jimmuller 

We got in 39.5 miles on the tandem today. We touched Bedford, Carlisle, Billerica, Concord, not necessarily in that order.

Crossing a brook in Carlisle:

cmolway

rode today in shorts!!! Crazy!

30 mile bike-anchor ride on familiar roads in wakefield/lynnfield/north reading. Rolling out, sans 3yo for an early and downright chilly 50 first thing in the morning. Gotta love observed holidays.

jimmuller 

Yeah, crazy. But at the same time, there was ice in the puddles in the parking lot where we started in Bedford. And the roads were still wet all day, and so covered with salt I feel I should ride the tandem through a car wash.

rholland1951

Analyzed 2011's rides when I swapped calendars. For me, the year looked something like this: close to nothing in January, at which point some studded Nokians came into my life and got me back on the snowy, icy roads. Dabbled with those in February and March, but miles totals for those months look more like single-ride distances later in the year, and only happened on the weekends, with no night riding--it really was a rough winter, and I was only starting to get my head around riding in the cold. Recreational riding picked up in earnest in April, and progressed through May, June, and July, with increasing miles totals each month. During this period, rediscovered favorite old routes, in Carlisle, Concord, Lincoln, etc., in the 30-50 mile range, explored some new ones in Wayland, Sudbury, and Weston, and started doing some exploratory trips beyond 495, to Westford, Groton, Pepperell, Dunstable, and NH, in the 60-80 mile range. In mid-August, started bicycle commuting again, more seriously than I had in decades, on a weather-permitting, schedule-permitting basis. Did the 24-mile round-trip commute 30 times between August 18th (first ride) and December 5th (last), 720 miles in all; I calculated that was worth a couple of hundred dollars off car expenses, but the main virtue was getting total weekly miles up. Paradoxically, the longer weekend recreational rides tapered off somewhat at this point, harder to claim the time, but the overall miles still increased. December saw a return to primarily recreational riding, mostly 10- and 20-mile rides on the Minuteman, mostly at night (hard to do otherwise when the sun sets before 5), but still managed 250 miles. December has been a little weird, with bouts of cold and wind, but very little black ice on the road surface, and, of course, no snow. Haven't needed the Nokians yet, but they're ready. It will be interesting to see what January and February have in store.

Overall miles in 2011: 2878.

Happy New Year, y'all!

rod

rholland1951

Social obligations prevented a ride during New Year's Day's dream weather, but I had a 31-mile ride through Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington today. This is one of the variants of a favorite ride: out to North Bridge via River Road and Monument Street, back via Old Bedford Road, Virginia Road, and Mill Street. This particular route variation involves the Lexington portion of the return: rather than taking Lincoln Street, Worthen Road and Mass Ave. back to the Battle Green, and picking up the Minuteman there, took Middle Street to Marret Road, taking that to Mass. Ave, and picking up the Minuteman at Maple Street. This route turns the return into the Tour de Watershed, passing as it does the north end of the Cambridge Reservoir on Lincoln Street/Lexington Road, the old Lexington Reservoir on Marret Road, and Arlington's Great Meadows on the Minuteman. Lots of scenic vistas in the still-low sun: the Concord River flood plain at 225 (water seems high), the well-loved farms on Monument Street and Old Bedford Road, the meadows of Virginia Road, the Cambridge Reservoir mirroring the sky (water seems low, wonder why), and Dunback Meadow at Marret Road, in an improbably bucolic neighborhood of Lexington. Marret Road used to be a real asphalt jumble, but the Town of Lexington resurfaced key portions of it this year, and it's now a pleasure to ride, rolling hills and few stop lights. Back on the Minuteman, encountered a cyclist whose beard had been tied with a pink ribbon in a neat bow, presumably as an observance of one of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Today's weather cool (low 40s to start, high 30's at the end), with gusty wind, reminiscent of last Wednesday's bluster, but not as severe.

rod

jimmuller 

rholland1951, we were in the same neighborhood as you today, except for the Lexington part.

Today's run was only 20.7mi on the tandem through Concord, Carlisle, Bedford. We saw fewer bikes today than yesterday, but one was a tandem.

Today's weather was cooler than yesterday and very much windier.

When we got home I started cleaning the bike to remove all the salt from yesterday, then discovered a broken spoke. Spent the next few hours getting a replacement, stringing it into the wheel, then truing.

rholland1951

Noticed some salt on the tires, myself. Guess Winter is here...

rod

cmolway

Got out for a 45 miler yesterday. My riding partner showed me new roads just off my regular route. Felt like an entirely new ride except that I had a good idea on the length and grade so I could accurately gauge my efforts. We even found a brand-new bike path along the way. It was only 3 miles but it was a nice change of scenery to get off the road, away from the traffic and ride though some conservation land. Clear skies were punctuated with brief moments of sleet and snow. Every time we tough we had to cut the ride short due to the weather, the sun would appear.

