J
Jonathan Bond
Guest
had been rainy and cold, snow a week before, so I was worried about the trails being muddy and
nasty. The past few days have begun to get sunny and warmer though, and they dried everything out
quite nicely. And then, the day comes, and its pushing 80F! It was almost too hot, coming from near
freezing temperatures, but it was a beautiful day. Nobody from Tufts cycling felt like joining me
(don't know what they're missing, staying on their road bikes), so I took off solo. I wore my new
heart rate monitor, just for ***** and giggles.
Rode the two miles there, and then putted around by myself for a while. Stuck to the fireroads
mostly, they were in decent condition. One had a stream running down the middle - now I know why its
official name is "mud road". Found the mountain bike loop and hooked up with it for a while. I was
definitely feeling out of shape and out of practice, so I decided to hit the one nasty climb (fairly
short but steep, loose, and rocky), then turn back around, ride the couple miles to the trailhead,
and head home. A nice ride.
There were 4 or 5 other riders at the top. Besides the one guy in a RAGE (www.rage-mtb.com)
jersey who passed me in his car as I was riding to the trails, I had seen no other bikers. Get to
the top... hey, its Stack! He's a Tufts Alum, still lives really close, and I went on a few rides
with him in the fall. They're on an ATA cycles ride, heading back to the entrance, so I join up
with them. One nasty rider on a singlespeed in the group, one guy on a sweet Seven Sola, and a
few other riders on bikes a lot like mine. I manage to pinch flat and dent my rim (doh!) on a
not-quite-far-enough bunny hop, and realize I forgot to check my tires before the ride. Oh well,
all part of the fun and games! Quick tube change, and we're at the entrance.... and so are 5
other riders.
Well lookie here, its a RAGE ride! Two MORE guys on Seven Solas (damn... and another one showed up a
little later!), one on a sweet bright neon green Curtlo hardtail, a Superlight, a Truth, and a bunch
of other sweet bikes. Some trash talkin', some introductions, and we're off.
I hang with them for another hour or so. Wow, they're good riders... really, really good. I clean
some technical moves I thought I wouldn't, and have some early-season screw-ups on some other parts.
I do start to feel a lot better in terms of fitness though - guess I just needed to clear the
cobwebs out. The Racer-boys are still dropping me on some sections, but I'm definitely keeping up
better. Just don't remind me that this was a fairly mellow ride for them
We discover at some
point that we lost a rider... where'd we see him last? Hmmm... no, not the last time we stopped...
or the time before that... actually, we haven't seen him in like 30 minutes! Some confusion over
location, and eventually we figure out where we are, and where he is... maybe. We end up finding
him, and set off again. About this time, I realize its about
4:15, which means I've been riding for almost 3 hours. I also realize I'm really close to bonking.
And that I have hours of homework to do. D'oh! I get directions back to the entrance, ride home,
bonk about half a mile away from campus, and collapse in the common room of my dorm.
Take a look at my HRM. Besides the fact that my heart rate was still up above 100 (my resting rate
is around 54) for at least 45 minutes after I finish my ride, I notice that the calorie counter
function says I burned 2000 calories. And I started it about 1/4 of the way into the ride. Yow. I
chowed down on anything and everything availible.
Great ride. And I slept really, really well
Jon Bond
nasty. The past few days have begun to get sunny and warmer though, and they dried everything out
quite nicely. And then, the day comes, and its pushing 80F! It was almost too hot, coming from near
freezing temperatures, but it was a beautiful day. Nobody from Tufts cycling felt like joining me
(don't know what they're missing, staying on their road bikes), so I took off solo. I wore my new
heart rate monitor, just for ***** and giggles.
Rode the two miles there, and then putted around by myself for a while. Stuck to the fireroads
mostly, they were in decent condition. One had a stream running down the middle - now I know why its
official name is "mud road". Found the mountain bike loop and hooked up with it for a while. I was
definitely feeling out of shape and out of practice, so I decided to hit the one nasty climb (fairly
short but steep, loose, and rocky), then turn back around, ride the couple miles to the trailhead,
and head home. A nice ride.
There were 4 or 5 other riders at the top. Besides the one guy in a RAGE (www.rage-mtb.com)
jersey who passed me in his car as I was riding to the trails, I had seen no other bikers. Get to
the top... hey, its Stack! He's a Tufts Alum, still lives really close, and I went on a few rides
with him in the fall. They're on an ATA cycles ride, heading back to the entrance, so I join up
with them. One nasty rider on a singlespeed in the group, one guy on a sweet Seven Sola, and a
few other riders on bikes a lot like mine. I manage to pinch flat and dent my rim (doh!) on a
not-quite-far-enough bunny hop, and realize I forgot to check my tires before the ride. Oh well,
all part of the fun and games! Quick tube change, and we're at the entrance.... and so are 5
other riders.
Well lookie here, its a RAGE ride! Two MORE guys on Seven Solas (damn... and another one showed up a
little later!), one on a sweet bright neon green Curtlo hardtail, a Superlight, a Truth, and a bunch
of other sweet bikes. Some trash talkin', some introductions, and we're off.
I hang with them for another hour or so. Wow, they're good riders... really, really good. I clean
some technical moves I thought I wouldn't, and have some early-season screw-ups on some other parts.
I do start to feel a lot better in terms of fitness though - guess I just needed to clear the
cobwebs out. The Racer-boys are still dropping me on some sections, but I'm definitely keeping up
better. Just don't remind me that this was a fairly mellow ride for them
We discover at somepoint that we lost a rider... where'd we see him last? Hmmm... no, not the last time we stopped...
or the time before that... actually, we haven't seen him in like 30 minutes! Some confusion over
location, and eventually we figure out where we are, and where he is... maybe. We end up finding
him, and set off again. About this time, I realize its about
4:15, which means I've been riding for almost 3 hours. I also realize I'm really close to bonking.
And that I have hours of homework to do. D'oh! I get directions back to the entrance, ride home,
bonk about half a mile away from campus, and collapse in the common room of my dorm.
Take a look at my HRM. Besides the fact that my heart rate was still up above 100 (my resting rate
is around 54) for at least 45 minutes after I finish my ride, I notice that the calorie counter
function says I burned 2000 calories. And I started it about 1/4 of the way into the ride. Yow. I
chowed down on anything and everything availible.
Great ride. And I slept really, really well
Jon Bond
