January Gone

End of January, a generally ferocious month that acquiesced this year, it rolled over and opted out of winter. Sweet! Sunday, the last day of the month, 53 degrees and sunny!

Dry roads. Road bike style. The fifth ride of the year, of the month. Eleven months to go. Vivaldi's Four Seasons and we've squeaked through one month of the first.

Where Harris St meets River Rd

Dubstoevksy on the bridge

El Nino

If indeed we have El Nino to thank for this winter's benign weather, than I bow low and doff my helmet to the great phenomenon. Last year at this time, Snowmageddon had set in with ferocity, burying the Woo in what became record amounts of snow. This year? Well, today, January 30, the temperature climbed into the 40s, the sun shone, small patches of vestigial snow from last weekend's dusting continued to melt, and the roads were clear and dry.

It being Saturday, and the weather cooperating so nicely, I had little choice but to duck out for a morning ride. A road bike ride, no less. Oddly, my last ride a week ago on the Crux Elite ended with me pulling into Shad HQ and hearing an odd clicky sound from my rear wheel. Dismounting, I peered at the wheel and sure enough there it was, a snapped spoke. Must have happened in the last block. So that bike is now in the shop getting repaired (and getting a new chain and handlebar wrapping). So road bike it was.

A Reservoir run, not a loop but a straight shot out and then up South Rd to get some climbing in, then back down, though descending carefully, very carefully. It was above freezing and the roads basically dry and not even that sandy but some damp-looking spots suggested possible ice so I took no chances, slowing down accordingly and attending to the bike handling like a jeweler cutting diamonds.

There was no danger. The ride was terrific. And despite only sporadic riding over the last two months, I continue to feel strong and comfortable when I'm out there. The goal, of course, is to maintain some modicum of conditioning so that the Rasputitsa won't be a total sufferfest. The weather and the course conditions I have no control over, but I can work on my state of physical preparedness between now and then. Here's hoping El Nino's charm keeps pampering the northeast.

Reservoir Vistas

Lower Reservoir

Upper Reservoir approach

Upper Reservoir

Images from Woo City

Got out for a cross bike meander through the neighborhoods, climbing the big hill up to Green Hill Park, and then to Bancroft Tower, and generally perusing the quiet Sunday streets before the snow and cold arrives this week.

Heading up West St

Getting off road right in town

Top of the hill and into the woods

But where are the skaters?

Green Hill Park golf course

Green Hill Park and pond

Industrial style

Looking for Dickens

Have a 'Gansett, already

Vladivostock

Grotesques on the WPI athletic building

Detail

WPI Gymnasium, the building is being torn down this year but they are saving the grotesques

Bancroft Tower, January 17, 2016

WPI Salvaging 100-year old 'grotesques' from campus building.

January 3, 2016

Some days, when opportunity presents itself, you have to seize it, even if "seizing it" means little more than an hour's low key spin. So went today, Sunday, January 3, a big booming sunny day in New England. I didn't have a ton of energy but I went out for a Reverse Reservoir Loop anyway and notched the second ride of 2016.

La Rue de Shad

Bancroft Tower, January 3, 2016
Holiday Style

Team Shad fans line the road hoping for a glimpse of their heroes

Holden Reservoir, northern tip

The road ahead ... 

New Years Day 2016

Day One, Ride One
The Gates of the New Year

Welcome to Shad Rides, the 2016 Edition, home of Team Shad and the words of team leader, head glutton, and lapsed Russian novelist, Dubstoevsky. Allez!

Team Shad has high ambitions for the coming year, namely the Trifecta, the Big Three gravel grinders: the Rasputitsa, the Tour de Heifer, and the D2R2. Starting in mid-April and paced two months apart, the Big Three events are the exclamation points punctuating the nine month season (April to December).

Team Shad successfully completed the Trifecta in 2014 but only managed to participate in the D2R2 in 2015. The goal is all three again in 2016, and that goal shapes the team's schedule and training approach. Basically, the training approach is to maintain a modest riding schedule in January, February and March, as the weather allows. Last year, of course, the Snowy Winter From Hell set in in late January and shut the team down until late April; we had to withdraw from the Rasputitsa 2015 because we were unable to train in the two months prior (and you do not want to enter that race out of shape).

We can't control the weather, of course, and this is New England where anything can happen. Last year in the Woo, it was the snowiest and coldest winter on record. But some years there's been literally no more than a few inches of snow every month or so, mild winters with temps in the mid 60s on New Years Day. All we can do as cycling shad is keep our bikes ready, our spirits up, and our goals in mind. The rest is up to Jah.

Today, Jah abided.

Setting out past the Greek Orthodox Church, Russell St, Woo City
January 1, 2016

A steely, gray day, low 40s, slight breeze, a holiday, roads mostly clear of traffic. The inch and a half of slushy snow from three days ago is mostly gone from the roadways, though there's already plenty of loose sand strewn about. No lax riding! Must pay strict attention at all times.

Which is fine, actually. Paying attention is one of the great aspects of cycling, the need for constant vigilance, the necessity of staying in the moment. Sure, your mind can wander but your senses must stay focused, you must be constantly aware in 360 degrees, you must know what's behind you, what's ahead of you, what the surrounding area is in either side of the road, you must never take the road surface for granted but instead treat it as though every turn of the wheel presents the chance for catastrophe. And yet even with obsessive compulsive attention, a distance cyclist remains at the mercy of circumstance and must trust that a drunken driver, a texting driver, a fooling-around-at-the-wheel teenager will not interject their death karma into the day's journey.

Today, 23+ miles of road, keen attention paid all the way, and the result is a safe return and the first ride of 2016. A road ride to boot. Whizzing along empty pavement, the New England countryside bare, rocky, hilly, thick with stands of hardwood forest, punctuated with gray, icy-looking reservoirs, black crows cawing from the tree tops and lopping along on the wing, dark silhouettes of prophecy against a somber sky.

The spillway for the Kettle Brook reservoirs
Cherry Valley, MA (a part of Leicester)

All of life is a chance, really. We can take every precaution, educate ourselves, watch our health, be vigilant when traveling, wear seat belts, avoid war zones, but there's no guarantee that we'll wake up tomorrow morning. We just trust we will. And so I trust that I will ride again. I don my helmet in a gesture of Wise Precaution, but I also bow low in humble recognition of Fate's fickle intentions.

The old Cold War maxim regarding arms control was "Trust, but verify." A cycling maxim might be "Take nothing for granted, be fucking careful, and hope for the best."

Holden Reservoir from the northern end
January 1, 2016

New England style

Dubstoevksy sends a big HUZZA and a Happy New Year bellow to the Mighty Virginian, dependable Shadmate and decades-long cycling companion; to Master Scrod in Frankfurt, and his Ventoux Calls compadre Meister M recovering from Fate's angry bitch slap; to I Ward, recovering from shoulder surgery; and to all cyclists the world over.

And last but not least, an OM AH HUM to the memory of the Mighty General, long time Director Sportif of Team Shad, tireless supporter and raconteur extraordinaire whom we lost in 2015. Allez, great friend!

The trusty mount
January 1, 2016