APRIL 2016 - pt. 2
I had a to get back to Easthampton from my parents house in Brookline, so I figured I may as well ride back. Parts of the route were simply the reverse of yesterday's, but there were changes in the start and end.
As on yesterday's ride, I rolled out in cold rain, this time colder and rainier. This made a couple of things happen. First, most of my chainlube came off, so my drivetrain was squeakier and crunchier than I'd like. The other thing is that my brakes, which have a tendency to loudly squeal whenever they're applied in the wet, came in quite handy coming through Newton and Concord, as it seemed to get a lot more attention than the bell when someone was about to cut me off.
The route was generally good, but it did have one road on it that doesn't exist. Especially puzzling given that it was built based on the most popular routes in the area.
Once the rain ended, the sun came out, but thankfully it wasn't as warm as yesterday so I didn't run in to the same dehydration and stomach discomfort. I still took the precaution of filling my bottles at a Subway before Ware. The thing that stuck in my mind from the last time I did this route is that there's a whole lot of nothing in Ware, and certainly nowhere to fill up bottles.
I did the ride in new bibs, which I'll give a thumbs up.
Bike - Pioneer Valley Hilltowns, Michelin Pro 4 Endurance 700x28
Apparel - Giordana Bib shorts, short sleeve jersey, and arm warmers which stayed on most of the day
That bike is going to be plenty crunchy by the end of the week. You'll probably be just fine though.
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