Minuteman, Ayer, Bolton, and Sudbury

The ride

People ask me, “what do you think about when you’re on these rides?”. My response is, “Not much. I think about logistics, like when’s the next time I need to eat. I think about hydration. I try not to get killed by cars.” If I’m comfortable with the person, I might add that when rides are going well, I sing. Invariably, the question follows, “What do you sing?”. I shy away from answering with a, “You know, whatever’s in my head at the moment.”

Well, Gentle Reader, today I bring you a full accounting of What I Sang During Saturday’s Ride. Imagine, please, me belting these out. Poorly.

Saturday’s ride was the first ride this year where I felt utterly relaxed and elated. I wholly rescind that nonsense from last week about it being “vanity” to object to stopping every five miles. It’s not fun to stop! Going fast is fun. Stopping is boring. During most of the ride, having a good time, I sang “Pico de Gallo” by Trout Fishing in America.

The ride had multiple steep downhills. Bombing downhill at over 30mph, avoiding potholes, not zoning out, and trying to keep track of cars that might try to kill me requires a different vibe. Namely, yelling “Triple six, five, forked tongue” at the top of my lungs into the wind.

Of course, the downhills didn’t last that long, and within the same breath, I’d be back to Pico de Gallo. Later, however, I found myself on a two-mile off-road excursion on Sudbury’s unpaved Marsh Conservation Land. Deep mud blocked the trail. Giant stones tried to throw me out of the saddle and made me stop. The song I sang then was Escort’s “Why Oh Why.”

Once out and far away from the Subury mud-fest, I climbed up Candy Hill Road, which sparked a full rendition of “Big Rock Candy Mountain”.

Nominal

• I lowered my handlebars an inch and a half or two. In spite of windy conditions and Sudbury off-road shenanigans, I maintained an average speed of 13.8 mph. That’s great!
• I risked finger numbness (at a starting temperature of 48F) to be able to eat while on the bike. That is, I wore my short-fingered gloves which don’t get in the way of me fumbling food out of my jersey pockets (unlike my long-fingered ones). While my left hand did go slightly numb, it was so much more enjoyable to be able to bike straight through without constant stops.

Off nominal

• I’m four for four on rides with frozen toes. My new pearl izumi shoe covers came in today. They’re too small. I’ll likely be five for five next week.
• I stopped too long at the top of a big hill. In doing so, I cooled off. I had a hard time regaining my prior momentum.

The route

A hilly 86-miler that took me out on the Minuteman, and back in via the Mass Central Rail Trail and later the Charles River Trail.