EVlove

Large healthy bobcat in our neighbors' garden across the street just a week or so ago, and a bear last fall. Repeated sightings both times, and video to prove it. Fascinating really, particularly coming from Germany where you might occasionally see a hedgehog, or a fox if you're lucky.

EVlove

So today I did find time for an exploratory ride on the BFRT. I swapped the Schwalbe cyclocross tires back onto the Lotus--easy job really, and I got some extra repetitive practice doing it because I clear forgot that they're directional. Yep, both of them the wrong way around Now what are the chances of that? 1 in 4 actually...

Off to pick up the trail at High Street, and almost immediately I found out that even yesterday's weather still left icy stretches, now covered in the morning's fresh dusting. I rode this, just south of High...


...but walked this, at Route 27.


Both pictures taken looking back i.e. north. There were probably about half a dozen of these icy stretches between Chelmsford and NARA Park, which was my turnaround point. Old tracks in the ice were the only sign of bikes today, although there were a good number of walkers, and one elderly jogger who I think muttered f... you as we passed each other, going opposite ways. Not sure what his problem was, I was going slow trying to keep the rubber side down, and staying as far to my edge as possible. Bothered me more than it should have. I eventually decided he may in fact be suffering from Tourette's for all I know.

At NARA, I found a bench in the sun for a few moments, but regretted that I didn't bring a snack. The pond offered this backdrop:


Just don't look too closely at the jury-rigged frame bag and the bars, it's an experiment with dirt cheap Chinese handlebar tape from Temu. Did the left side as always (that's bottom-up in my case) but on the right I started at the brake lever and worked inwards and outwards from there. The stuff is OK but not stretchy enough for the old school bends. Not delighted with how the metallic copper effect looks in real life, either.

Back the exact same way, now with a little more confidence, but still slowing down to a brisk walking pace for the ice. I did use a couple of known dry stretches for quick sprints. Last stop at H[e]art Pond, where I took a good look at monsieur Idéale, with whom my, um, central contact zone was getting more intimately acquainted today than it had before.

That is one unyielding piece of old French leather, let me tell you. However, it is still early in our relationship, and I did pick today's outfit for its warmth, rather than the location of its seams.

15.6 miles and about 370 vertical feet, which brings my January to over 130 miles, I believe.

rholland1951

Rolled out on the Minuteman on the Ebisu All Purpose Bicycle on Tuesday afternoon, temperatures in the mid-30s and falling with a playful breeze that presented as a headwind coming and going and was cold enough for me, thank you! Paused at Mal's Yard to be instructed by an object lesson.


Paused again to admire the Mile 4.0 Cairn Builders' latest dyadic tableau.


On the way back, stopped at Battle Road Bikes for a bit, then rolled home. After I got there, I loaded a couple of bikes on the car's bike rack and took them to the shop for some cockpit tweaking.

Not looking forward to the weather on Friday and Saturday. Reminds me of The Minnesota Randonneur Theory of Speed vs Temperature for Winter Riding.

rod

rumrunn6

& ppl make fun of schools closed for weather ... they'd think differently if their child had been in that car

rholland1951

Took the Ocean Air Cycles Rambler, just back from Battle Road Bikes for some cockpit tweaking, out for a spin on the Minuteman, last ride before The Big Chill. The tweaking (rotate the Nitto 177 handlebars, a.k.a. Noodle, and move the brake levers up a bit, then rewrap the bars) did exactly what I hoped it would. This augurs well for longer rides come Spring, after everything's defrosted.


The weather Friday/Saturday sounds nasty. I'm going to hunker down and stay out of it. Stay warm, y'all.

rod

thin_concrete

Stay safe this weekend everyone. I will be in the basement Zwifting away, but that’s normal for me this time of year. For everyone that rides throughout the winter, I hope you can stay sane through this 2 day stretch!

