I guess Patrick's absence scared everyone off.  Pity.

I went north on my own.  

Tried getting to the traditional route for at least some of the time.  

The bridge on the low road is still out.  I took a look.  I doesn't seem like there's any progress at all.  

I decided to head to West Nyack.  Only a bridge just outside of town was also out.  Because of the way I came, there was no 'road closed' sign.

It was at this point, I realized my thought of riding gravel from Haverstraw to Nyack was probably a bad idea.

But, when I got to Rockland Lake, I was tempted to hit the gravel anyway.

I did.  Just a few icy spots on the path.  But lots of ice on the Hudson.

Patrick mentioned aggravating.  My chain is aggravating.  It squeaked for 3/4 of the ride yesterday, and today, after lubing it again, squeaked for 3/4 of the ride.

Almost no one out until noon.

On the rise before Englewood Cliffs, I passed one of the few cyclists I'd seen.  I said hi.  

He passed me on Hudson terrace because he went straight at the light.  

I passed him again to sprint.

We started talking at Strictly.  He said this is a day when you see the real cyclists come out.  When we hit the final dip before the bridge, I told him I was over enough for him to move away from the cars a bit more.  He said, 'don't worry; I've been at this a while.  Just like you.'  After we went over the GWB, I apologized for my chain.  He said his was pretty bad, too.  In fact, he said he once had to piss on his chain on a cold day to get it to work, and he was concerned today was going to be one of those days.  He was happy it wasn't.  

He went my way home, only I went to Riverside.  I wanted a 200-mile week, and my machine was telling me I needed to get in a lap of Central.  203 for the week.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6571497994

Whelp.  That's enough internet for me today...

GregHoge said:

mugwump said:

"...he said he once had to piss on his chain on a cold day to get it to work"

Whelp.  That's enough internet for me today...

I was thinking more that such a tale is how one survive's mount Everest or some such, not pedaling home.

I'll definitely will try to ride a trail this weekend. Last winter after the snow, some people pack the blue trail in Glacier and that led me to one the hardest one hour bike ride. Tons of fun.

If the snow stops in the morning, I'll be at the trailhead at 2 pm. Sunday looks much better, possibly 9am. 

Fatbike not needed, flat pedals definitely recommended.

Hit me up on Slack.

I will join you if the weather make sense to do so , where do you have in mind?

Mark Taylor said:

I will join you if the weather make sense to do so , where do you have in mind?

Glacier. It's usually groomed.

The roads don’t look great to drive that far Saturday 
I’ll try Sunday , text me your number 
347 865 6586 

I tried but there was some much snow in the trails. Glacier parking lot was cleaned up, the trails were groomed but the snow was too soft. Tomorrow will probably be a great day for riding. Note for myself: on those days, go there with snowshoes and pack the trail. I guess it's an other peace of equipment I need to buy.

I ended up sledding with the kids. Not sure it was less of a workout. I'll definitely be sore tomorrow.

Decided the drive to meet @Remy Forgues may be fruitless ,
opted to try out Cunningham , snow was way to soft to make riding doable 

Saturday Morning mountain bike ride at Cunningham? 9:30? The rain will stop in the morning tomorrow, I think the trail should be dry by Saturday. I'll keep an eye of the weather.

Remy Forgues said:

Saturday Morning mountain bike ride at Cunningham? 9:30? The rain will stop in the morning tomorrow, I think the trail should be dry by Saturday. I'll keep an eye of the weather.

I'm in!

I expect to be riding THE ROAD Sunday. 9am GWB.  Going north.  

@mugwump should be in for tomorrow. Going to leave BB at 8am if anyone else is heading out from there

Super fun morning at Glacier ridge , trails covered in beautiful snow ,

@Matt Budofsky and gang,

I rode over to Jersey today.  Roads are pretty clear.  The challenge might be the GWB in the morning.  While it is covered in salt and whatever else those chemicals are, it was wet in sections.  Take it easy on the bridge.  And keep seated for those early expansion plates.  Those things are pretty slippery when your wheels are covered in dust.

Met up with Matt at the GWB.  Rode to Piermont, back to Brooklyn, then back home to Harlem.  I needed ("needed") 60 miles to get in 200 for the week.

*It was 19f when I went out the door.

*The GWB wasn't icy, but it was messy and salty.  Got a ton of gunk on my bike and booties and legs just riding over the bridge.

*Matt was the first and only cyclist I saw on the GWB.

*He wanted to be back home by noon, so we decided on Piermont.

*The roads were mostly dry.  Some edge ice on Piermont road.  But with so much salt, we picked up quite a bit.

*I dressed right.  Think Matt had it mostly right.  

*Piermont was empty.  We learned that the PBC shop is taking over the Toga/9W Cycles space.  

*On the way back, at least I wanted to warm up after stopping.  So we rode Tallman pretty hard.  And then did Stateline as hard.  And the next hill as hard.  

*Matt took me in the sprint.  This might be the first time I've sprinted against anyone this year.

