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Old 01-30-20, 08:49 AM
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Brett A
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Rural New England
Posts: 232

Bikes: Surly Disc Trucker, Orbea Oiz XCountry Bike, Specialized Roubaix, Borealis Echo Fat Bike for Winter, many others out in the barn.

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32 Degrees and humid counts as a warm day in Western Massachusettes in January.

Okay, this is the year I finally do this. I got my January century in just in the nick of time. Here in Western Massachusetts it's rarely above freezing and the roads and bike paths aren't too conducive. But conditions were agreeable enough last Tuesday, Jan 28th with temps between 31 and 38 degrees.

I haven't really been on a bike since finishing a 1k mile tour last October, so I did this century on the flattest course I could find; the rail trail system that runs through the college towns of Amherst and Northampton, Mass. It wasn't even 2k feet of climbing, whereas the flattest road lop I could put together would have been over 6k feet. If you do an out-and-back to all three terminus' (termini?) of the rail trails system, it's 53 miles. So I did it twice.

The bike I used was a 2008 Specialized Rubaix I bought off Craigslist just as the snow fell in early December. So this was the first ride I'd taken on it. I was amazed at how comfortable is was for the whole ride. I didn't want to stop! My Surly Trucker would have been the other candidate, but I'd still be out there, the thing is so slow.

My Sigma computer, which is calibrated to to mile markers on the rail trail, read 109 miles, 8h 44m at 12.5 mph. Strava registered 108 miles in just over 9 hours, but its automatic stop/start function records every time I move the bike more and a few inches. But I was going for 108 anyway as it is an auspicious number. (why not?)

I'm hoping I get a day this relatively warm to do my February ride. Too much fun!




Some sections of the rail trail had ice and snow, but mostly it was clear. Conditions that can't be assumed this time of year.




The frozen stream running through Look Park in Florence, Mass.


I was out more hours than there was daylight. (figuring a break for lunch and other minor stops)




32 degrees can feel warm this time of year, but the dampness makes the cold go right to your bones.


~

Last edited by Brett A; 01-30-20 at 04:26 PM.
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