rumrunn6

wow, guess that was an organized ride?

mr_bill

One of their lightly organized rides, the Jingle Ride. (I can't afford their organized organized rides, but I do admit to lusting after them in my heart.)

-mr. bill

Ghazmh

No riding today. I did have an opportunity for a sunset ride yesterday afternoon before the overnight snow started falling. I hit the road at about 3:30 for 26 miles. The evening rush hour is a bit more to deal with than my usual morning rides as most of you know. Not long after I headed out I switched my Light & Motion headlight with it’s frame mounted endurance battery from throbbing mode to low and eventually medium. While staying cognizant of the motorists I was still able to enjoy the cold winters air (even if it’s technically autumn still) and delight in the holiday decorations. There is a house on Trapello rd in Lincoln near the library that gives Clark Griswald competition.

rumrunn6

in case anyone was curious what the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, in Acton, was looking like this week. I pass this intercession every morning. this was yesterday. the shallow snow pack is firmly in place with these low temps. the trail gets a lot of use. I think this is ride-able as-is, albeit rough & bumpy. but if one needs a work-out away from the cars ...

rumrunn6

turns out, further West was less favorable for a bike. there was no consistently flattened center line from other riders. while there were some shallow depth areas of hard snow pack & ice, there was mostly a cpl inches of crunchy snow over pavement w/ areas of ice. the going was very slow. so only rode for about an hour. I think the conditions are good for a fat bike









turned around at the Ebenezer Wood pencil factory remains & waterfall




saw 1 runner, a cpl walkers & 1 skier

jimmuller 

That looks like a spectacular place to take a spectacular fall and probably get hurt in the process. My bikes and I would be toast!

rumrunn6

haha funny you shud say that cuz I dumped the bike & rolled out & up on my feet at a decent slow speed without any abrupt wrist or arm impacts. A perfect place to launch into a snowball roll of sorts - kinda fun actually! Especially cuz it was getting dark & spooky. no camera rolling at that time tho

Ghazmh

time for a fat bike

rumrunn6

the hybrid (40mm studded tires) is perfect for a plowed trail with a skim coat of snow & ice, or up to 3" of fresh snow on bare pavement
the 29er (2.25" studded tires) extends the usability conditions. I've been holding off on mounting those cuz I mounted them too early last year. this BFRT ride would have been more fun on the 29er
where is the threshold between that & a fat bike?
I know Zipp's studded Stash extends the usability conditions further & his studded true fat bike, the furthest
but when looking at my ride choices (year round), storage capacity & budget, I'm just not there yet. maybe this winter I will rent one!

Ghazmh

i hear ya, I keep hoping to find a gem on Craigslist. Lightly used, metal frame, and cheap. I’d use it the least in my fleet but as far as I can tell it would fill that niche.

NomarsGirl

Where was that with all that snow? There isn't any here. And it was 55 yesterday. Seriously considered taking the bike out, but went to the gym instead.

rumrunn6

Bruce Freeman Rail Trail starting from Concord Rd Acton parking lot at Ice House Pond

Ghazmh

Between my studded Trek cross bike and my Allroads I’ve been riding steadily since Saturday including a lovely Christmas Eve Eve evening ride last night. I also racked up a quick 20 miles today which put me at 7505 miles for the year.

NomarsGirl

I don't think I put that many miles on my car this year never mind my bike.

Ghazmh

This week I rode every day except for the 26th. A few too many Christmas Day eggnog martinis left me in no mood to ride that day. In all it added up to 170 miles this week for a total of 505 miles for this December, my highest mileage December so far. Saturday morning I was on my Allroads with Soma Shikoro tires. I figured since it was mild and didn’t get below 32* I’ll be fine, which I mostly was until I wasn’t. About 7:00 AM I took a right onto Monument st right in front of the Colonial Inn and must have hit black ice. I fishtailed badly, managed to unclip my right foot and somehow keep upright. Very scary. My heart almost beat right out of my chest for the next few minutes. My favorites were my 2 evening rides (one on the 23rd) where I could bask in the winter scenery and enjoy the holiday lights. The only thing missing was my Bluetooth speaker in my back pocket playing Baby it’s Cold Outside. No plans to ride tomorrow or Tuesday or all of January for that matter. After 7604 miles for 2019 I’m taking a break for a few weeks.

happy new year!

bikemike73 

Took a few bikes out for a quick ride. Only a few miles. Pretty cool out with snow /rain/ice on the way

jimmuller 

Yow, Mike. Be careful. Glad you didn't go down. I tried riding to work once earlier in December when I figured the wet road would have thawed. It took me less than a mile to realize it would be foolish indeed. Noop, just because temps are above freezing doesn't mean the ground warmed up.

rumrunn6

current conditions on the Reformatory Branch Trail at Great Meadows, Concord. didn't ride myself just walked w/ Wifey. looked rough for bikes & didn't see any. only a solitary track. cold wind blowing today. it was granular which is good but variable in depth & support, which is not so good



for those who may not know, this is the walking trail, off-limits for bikes

rumrunn6

40 degrees & raining today. the conditions were horrible. loved every minute of it

Ghazmh

I know I said I was taking January off from cycling but Mrs. Ghazmh accurately predicted that I couldn’t do it. In keeping with that prediction I went out for 25 miles on my Trek Boone 7 cross bike with the studded Schwalbe Winter tires. It was icy windy and oh so slow but fulfilling in every way a nice winters morning ride should be.

NomarsGirl

Tomorrow is supposed to be great weather for riding with temperatures near 60. I got a notice about a group ride and I'm thinking of joining them. It will be my first time back on the road bike since my injury so I'm a little nervous. Ironically, the group riders are the people who inadvertently ran me off the path on that last ride back in late October. Maybe I should stay away and go ride somewhere by myself? In all fairness, they didn't know how badly I was hurt. They were focused on a small scrape on my knee and a little bit of blood. Didn't notice I was holding my shoulder.

rumrunn6

That wud be my cautious move

jimmuller 

Well, you gotta' get back on the horse what throwed ya', so they say. You'll do fine. If I was you, which I'm not, I'm not sure I'd go out with that group ride though, unless I wanted to explain to them why I'd been out for so long. But then, I don't like group rides much anyway. Enjoy the day!

We'll probably take our tandem out. Probably riding out of Bedford. Second tandem ride this year. Riding opportunities have been scarce.

I did ride my second commute of the year today.

NomarsGirl

Definitely getting back on the horse. No worries there. I wasn't actually riding WITH the group the day I was injured. They were in my way and I tried to pass all of them. The one leading the pack moved to her left when I called out "on your left" and forced me off the path. A few of them stopped to help me and then they gave me their card and invited us to join them on a future ride. That was one of the last ones of the year for them anyway so it's not at all weird that I haven't ridden with them since.
I've never really done any group rides, but if I'm going to ride the PMC, I better learn how. But a group that rides even slower than I do may not be the right one.

I think my husband and I will probably just go out on our own tomorrow though. He's not a morning person.

Ghazmh

Last week I brought my Honey Allroads to the shop for its first tune up. I told them I’m taking January off from cycling, take your time with it. I ended up riding my Trek Boone 7 cross bike with its studded Schwalbe Winter tires 117 miles this week. I figured between the dry but cold days followed by the mild temps I’d better take advantage. We may have 4’ of standing snow come April 1st. It felt weird wearing shorts and a short sleeve jersey while riding with studded tires.