By David Goodwin
Published 01/01/2010; Updated 09/15/2021

by David Goodwin » Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:49 pm

It was 35 degrees at noon in downtown Northampton for our annual temperature ride. Nine or ten folks showed up – Mike N, Dave L, Paul D, Jonathan OK, Peter C, Dan, Justin, Ivan, and me. Most of us were on ‘cross bikes with fenders which kept the road spray down pretty well as the roads were free of snow for the most part but still pretty wet and gritty. Ivan was on a mountain bike and Justin was riding a singlespeed ‘cross bike. We headed north up Rt 47 to Sunderland, crossed over to River Road, north to Greenfield and then over and back south to Montague via the Bookmill where we had some sugary treats and awful racist jokes from some wacko who befriended us there.

As we ended up riding 51 miles, we could have started the ride in Butner, South Carolina where I think the temperature at noon was around 50. Paul took most of the town line sprints – some uncontested, one with a 3 mile lead out from me. Two flats were experienced – one at the start and one on the way north.

I’ll be posting various weekend rides through the winter so keep tuned if this interests you. Also, feel free to post some of your own.