rholland1951

Today's great weather collided with a densely-packed schedule, didn't ride until sunset, yet another evening ride out the Minuteman to Depot Park and back. For the first half-hour, the trail was full with the cyclists, walkers, runners finishing their outings in the freak warmth, most of the bikes unlit for the simple reason that they had no lights. A young family released a staggering toddler directly into my path, the mother affirmatively calling, "On your right"; I managed to miss the little tad, but it was very nearly a Darwin Award By Proxy, and a bunch of unwanted karmic entanglement. At Bedford Street, it was as if a switch were thrown: they all disappeared, and I had the trail to myself until Depot Park. On the return, in the dark, with the Moon rising in the East, Venus setting in the West, and bright-lit clouds in between, enjoyed the play of house lights and factory lights through the dark filamentary structures of the bare trees.

rod

Bishbike

A great ride out to Carlisle from Belmont this afternoon. Was only going to do an in and out to Concord seeing as I got a late start, but the weather was so nice I could not resist, and I had brought lights. Lots of riders out today. I can't believe it is January and no snow, ice, or sand on the roads.

jimmuller 

The 8th of January - sounds like it ought to be a fiddle tune.

We took the tandem out for 25 miles today, Concord, Carlisle, Bedford, Carlisle, Billerica, Chelmesford, Carlisle, Concord. We got a bit of exploration in too, turning off of rt4 onto some mini- to micro- to nano-road. Finally decided it wasn't going where we were so we turned around. Temps in the low 40's to low 30's. Not very many bikes out today. Nor cars either. We figured either everyone got there runnin' around done yesterday in the warm weather or they were home watching football games.

rholland1951

Took another night ride to Depot Park on the Minuteman, 26 hours later and 15 degrees colder than Saturday's, chasing my headlights in rolling solitude. An uninterrupted interval of cold and darkness, like an imagined interplanetary flight, with the glowing Buddliner standing in for Mars; one orbit of that and back to Earth, or at least Arlington. Only met a couple of Martians.

rod

mtalinm

Only 15 miles yesterday, but it was glorious in shorts and 60 degree weather!

cmolway

Towed the trailer from Melrose up to Peabody for a nice rolling 30 miler on Saturday. I was down to bib-shorts and short sleeves early into the ride. I cannot believe how warm it has been this month. I think I did all of two or three commuting days the month of January last year.

mr,grumpy 

What was in the trailer?

cmolway

A napping 3 year-old.

mr,grumpy 

Imcamt think of a way of getting from Melrose to Peobody that would not have menTERRIFIED to be towing my two year old behind me. I hate riding pm the road with the trailer in general. Gives me the willies.

I had a nice quick ride arround town today another broken spoke on the back wheel of the Maathon So I took the new bike instead. Only saw one other rider on a very tall old Myata. He was all dolled up for the Arctic. He must have been warming there.

cmolway

The roads I take are not fear inspiring-mostly off the high-traffic streets except a few that have nice 10' shoulders.

Took the new winter bike out for 40 miles after work yesterday. Still trying to dial in the fit.

Speaking of new bike, it's not so new now that I dumped it making a left through an intersection this morning. Probably going 18mph when the bike decided to lay down. Slid through the intersection on my hip (at least I had the green light) and popped up on my feet before I came to a stop. rear blinky light attached to my rear stay took the brunt of the damage, sacrificing itself for the sake of the new frame which has not a scratch on it. Small hole on the elbow of my jacket but everything else looks good (about the only good thing about falling on ice). Ordered a pair of nokian a10 studded tires as soon as I got to the office.

jimmuller 

Ouch. Hope you made it through as well as the bike. Ride carefully.

mr,grumpy 

I'm glad to hear that you are ok! Too bad about the fall. 18MPH is no joke.

JayBlurr

I road the Charles, some of harvard square, memorial drive, and just around, it was really windy today that was a killer, my new Raleigh rides really nicely but need to figure out what the slight hop in the back is, from a visual inspection it looks ok. but cant wait for another nice day like yesterday.

cmolway

Yeah I was bummed about the high temps and lack of riding time until my commute home. Stiff, stiff 15-20mph head/cross wind the whole way home. Felt like I was climbing a mountain pass at times.

Your wheel hop may be your rim, tire or tube. Bad hops in the rim can be a badly out of true wheel or one that is damaged. Tire sidewalls and/or beads can either be unseated or blown-out causing a hop. The best case scenario is a poorly seated tube inside the tire. Spin the wheel and look at the wheel. If you cannot see any "wheel hop", then look for a bead/tube issue. If you have wheel hop, take it to someone who can true it (if you don't have a truing stand) to see if it can be salvaged.

rholland1951

Nice, cold ride to Depot Square on the Minuteman this afternoon, headwind going out, tailwind coming back. Another experiment with gloves yielded negative results, but still have all ten fingers. Met a skater being towed by two very happy-looking huskies. Mush!

rod

mr,grumpy 

Cold slow and short. Still have the tail end of my upper respiratory thing going on but I wanted to test out the new riding position on my Bike Path Warrior ( north road bars!). So, naturaly, I took it to the closest long bike path. Well, even though I have no snow here, there IS now there and the whole MUP is ice. So I took it for a spin arround the neighborhood instead. Mixed feelings on the new seating position. I have some tweaking to do still.

rholland1951

Down with a chest cold, but happened across the Minnesota Randonneur Theory of Speed vs Temperature for Winter Riding. This makes me happy...

rod