Erik D'Entremont and Mark Nardone ran the Climb to the Clouds Century on Saturday June 10, 2023. We ordinarily provide a photo record of the event, but breaking precedent, we are reporting Erik's report to the CRW Board. It goes without saying, the century is a complex undertaking as evidenced by the elaborate number of steps involved and the work that was generated. The Club owes Erik a pat on the back.
WheelPeople Editors
By Erik D'Entremont
Dear Board,
Here is my Climb to the Clouds recap, and yes, it’s long, for a reason.
Wow! Rosalie and Susan, I am so appreciative of your effort and volunteerism on the Climb to Clouds Ride after party. I was very worried about you and Susan. When I was out riding century sweep with a VIP CRW member and very dear close friend Ms. Dayle Aqualano James. We got caught in 2 rainstorms and took cover with Larry Kernan’s riding group at Berlin Farms. I tried to reach out to Susan while waiting under cover to check in but wasn’t able to connect.
I am glad that tent covered you and the party was still able to be successful. Thank you for the positive and constructive feedback on food ordering. I am glad the after party went well and we had enough food for our members at the end of the ride. Cutting a pickle lengthwise into quarters is a handy skill to have, I did the first jar myself!
If you’ve’ ever wondered, here is what it takes to make the Climb to the Clouds Century successful. Just remember, “volunteer!”
- Organized and negotiated for all the permits and location permissions to bring CRW membership a safe and successful event at budget. ( Approx. 2 months effort)
- While on my way driving to NH to get the volunteer shirts 2 months ago, I took the afternoon in Berlin to find CRW a $0 rest stop “Berlin Orchards” This entailed wandering around a UU Church ( I am a UU) and finding a board member who was friend of Berlin Orchard owner to get connected.
- Rode the 62 mile a month ago to make sure rwgps file was intact and cues were correct. Took photos of all the approved rest stops for Port John delivery instructions (Getting them delivered to exact spot was a challenge last century, that we conquered successfully this time.)- 4 HRS
- Coordinated with my colleague Mark Nardone remotely for all CRW web-based CRW communications and logistics, THANK YOU MARK!!! I think we answered between the 2 of us about 50 emails from members, vendors and crw “helpers”.
- Organized the delivery of the porta Johns and audit the delivery location of the Porta Johns. THANKS LARRY!
- Friday, I spent the morning organizing all the CRW century supplies at the storage spot into piles outside for all 3 pickup folks.
- Friday: I drove solo with my PACKED SUV, full of water, tables and tents and set up alone in the rain the Lincoln HS Registration/ After Ride Party set up, then drove to Dexler Drumlin reservation and set up water stop which includes a Tent, a tables and 4 water bottles and then I drove to Berlin Orchards and set up the water stop. IN the rain, Solo!
- Found a volunteer to provide a quick and easy registration, over 50% checked in using IRCode within 20 minutes! How cool is that! Thanks MEL!!
- Found 2 AWESOME CRW volunteers to serve food at the after party (Not nearly Enough Volunteers we Needed) THANKS SUSAN AND ROSALIE!!
- SAT 6AM Picked up the catering order at MB (I had to order this a week in advance as the first plan was pizza but the pizza shop could not deliver as requested) on way to Sudbury Ride Start, unloaded all food and drinks into coolers and packed them with ice. THANKS MEL for the Help!
- Finally got to ride my 3rd CRW Century as a coordinator (LAST 2 I was not able to actually enjoy the day or see the results of our hard work )
- Rode 100 Miles without incident or found 0 SAG or roadside needs. After 2 rainstorms hit, Dayle and I decided to pick up pace to get us home in time for our personal commitments. (Alas no sandwiches left out for the 12 CRW members including me, Larry, Dayle, Clyde and others) But we all had a pickle and that was fine.
- After-Ride Party equipment tear down and delivery back to Sudbury Location. THANK YOU LARRY for Helping with that, I was exhausted at this point and really hungry.
- Went home, had a beer and heated up left over frozen pizza from the Ride to NH century, (This was my own Karma exercise to get food order right this time, which sounds like we almost did! YEAH!
- Wrote my first Triathlon Race plan for a paid IronMom that I have been training for 6 months, and Sunday she did it! Way to Go Christina Marshall!
Then I went to bed as I had to get up at 6AM to be in Springfield at an Ironman 70.3 water-stop to support my athletes as Coach Erik and network for my foundation Manny Tubes http://267foundation.org/ all day Sunday.
Here is what our efforts resulted in making the Climb to the Clouds successful for CRW.
The Climb to the Clouds statistics are as follows: Revenue $2920.00
Registered riders: 237
Checked in Riders: 144
Not Checked in 83
Guests 7
Virtual Riders 4
I had a mostly lovely day (barring the rain) riding with my friend Dayle, catching up with lunch at the Mountain side Café, sharing memories of CRW centuries we road together in, hearing stories of Covid survival and laughing in the rain. (We like pina colada’s and are not into yoga…) We very much intentionally needed our personal time together to catch up, it had been almost a year since we saw each other, Thank you Larry for reading the room and giving us the space we needed.
