Looking to add a little excitement to my life, for Christmas 1997 I asked my wife Penny if I could attempt to ride the 1998 Boston-Montreal-Boston (BMB). She unwittingly responded "yes" only appreciating that her permission had satisfied her holiday shopping. She about BMB was but didn't understand the implications of preparing for such a ride. BMB is a timed ultra-distance event which covers 1200 km (750mi) on a course which runs from Boston to Montreal and back. Riders must complete the course in 90 hours. BMB is held in August on 3 out of every 4 years bowing to the famous Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) ride the 4th year.
Preparing for BMB or PBP involves first completing 4 qualifying rides (or brevets). These brevets are also timed rides but lesser distances. The 4 brevets and their time limits are 200km(125mi) in 13:30; 300km (187mi) in 20:00; 400km(250mi) in 27:00; and 600km(375mi) in 40:00. While the time limits may appear generous, you must realize that they include all off-bike time (like time spent sleeping). The nearest series of qualifying brevets were hosted by John Bryan of the Spartanburg Freewheelers club. John is the originator of the Assault on Mt Mitchell and takes great pride in the fact that his brevet series is probably the toughest in North America. Three of his brevets are over mountainous courses. Since this article is about BMB itself I will just say that I completed the 4 qualifying brevets, some with style and some like a dog.
I have a twin brother who lives in Boston so I arranged for a week's visit, arriving on a Wednesday, the day before BMB was to start. That afternoon my brother drove me to the BMB starting line (the Newton Holiday Inn) for the required bike inspection. As he drove up and saw a sampling of the participants he remarked, "My God, these are a bunch of old men!" I have to admit that I'm 48 myself and I didn't exactly feel out of place. The oldest starter (and finisher) was the amazing 72 year old Jack Eason of England. Bike inspection was less stringent than I anticipated. Basically they shook my bike and when nothing fell off, it was approved. After dinner with my brother, I checked into the motel, requested a 3am wakeup call and went to sleep.
The start was scheduled for 4am Thursday morning and as I rolled my bike into the dark parking lot I was greeted by cool temperatures and dense fog. There were about 100 semi-eager starters that rolled out on time following a lead vehicle which sported a distinctive yellow flashing light. I had ridden at night on a couple of the qualifying brevets but this was different. As I was riding within a peleton of a 100 taillights I was constantly fighting a frightening reaction that cyclists in front of me were braking. The fog caused some consternation since I wear corrective lenses and was constantly having to wipe the moisture off. Unfortunately there were a couple of "pothole" accidents within the peleton before the sun finally rose.
I could see better after the sun rose and I noticed that the course was very well marked so I just settled in for the ride. Spaced along the route are controls where you must stop, check-in, and have your control card stamped. Each control has an opening & closing time and should you not arrive before the closing time, you would be disqualified. More importantly, the controls provided food and beverage. The first control was in New Salem MA, 80 miles into the ride. I arrived there about ??:?? and tried not to rush through it (advice from a veteran). Taking the time to examine other riders I noticed that they came in all shapes and sizes, even with a few "foreigners" mixed in.
Leaving New Salem the route crossed the Connecticut River and meandered north through the beautiful and mountainous Vermont countryside with controls at Brattleboro, Ludlow and Middlebury. Middlebury VT is about 230 miles from the start and it represents the minimum distance you must cover the first day. (remember sleep time counts) About 12 miles before Middlebury I crested Middlebury Gap with it's last half mile a Hogpenish15% grade. With 200 miles already in my legs, the urge to walk was almost overwhelming. I arrived at Middlebury at 8:45pm feeling about as tired as I had expected. I ate, showered and left a 2am wakeup request with the control personnel before lying down on a minature cot in a gymnasium containing other sacked-out cyclists.
My wife tells me that I snore but if she had heard the chorus that night... I actually slept only about half an hour before rising a little before 2:00am to eat a breakfast of generic raisan bran. Seeing no one preparing to roll out, I left on my own at about 2:30am with my lights on, a cue sheet and a small flashlight taped to my helmet. After about 3 miles it became obvious that I was already lost. I backtracked only to come upon 5 other riders in the same predicament. Luckily a policeman drove up, gave us directions and we were on our way. This turned out to be a stroke of luck because, instead of having to navigate on my own at night, now all I had to do was follow the taillights of the other cyclists.
My goal for the second day was to ride to Montreal, the turnaround, and back to Middlebury, some 280 miles. After riding in the mountains most of Thursday I expected the flattisth ride to Montreal and back to be less demanding. Our next control was Rouses Point NY, on the Canadian border some 80 miles from Middlebury. This leg is charactized mainly by the Lake Champaign area. I don't know if it's a "Great" lake but it sure is a big lake. By the time we crossed the Canadian border the guards had seen enough of the faster riders not to waste any time checking us. The route to Montreal and back to Rouses Point was mostly memorable for the habits of the Quebec drivers. I wouldn't suggest planning a cycle touring vacation there.
