Ride # 97, Crust or No Crust

December in New England can be cruel - snowstorms, ice storms, freezing rain. But it can also be like it was two days ago for ride # 97, which is to say almost 50 degrees and mostly sunny. I took advantage of it and enjoyed a spirited 85 minute roust-about in the west Lemonstar & Sterling hills.

Into the Lemonstar Hills, December 3, 2013

I'd considered making the inevitable seasonal bike switch before the ride. In fact, I went so far as to switch my little saddle bag & blinking light to the Crust thinking that the time had come. But just as I was locking the door to set out, the sun came out in full late afternoon low slant warmth and irie light and I thought, fuck it, I'm staying with the road bike. I wanted the sleek arrow feel, I didn't want the whompy whir whir of wide tires on pavement. So I swapped the bag & light again, and also, enthused by the sun, shed one layer of upper body garb.

Sterling, MA, December 3, 2013

Turns out that taking the layer off was the right move but I might have been better served on the Crust. As soon as I started climbing into the hills, the roads became pretty sandy. D'oh! Just two days prior there'd been drizzly conditions that froze overnight and caused dangerously slick roads and the town DPW crews had been out sanding heavily. So for my purposes, I'd have surely been safer with a wider tire with some tread like those on the Crust. But nothing bad happened, I didn't crash, I was just extra cautious on some of the downhill cornering.

Sterling, MA,  Up Hill

Today, as I write, it's been raining, and tomorrow there's more rain in the forecast. Then it turns colder over the weekend, highs in the 30s, though mostly dry. If I'm going to make 100 rides by Christmas, I need to get at least one in this weekend.

Ride Stats: 19.59 miles (31 km), 14.1 mph, 1H 24M, some sun, mild. Tuesday, December 3.