Lead by Andy and Mtb Tom, we decided to go ride bikes from Andover to Hamilton on the Bay Circuit Trail system. This 50+mile event too place on a raw, rainy, muddy day beginning around 9:30am and would end 9 hours later at the cars in Hamilton.
The biggest challenges were flooded out sections, traversing beaver dams, slimy broken plank crossings, mud, cold raw wind, numb feet for hours and tired legs by the seventh hour of being outside. The reward was that wonderful feeling of getting back in a warm shower and meal, after a solid day of riding. Also gratitude, I made it through the day without flipping off one of those slippery boards into the dark murky water.
Thanks to everyone for an awesome day and Andy & Tom for keeping us on course !
Sunday ride from home started off as a solo mission with the ipod. The trails were damp from the snow and rain we had on sat, but the proper selection of route avoided mud. All the moisture lately has really brought out the beauty of the underrated colors of the woods such as the lichens and moss.
We have a lot of rocks here in this part of Massachusetts. Its hard to imagine the people who made all the stone walls we pass on every ride, all the hard work involved.
After a couple hours on my own, I was ready to head back on the road but decided to check my voicemail. Christopher was meeting Andy and his squishy friends over on School St, so I met up with him and road over there.
The pace was rather fast over the Ancient Line, which was very slippery with wet rocks, roots and tons of leaves. We decided to part ways with the guys to let them play while we worked our way back over the other side of Ancient Line to Gordon.
Near the path around the pond at Gordon we pick up a friendly lab named Puck who would not stop following us. It turns out he ran away from home and was running around getting into the water, mud and general doggie trouble. We phone Pucks home and secure him near the trail head gate before taking off toward the road to home. We had some light snow, but never rain which made staying warm easier.
The riding was fun and company along the way always makes things interesting. My couple hour ride plan turned into a 5.5 hr adventure enjoying the woods despite the weather.
Ok, enough snow. We need a break from all the ice, slush and water this winter has brought. The battle cry from Mtbtom all week was "Yo, let's head to the Cape sunday and ride on some dirt"
Dirt, sand, singletrack, sun, bikes and riders. This is the stuff that daydreams are made of. Nice flowing singletrack that you could ride for hours. This time of the year, it keeps a person honest in their delusional accessment of their fitness compared to back last season.
JRA Brian proclaimed the magic of protein shakes while riding along singing 80's tunes .
Otis is the kind of fun place that seems easy due to minimal rocks and the climbs are never too long, but it can still kick your ass. Once out on a Mtbtom loop, you better be prepared for a few hours of twisting up and down though the pines, people will wait and regroup, but riding back alone is usually a recipe for getting lost.
Would I survive my first ride down there for 2008 on my new 29'er ?
Only one way to find out !
Reenie post-ride anticpating the trip to iHop as was everyone else.
It's time for some Guiness !
Despite my lack of fitness right now, I did great with the new IF on it's first trail testing. I had made a few minor adjustments to seat height and postion set up by Dave riding around the neighborhood on sat. Never needed to readjust anything during the 22 mile journey.
The bike felt like a good fit and I loved the way the 29'er climbs esp on the slow steeper parts. It seemed to be more forgiving of my March legs lack of snap by helping me keep going up all but the most steep grades where power to weight failed . I was pysched the new bike rocks on the first ride !
The rigid fork felt awesome and will get better once I play around with tire pressure (front tire is a 29" Specialized Pro 2.3", rear is 29" Bontrager Jones XR 2.20"). The rigid IF disc fork is esp nice for twisty singletrack and short uphill standing climbs (running Avid BB7 mech brakes).
THANKS Mtbtom !!
Our fearless leader, Mtbtom, who was riding like he was ready for 22 more miles after we got back to the cars. The ride did not seem overly competitive, until the post ride feed at iHop.
Andy and Tom seemed to be one upping each other with food and drink making the waitress giggle..."I'll have a hot chocolate".."I'll have one too".. , " I want toast".."I want toast".. etc etc. Brian seemed to forget he wasn't that hungry after tasting his huge corned beef hash omelet, everyone was hungry after almost 5 hours out in the woods. Good Times.
NS Andy sporting the new wool Iglehoodie (with amazing third eye),
Thankfully Andy offered to drive his car with heated seats and
Christopher let me sit in the front.. one thing the Element does not have :(
I didn't need my hand warmers after first hour of riding, so I added a layer to my feet.