We arrived back at Rouses Point at about 5:30pm on Friday. I had noticed that during that last 30 miles the pedalling had changed from being fun into being really hard work. We had covered 200 miles already and it was another 80 miles back to Middlebury VT. I was feeling really washed out (or up) but when my 3 riding partners jumped on their bikes I decided I didn't want to be left behind. As poorly as I felt leaving Rouses Point, after another hour on the road I felt fine again. However our speed began to drop to a crawl as we battled a 20 mph headwind. Darkness descended on us and at about 11pm one rider, who had not slept a wink since the start on Thursday, claimed he had to find a place to lay down. However, that said, he just continued to ride with us. Our lead rider had ridden BMB 5 times before so we were letting him guide us along the dark back roads between Burlington and Middlebury. An hour later, with no warning, Steve, one of the cyclist, just rode off the pavement into a yard, dropped his bike, claimed that he had to lie down for a while and did just that. Our lead rider, not knowing what had happened, just kept riding. The 4th rider and I stopped and as I franatically watched our guide's taillight disappear over the next hill, I asked the other rider what we should do. He mumbled some response and I began to suspect that he might join Steve on the ground. After a couple of minutes the Steve looked up and asked me how far it was to Middlebury to which I responded 14 miles. After a somewhat pregnant pause, he said "____, surely I can ride 14 miles". I however advised, "At our current pace, that's at least another hour and a half.". Undaunted, he scrambled back on to the road with his bike and we rejoined the lead cyclist. Just as I was beginning to think that we would never reach Middlebury we did, 2am Saturday morning, nearly 24 hours after we had started that day.
At one time I thought that I might be able to finish BMB in 3 days but having the second day take so long caused me to relinquish that hope. In fact I left no wakeup call as I laid down about 3pm Saturday morning. I thought I'd probably wake at 9 or 10 in the morning and just ride the 120 miles back to Brattleboro on Saturday. Well I did wake up on my own but it was at 4:45am, less than two hours after I had fallen asleep. I actually felt pretty decent so I decided that I'd eat breakfast and leave at sunrise with still a outside chance at a 3 day finish. The next 2 legs to Ludlow and then Brattleboro covered 120 miles and included 4 steep mountain gaps. I was making pretty good time but within about 30 miles of Brattleboro I noticed that my pace was slowing drastically and that the fronts of my knees were beginning to really hurt. When I reached the Brattleboro control (Saturday 3:30pm) it was obvious that not only could I not "beat" 70 hours but that I was in so much discomfort that I couldn't continue. I had reserved a motel room in Brattleboro just in case and this was definitely the case. I iced my knees for an hour and then tried to sleep. While it still took an hour or more for me to nod off, once in dreamland I didn't even roll over until my 5am wakeup call Sunday morning.
Upon rising, I ate breakfast, raised my saddle a good centimeter and hit the road at about 6:30am. By the time I reached the last control at New Salem, 37 miles later, my knee pain had disappeared and I felt great; or great as you can feel after 670 miles of pedalling. As I started out on the last 80 mile leg to Boston I promised myself to stop at least twice and to try to finish feeling good. There were a couple of Canadian riders with whom I was playing hopscotch because we were taking breaks at different points. During my second and last stop I saw them pass so I immediately jumped on my bike with the intent of catching them soon and, of course, finishing in front of them. Riding as hard as I might over the next hour I could not bring them back into view. Then very coincidentally, within about 2 miles of the finish, a stoplight caused the merging of 3 separate groups of cyclists. Waiting for the light to change I asked one of the Canadians if they had intentionally sped up and he admitted to it with some chagrin. The light turned green and then, after 748 miles, I found myself in a 6 man all-out race. We took the whole right lane and all had our heads down. After a couple of miles we reached a short, steep climb and our bikes flopped all over the road as we sprinted up that last climb only to hang a quick left into the Holiday Inn. As we made that last turn we saw that one of the Canadians had dismounted at the bottom of the hill, jumped over a guard rail into the Inn's parking lot and raced to the finish to beat us all. A fitting finish to a 750 mile ride.
My 1998 BMB certificate of completion is now framed and hanging on my wall so obviously I am proud of my accomplishment. I have ridden distances this year that 2 years ago I never thought possible; but not because I'm any stronger than then. Ultra-distance cycling a strange sport that is mostly about overcoming self-imposed limits. Whether you're a racer or tourist, if you love to cycle you should try you hand at some ultra-distance events. You may be surprised to find that they really alot of fun.