Monday, March 12, 2012

Not what I had in mind

I totally mucked up this past weekend. I could have skied on what reports described as excellent conditions Saturday. But noooo, I had to head south to escape the overnight snow covering, only to bike in a snow storm on the Cape! Webcams showed clear skies and zero snow on the ground when I left the house. About the time I reached the Cape, visibility went to crap. The pictures show how things played out.

Neighborhood, Saturday morning. Roads were crusty.

Nearing Cape, it started to snow.

Coming off Bourne Bridge. I was BS by this point.

Not what I drove 1:40 for.

At least the terrain at Otis is a little more interesting than ToT.

What tires did I ride, and on which wheel?

This baby was putting out way more Watts than I did today.
Probably like 25,000x more Watts.

It snowed mightily for an hour or so. Heavy, wet shit. I was soaked in 30 minutes. When the sun came out, the snow turned to slush, and I spent the next two hours taking a slush bath. My clothes must have weighed 10 lbs and my shoes filled with water. The snow was nearly gone when I finished riding.  Yep, should've skied instead.

I finished with about 26mi in 3.1hrs. A pretty junky workout. Would have gotten much better cardio workout in on skis.

At least Sunday was a more positive riding experience. I hit local trails after hearing we pretty much skipped right over mud season this year. Hit a compilation of Chelmsford and Carlisle conservation land parcels, no less than seven named parcels I can think of off the top of my head. Bits of road link them up. Covered 32+ miles in exactly 3hrs.

Heading to Arizona on Wednesday. Dave Penney and I have a few big trail rides planned. On Thursday, we'll hit the final section of the Arizona Trail to be completed. This section of the AZT is receiving rave reviews from the MTB community. It is typically ridden as a shuttle ride from Picketpost to Kelvin trailheads, 40 miles of pure singletrack, through very remote, rugged terrain. Dave and I will be providing our own shuttle by riding pavement to close the loop, bringing the total ride to around 60 miles.

Don't want to see any snow on this trip. Looks to be very warm there this week, cooling by the weekend.

4 comments:

6months said...

Always wondered why you went to tot instead of Otis when Otis is so much better.

Hill Junkie said...

Otis certainly has more variety of challenging terrain. When I seek a punishing cardio workout though, I find the moto loop on the Sandwich side of ToT area to be much more effective. Plus you can do 30 miles at ToT with barely touching back on your tracks. Otis invariable involves some repeating, which really isn't that bad.

Matt Kmiec said...

Bontrager 29-3 front, Schwalbe Racing Ralph rear.

Hill Junkie said...

So close. Correct tires, other way around.