New England Randonneurs

For the MA 400km, bag drop support will be available.  Bag 1 will be available at the first and third checkpoints (New Boston and Hillsboro); Bag 2 will be available at the second checkpoint (Meredith).

Please ensure your bag is small (e.g. a small duffel or pannier) and will not create a hazard for staff or other bags from fire, spills, sharp points or edges, etc. (yes, we’ve seen all of these.)  If something inside is delicate, pack it like you would for shipping by mail.

For those new to drop bags, this is a service were you can leave small bags with supplies you’d like available during the ride (food, change of cloths, etc) at the ride start. The bags will be delivered to the above locations and returned to the finish.

The online registration for the 400k ends Wednesday (June 19th) at 11:45pm. If you miss the cut off you can still ride the event by arriving at Hanscom Field 30 minutes early with the MA400k Day-Of-Event form filled out. We’ll have blank copies of this form if needed.

Also note that the 400k route is unchanged from previous years so riders who have ridden this event in 2007 and onward should be familiar with the course. But as always, remember to take and use the offical cue sheet distributed at the start.

The Boston 300k was a success! We had 36 starters and 26 finishers on one of the hottest days of the year. Full results are posted on the 300k event page.

This was a hard ride, weather aside. In 193 miles riders were expected to climb 13,000+ feet with only a short section of flat terrain to give a break. This is 5m/11k further then 300k and that doesn’t include the bonus miles some riders managed to find. The weather was hot and humid without a cloud in sight. It got as hot as 94F/34.5C according to my thermometer. This extreme weather is especially notable as the previous weekend it was freezing and raining — riders living in northern VT and NH even had snow.

The cause of most DNFs were digestion issues as riders unaccustomed to the temperatures struggled to find the right things to eat in the heat and humidity. A few riders suffered from unexpected mechanical failures (derailleur failure and broken spokes) but to their credit they managed to find replacement hardware and finished the ride or continued for as long as they could.

I want to give an extended THANK YOU to the excellent volunteers on the event: Walter Page (Sunderland), Bruce Ingle (Petersham) and first time volunteer Ashley Lanoue (Petersham). It is thanks to the dedication of these people that the ride was such a success and I can’t thank them enough for tirelessly helping exhausted riders during the day and even shuttling riders back to the finish who were unable to continue on their own. You guys rock!

This was a mostly new route which used the first two legs of last year’s 300k (thanks Pamela) with the new western points of Northfield and Sunderland and a slightly easier return on Rt. 62 and back roads. The response so far has been very favorable but I’m eager to hear what riders liked and what they’d like to see changed. Keep in mind the only alternative to Blackington Rd (dirt) is Rt 202/140 which is a higher speed state road. Some prefer major roads and some prefer minor dirt roads but only one route can be offered.

Thanks again to everyone who came out. I hope to see you all next year.

Jake Kassen
Boston 300k Ride Organizer