*by the GWB, my NP was 3.3w/kg, which for the time of year, the weather weather and just the two of us, was a bit spicy.  Think we were working kind of hard, though side by side, all the way down 9W. 

*West Side path was pretty clear.  So, too was the BB.  Left matt at Tillary, then over to the MB, and back home up 6th to the park.

*I could see that if I went straight home, I"d be a few miles short of my goal, So I did two loops at the north end.  A guy chased me down after 110berg, looked at me, and said 'So you went over the bridge today?'  

*This was the point I realized I should have eaten something, anything, back in Piermont.  It's also the point where my lips seemed to lose the dexterity to secure around the bottle spout.  

*I hit 60 miles a few blocks from home.  When I uploaded my ride, it turned out I needed 61 miles, not 60, so only 199 for the week.

* Clothes and bike were a mess.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6642385917

Don't think my bike has been that dirty in recent memory. JP and I both noted that whatever chemical is in the salt turns the water viscous and into a gloopy mess, which was just everywhere but the time we finished up. 

My disc brake pads also decided they had enough of living halfway through the ride so JP (and anyone unlucky enough to be within ear shot) was serenaded by the song of my people. Cleaned the bike up, and took a look at the pads. In dry, clean weather, I could probably get a couple more rides out of them but opted to replace them (also realized I was also out of chain lube), so off to Trek I went- new brake pads and more lube in hand, bike is ready to get messy all over again.

This also topped off my biggest week in a while- about 13.5 hours on the bike.

Matt Budofsky said:

Don't think my bike has been that dirty in recent memory. JP and I both noted that whatever chemical is in the salt turns the water viscous and into a gloopy mess, which was just everywhere but the time we finished up. 

This was pretty weird overall.  

On the bike, we could see a strange shine to the stuff that got kicked into our drivetrains and on our booties--the chain almost looked oily for periods and the stuff on our booties seemed to be shiny frozen droplets.  Eventually both would dry out, the latter seeming to turn into salty bits sitting on the clothes.

At home, when whatever the stuff was would unfreeze, there was this viscous crud dripping off the bike onto the floor.  

For all of us, I think it's a good reminder to stock up on both lube and brake pads--even for rim brake bikes, a few super-messy rides can eat whatever's left of your stoppers.  

Last weeks commute , completely wore out my break pads   

I got a late start and missed JP & Matt at the bridge. I turned around where River Road meets 9W and headed back home. Ditto on all the salt and gunk picked up on the bridge. Not so pleasant. I also lost the use of water bottle half-way through as it was frozen, along with me toes. Any recommendations on how to keep water bottles functioning at those temps? 

AdamYaffe said:

I got a late start and missed JP & Matt at the bridge. I turned around where River Road meets 9W and headed back home. Ditto on all the salt and gunk picked up on the bridge. Not so pleasant. I also lost the use of water bottle half-way through as it was frozen, along with me toes. Any recommendations on how to keep water bottles functioning at those temps? 

yes.

First thing, drink mix.  Salt is the primary help, but that's found in all the sporty drink mixes these days.

Second thing, insulated water bottles.  I know they get advertised for hot weather, but I find they fail in hot weather and make a difference in cold.  I have some pretty old Camelbak podium chill bottles.  When I use them and put some sports drink mix in the bottles, they won't freeze until I'm out for a long time at 15f.

However, if you're going really long and absolutely need liquids on a below 15f day, an insulated Camelbak under the jacket is the only way to go.  Start with the liquid warm and you're carrying a heater with you.

Sorry we didn't meet up.  More would have been funner.

First tracks 

very pretty on Cunningham’s trails ,early morning 

Mark Taylor said:

First tracks 

very pretty on Cunningham’s trails ,early morning 

I knew I should have gone! I could not convince my daughter to go.

Two more weekends before the road season starts.

If you're thinking of racing in March, get out with a group of your club mates to work out riding safe in a tight, fast, group.  And the spikes in effort are much more intense on the road than they are on Zwift.

I'll be at GWB 9am Sunday.  

mugwump said:

Two more weekends before the road season starts.

If you're thinking of racing in March, get out with a group of your club mates to work out riding safe in a tight, fast, group.  And the spikes in effort are much more intense on the road than they are on Zwift.

I'll be at GWB 9am Sunday.  

Can't make Sunday.

Anybody interested in riding tomorrow Saturday? 9am at GWB, Piermont and back. Piano, piano.

Text me on Slack.

I can’t make Sat but if it’s warmer Sunday I’ll try to make it out. If it’s colder than 40 degrees I gotta stay local to BK/Manhattan, and will maybe do some early morning CP laps.

DavidVibert said:

I can’t make Sat but if it’s warmer Sunday I’ll try to make it out. If it’s colder than 40 degrees I gotta stay local to BK/Manhattan, and will maybe do some early morning CP laps.

Tomorrow is actually getting cold. I'll go to Cunningham instead. 9:30 by the trailhead.

I plan to be joining the ride tomorrow/ Sunday. Will be cold but sunny and no longer windy 

On second thought I am going to stick close to home Sunday. Stay warm everyone