And I LOVED IT.
What a ride in.
A brutal headwind blowing at 20-30 mph all the way into the city (got a bit calmer between the big houses and buildings). Along the water? Wicked solid headwind.
With an ambient temp at 22°F when I left and the sign in the sun saying 27°F when we passed it... it was cold.
But.
Some how i managed to over dress a little. Yeah, only I seem to manage to over dress and start sweating riding in 25 degree weather into a 25 mph headwind. No booties on the feet either. Just my trusty pair of Defeet Blaze socks and my two strap sidis. Toes were a touch cold, and might not have been good for an hour or more, but they were fine for the 40 minute mellow ride in with a colleague.
It was a gorgeous ride in though. Bright sunshine thanks to the lingering high pressure system parked over us bringing that nice wicked wind from the north.
Last night the wind was blowing about the same strength from the same direction and i spun home in the 46x12... yeah seriously. Rather effortless when you have a wind pushing on your back at 25 mph. It was nice.
and at the moment i'm actually contemplating not driving to the far away races this weekend, thinking maybe instead going for a good long roadish ride... and i'm surprisingly okay with that... kind of crazy, but honestly, even with fuel prices dropping the options are: Long Island (way too far - ruled out long ago), Cheshire (124 miles or so each way), and Easthampton (100 miles or so each way). Sure there are people who go farther each weekend, but I'm 14 races and 3-4 training races into the season, looking at 3-4 more races, missing another weekend might not be such a bad thing. Esp if i can get a long 50+ mile hilly ride in with some little climber types (ie Brent aka little hill junkie).
I will be missing sterling this year. I do like that course although I never seem to do well there. Last year I washed the bike the night before, and it never really dried out, drove it up there in the car, did some pre-riding, and during the race the front der cable froze in the big ring. No shifting out of the 49 and it was tough riding around that course like that. It was fun but I was slow. Although now there is a chance I might hit a MABRA race on the way home after Thanksgiving.
Plymouth South results are up. The times for Chris White and myself are off a bit. He finished in 43:33, i came across at 43:43 and Greg Montello (that IF guy) was given the same time (as me). 43:43 was enough to beat wayne c on time and rob naser and mitch and b-mac... whoooo!
It looks like Simon Burney's new page is active: http://www.cyclocross-stuff.com/ not a lot of content but something to keep an eye on.
well there ya go, from the cold and windy Ocean State...
heddwch
G
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6 comments:
If you want to climb a bit and be out of the wind and in the woods let me know. I'll learn you a local loop in Lincoln Woods. You'll have no more room for the "no MTB riding for me, it's too difficult to get in a hard ride nearby" type of excuses ever again. It'll hurt(in a good way)I promise ;)
The standard loop is ~ 1300ft and 10 miles, takes ~ an hour. Then there's the add ons to get the time/mileage up a bit. All 20 minutes from your house. Think about it.
yeah yeah i followed skinny white dude up and down, up and down, up and down Lincoln woods all spring...
it is more than a 20 minute ride, and if i'm packing the car with bikes and stuff this time of year I'm only doing it for a cross race ;-)
spring? we'll see...
but right now this sounds about right...
that and my Mantra sort of is set up like a single speed right now but is un-tested. The Adroit is missing a saddle and brake pads... haven't touched it since Great Glen...
Yeah,I've debated jumping into one of his rides if he'd have me but not so sure about the distance. Been a while since I've done a longer road ride. The 1hr road rides and the weekly NBX 'cross aren't exactly great for the longer duration stuff. Longer MTB rides on the weekends don't translate well either.
BTW - how does it take you so long to drive up to LW, are you taking the Mass Pike or something?
i actually haven't ever driven there to ride it, just ridden there...
Well, ain't you a saint? Ha Ha. I'm so close that it's a toss up. 5 miles exactly via 146, or 6 via the road up Cobble Hill and into the trails on the southern end of the park. Some days the LW ride is part of a larger plan to combine activities and squeeze the ride in. Nice aspect of a park right outside of town. Now only if we had a few miles of trail in the city..
you should go to Easthampton.Gas is cheap and the course is fun.
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