sterling, Mass.; $8, $10 after Sept.
22. Greg Root, 11 Redding Landing, Douglas, Mass. 01516 (508-476-2760).
- Sept. 22 -- DON MCCULLOCH MEMORIAL RIDE, 25, 62 or 100 miles,
Massachusetts Military Reservation, Route 28, Falmouth; $22, $25 after Sept.
9; $12 adults and $6 children under 10 for 5- to 10-mile Family Fun Ride. Mad
About Cycling, PO Box 491, Falmouth, Mass. 02541-0491 (888-235-2300).
- Oct. 6 -- GREAT RIVER RIDE, 30, 64 or 105 miles, Strathmore Park, Route
20, Woronoco (Russell); $28, $34 after Sept. 18. Northeast Sport Cyclists, 55
Franklin St., Westfield, Mass. 01085 (413-562-5237).
- Oct. 6 -- CADILLAC MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE, 25, 62 or 100 miles, Acadia
National Park visitor center, Route 3, Bar Harbor, Maine; free. Tony and Anne
Mourkas, Maine Freewheelers, 171 Patterson Road, Hampden, Maine 04444
(207-862-5990).
- Oct. 6 -- SLATE COVERED BRIDGE CENTURY, 25, 50, 62, 75 or 100 miles,
Swanzey Town Hall, Route 32, Swanzey, N.H.; $10, $15 after Aug. 31. Penny
Rogers, 454 Homestead Ave., West Swanzey, N.H. 03469 (603-352-6085).
~~~
Daniel Chew, 33, of Pittsburgh, Pa., won
the 2,905-mile Race Across America on Aug. 9 in 8 days, 7 hours, 14 minutes
(average speed 14.5 mph). He was more than two hours ahead of last year's
winner, Rob Kish of Port Orange, Fla.
The 19 solo entrants in the men's race included one New
Englander, 32-year-old rookie Rob Morlock of Brookfield, Conn. He placed eighth
among 14 finishers, in 9:21:34.
In the women's race, none of the three solo entrants
finished. Seana Hogan of San Jose, Calif., going for her fifth consecutive win,
quit after 2,010 miles with saddle sores. Emmy Klassen of Exeter, Calif., had
dropped out earlier because of mechanical problems with her support vehicles,
and Jodi Groesbeck of Sharon, N.H., was forced by a bike crash injury suffered
at the beginning of the race to quit after 841 miles.
Team Kern Wheelmen, a four-man relay team from
Bakersfield, Calif., won Team RAAM with a record time of 5 days, 6 hours, 4
minutes (average speed 23 mph). Team Action Sports, also from Bakersfield, was
second, with Team Pacificare from San Antonio, Texas, only eight minutes behind.
The race went from Irvine, Calif., to Savannah, Ga.
~~~
TIP OF THE HELMET -- To the juniors on the
Worcester-based team G.S. Mengoni/Hot Tubes, coached by Toby Stanton of Holden,
who swept up five national titles and 11 top-5 medals at the Fresca Junior
Cycling Championships last month in Kenosha, Wis. Brian Fagan, 18, of Kingwood,
Texas, rode on the Wal-Mart track squad that won the team pursuit, and Bryan
Hayes, 17, of Bartlesville, Okla., won the 20-kilometer individual time trial in
26 minutes, 34.55 seconds. Fagan placed third in the time trial. Hayes finished
second in the individual pursuit, and fifth in the kilo. Derek Wilkerson, 17, of
San Antonio, Fla., was third in the criterium.
Lewis Elliot, 16, of Fort Myers, Fla., in his last
competition with the Mengoni team, won the road race, the time trial and the
crit in the age 15-16 group. And Stanton's stepson, Craig Guertin, 16, of Holden
was second in the individual pursuit and third in the time trial.
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