Sunshine, snow squalls and round towers

All this talk of a mild winter is starting to annoy the weather gods. So they huffed and puffed and blew a gale force wind our way this weekend, providing another excuse to take out the tandem. So while John's mates were off sheltering from the wind in the woods, we headed out on the tandem. We only made it a few blocks before stopping into the new George Howell Coffee in Newtonville. 

 

Nawth Shaw riding

I don't know Boston's Nawth Shaw well. So, when Beverly native, Matt Roy, suggested, in one of his infamous Bad Ideas (TM), dragging David Wilcox and yours truly on some of his favourite roads in that direction, I leaped at the chance.

Matt had the decency too, to lay on simply splendid February weather. It was sunny, dry, if breezy and a smidgin chilly. However, it transpired we were going to cover a large portion of the North Shore in our day out, so there wasn't much hanging out and chillin' to be done!

Presidents and Purgatory

Astute readers may recall that at the end of the Festive 500 challenge last December, John and I declared ourselves so far beyond redemption that we felt no need or desire to serve additional time in Purgatory (Pamela had already been to Purgatory Falls, NH earlier in the week), so we bailed on our planned final ride from Framingham out to Purgatory Chasm. This is probably why we didn't win! That and the fact that we didn't have epic blizzards to ride through. But try as I might to ride in snowy conditions this year, global warming seems to have arrived in New England, and we've been blessed with some pretty amazing winter cycling this year.

But it is also a presidential election year, and we've been bombarded with news stories that try my patience and insult my intelligence and make me feel I'm in some sort of presidential purgatory. I'm really hoping to emerge into a state of grace soon. So seeing as how I like my theme rides, we decided President's Day would be a fine day for Purgatory.

"Snowy" trail riding

The forecast predicted 3-6" of the white, fluffy stuff. While sensible types might have stayed at home and provided laps for cats in front of a nice, warm fire, Messrs. Roy, Wilcox and I decided to go slip, sliding in the woods instead. The plan called for stringing together as many sections of trails in the Fells as possible, with Matt leading the way.

Things started according to plan when I awoke to find a dusting of white outside. The forecast still seemed accurate as I made my way to Gnarlington through white coloured precipitation. However, that was to be the extent of it for the day, as you can see from the following photos:

Fender Update - SKS Raceblade Long

[Look here for our newest post on fenders]  


Last week in my Fender post, I mentioned that I had some of the new SKS Raceblade long fenders on order. (I have updated that post now with this information).

They arrived over the weekend,  and I eagerly opened the box and tried to mount them on the bike that currently sports the original raceblades.  But I found several limitations, the primary one being a max tire width of 23mm. I had missed this detail before I ordered them. 

Not the longs!

Fenders

[Check here for our newest post on fenders]


Mo Bruno Roy looks great all the time, but she really carries off the muddy look with style and grace!

Photo by Matt Roy

I can't say the same for me!

And while it may be fun for an hour, I bet it would get a bit uncomfortable on an all day ride. And it might not be such a good idea to show up to work this way, or to try and get a seat at any coffee shop other than Ride Studio Cafe. Even there, you might be offered a big bucket of water and a towel at the door!

Why Tandem?

I always enjoy the chance to tell the story of how I used a tandem to snare Fear Rothar. We were both participating in a cross-USA bike tour on single bikes, but due to our speed difference, we rarely saw each other on the road.

We had met a year before when Fear Rothar came from Ireland to do BMB in 1992. We had emailed occasionally, and he was the first person I told when I decided to do PAC Tour the next year.  I really didn't remember that he had previously told me of the same plans. Whether it was fate or accident, or some plan on my sub-conscious' part, we ended up on the same trip.