Ride Report: Tour of the Litchfield Hills

Let me see if I have this right ............

You show up and pay $25 dollars, get a T Shirt and go for a bicycle ride
.....

AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO COMPLAIN!

YOU SNIVELLING SACK OF [censored]. GO AWAY. DON'T RIDE. WHAT AN [censored]!

======================================================================
"Pete Salomone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got a
t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts were
left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the rest
stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water stops –
“only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and got two
bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the first
riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour is not a
race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the 75-mile race. I
wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water that
you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles that I
expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders took the 30
and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was not busy and
then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of SAGs, emergency, and
police directing traffic on the route. On this stretch I met a husband and
wife who lived near the top of West Mountain Rd, Canton, a climb we often
avoid on easy weekday rides but a good one to use for hill training. CT341
ended with a very long downhill (over 3mi) as it reached Kent. Several
cyclists(racers) were making the climb in the other direction; I presumed
they were doing hill training; they picked the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode with
a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often pass
thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about the
Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes right
on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I was
less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the bridge.
Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we started
climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked about bike
clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the while we rode thru
beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy highway,
although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into Norfolk. The
climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of good news. We
still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272 AND most of the
route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information on
the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks, and
rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a bailout
route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches and
pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like to
see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and Gatorade,
lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned about
3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one Clif Bar,
three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide two
things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back
to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go on an
invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs every 25
miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will hunger
for d carbs once; but not twice.

TomCAt said:

Let me see if I have this right ............

You show up and pay $25 dollars, get a T Shirt and go for a bicycle ride
....

AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO COMPLAIN!

YOU SNIVELLING SACK OF [censored]. GO AWAY. DON'T RIDE. WHAT AN [censored]!

Seemed like a fair evaluation to me. It does seem unusual that only bananas
and water were available at the rest stops. Is 25 bucks a fair amount for a
ride like this - just asking. ;-)

jj

Quoted message said:

======================================================================
"Pete Salomone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got a
t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts were
left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the rest
stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water stops –
“only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and got two
bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the first
riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour is not a
race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the 75-mile race. I
wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water that
you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles that I
expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders took the 30
and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was not busy and
then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of SAGs, emergency, and
police directing traffic on the route. On this stretch I met a husband and
wife who lived near the top of West Mountain Rd, Canton, a climb we often
avoid on easy weekday rides but a good one to use for hill training. CT341
ended with a very long downhill (over 3mi) as it reached Kent. Several
cyclists(racers) were making the climb in the other direction; I presumed
they were doing hill training; they picked the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode with
a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often pass
thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about the
Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes right
on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I was
less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the bridge.
Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we started
climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked about bike
clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the while we rode thru
beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy highway,
although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into Norfolk. The
climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of good news. We
still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272 AND most of the
route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information on
the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks, and
rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a bailout
route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches and
pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like to
see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and Gatorade,
lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned about
3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one Clif Bar,
three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide two
things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back
to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go on an
invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs every 25
miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will hunger
for d carbs once; but not twice.

"jet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

TomCAt said:

Let me see if I have this right ............

You show up and pay $25 dollars, get a T Shirt and go for a bicycle ride
....

AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO COMPLAIN!

YOU SNIVELLING SACK OF [censored]. GO AWAY. DON'T RIDE. WHAT AN [censored]!

Seemed like a fair evaluation to me. It does seem unusual that only
bananas
and water were available at the rest stops. Is 25 bucks a fair amount for
a
ride like this - just asking. ;-)

It begs the question - Why pay at all, why not just go do a 75 miler ?.

1) This is a charity ride, so the $25 partially goes to cover expenses,
partly to charity, thus it's a slightly higher fee then you might find for a
basic bike club-run event. Not much though for day-of-event registration.
The TA folks who run the NYC Century charges $65 for day-of-event. The Long
Island Gold Coast ride in July charges $25.

2) This is not an event run by a bike club. Thus the organizers do not
understand the need for better food choices, such as peanut butter
sandwiches, Cliif bars, Gatorade, etc... They probably underestimated the
tee shirts as well, though the local events here on LI only give tee shorts
if you pre-register. Day of event you get the surcharge as well as get to
buy the tee-shirt.

