Flying to work on wings of steel

Flying to work on wings of steel.

The overwhelming joyousness of pushing the Motobecane through the suburban trails.

The road wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  At times like these I doubt myself. I doubt my competency and occasionally I doubt my sanity.  The road should be here.  I could be wrong.  Everything tends to look different, a bit filled in and obfuscated by the greenery of summer.

That’s it.  I’m lost.  Not really lost, just not where I’m supposed to be.  When I’m heads down and cranking I tend miss turns and make bad decisions.  Momentum has its drawbacks.

Decision time.  I’m almost an hour into my commute.  I didn’t bring any fluids.  I haven’t eaten anything or had my coffee.  Should I forge ahead and try to wander my way back on course? Or do the smart thing and backtrack to the bad turn?  Awwww…Crap…I’ll turn around.

…

This morning I finally had the once in a century confluence of events that allowed me to ride my mountain bike to work.  It should have taken about an hour and ten minutes.  My little detour added another 10.  Still, the weather was dry.  I wasn’t traveling. My bike was functional.  I had no excuses! I was awake early and got the heck out the door into a glorious summer morning.

What a ride!  I was flying!  It was positively joyous.

I discovered a new trail and was able to let go and to ride like I was being chased by daemons.  I was transported! (In more ways than one)

I have ridden my road bike to work several times but the route is awfully hilly and mind-numbingly dangerous with pot-holes, rough patches and no shoulders with maniac drivers brushing your elbow with malice aforethought and bad intent!

The new trail I found is an old rail-road bed.  I still have to fight a few miles of traffic to get to it on both ends but the trail itself is worth it.  It starts in Concord Massachusetts a stone’s throw from the bridge where the shot was heard round the world and dumps out in Bedford center.  It’s narrow, flat and fast.  Some muddy bits, but nothing technical and no elevation.  Just perfect for high cadence cranking.

Tip #1 Riding to work: – It’s not the ride, it’s the prep that gets you.

Riding your bike to work, even a stiff 20 miler like I’m doing is not a problem. Getting ready and planning the logistic is a hassle.  You have to carry the right mix of stuff to work without overloading.

Checklist – (anything you can position ahead of time in your office is great but requires forethought):

• Change of clothes – full set of dry work clothes, including shoes.
• Toiletries, assuming you have a shower at work, soap, shampoo, hairbrush, deodorant, towel and (what I forgot) shaving items.
• Plastic bag to keep stuff dry while you’re sweating through your backpack.
• Office keys, wallet, money, laptop and essential electronics.
• Another set of riding clothes, unless, like me you have a place to hang your wet stuff during the day and/or have no compunction about climbing back into the wet stinky stuff.

You have to either pre-position this stuff or pre-stage it or, be an idiot like me and hope you can fumble around in the morning and end up with *most* of the mandatory stuff.

To actually get on the bike you need a shirt, chamois shorts, socks, bike shoes, helmet, sun-glasses, riding gloves, and the backpack to put your stuff in.  I have an actual laptop bag and luggage rack on my roadie – but that would get slammed around too much on the trail.

…

My new course actually goes through Minuteman Park in Concord.  I crossed the Concord river on the old North Bridge by the minuteman statue twice today.  I’m not sure Park officials would approve but it is glorious to be cruising past the Olde Manse at high speed with the sun rising in the east in the crisp glow of a revolutionary dawn on July 5^th.  Man, what a rush.  The small-block, Kenda-8, 29 inch tires sliding through the loose turns where a few hundred re-enactors tread the day before.

Then into the trail.  The trail starts with a stretch of soft mash potato mud that you have to push through.

Tip # 2 – Wear eye protection and keep your mouth closed.

After you go through the mud on your MTB it gets stuck in your treads.  When you accelerate the centrifugal force causes it to fly off into your face.  If you don’t have eye protection the dirt will get in your eyes.  If you have your mouth open you’ll get a mud salad.  You can try to jump up and down on hard surfaces to jostle it free but in my experience it always hits you in the face.  You can get clip on fenders for your bike if you know there will be mud, but who has the foresight?

…

As I rolled out of Concord on the trail and hit my rhythm I cranked up some punk rock and let the music lift me free of this reality to a higher plane of existence where speed is king and sweat flies like holy water from an aspergillum.  No coffee, no breakfast but total euphoria as I flowed with the music and the trail in the slanting morning light.

Green swamps and forest close along the side of the abandoned line.  No one else is on the trail.  I live!

…

The final miles, after emerging blessed and baptized from the trail are back hard against the beast of morning traffic which has been unleashed with the fattening day.  I’m full of myself and cocky.  Not only do I not have to obey traffic rules, but with my mountain bike, I don’t even have to stay on the road.

I’m hopping curbs and riding medians.  I’m cutting cones and sprinting down sidewalks.

And I’m in to work. Dripping.  Glowing.  Indestructible. Indomitable.  Untouchable.

Bring it on brother!