30 days of Biking, Day 1: Friday RAW

There is a challenge out on the interwets called The 30 Days of Biking.  I found it through Twitter, so I registered (registration is closed now) and the challenge is to try and ride every day during the month of April. Then of course, you need to tweet, blog post, email, and basically tell everyone about your riding experiences.  Hmmm, I think I already do that, so chronicling is the easy part.  Trying to ride everyday will be tougher.  I think Upper Paugussett State Forest is going to be getting a lot knobbie traffic from yours truly this month due to it's proximity.

The organizers have 1,773 cyclists registered!  I don't know how they will keep track of everyone.  Is there a prize?  I heard on BicyleRadio.com that they are giving out an iPad but not entirely sure if that is true or not.  Not really wanting to sound altruistic but the real prize is riding.  I need to ride a lot this month because Mountain Biking race season starts in April and I will be on the NEMBA Racing Team again.  It's a fledgling race team focused not so much on winning races rather on promoting the New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA) and the activities the organization does for Mountain Biking in New England.

So, to kick off the 30 days of Cycling I headed home for a little mountain bike ride at Upper Paugussett.  To my shock and horror, I discovered that the Dillinger had a flat tire!  But now can that be?  The tires that I have on are supposed to be puncture resistant.  Serfas Krest 9rs, which are two ply, puncture resistant tires.  Of course that makes them heavy as all get out but the extra weight is worth the comfort knowing that I can explore just about anywhere without the fear of flatting.  Upon changing the tube I find that one of the rim hole plugs had come out and either that or the tube rubbing against the hole may have caused a puncture, so I think I can pretty much rule out that it was the tire's fault.  5 minute tube change and off I went.

While I am not a big fan of riding in the rain or for that matter riding on wet trails I knew the Upper Gussy Trail is pretty sustainable and would be fine.  The weather gave Friday RAW (Ride After Work) a whole new meaning because it was a cold rain with some snow mixed in as an extra kick in the balls.  I went with some layers, tights, cold weather riding shoes and an headband.  

So I rode what I call The Old Up and Down, or up the Gussy and then back down again.  I had my helmet cam, too, but I forgot to wipe the lens on the way up the Gussy so while the video quality is pretty good but the droplets on the lens make it tough to to follow.  Once I figure out how to use iMovie I will post some videos up of the ride.  While it was a wet start to the 30 days of biking it was great start to mountain biking for this season.