Freezing at Landmark Storage, Ride # 98

I wanted at least one ride this weekend and I got it, although it almost didn't happen. I squandered a chance to ride on Friday, a day I took off from work rather spontaneously (I had errands to do, food to procure, things that took precedent over riding). Plus, I thought it was going to rain but it turned out not to and the roads dried out and as I was driving toward Boston at midday, all hopes for changing plans scrapped, it was 50 degrees and overcast and utterly conducive to riding.

Then Friday night it began to rain and as the temperature dropped the rain became sleet and then finally snow in the early a.m. so that when I woke Saturday morning there was a white coating of snow over everything, and icy roads. I thought, 'Crap! I should have ridden yesterday and now I won't get to ride this weekend at all.'

Sunday Morning December 8, Lemonstar Starting Line

But then Sunday dawned clear and cold (24 F at 7:30 a.m.) and the thought began to grow in my mind that I might actually be able to ride today. I was fuzzy from whooping it up last night with guests & dinner but I thought that if anything could clear my mind and get me back on track it would be an icy winter ride. By 11:00 a.m. the temperature had climbed to 30 F so I suited up (long underwear bottoms, bike shorts, tights; upper body long underwear, a zip up short sleeve bike jersey, a polyprop turtleneck, a fleece pullover, a zip-up insulated over garment; 2 balaclavas; winter gloves; booties), and launched.

Landmark Storage, 32 Degrees

Oh, and I made the bike switch. It's the Crust now, from here on out. And how sweet! It's like riding in a luxury car, a Cadillac, a Lincoln Town Car. The wider tires cushion the harshness of the road; the gearing is perfect for climbing; the wide aluminum tubing and carbon fiber fork absorb road vibrations. And because of its durability and stability, you don't have to worry about your line when riding and when cars approach from behind; pot holes, cracks, sand, rough surface, the Crust handles it all, the tires are sturdy and the rims super strong, you can ride flush to the roadside and not be concerned with crashing or flatting out.

Leaving the 'hood

Route 2 Eastbound, Lancaster, MA

So ride # 98 unfolded with a meander through the 'hood en route out of town to the south (instead of west), climbing up and away from the local mall (long known as "Sears Town" to locals but re-dubbed "The Mall at Whitney Fields" by Orwellian developers), then a long climb out of Lemonstar toward Gove Farm and the road that parallels rt.2. in Lancaster. Cross rt. 2 and go on toward Shirley and past the gravel company. Dirty gray sky, like the loss of innocence.

Not breaking any speed records to be sure but speed isn't the point of these winter rides. Now, it's all about getting out and grabbing some road time while it's available. It's about standing up and riding with a steady rhythm up long hills; it's about spinning with focused attention and taking care and notice in every second; it's about burning calories and keeping the body lean.

In that sense, the ride is a triumph. I am warm (another ride for which I dressed perfectly; definitely a PBR). I am comfortable. There's a New England Patriots game on at 1:00 so the roads are mostly free of cars. The sun never comes out but does sullenly glare through the dingy cottony cloud cover. Visibility is good. The Crust is velvet-like, buttery, the chain slides over the chain rings in silence, I can stand and pedal and maintain a relentless low gear rhythm; I could grind uphill indefinitely, I can tap into the same rhythm that I established during the Assault on East Hill during the D2R2 this past August. It's a Zen-like confident turning of pedals and revolution of wheels; hard enough that the body knows it's working but not so hard that the body's energy diminishes in the effort. A comfortable relentless grind of savage pleasure. I will ride this way for hours (I think) ....

But I don't. Friends are coming for lunch in a couple hours, I have to get home and rub salt & pepper into the ribeye, have to trim the brussel sprouts, have to watch the Patriots game against the visiting Cleveland Browns. I have to live off the bike.

In the last couple miles I'm climbing up an old cracked and worn farm road toward a more major road that'll take me to a road with stoplights and a clear shot past the gas stations, the Jiffy Lube, Athens Pizza, Magic Fuels, the Hess Station (not Rudolph), over the Nashua River, back over rt. 2 again, through the lights to Priest St and then left onto Harrison St and home ... but before all that I pause along the roadside to gaze out across a big tract of farmland, a sullen sun trying to carve its way through a gray blanket sky. I would not be here to see this, I realize, if I weren't riding a bike.

A Sullen Sun and Sigh Lows

Ride Stats: Ride # 98, basically an hour; 14 mph, 14 miles, 60 minutes in the saddle; 32 degrees at departure, it never warmed up.