1) Drop your Independent Fabrication bicycle off at Belmont Wheelworks by Saturday, March 1st. 2) An Independent Fabrication employee will clean and detail your bike and it will be ready to pick up, looking like new, at the March 6th Appreciation Night event at Belmont Wheelworks!
There will be Refreshments; Opportunities to have your photo taken with your bike and IF employees; And a 2008 IF Product Preview presentation by Matt Bracken, President, Independent Fabrication.
Interesting week that was topped off my another snowstorm. Hard to believe it was 60F on monday and there was no snow from last sat's ride left. I got home from work later fri night to a good 10+ inches just waiting to be shoveled and my lower back is revolting today (sat).
Last night on the Red line three teenage boys got on at Central and put on an acrobat dance show in the car I was in. Clearing the aisle of the car and with music from a boom box they did some break dance like moves, handstands and some front flips. This was impressive with the car moving and bouncing around the tracks between Central and Park.
Thursday I went to see the movie Klunderz at Somerville Theatre. Sponsored by Wheelworks, NEMBA and Gary Fisher, who was in there in person and answered some questions. Klunderz is documentary film about the development and birth of mountain bikes and mountain bike riding out in Northern California (think: big bikes, no front brakes, no helmets and lots of pot).
Met up with Reenie,Mtbtom, Christopher and Andy for a pre-movie Redbones eating-drinking fest before walking over to the theatre. Ran into lots of fun bike folks and even a pair of Hupsters(CrispinBakon and Cleophus Van Tittleboom) were in attendance.
Enjoyable movie, if you mountain bike you should see it sometime to hear the stories about how our bikes evolved to today's rigs. Charlie Kelly had a great line in the movie:
" ...My buddy Gary (Fisher) and I, we had this huge adventure and we didn't even realize while we were having it, what an adventure it was...".
I turned to Reenie and said something like " it seems like we are have always having huge adventures". She agreed.
After the movies, more adventures back to Rebones with Tom, Andy and Christopher. I somehow ignored the fact that I get up at 5am and we still needed to all get back to my car parked at work near Alewife. Andy, the voice of reason, lets me know it's time to take off (11:30 ?)
Tom and Christopher on fixed gears, Andy and I on foot making haste towards Alewife. Fun running and riding about on a deserted bike path full of enough side singletrack obstacles to even mess up a pro like mtbtom with one slow motion crash on his fixie.
Andy decided for a ride home instead of going back to the airport (where his car was parked) Christopher and I had convinced him that he could ride into work before the mid-day forecasted "snow". Read of his tale of commuting the next morning here.
Fun night..
Thanks to everyone for hanging out..back home by 1am. Dehydrated and sleep deprived on friday, it took until about 4:00pm to start feeling normal (hmm, whatever that is..) Sleep is good.
Picked up the finished product today from Dave at Wheelworks who also built the wheels for me(Chris King hubs and Stans ZTR Arch 29'er rims)
Frame was custom designed by Matt Bracken at IF taking into account my 26" standard 15.5" IF mountain bike measurements. (I am 5'6" with 30.5" inseam )
Thanks also to supermechanic Dave Hess at Belmont Wheelworks, who built up my first IF back in April 1999 and continues to keep my fleet of bikes going strong.
Jill at IF did an excellent job of painting all the logos (Porter Pink on Iron Ore)
Vanilla Shake panels over masked Indy Fab logo in Porter Pink
New Indy Fab downtube logos options are available in 2008 IF catalog
Sterling silver IF headbadge
Rigid IF 29'er disc fork !
View from the bottom.
New custom 29" IF Deluxe lined up next to the 26"IF (circa 1999 15.5" Special) .The 26" IF has harlequin paint that looks either blue or purple depending on the light (repainted by Lloyd Graves in 2003)
The temperatures dove back down into the teens friday night, enough to freeze the snow for some studded tire riding in the woods. Sat I opted out of a ride on the cape for more technical riding on the trails. My feet seemed to stay warmer over the three hours working over the frozen and icy terrain.
This time of the year can be recharging when the sun is out, the snow is firm enough to ride on, the studded tires prevent the rider from falling on all the ice and the ipod can supply some nice soundtrack for this experience.
.... The woods are lovely,
dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
I am home today sick with a cold and the furnace needed another first aid call from oil company. The serviceman has been working on the problem for ~3 hours, so the house temperature is hovering in the high forties. I might need to start a novenna to whatever saint might help...
On brighter news, as soon as this guys leaves, I'm driving to drop off hubs and rim with Dave at the shop for buildup. The rest of my parts for 29er are in, so maybe the new frame will get built up this weekend.
