Pierce Gafgen, Wise's partner in running BMB, and in life, reminded riders that they had 1200 hard kilometers in front of them, and that there was no prize for being the first to either the top of the driveway, nor to the finish. The pack departed into the cool pre-dawn dark, filled with excitement, and some apprehension. Not all riders realized that Wise's satire might turn to prophecy, as anti-chafing creams and anti-inflammatories would be used in striking quantities over the next four days.

“Although most of us had never cycled together, we were a very compatible group. However, our compatibility was put to the test by five flat tires, a frozen free wheel, and a broken rear derailleur cable. In addition, on two separate steep descents, my brevet card worked its way out of its plastic holder while it was tucked into my jersey. By the time Andrea's derailleur cable broke on the return trip to Middlebury some folks were understandably becoming less patient while waiting for repairs and looking for lost brevet cards. Despite these challenges, I think our group rode very well together and appreciated each others company on the long journey.”

After repairing his derailleur Tosolini used his stronger climbing to catch the other five riders on Middlebury Gap and forged ahead on his own. Riding solo through the night, Tosolini was the first finisher in 49:40. The other five stayed together to finish in 51:30.

Jeff Bauer & Mary Crawley, the only tandem in BMB this year. Photo by Rick Collette

While the lead group of male riders was together for most of the ride, the top female finishers, all first time BMB participants, took different paths. Sylvie Ménard of Quebec and Deborah Georges of Miami, FL started at 4 a.m., but were not riding together. They met briefly at Rouses Point, and then separated again.

Meanwhile, Ann Crossland of Colorado started at 6 a.m., working with Stig Lungaard of Denmark and Peter Riffart of Germany. Ménard was in front for most of the ride. Off the road for several hours with a stomach problem, Georges had been passed by Crossland near Middlebury. Georges caught back up at Ludlow, and then a spirited game of leapfrog ensued on the descents of Mount Terrible and Andover Pass. They both caught Ménard at Bullard Farm. Crossland's group set off quickly with Georges and Ménard following. Ménard fell off the pace, and in the last 25 miles Georges was joined by Russ Loomis. Together they passed Crossland's group, who had stopped for food. Nearing the end at dusk, with her lighting system shorting out on the rough roads, Georges finished in 64:40. Crossland arrived just five minutes later as the fastest female finisher in 62:45 (due to her 6 a.m. start). Ménard regained her form to finish in a commendable 66:01.

Directional reassurance in the dark. Photo by Pierce Gafgen

On the Road
Everyone made the same pledge at the start of BMB and pedaled on the same roads, but the experiences of each participant were intensely personal. The physical exertion of riding hundreds of miles on hilly and often rough roads, and stresses of the hot sun, dark nights, cold rain, strong winds and sleep deprivation tested the participants' will power and reshaped their perceptions not just of their challenge, but of themselves. But even before the drama began, the start was seen very differently by three Boston area first time riders.

For Chris Candiello, BMB “started out like any other ultra cycling event: dark, peaceful, and the sound of floor pumps filling bicycle tires at 2:45 a.m.” Tom Worster saw the same scene as “a little surreal.” Emily O'Brien brought surrealism to life, as she “saw the long line of other riders snaking out up the driveway with their reflective gear and headlamps like a huge bioluminescent eel.”

Chris Kaiser, the only recumbent in BMB this year. Photo by Chris Tompsett

Just 24, O'Brien, the youngest rider at BMB, has a refreshingly different view of not just the peloton, but of many things, including her choice of bikes. The irrepressible O'Brien, who completed the Furnace Creek 508 on her fixed gear last year, chose to conquer BMB on her faithful Raleigh, facing the storied Vermont climbs with only a fixed 42x16 gear. Pat Hurt, Spencer Klaassen and Jake Kassen also rode fixed gear bikes, for the 1200 km, 1000 km and Quad Centuries, respectively.

Fixed gear riders often see things in reverse. While most riders love the descent from Killington, O'Brien wasn't having much fun: “The descent seemed like it would go on forever. By that point, I had been on the bike for a pretty durn long time, and my butt wasn't really happy about spinning so fast for so long. I couldn't wait for Middlebury Gap to start.”