SB

On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 11:47:33 -0400, "Steve B." <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"jet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

TomCAt said:

Let me see if I have this right ............

You show up and pay $25 dollars, get a T Shirt and go for a bicycle ride
....

AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO COMPLAIN!

YOU SNIVELLING SACK OF [censored]. GO AWAY. DON'T RIDE. WHAT AN [censored]!

Seemed like a fair evaluation to me. It does seem unusual that only
bananas and water were available at the rest stops. Is 25 bucks a
fair amount for a ride like this - just asking. ;-)

It begs the question - Why pay at all, why not just go do a 75 miler ?.

Well there's some advantage in a group ride, perhaps some traffic control,
and it can be fun riding with other cyclists.

Quoted message said:

1) This is a charity ride, so the $25 partially goes to cover expenses,
partly to charity, thus it's a slightly higher fee then you might find for a
basic bike club-run event. Not much though for day-of-event registration.
The TA folks who run the NYC Century charges $65 for day-of-event. The Long
Island Gold Coast ride in July charges $25.

2) This is not an event run by a bike club. Thus the organizers do not
understand the need for better food choices, such as peanut butter
sandwiches, Cliif bars, Gatorade, etc... They probably underestimated the
tee shirts as well, though the local events here on LI only give tee shorts
if you pre-register. Day of event you get the surcharge as well as get to
buy the tee-shirt.

Thus the advantage of being able to read a ride report. I'd rather have
such reports and be able to read through any apparent griping to get some
info. It's not like the OP totally slammed this ride - seemed he was trying
to be honest and objective.

jj

Quoted message said:

SB

I received this response from Pat Cunningham, contact person for Tour of
the Litchfield Hills

Pete,
Thanks for the report and the feedback. I will share it with the rest
of the volunteer organizing committee. We are considering adding
to the rest stops and attempting to work out the logistics for next
year. The volunteers that organize this ride work hard throughout the
year to bring this all together and this type of feedback is very
important to us.

You are correct that the Tour is not a race, people are allowed to ride
at whatever pace they choose. The volunteer who registered
mistakingly referred to the 75 mile route as a race.

One thing I would like to point out is that the Tour is more than just
an invitational ride. It is a fundraiser for people who are living with
cancer. I am quite certain that they assess the value of your
contribution as excellent. Thank you for participating.

Quoted message said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got
a t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts
were left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the
rest stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water
stops – “only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and
got two bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the
first riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour
is not a race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the
75-mile race. I wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water
that you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles
that I expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders
took the 30 and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was
not busy and then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of
SAGs, emergency, and police directing traffic on the route. On this
stretch I met a husband and wife who lived near the top of West
Mountain Rd, Canton, a climb we often avoid on easy weekday rides but
a good one to use for hill training. CT341 ended with a very long
downhill (over 3mi) as it reached Kent. Several cyclists(racers) were
making the climb in the other direction; I presumed they were doing
hill training; they picked the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode
with a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often
pass thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about
the Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes
right on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I
was less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the
bridge. Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we
started climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked
about bike clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the
while we rode thru beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy
highway, although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into
Norfolk. The climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of
good news. We still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272
AND most of the route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information
on the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks,
and rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a
bailout route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches
and pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like
to see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and
Gatorade, lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned
about 3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one
Clif Bar, three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide
two things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a
ride back to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go
on an invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs
every 25 miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will
hunger for d carbs once; but not twice.

You are beyond the [censored] rating ........... you have entered into the
TOTAL [censored] RATING.

YOU PAID $25 DOLLARS ..... SAY IT OUT LOUD .... $25 DOLLARS.

ARE YOU THE CHEAPEST HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET OR THE BIGGEST [censored] ON THE
PLANET. OR BOTH.

$25 DOLLARS ....... I CAN'T GO OUT FOR BREAKFAST FOR $25 DOLLARS.

AND YOU GOT A T SHIRT. WHAT THE F DO YOU WANT.

