By Ken Hablow

This year's Climb to the Clouds is Sunday, August 16. Register HERE!

I started Climb to the Clouds in October 1991. I ran it for 27 years as it grew to become the premier summer century in New England, especially because it was the only summer century that was not a charity ride.

Beginnings

There were six of us on the original ride, which started at Weston Town Hall and covered 110 miles. There was no charge and no support. After three years, when the ride had grown to 75 riders, I moved the start to Concord-Carlisle High School and shortened the route to 100 miles.

The ride was originally held on a Saturday. I was later asked to move it to Sunday, which meant we needed to add a shorter version per CRW custom to include a 50ish and 25ish ride on Sundays. I opted for a Bolton start with a metric century. For the longer ride out of Concord, I offered a 90-mile cutoff in East Princeton for those who did not want to climb Mt. Wachusett, especially on a hot day. Because the option was there, I then added an 80-mile route out of Concord.

The metric century out of Bolton took on a life of its own, with a consistent 250 to 300 riders. There was no additional work required to add it, and it gave more people a chance to do this type of ride.

CRW’s first supported century

When we moved to Concord, we started support with two fully staffed stops, including multiple porta-johns, five-gallon water jugs, and lots of food and fruit. This was a first for a CRW century. The initial cost to riders was $10 to cover the services. There was never pre-registration. It was simply: show, pay, ride.

When we got above 200 riders, we added pre-ride and on-road tech support offered by Anthony at Cycle Loft. Attendance grew exponentially and always averaged 600 to 650 riders. Our largest attendance was 850.

The Concord Police Department was helpful in getting riders across Route 2 for the first 30 to 45 minutes, as was Lincoln, so we could cross Route 117 at a traffic light. Eventually, I had to work with several towns to hire police details in areas that were tough crossings for cyclists, which added to our cost. We started charging a whopping $20.

When Concord started construction on the new high school, they closed the lot we were using. We moved the start to Lincoln-Sudbury High School and made some route changes to avoid Concord and the Route 2 crossing.

A PMC warmup

The ride was always held on the second Sunday in July. This was ideal for those training for the Pan-Mass Challenge. We were listed on the PMC site as a premier training ride: “If you can finish CTTC, you can easily do the PMC.”

The end of the run

As more towns realized this was happening, even though it was not a race and nowhere near the size of the PMC, they started making unrealistic demands that were more than I wanted to deal with, so I stopped leading it. It was a good run, and I met a lot of wonderful people along the way. We had good support from CRW members who never did the ride but wanted to be part of this CRW signature event.

Celebrity cyclist

One year, when I was told in advance that John Kerry was going to do the ride, I graciously comped him.

Police escort

One year, the police officer who was helping in Lincoln was on his motorcycle and rode it to Concord-Carlisle High School. When we did the mass start, he got out in front, took the group across Route 2, and led us all the way through Lincoln to Wayland. One rider I know well was on the front and said it was like being in the Tour de France!

A deal with God?

In 27 years, it rained only once.

The forecast was for torrential thunderstorms and got worse as the week progressed. By Thursday, I cancelled the ride and stopped all the support, including all the porta-johns, food, water, and police details.

To be safe, I drove to the Concord start and asked a friend in Harvard to go to Bolton. It was wet and dark, but not really raining. Between the two start points, there were 250 riders — when the forecast was for pouring rain! Of course, we did not charge them.

I was told they only got rained on around Westminster. I received numerous emails apologizing from people who never went to the start, saying it was pouring where they were, which was all of New England. Well…except for the sliver of the state where the ride was.

Must have been a blessing.