My son Garrett and I clipped in at 8 a.m. for our weekly century on November 14, 2004. The driveway was covered with an inch of snow but the road partially was clear. We keep the bikes inside and warm so when Garrett rode off the car track into the soft powder he got snow on his rim. Instant ice, no brakes! I live on top of a hill that drops 800 feet in two miles. As we started down the road it became all snow and ice so we had to turn back and load the bikes onto the car. We decided to drive into town to start this ride. It just didn't seem worth descending the 17% grade covered with ice on 23c tires.

It was 19F as we started down Route116 to Conway heading for the warmer Connecticut River Valley. I was wearing lobster gloves with plastic bags over them, a winter cycling jacket and tights with a wind shell front (I also put a plastic bag over my crotch), long underwear and jersey, newspaper on my chest, and booties with bread bags over my wool socks. I was almost warm enough on the descent but my fingers were cold and painful. Garrett was dressed as if we were twins sans the bags on his hands. He was slightly warmer; must be his youth!

We hoped it would be a few degrees warmer at the lower elevation; fortunately, it was. Garrett and I decided that the hill towns would have ice on the roads so we stayed in the valley for the bulk of the century. It is difficult to eat on the bike dressed like this so we stopped every 30 miles to fuel ourselves. We ate plenty. Most of the calories were spent keeping us warm and not going into our legs.

About 60 miles into the ride Garrett and I pulled off the road for another snack. I spotted a rabbit hopping out from the brush and before I could focus on it I caught a blur at the corner of my eye. A hawk had also seen the rabbit. It swooped down upon its prey with lightening speed. The hawk did not seen to care that I was only fifteen feet away. I watched as it tried to fly holding on tightly to the rabbit but it could not lift off. It hopped while flapping its wings and soon was under a small bush. A few minutes later we were back on our bikes heading down the road.

It felt like a ride with the Nature Channel but something was still missing. The headwind! Returning to Ashfield the wind picked up and we were heading into it! So, we climbed the fifteen miles back to the car into the wind.

Now it is January and winter is really here. It has been below zero for the past week and the high for today was -8F. The trainer is starting to look good again. I can sit in the warmth, pedal, and look outside. It will warm to 19F again and when it does I will be outside riding in the cold. It will not be because I won't remember that cold November century but because I am a slow learner.

UMCA Year-Rounder Century Challenge

Preparing for and riding centuries