Last night the temps dropped and the weather went from pouring rain torrentially to blizzard-like snow conditions. The Fells had cancelled their ride, and it didn't look good for the annual Blue Hills Toys Ride. The deck was icy, the marsh was relatively snowless, and it was below freezing...... but the sun was shining!....I broke the crust off the Thule and loaded the bikes. As I drove closer to the BH it became more obvious that more snow had fallen away from the coast. Not alot, but the 2 inches of powder on top of the ice had bent trees over the road. Driving up Wompatuck Road was that amazing winter wonderland, one that only comes once a year, that is, the first snow of the year. I tried to video the scene, which my 1.3mp phone-era really didn't translate very well, and besides I had to keep my eyes on the icy road.
Ride Part #1
I got to the parking lot in time to hook up with Howie The Plumber, Jim the CandyMan, Captain Dave, Dave P, and a couple other riders. Starting up the paved 'Picnic Loop' on the ice wasn't a wholelotta fun. But as we hit the first trail it became apparent how much fun this was gonna be. The snow was fresh, alittle crisp, and covered up many of the rocks and roots that would normally slow us down...
I just remembered also why this ride was shaping up to be fun--I was handed a StumpJumper 29er hardtail to demo last time I stopped at BikeBarn. Kevin said to 'ride it for awhile'. I had already tried it on my local marsh-loop and was real happy with the Big Wheels. They were smoothing out the trail real nicely.
Riding along, we knocked the bent trees out of the way, sending snow all over the guy behind, laughing all the way up the first hill and back down the backside 'no name' trail and back to the VC for coffee. We probably rode about 45 minutes total, but it was enough to get the spirits warmed up for the rest of the day.
Ride Part #2
Back at the VC enjoying some donut-carbo-loading and coffee with the local riding scene, another group was forming. The Silver Lake middle school mtb club had arrived, and was chomping to ride. Probably 9 13-14 year old boys, an 11-year old girl, a couple of parents, and their fearless leader, a teacher from the school, and a couple of us Yellowjackets to lead and sweep. We started our ride up the paved loop(again) and proceeded to follow the white multi-use loop, with a few diversions here and there. Traction in the snow was amazing. The kids (all of us..)were having a good time, especially when it came to going downhill. A few scary no-brake moments there. The snow cakes up quickly on the rim-brakes and renders them basically useless. But of course I was on the new disc-braked Specialized grinning all the way. We stopped to do some impromptu trail cleanup--the trails were littered with derailleur-breaking branches and some larger trees and limbs. We sessioned the log-over --always a good photo-opp. Crossing Hillside Street we bombed down the Cable Trail and behind the old zoo dump, before crossing Unquity and beginning the long grind back up to Five Corners. Finally! I didn't have to lie again with 'it's all down hill from here' It really was, and after the waterbar safety talk, we cruised down Wolcott back to HQ and the VC.
Amazingly enough, no mechanicals, injuries, and hardly a complaint! And Santa was at the VC waiting for us with hot chocolate and more pastries....
Oh Yeah! And we collected a truck-full of toys for kids in need...