WHAT AN
[censored]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

======================================================================
"Pete Salomone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I received this response from Pat Cunningham, contact person for Tour of
the Litchfield Hills

Pete,
Thanks for the report and the feedback. I will share it with the rest of
the volunteer organizing committee. We are considering adding
to the rest stops and attempting to work out the logistics for next year.
The volunteers that organize this ride work hard throughout the
year to bring this all together and this type of feedback is very
important to us.
You are correct that the Tour is not a race, people are allowed to ride at
whatever pace they choose. The volunteer who registered
mistakingly referred to the 75 mile route as a race.
One thing I would like to point out is that the Tour is more than just an
invitational ride. It is a fundraiser for people who are living with
cancer. I am quite certain that they assess the value of your
contribution as excellent. Thank you for participating.

Quoted message said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got a
t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts were
left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the
rest stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water
stops – “only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and
got two bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the first
riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour is not a
race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the 75-mile race. I
wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water
that you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles that
I expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders took the
30 and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was not busy
and then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of SAGs,
emergency, and police directing traffic on the route. On this stretch I
met a husband and wife who lived near the top of West Mountain Rd,
Canton, a climb we often avoid on easy weekday rides but a good one to
use for hill training. CT341 ended with a very long downhill (over 3mi)
as it reached Kent. Several cyclists(racers) were making the climb in the
other direction; I presumed they were doing hill training; they picked
the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode
with a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often
pass thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about the
Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes right
on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I was
less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the bridge.
Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we started
climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked about bike
clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the while we rode
thru beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy highway,
although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into Norfolk. The
climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of good news. We
still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272 AND most of the
route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information on
the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks,
and rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a
bailout route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches
and pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like to
see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and Gatorade,
lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned
about 3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one
Clif Bar, three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide two
things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back
to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go on
an invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs every
25 miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will hunger
for d carbs once; but not twice.

You are beyond the [censored] rating ........... you have entered into the
TOTAL [censored] RATING.

YOU PAID $25 DOLLARS ..... SAY IT OUT LOUD .... $25 DOLLARS.

ARE YOU THE CHEAPEST HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET OR THE BIGGEST [censored] ON THE
PLANET. OR BOTH.

$25 DOLLARS ....... I CAN'T GO OUT FOR BREAKFAST FOR $25 DOLLARS.

AND YOU GOT A T SHIRT. WHAT THE F DO YOU WANT.

WHAT AN
[censored]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

======================================================================
"Pete Salomone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I received this response from Pat Cunningham, contact person for Tour of
the Litchfield Hills

Pete,
Thanks for the report and the feedback. I will share it with the rest of
the volunteer organizing committee. We are considering adding
to the rest stops and attempting to work out the logistics for next year.
The volunteers that organize this ride work hard throughout the
year to bring this all together and this type of feedback is very
important to us.
You are correct that the Tour is not a race, people are allowed to ride at
whatever pace they choose. The volunteer who registered
mistakingly referred to the 75 mile route as a race.
One thing I would like to point out is that the Tour is more than just an
invitational ride. It is a fundraiser for people who are living with
cancer. I am quite certain that they assess the value of your
contribution as excellent. Thank you for participating.

Quoted message said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got a
t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts were
left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the
rest stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water
stops – “only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and
got two bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the first
riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour is not a
race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the 75-mile race. I
wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water
that you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles that
I expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders took the
30 and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was not busy
and then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of SAGs,
emergency, and police directing traffic on the route. On this stretch I
met a husband and wife who lived near the top of West Mountain Rd,
Canton, a climb we often avoid on easy weekday rides but a good one to
use for hill training. CT341 ended with a very long downhill (over 3mi)
as it reached Kent. Several cyclists(racers) were making the climb in the
other direction; I presumed they were doing hill training; they picked
the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode
with a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often
pass thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about the
Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes right
on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I was
less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the bridge.
Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we started
climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked about bike
clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the while we rode
thru beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy highway,
although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into Norfolk. The
climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of good news. We
still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272 AND most of the
route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information on
the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks,
and rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a
bailout route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches
and pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like to
see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and Gatorade,
lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned
about 3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one
Clif Bar, three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide two
things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back
to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go on
an invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs every
25 miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will hunger
for d carbs once; but not twice.

