# Wachusett Mt Metric Century



## evs (Feb 18, 2004)

A few days ago I took the oppurtunity to climb Wachusett Mt during this nice fall foliage day in Massachusetts.The autoroad to the top had been repaved. What a smooth ride to the top. The views were great even though there were high altitude clouds. The Boston skyline could still been seen off in the distance.I had the road all to my self. Only a few hikers crossing the road on their journey to the top via the trail were seen. Unfortunately this caused me to go slower than I would have liked on the descent. But I still managed to hit 45mph and smell some rubber at the bottom as I broke in my new rear brake pads. All in all a 61.5 mile round trip. I'd like to thank the police office for allowing me to ride a 4 mile section of road that had a detour on it near the souther part of the Wachusett Resrvior. I had the road all to myself and was riding down the center of it finding the smooth line. All I had to do was watch out for the trucks at the far end doing some road work.  A nice cold drink by the fire to reflect on my end of season ride took the chill out of my bones and put a smile on my face. Hope you like the pics. 
Wachusett Mountain State Reservation


----------



## Tomtama (Jul 29, 2011)

Great pics!!! I love the ride up Mt. Wachusett. I've had the pleasure of doing it many times.


----------



## LavenderLightning (Sep 12, 2011)

Nothing better than a quiet winding road on a hazy autumn day. Is that a chair lift over the road?


----------



## evs (Feb 18, 2004)

Yes it was a nice quiet climb in the trees and yes it is a chair lift. Good ski trails being so close to Boston. The hardest part was going up the road on the outskirts of the Preservation from the bottom of the ski area to the entrance to the autoroad. Straight and steep. Sorry, no pics. It was all I could do to make it up. ;-)The autoroad corkscrewed around the mountain to the top. The steepest part of that was the last 100 ft.


----------



## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

Tomtama said:


> Great pics!!! I love the ride up Mt. Wachusett. I've had the pleasure of doing it many times.


gorgeous. Autum in New England. Kinda breaks my heart!


----------



## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Nice photos and report (I always look at the photos before I read the report).

Is it snowing there yet?


----------



## mtnroadie (Jul 6, 2010)

So they finally opened the auto road, I got booted last time I tried to ride up there.

I'll have to ride up there before it snows....

I cant seem to break 50mph on that descent, from what I hear when they race here they get close to 70mph.

The pics look great.


----------



## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

looks nice, quiet and smooth.


----------



## evs (Feb 18, 2004)

we got slammed as you by now are aware of. We only got a foot of snow but the damage from the wind was immense. Luckily my jeep has 4wd. I took a ride last night and this morning and many trees and branches were down and taking power lines with them. Out in western mass they got 29". Yikes, it's only Oct. Looks like my riding season is indoors now. I was hoping for a couple of hundred more miles on the road. I lost power last night at 7:30 and still don' have it back on. I'm staying with a friend and the ragu is smelling good.  Time to gain a few pounds I guess.
Pic updates : borrowed from Wachusett mt website of the snow covered autoroad. The rest are from my area. I love it after a snow storm, how clean and quiet it is.


----------



## evs (Feb 18, 2004)

Thanks, I think I could break 50 but it would be sketchy with hikers crossing the road and worrying about slippin on the white lines. haha did you make it up there before it snows. strap your skiis on your back. lol.


----------



## Dream Plus (Feb 4, 2004)

IIRC, when I raced there (Fitchburg), we climbed the Autoroad in the direction against car traffic. The road course only climbed the Autoroad on the last lap to the finish at the top. The high speeds were on the descent back down Mountain Rd to 140 each lap, not on the Autoroad. Tough to go much more tha 55-60mph depending on the pavement and the riders nearby. There have been some serious crashes on that descent.Tim Johnson in 2000



mtnroadie said:


> So they finally opened the auto road, I got booted last time I tried to ride up there.
> 
> I'll have to ride up there before it snows....
> 
> ...


----------



## LavenderLightning (Sep 12, 2011)

Dream Plus said:


> IIRC, when I raced there (Fitchburg), we climbed the Autoroad in the direction against car traffic. The road course only climbed the Autoroad on the last lap to the finish at the top. The high speeds were on the descent back down Mountain Rd to 140 each lap, not on the Autoroad. Tough to go much more tha 55-60mph depending on the pavement and the riders nearby. There have been some serious crashes on that descent.Tim Johnson in 2000


Seriously??!! 55-60mph? When I read it the first time I thought it said KPH and was like, yeah, so? I get to about 38mph and poop my spandex. I mean, I ride classics that aren't really built for that it, 38 downhill seems pretty break neck to me on a bike. How can you handle at 60?


----------



## Dream Plus (Feb 4, 2004)

I didn't break 50mph (almost). I was in the middle of a pack of Cat4 riders and the road was torn up with frost heaves and bad pavement. The pro, cat1,2s no doubt were moving faster than I was. There are no turns until the bottom. The riders came together at the after the descent in my race so there was no need to take many chances.

I've broken 50mph before on straight descents and I am basically a chicken.





LavenderLightning said:


> Seriously??!! 55-60mph? When I read it the first time I thought it said KPH and was like, yeah, so? I get to about 38mph and poop my spandex. I mean, I ride classics that aren't really built for that it, 38 downhill seems pretty break neck to me on a bike. How can you handle at 60?


----------

