Ronde 3.0 interview with Quad Cycles

We asked the fastest team on the day to tell us more about themselves and their experience: 

Tell us more about yourselves.  Where are you from? 

(Charles Wescott) I came to Cambridge for grad school and never left.  By this time, I've been here long enough that I've earned the right to drop my "R"s and use the phrase "wicked pissa" whenever I feel like it.

(Michael Good) I'm a middle-aged suburban dad from Wilmington. I have three kids ages 17-22. I love riding and racing bikes. I started in racing mtb's in 1997, it will always be my first love. Since then I've branched out into some road racing and a bunch of cyclocross.

(Kurt Johnson) I myself am also A middle aged dad of two.  A 12 and a 30 year old and grandfather of a four year old.  I started riding mt bikes in 1995 after quiting smoking butts for years, I started racing the following year and got hooked.  A couple years later started cx racing and a little road. When my son turned five we dabbled a little with bmx.

What type of riding do you do most often? 

(Charles Wescott) For me, every ride begins and ends with a running of the gantlet on Mass. Ave.; so the type of riding I do most often is "sketchy".  I've got road, mountain and cyclocross bikes, and a fixie, and I try to keep all of them exercised.

(Michael Good) I try to mix my riding up to keep it as fresh as possible. A great week would be five different rides on five different bikes.

(Kurt Johnson) My passion has and always will be endurance riding and racing from
ronde style to 12&24hr racing.

How did you learn about the Ronde Rosey?  

(Charles Wescott) I have no idea.  The Ronde is a legend.  This is kind of like asking someone how they first learned about Santa Claus.  It's just something you know.
(Michael Good) I first learned of the Ronde shortly after the first one. I can't remember how I found it but I read Rosey's blog. I absolutely loved the idea of it and was determined to get on a team the following year. Which I did riding with the NEBC team last year. 
 We scouted the course back in February and were so beat that none of us wanted to ride it again for over a month.  You guys rode the whole thing twice in 5 days!  How did you pull that off? 

(Charles Wescott) It's all about motivation.  We did it for the children.  We did it for the honor.  We did it for the glory.   But, mostly, we did it for the beer.
(Michael Good) We rode the entire course together on Tuesday. I was on vacation, Kurt had the week off between jobs and Charles had the day off. We love this kind of riding. We do cx rides as a regular part of our routine. We were excited to see and learn some new riding areas to ride our cx bikes on. 
(Kurt Johnson) The prep for the Ronde began long before we knew we were gonna ride it for sure like MG said we do at least one long mixed ride a week on our cx bikes. We came out and rode a little of it in February or at least what we thought was parts of it then we rode the course on the tues
before the ronde, myself I'm the navigator so I rode a couple of the sections after that.

Besides pre-riding the course, did you take any additional steps to prepare?  

(Charles Wescott) I watched "Smokey and the Bandit"  a few days out so I could go into The Ronde at the top of my game, mentally.  I knew Chip would be on our tail with the tenacity of Beauford T. Justice, so I needed all of the psychological preparation and focus I could muster.  During the Ronde, Kurt was definitely the Bandit, while I was Snowman.  If I crossed my eyes and squinted, Michael kinda looked like Sally Field.
(Michael Good) To mentally prepare myself for the challenge of the Ronde I went north to the White Mountains on Thursday and spent a day alone riding notches and passes in a hail storm. The Ronde was a piece of cake after that 
(Kurt Johnson) As for prep nothing different then if I was gonna head out on A long ride

What would you recommend to other teams or first time teams? 

(Charles Wescott) Take that strip of bacon Dana offers you and put it in your pocket for later.  Pre-ride bacon isn't everyone's idea of a gastrointestinally good time; but you'll want it by the time you get to Concord.
(Michael Good) My recommendation to other teams would be to take advantage of any and all information that is forthcoming from you guys. It's a long ride and could be a very long day if you don't pay attention. 
(Kurt Johnson) Advice for other teams if a team passes you and you know they know where they are going don't bitch about it grab A wheel and hang on :-) 
And prepare for an event study the map write down the street names 3 or 4 times (ask erica @RSC she watched me do that the tues morning we rode the loop).

We tried to hang on during the Tuesday pre-ride

What was your favorite section of trail?  

(Charles Wescott) The railroad bed.  It looks simple; but you can get going fast enough that serious injury will result from sloppy riding.  I left a quarter-pound of butt cheek on the railroad ties.
(Michael Good) My favorite part of the course was the technical section that was most mountain bikey. I believe that it was just after the long road climb up out of Wellesley. It ended with the sharp drop right into traffic if you weren't careful. Roots, rocks and off-camber sections played into our strengths.
(Kurt Johnson) My favorite section would be the same as MG, the best part was we passed a few teams going into that section and when we came out none of them were behind us, I was shocked I thought for sure some of the young guns would of tagged on and followed us shit we are olds guys.

How about your least favorite? 

(Charles Wescott) Watertown.  No rural forested trails, yet not urban enough to be amusing.  Watertown is just an obstruction between the excellent trails of Rock Meadow and the beer waiting at the finish.
(Michael Good) I don't have a least favorite part, it was all great.
(Kurt Johnson) My least favorite section, Umm fat old guy cliff rd or page rd.  Either one you chose not really it all was good.
  
Rumor has it you guys host a trail/road event as well.  Can you tell us more about it? 

(Michael Good) Kurt and I put on an event two years ago. We called it The Amazing Bike Race. It was inspired by the tv reality show Amazing Race and Rosey's Ronde. I had this great idea that we could do an event like the Ronde and incorporate non-biking challenges into it. So in a 60 mile mixed terrain ride we had the teams stop twice. Once at 20 miles and then again at 40 miles. There they had to perform a task successfully in order to keep going. They were given a choice of a mental challenge or a physical challenge. For example; a cycling related crossword puzzle or a team relay carrying a metal spoon with an egg on it thru cones on your bike on grass. The concept was awesome. Unfortunately is was poorly attended and a ton of work. We said we would do it again but it hasn't happened yet.
  
Last question.  Will you be back in 2013 to defend your fastest time?

(Charles Wescott) We'll be on it like cops on donuts.
(Michael Good) Not only will we be back, I bet you will see us out there soon riding some of those areas again because it was so much fun.  Thank you for doing this event. Too many people sit back and expect the fun come to them, not enough create the fun. You guys are "The Fun Creators!"
(Kurt Johnson) Of course we will return for another Ronde you guys put on a hell of an event, don't change a thing.  Well maybe the course.  A little more woods would be cool.

Thanks guys!  We're looking forward to showing everyone even more new trails in 2013!