On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 16:45:52 -0400, "TomCAt" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Dear Tom, on the contrary, that noise you just heard is the sound of dozens
of posters throughout the world adding -you- to their killfiles.

jj

Quoted message said:

You are beyond the [censored] rating ........... you have entered into the
TOTAL [censored] RATING.

YOU PAID $25 DOLLARS ..... SAY IT OUT LOUD .... $25 DOLLARS.

ARE YOU THE CHEAPEST HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET OR THE BIGGEST [censored] ON THE
PLANET. OR BOTH.

$25 DOLLARS ....... I CAN'T GO OUT FOR BREAKFAST FOR $25 DOLLARS.

AND YOU GOT A T SHIRT. WHAT THE F DO YOU WANT.

WHAT AN
[censored]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

======================================================================
"Pete Salomone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I received this response from Pat Cunningham, contact person for Tour of
the Litchfield Hills

Pete,
Thanks for the report and the feedback. I will share it with the rest of
the volunteer organizing committee. We are considering adding
to the rest stops and attempting to work out the logistics for next year.
The volunteers that organize this ride work hard throughout the
year to bring this all together and this type of feedback is very
important to us.
You are correct that the Tour is not a race, people are allowed to ride at
whatever pace they choose. The volunteer who registered
mistakingly referred to the 75 mile route as a race.
One thing I would like to point out is that the Tour is more than just an
invitational ride. It is a fundraiser for people who are living with
cancer. I am quite certain that they assess the value of your
contribution as excellent. Thank you for participating.

Quoted message said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got a
t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts were
left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the
rest stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water
stops – “only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and
got two bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the first
riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour is not a
race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the 75-mile race. I
wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water
that you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles that
I expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders took the
30 and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was not busy
and then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of SAGs,
emergency, and police directing traffic on the route. On this stretch I
met a husband and wife who lived near the top of West Mountain Rd,
Canton, a climb we often avoid on easy weekday rides but a good one to
use for hill training. CT341 ended with a very long downhill (over 3mi)
as it reached Kent. Several cyclists(racers) were making the climb in the
other direction; I presumed they were doing hill training; they picked
the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode
with a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often
pass thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about the
Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes right
on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I was
less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the bridge.
Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we started
climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked about bike
clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the while we rode
thru beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy highway,
although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into Norfolk. The
climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of good news. We
still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272 AND most of the
route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information on
the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks,
and rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a
bailout route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches
and pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like to
see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and Gatorade,
lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned
about 3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one
Clif Bar, three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide two
things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back
to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go on
an invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs every
25 miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will hunger
for d carbs once; but not twice.

Value has two sides: what you pay and what you get in services and
products. $25 for an invitational ride with sag, rest stops, route
markers, cue sheet, t-shirt, lunch afterwards ... is reasonable or
better in CT. The evaluation of “fair” for value results primarily from
the lack of “lots of carbs” at rest stops.

Somehow I did not make my basis for evaluation clear. I wrote: “I look
for an invitational or century ride to provide two things: (1) sags so
if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back to my car and (2)
food and drink at least every 25 miles.”

I did not get food & drink on the ride, although the organizers did
incur the cost of food & drink at the end of the ride. I got two slices
of pizza and two half turkey sandwhiches at the end of the ride. It I
got the two slices of pizza at a rest stop around the 25 mile mark and
the two half turkey sandwhiches around the 50 mile mark, I would have
rated the value as "good" or "excellent".

Notes:

I have been on over 20 different invitationals. Many ride reports are
in the archives of this newsgroup.

On this newsgroup I rated the value of CycleFest 2004 also in NW CT as
"excellent" - it costs $25 on the day of the ride; t-shirts were extra.
There were many sags and lots of carbs at rest stops.