Worster, riding a multi-geared bike, had “heard so much about how tough Middlebury Gap was that I was quite apprehensive.” But by “riding gently up hills with a very low gear and only a little more effort than I use on the flat,” Worster flattened the Gap and had a new view of BMB's most feared challenge. Worster's sound gearing and pacing strategy brought him to the finish in 70:34.

The ever-cheerful Brian James leaving Middlebury. Photo by Chris Tompsett

O'Brien was disappointed in a very different way: “The hill got steeper and steeper, and finally I saw 1 km to go for KOM painted on the road. I told myself, ‘Okay, it's only 1 km, you can make it without walking!’ There was no rhythm to my climbing; just a bunch of mashing. I kept it up for what felt like an eternity, thinking I must be close to the end any second now when I saw 500 m to go for KOM painted on the road. I realized that I had only gone 500 m and still had half a kilometer left, and that was when I got off my bike and walked for the first time. I only walked for a couple hundred yards. Since the guy I was with, who had gears, walked some too, I didn't feel too bad about it.”

Georges described the descent: “My biggest fear going into BMB, descending Middlebury Gap, is now laughable. It was the easiest descent I have ever taken — I rode it at 48 mph.” The fixed gear riders were neither laughing nor riding 48 mph.

The hills weren't the only part of the course that elicited different emotions from the riders. Worster, suffering after an overly brief sleep break at Rouses Point, said “The leg from Rouses Point to Huntingdon had little to recommend it. Boring farmland scenery, straight roads and one hill. It was hot and tedious and I felt terrible.”

Georges, on the other hand, “Really enjoyed the Canadian side, though the course was not easy. There were many rollers and steep climbs, the pay-off coming from ‘delicious’ descents on the return.”

O'Brien still saw the world with a bright tint on Friday afternoon, “Once over the border, everything was different. All the signs, street names, billboards, and slogans were in French. The landscape looked completely different from Rouses Point; there were no services, no kitchy touristy stores, just gently rolling farmland and fields of corn, blueberries, livestock, apple trees.” Returning on Friday night, O'Brien added that, “In the evening light, the ponds and fields were breathtakingly beautiful.”

Fastest Female Finisher, rookie rider Ann Crossland. Photo by Rick Collette

While the riders had different views of Canada and the hills, the heat on Friday and the strong headwinds returning to Middlebury were judged by most to be the low point of the ride, although the cold rain on Saturday night was challenging for those still on the road. Wise always promises rain at BMB, and she has always kept her word.

While many cyclists get separated from their riding partners by the terrain, weather and shear fatigue, some riders can't stay apart. Ted Lapinski and Ken Bonner don’t start out with a plan to ride together, but have found a way of coming together at the last three BMBs. Bonner explains, “Ted and I are fated to ride together on BMB from Middlebury to the finish. At PBP next year we'll probably find each other in the dark on the way back to the finish.” Finding each other this year on the return leg in Bristol, VT, Lapinski offers accolades to Bonner's professionalism on the road, “It was nice to ride with Ken on the second night. He is safe and prepared to handle the changing conditions without taking risks. It will always be an honor to ride with a man of his résumé.”

Behind the Scenes
Wise has set the tone for BMB since 1993. That means meticulous organization and passionate attention to rider comfort. As Wayne Cernak observed, “Jennifer must have extraordinary organizational skills. To co-ordinate staff at checkpoints, menus, food distribution, and bag drops has to be tough. Every thing was in place and ready from check-in to finish.”

While Wise's organizational footprint can been seen all over the event, many riders observed that Wise herself was everywhere simultaneously. Noting her miraculous ubiquity, Cernak saw her not just at his 66:08 finish, but “at most of the checkpoints,” as did many other riders.

Crash victim Gerry Goode. Photo by John Lee Ellis

Wise has recruited a support team that shares her passion for serving the riders. Scott McIntosh, just squeezing under the 65 hour RAAM qualifying time in 64:57, had high praise for the team, “As tough as the course is, the staff are as nice to you.” O'Brien noted that, “The volunteers were very eager to help and to wait hand and foot on all of us riders.” BMB and PBP ancienne Elizabeth Wicks, staffing the Brattleboro control, to let a very fatigued O'Brien use her hotel room and shower to get cleaned up and on the road more quickly.

