First Road Bike Rode of the Year

A warm Sunday (April 12), the first real spring-like day this year, and though I donned tights and long sleeves, I skipped the booties and windbreaker and glove liners. All sun, sky totally blue. And I was on the Road Bike! First time this year.

Sycamore Style

Not only that but for a change of pace I drove north of Woo City and parked in Shirley with the idea of riding north from there on a route I used to ride up to Hollis, NH. It was a good plan except that one leg of it proved slightly problematic.

Pepperell, MA

The Nashua Rail Trail runs from a just below Nashua, New Hampshire south for 12.5 miles to Ayer, Massachusetts, and I'd planned to do exactly that, ride north-south to Ayer. What I didn't anticipate (though I probably should have given the extreme winter just past) was that big sections of the trail would still be covered in snow & ice. D'oh!

So when I got to the trail head in NH and set out, straight away I encountered a frozen slush patch and had to un-clip and step carefully through it. Other, fatter-tyred bikes had made their way through but I dared not risk it. I crossed two more such sections in less than a quarter mile before optimism gave way to reality. If I'd been on the Crux Elite I could have pressed on, but I wasn't, so I turned back and had to improvise a route.

C'est la vie! Rummaging around in the memory bank, I recalled a back road that went from Pepperell to Groton, and that to get to Pepperell you had to go down route 111, and 111 was just up the street. So instead of 12 miles of woodsy trail shared with all manner of recreating enthusiasts, it was 12 miles of busy road then less busy road shared with cars. But it was 65 degrees and sunny and three o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and the Niceness was at hand.

Nashua River, southern NH

Summary: Sunny, warm, none of the chill, very mild wind. 32+ miles, 15.2 mph. Felt instantly good being back on the road bike.