Ride # 5: Layer Up

January 25, 2014

I had no intentions of riding today. A Saturday at the end of January, it didn't even register as a possibility. The forecast was for snow. But it didn't snow. Not when they said it would. And then the temperature topped 34 degrees (1.1 C). It was a little after noon. I was home and had all afternoon which really, for winter riding, was like having all the time in the world. A couple of hours ransacking the hills in almost-freezing gray shroud, why not?

So I layered up, saddled up, and set out eagerly, in a good humor.

Lucas Rd, Sterling, MA

Fantastic. In the craw of winter. Like a crow, I steal a morsel from the road. I saw several crows en route and enjoyed their caw croak. I saw blue jays and robins. Steel gray smoke-hued cloud frowns. I saw black birds I couldn't identify. And I was ever mindful of the road, the treacherous joyous sandy road of Forward.

I think that because the forecast had been for snow, a lot of people stayed off the roads. I encountered few cars. Always a good thing. But there is a spookiness about the raw winter landscape that, in the absence of other people, seems almost menacing. It's a stark and cranky place with ghosts whispering across hundreds of years of Januaries.

Mirick Rd, Princeton, MA

Today, brisk wind. Gusts in the treetops. Gusts across the road. The tree trunk silhouette black against the crusted snow. I think that at a certain point on every ride you realize what you're actually doing, you grasp where you actually are. You are hurtling along hilly winter countryside roads on a bicycle. And it amazes you! It amazes me. Every time.

Shad Style in Amazement

Of course, the only way to ride in the winter is to ... ride in the winter. I feel silly sometimes, all costumed-up in layers, pedaling roads in the crappiest conditions, how absurd! Yet in the end, absurdity is part of the Big Embrace. Best of all when we conduct our absurdity with grace. And mindfulness.

Frozen Gnomic Flow and the Grace of Troll
January 25, 2014

From a training perspective, the best part of today was getting out there and experiencing a hint of what the Rasputitsa might present. Cold, bluster, treachery, the indifference of sand. No mud, but a few patches of frozen road sludge unavoidable, the Crux handled it all superbly, this bike is fine! I'll get a new rear tire for the Big R in April. And a new chain. Nearing a thousand miles on the present one.

Ride Stats: 23.08 (37k), 12.4 mph, an hour and fifty minutes. 33.3 degrees when I left (an auspicious number! I enthused myself), 35.2 degrees (1.6 C) when I got back. Maintained good humor the entire ride, felt strong on the hills.