David Jordan, after manning the sneaky secret control, became a roving support van, rescuing Chris Candiello from a potential DNF. Riding with his old college roommate Dustin Baker and BBS friend Chip Coldwell, Candiello, riding without the requisite special tools, broke a spoke on his Kysrium wheel on the return leg to Brattleboro, and the wheel went completely out of true. “Chip called Dave Jordan at the Brattleboro check point, who agreed to drive out to us. Unable to fix the wheel, Jordan gave Candiello the wheel from his bike. A few hours later, “Dave drove back and delivered my wheel! He had taken it to a bike shop and had it repaired!” Back on the road after the long delay, first-time riders Candiello and Baker still finished in only 70:47, and Candiello looks forward to “another chance to visit my body and mind's outermost boundaries of pain.”

The event staff also tried to ensure that others who could assist the riders were ready, as Worster describes: “There was a 40-minute long line of cars at the US border. John Connagham and I skipped the line. At the border control a guard came out and moved fast to make sure we weren't delayed, knowing that our event was timed.” As the day wore on, the border guards became quite familiar with the riders' needs, if not the riders themselves. Returning to the US nearly 12 hours after Worster, O'Brien observed that, “By the time I got there the only question the border control officer had for me was whether I was going to sleep in Rouses Point or push on to Middlebury.”

Fastest Male Finisher, rookie BMB rider Andrea Tosolini. Photo by Tracey Ingle

Northern New England is no desert, but Tom Worster saw Bullard Farm as “an oasis in the night. Service was exceptional with the support team providing tire pressure, chain lube, hot noodles, drinks, good advice and encouragement.” At the Bullard Farm control, Melinda Lyon, holder of the women's course record, and Ed Kross, who formerly held the BMB men's course record, know that their most important responsibility is to keep the cyclists moving. Lyon had sympathy for the many of the riders arriving on Sunday morning, who after battling the cold storm of Saturday night, “are very tired and hard to motivate. They want to sit forever so we try to encourage them along.”

Not all riders needed extra encouragement. The Lapinski and Bonner powered their way back to Newton. Bonner claims “Ted is fated to haul me into the finish. When Ted smells the barn door he burns rubber all the way to the end! Lapinski doesn't recall burning rubber, per se: “We had a great finish that set up by pulling a steady pace down Route 20 to keep it under 60 hours. Turning into the parking lot with 11 minutes to spare was a feeling of satisfaction that I will never forget.”

On the road longer than most, and certainly exerting more effort than anyone but the other two fixed gear riders, the indefatigable O'Brien always looked at the bright side of life as she finished in 86:07. Riding the final miles, O'Brien, a graduate student in music, sang her rewrite of Summertime:”

“Summertime, and the cycling is easy,
Pedals spinning, and your speed is high.
Well, your legs feel fresh, there's a-nothin' can stop you
from watching the wide world rolling by.”

The Final BMB 2006 finisher, Janice Chernekoff. Photo by Tracey Ingle

Future of BMB
Tribute to Jennifer & Pierce

Preparing for brevets and 1200Ks
Qualifying for RAAM
Ultracycling Cup Competition

1200Ks in 2006: [ Cascade   | VanIsle  | Boston-Montreal
BMB: [  2000  |  2001  |  2002  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  ]

Boston-Montreal-Boston website Complete results

Congratulations to those who qualified for RAAM at BMB:

John Jurczynski, Holderness, NH, USA	51:33
Timothy Bol, Maitland, FL, USA	58:53
Bruce Woodard, Van Meter, IA, USA	61:46
Mike Sturgill, Phoenix, AZ, USA	63:15
Anthony Mennona, Montpelier, VT, USA	63:15
Russ Loomis, Williamsburg, MA, USA	64:40
Deborah Georges, Miami Beach, FL, USA	64:40
Scott McIntosh, Chicago, IL, USA	64:57
Tony Goodnight, Salisbury, NC, USA	68:37 (age 50)