Pete Salomone said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got
a t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts
were left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the
rest stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water
stops – “only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and
got two bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the
first riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour
is not a race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the
75-mile race. I wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water
that you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles
that I expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders
took the 30 and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was
not busy and then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of
SAGs, emergency, and police directing traffic on the route. On this
stretch I met a husband and wife who lived near the top of West
Mountain Rd, Canton, a climb we often avoid on easy weekday rides but
a good one to use for hill training. CT341 ended with a very long
downhill (over 3mi) as it reached Kent. Several cyclists(racers) were
making the climb in the other direction; I presumed they were doing
hill training; they picked the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode
with a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often
pass thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about
the Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes
right on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I
was less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the
bridge. Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we
started climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked
about bike clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the
while we rode thru beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy
highway, although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into
Norfolk. The climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of
good news. We still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272
AND most of the route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information
on the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks,
and rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a
bailout route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches
and pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like
to see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and
Gatorade, lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned
about 3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one
Clif Bar, three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide
two things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a
ride back to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go
on an invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs
every 25 miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will
hunger for d carbs once; but not twice.

Pete,

I think your evaluation was spot on. Over the years, I've done dozens of
organized rides such as you describe, some cost more than you paid, some
cost less.

I can't remember any that offered such a dismal lack of selection for food
as what you were offered, regardless of what Mr. Know-It-All feels necessary
to POST ALL IN CAPS LIKE A DOOFUS!!!!!!!

You did the right thing, offering good constructive criticism of the good
and bad to the ride organizers. I hope they take your comments to heart and
make improvements for next year.

Chris Neary
[email hidden]

"We will teach our twisted speech to the young believers"
-- The Clash

Pete, Peter, .... Mr Cheap OOOO

$25 Dollars? If there were NO REST STOPS, NO FOOD, NO WATER, AND ONLY A MAP
....

YOU PAID $25 DOLLARS.

TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT THE RIDERS OF THE PAN MASS CHALLENGE MUST RAISE TO RIDE
IN THE TWO DAY EVENT.

"Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

two things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride
back to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles."

Your words, not mine. You paid $25 dollars. You got a T Shirt. And you
want FOOD AND DRINK?

I would love to get together with a bunch of cyclists, ride all day, raise
some money for charity and it only cost me $25.

I used to do the MS rides here and there until the cost to ride became nuts.
They wanted you to raise hundreds of dollars.

$25 dollars is not much money.

Does your bike squeak as you ride.

"Pete Salomone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Value has two sides: what you pay and what you get in services and
products. $25 for an invitational ride with sag, rest stops, route
markers, cue sheet, t-shirt, lunch afterwards ... is reasonable or better
in CT. The evaluation of “fair” for value results primarily from the lack
of “lots of carbs” at rest stops.

Somehow I did not make my basis for evaluation clear. I wrote: “I look
for an invitational or century ride to provide two things: (1) sags so if
I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back to my car and (2) food
and drink at least every 25 miles.”

I did not get food & drink on the ride, although the organizers did incur
the cost of food & drink at the end of the ride. I got two slices of
pizza and two half turkey sandwhiches at the end of the ride. It I got
the two slices of pizza at a rest stop around the 25 mile mark and the two
half turkey sandwhiches around the 50 mile mark, I would have rated the
value as "good" or "excellent".

Notes:

I have been on over 20 different invitationals. Many ride reports are in
the archives of this newsgroup.

On this newsgroup I rated the value of CycleFest 2004 also in NW CT as
"excellent" - it costs $25 on the day of the ride; t-shirts were extra.
There were many sags and lots of carbs at rest stops.

Pete Salomone said:

*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got a
t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts were
left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the
rest stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water
stops – “only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and
got two bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the first
riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour is not a
race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the 75-mile race. I
wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water
that you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles that
I expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders took the
30 and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was not busy
and then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of SAGs,
emergency, and police directing traffic on the route. On this stretch I
met a husband and wife who lived near the top of West Mountain Rd,
Canton, a climb we often avoid on easy weekday rides but a good one to
use for hill training. CT341 ended with a very long downhill (over 3mi)
as it reached Kent. Several cyclists(racers) were making the climb in the
other direction; I presumed they were doing hill training; they picked
the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode
with a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often
pass thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about the
Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes right
on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I was
less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the bridge.
Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we started
climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked about bike
clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the while we rode
thru beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy highway,
although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into Norfolk. The
climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of good news. We
still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272 AND most of the
route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information on
the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks,
and rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a
bailout route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches
and pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like to
see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and Gatorade,
lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned
about 3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one
Clif Bar, three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide two
things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back
to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go on
an invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs every
25 miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will hunger
for d carbs once; but not twice.