EVlove

Perfect time to do some route planning for the stretch of 40s weather to follow! What a crazy weather pattern.

rumrunn6

sounds safe, I'll be on the highway tonight & most of the day tomorrow

thin_concrete

How’d you make out? Hope you stayed warm/safe.

rumrunn6

400+ mile round trip. back home now. Mom had an old repair pop again

light traffic. I think a big % of ppl stayed home. roads were dry, the sun was out. you were fine so long as your car held up

thank you for asking

EVlove

Today I decided to bundle up a little more and get out in the AM, rather than wait for the mid-40s promised for later. The route was going to warm me up soon enough as I was heading out on Route 4 into Billerica, once again forced to stay mostly off of the BFRT because of the lingering icy patches. From Russell Mill Pond in Chelmsford to the Billerica line is a pretty challenging climb for me, about 1/3 of a mile with a max grade of 5.4%, and even though I stopped to catch my breath just before, I was glad to be on the Lotus with its 40T small ring. I did need to use the 40x28 granny gear for the last third of the hill.

As soon as you cross into Billerica, the asphalt becomes absolutely atrocious for roughly a mile. Which is about what Chelmfordians would expect from Billerica It got better by the McMansions that have sprung up where there used to be farms and a driving range. At Treble Cove Rd, I turned right and right again to basically double back on a parallel, much quieter road, West St. Another climb loomed so another break was in order, outside this barn that was audibly home to a flock of sheep.



Soon after, West St becomes North Rd on the Carlisle side, and leads through dense woods. Proving once again that it's trucks, not cars, that kill road surfaces, this proved to be smooth, winding and undulating fun--until a blind curve revealed a half inch thick sheet of ice on my side that I barely avoided, and only by crossing over well into the opposite lane.

I was now passing through Great Brook Farm State Park and decided to pull over for this view of Meadow Pond.




I had a piece of cereal bar and in this time two separate groups of hikers passed on the trail, reminding me that I wasn't the only one happy to be back outside after the arctic cold. I took it easy the rest of the way through the park and noticed that the parking lot was fairly popular. Sure enough, another pair of hikers crossed the road just ahead of me, with only one of them looking left and right, but I had noticed them well before that and slowed down.

Past the XC ski center at Great Brook (must be having a terrible season so far) and left onto Proctor Rd on the Chelmsford side. More pastoral scenes, this time of the equestrian variety, at Flying Change Stables.



About a dozen horses in all. I think they were just being turned out for the first time since before the deep freeze, as well, and were delighted to stretch their legs. This turned out to be the (much) smaller of two horse stables in the area, the other being Midnight Moon at Proctor and Acton Rd/Route 27. Their paddocks looked empty, however.

I crossed 27 and continued to the community gardens at Sunny Meadow Farm, just off the BFRT. I've mentioned this sculpture before:


Not pictured is another welcome sight at Sunny Meadow--a porta-potti.

I got onto the BFRT as a shortcut to High St and found the icy patches not only still there, but basically polished to a mirror shine and unridable on my mount. Not an issue for the guy on a fatbike who appeared at the same time as I reached the main trail. I flew past him a couple of times on dry sections but had to finally let him go on the last, long patch before High. From here it was my usual shortcut home, once again being glad for that 40T ring, versus 42 on the Bianchi, because I was pretty tired by now. 14.5 miles and 780 feet climbed.

ralphs

EVlove - Your pictures hit home for me- I grew up around the corner from Great Brook State Park (way before it was a state park), we used to drive our cars on what are now trails. We skated all around the waterways in the park- we always carried a hockey stick to help if we ever went in. Not sure if that would have helped.
You rode by the house I grew up in on Proctor Road. H(e)art Pond used to be called Baptist Pond, story was that the church next to Kate's (used to be Phil's, then Ron's) performed baptisms there. Not sure if that's true or not. We used to put pennies on the rails for the train to flatten. Most of the time they vibrated off before the train got to them.

rholland1951

I didn't manage to break out of a round of chores and errands until after sunset, then took the Ebisu All Purpose Bicycle out for a quick sprint on the Minuteman in the empty, cool, dark, and breezy.


A veiled moon rode low in the sky; was that ground fog I was seeing? A doe and a fawn crossed the trail just beyond the envelope of my headlights.


The Lexington Fire Department provided a pretty good light show on a residential side street near Arlington's Great Meadow.


The ghost bike did the thing it does best: waiting.


Rode me home.


rod

harrier6

Don't let the ice fool you, it was plenty warm out there yesterday. Enjoying my new full-housing run to the rear derailleur. It solves a long-standing problem where the bottom of the kickstand plate interfered with the cable. The advantage of friction shifting I guess is that you can ignore problems like that until you're stuck inside on a -30 degree day.



