As the racing season comes to an end the epic riding season begins. I have delusions this off-season of completing The Bay Circuit Trail, a 177 mile trail connecting green space from the south shore to the north shore of Massachusetts Bay. But it’s not all that straightforward. A few weeks back a few of us rode from Andover to Hamilton. And while there was some technical stuff, for the most part it was old fire road and jeep trail — it took us five and a half hours to go less than forty miles. There’s a whole lot of back-tracking, second-guessing, and lurching around blindly involved in the process of finding your way down this monstrosity of a trail.

Above, top to bottom left to right: 1.) There’s a whole lot of carriage path in this particular section. I haven’t decided what I’m doing with my bar position on the Ferrous, hence the giant steerer stub there…great for whacking you sternum on! 2.) It’s pretty carriage path though, beats the hell out of road riding 3.) Oh ya, this was a totally sweet section near Bedford high school I found while getting lost. Check out those BC-like bridges! 4.) This section is pretty technical — good thing they spray painted that rock, it could have killed someone.

I’m trying to shelve the Superfly SS  before it’s imminent sale and ride the Ferrous most of the time. It’s tough though, the Superfly is way more fun to ride, it just handles better, massive weight discrepancy aside. But I gotta get ‘er sold and put the money in the bank for the ‘10 Superfly SS. Got to.While the Ferrous is definitely fun to ride, it is old and it doesn’t have the G2 geometry with the 51mm fork offset. It’s good though, the Ferrous rides like most 29ers do. This way I can experience how the other half rides…and then jump right back on my Superfly and ride away as fast I can, enjoying the greatly improved handling as I do so.

Above, top to bottom left to right: The side of The Bay Circuit Trail is littered with the rusted out hulks of discarded bikes who’s owners either died trying or jumped in the first passing car to hitch a ride home 2.) I knew I would end up stumbling home in the dark, so I strapped on the Minewt Mini just in case 3.) Yup, it’s that hour — goat-walking hour. Might appear cute at first glance, but this lady was on her way to a Satanic ritual where these little guys were to be sacrificed. Concord people are crazy 4.) I began to bonk so I stopped at a roadside stand to get an apple. I read somewhere that apples are one of the best things to eat when you’re bonking because they enter your system quickly (especially if you snort them). I think I read that in Bicycling Magazine: “TOP TEN BEST FOODS TO SNORT WHEN YOU’RE BONKING!”. It was sandwiched between an article on losing ten pounds in ten minutes and an article on improving your climbing prowess via thirteen seconds of core work a day.

So I put together another few miles of the trail. The idea here is to scout sections about four or so hours at a time as long as the weather holds, with the intention of riding the whole Enchilada Combo Plate #3 by sometime this spring as I crank up the base miles. Being motivated by the desire to explore is preferable to just going out and banging away miles on the road bike in the cold (or riding the tr-, riding the truh-truh…I can’t even say it).

Sunset came while I was still miles and miles from the car

And then the C.H.U.D.s came

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