by Tim_Cary » Sat Jan 02, 2016 1:13 am
Unfortunately, our traditional NYD ride leader David Goodwin could not make it this year- but for a good reason- preparing for ‘cross nationals. So, but default I guess I was chosen to plan out a route and lead.
But first, it is always fun to look back in history. I am only able to find documentation of this ride back to 2006. However, that well may be that the discussion forum/calendar did not exist prior to 2006. I joined the club in 2012, so I am hoping folks that have been with the club longer than that can offer any insight as to the first temperature ride. Anyway, of the years someone has written a post, there has been varying degrees of participation (pun intended!)
2010- 35 degrees- 10 people
2011- 43 degrees- 20 people
2012- 45 degrees- 32 people
2013- 35 degrees- 20 people
2014- 27 degrees- 30 people
2015- 30 degrees- 30 people
And for today, with 39 degrees on that Silverscape clock, we had 30 riders- many familiar faces that I have not seen in what seems like a long time!
I will admit that I was worried- the morning began bright and sunny, but as noon approached, the wind kicked up out of the northwest, and I even had snow flurries on my ride in to the Academy. But what a hardy and festive group I found!
Just as planned, we took the Wednesday night ride route, and maintained a very social, where everyone was able to chat, pace up through Hatfield, but once out on the flats of River Rd, the pace picked up to a reasonable 20 MPH, with everyone taking turns into what seemed to be an odd head but side wind. I was pleased and impressed that we all stayed together… exactly what this ride is all about. Even those who had not been in a group ride in a long time did an excellent job.
As expected, we did break up on Taylor Hill- and hey- don’t blame “Tim the hill guy” for that- you can complain to El-Nino for those extra miles that took us over the hill. Had it been just a bit colder out, we could have skipped it!
At the usual re-group spot on Falls Rd, there was a little miscommunication. We waited up for at least one rider, but after 5 minutes decided to continue on, but not everyone got the message, and the group broke up into about three pods. The trailing group (me in that) did catch sight of the lead group at the stop light in Sunderland, but we got the red too. They sure seemed to hammer it, and we made a huge effort to catch them. I had to drop right around the Hadley town line, but the big legs kept on chugging and according to Strava’s Flyby tool, they did catch the lead group….huge kudos to Ron and crew.
It was a great ride- so nice to see everyone come out and catch up and ride in very bearable conditions. Apparently, we are going to have some real fast people this year too. You all don’t mess around! This may have been the fastest New Years Day ride to date!
I got back to the Academy with guess what- 39 miles, and the Sliverscape clock still said 39 degrees! That combined with the fact there were no route mishaps (check out last year!), it sure was a good old temperature ride true to NCC tradition!
As I said last year- keep an eye on the calendar here. We are lucky to have a very mild and winter-free precipitation for the most part so far. If we don’t get the snowfall they are promising us, we may post rides. Also, check out the indoor rides we have posted that happen at NohoBike.
Good luck to David and anyone else at Nationals.
Stay healthy and train / ride on! Happy New Year.