Trek 900

rholland1951

Nice bike!

rod

bike_tom

Have folks been wondering about the trail conditions on the Reformatory Branch? I was, so I rode the RBT this morning.

I began the trip by riding the Minuteman out to Depot Park. The MM was quiet and clean, the weather cool, breezy and pleasant. I hadn't been on the RBT since early January, so I wasn't sure what to expect. As it turns out, it was mostly dry, with some mud and ice thrown in to spice things up.

Here's an example of a dry section:



The ground in these sections was frozen as hard as a concrete sidewalk. Of course, it wasn't as smooth as a sidewalk - with all those tire ruts hardened like fossils it was much rougher riding than usual.

You like mud? Here's some mud:



Truth be told, because only the top inch or so was unfrozen, the mud wasn't very deep.

Ice? I did encounter a patch of ice the full width of the trail and about 10 feet long. No going around it, so I just coasted through, keeping a foot out in case thing went awry. I got through without drama in both directions.

The ponds at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge were mostly frozen:



As you can see, I rode the Checkpoint. It was a trusty mount for this ride, despite being shod with tires not particularly suited for mud.

I rode to the end of the RBT at Lowell Rd and then retraced my way back to Depot Park:



Notice the sign on the door that says "Reopening in April".

The ride home to Arlington on the MM felt incredibly smooth after the hardened ruts on the RBT.

Arriving home, the bike was much dirtier than it started, but it was happy, as was the rider. A little under 28 miles for the day.

Tom

rholland1951

Took the Surly Trucker DeLuxe and its 55mm Rat Trap Pass tires out for a spin on Monday. Aside from the basic mission to keep the moving parts moving, I wanted to evaluate whether this bike needs the same bit of cockpit tweaking that most of the other bikes equipped with Nitto 177 handlebars, a.k.a. Noodles, have been getting. It does, and will go to Battle Road Bikes in due course. In the meantime, it was nice to have that particular kind of fun again, first time this year.


The Mile 4.0 Cairn Builders have given us another rocky rookery, strictly for the birds.


rod

EVlove

I had some time mid-afternoon and took the Lotus on another mostly BFRT ride to NARA Park in Acton. The ice on the trail is finally gone, for all intents and purposes, and that half-dropped tree cleared. Not many users at all, but there were a handful of other cyclists. My phone was squeezed into the saddlebag this time and only came out at NARA for a status update to HQ, and to try and get a good shot of the stacked picnic tables despite being in deep shade. I didn't succeed.



I decided to walk the bike around the pond the long way this time. The walkways are all signposted "Walk your bike" but I've noticed on more than one previous occasion that a lot of fellow bikers seem to be having a comprehension problem with this simple request. The sight of helmeted me pushing my bike actually prompted an older gentleman to ask if something was wrong with it.

Back home the same way, except I left the BFRT at Pond St and took the roads from there. Good workout I guess but today's outing did feel a bit like a chore despite the mild weather. Just one of those days. 15.9 miles and 529 feet.

rumrunn6

got in the whole 1st half of my ride before sunset!



dodged some icy bits

desolate February

rholland1951

Looks like a beautiful day to be out. I got eaten by non-bicycle priorities. Drat!

rod

rumrunn6

I hear ya! happens to me all the time. I did plan ahead tho. they said Wednesday would be clear & warmer so I planned my week around it. while riding, there were both cold breezes & also weird warm breezes. been trying to make this ride over several attempts the past few weeks but was finally able to do the end to end I had in mind

rholland1951

Friday afternoon I took the LHT out for a quick spin on the Minuteman. Temperatures were mild, but the wind was rowdy, a quartering breeze that resisted, abetted, or deflected by turns.


rod

bike_tom

Yeah - I was considering a ride yesterday afternoon, until I experienced the wind while walking to Kickstand Cafe for lunch with my wife. The wind was really howling off the pond along the MM. That didn't stop us from eating outside though, along with quite a few other folks! It was one of those outdoor meals where you have to keep one hand/elbow on the table to keep your stuff from blowing away.

Its supposed to be cooler but less windy today.

BTW: was there an image with your post? The thread update notice shows an image link, but it leads to "404 not found":

rholland1951

The wind was a caution, for sure. Thanks for the heads-up about the image: got a new pocket devil, and it wants to do things a little differently.

rod

rumrunn6

great day to get out