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Shop Ride: Sevens on the Trail

Ready for some mountain biking

Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest. That’s Newton’s first law. So you can imagine the difficulty one encounters trying to rise from a warm bed before the sun has even sighted the horizon, to fortify oneself with hot coffee, and then head out for a trail ride. That the temperature is in the mid-20s only compounds the challenge.

And yet, it’s January in New England and the trails are not yet coated in snow and ice, so we do what we can.

And all the way to the meet up, you have those second thoughts reverberating around your cranium. “What am I doing? Man, it’s cold. This is stupid. The guys probably won’t even show up. I really could have used the sleep.”

Then the guys DO show up and next thing you know the heat is coming into your legs, into your core. The leaves crunch under your treads. Frozen earth rides like asphalt in places. The wet parts have gone crusty in the hard morning freeze.

You still can’t quite believe you’re there as the sun begins to suffuse the woods with gray light, but the equation is shifting. You’ve kicked off that equal but opposite reaction, joy and inspiration pushing you down the trail, momentum interrupted only by the odd rock or root. Quite unwittingly, you’re smiling.

a wooden bridge on the trail

And then you’re at it hammer and tongs. Up steep ridges you grind, your breath coming in great billowing gusts. Your fork floats and pops as you hurdle downed trees and then you find a brook in full babble, and you brake without saying a word to your companions. You stop and listen. As much as the riding, this is what you get out of bed for.

A Seven Shop Ride: Cross Bikes on the Evening Trails

 

Dan riding his bike in the woods at night
Danny V. Ready to Ride

Before the snow flies we’re trying to get out in the woods as much as we can. Wednesdays often hold the promise of a shop ride on cross bikes, if we can all remember our lights.

This time of year, our local trails are awash in dead leaves. The leaves make traction a more random event and camouflage muddier patches, all of which serves to amplify the fun. Everything that is easy fun on a mountain bike in the daytime becomes squirrely and awesome on a cross bike in the dark.

You can only ever really ride the five square feet of illuminated trail in front of you. Sections you know by heart show sides you wouldn’t have imagined.

A few nights ago we rolled single file through a trail system just a few miles from the shop, and then did a quick zig-zag over pavement to get to another small system out to the west. We finished with a spin downa nighttime bike path, only a few other hearty cyclists for company. Home in time to microwave some leftovers and put the kids to bed.

-John L.