Rhino Polar Ride Starts New Year
There were about 135 of us braving a couple inches of fresh and still-falling snow and 23-degree temperature New Year’s Day as the Flying Rhinos Cycling Club welcomed in 2010 with its annual Polar Ride along the back roads of Clarkston, MI.
There were two routes, a 16 miler and an 8-miler, all on slippery road. Lots of riders fell. “It was like sliding into home plate,” said Wayne, one of our riders who, with Tina, went down just before the finish. Maury, another one of our Bike Fitness regulars, also fell… in the parking lot as he took his bike out for a lets-see-what-this-is-like shakedown run. That convinced him to shuck his plans to ride.
I managed to stay upright, though there were several patches of ice that had me swerving.
Here’s a picture of our crew… (click it to enlarge)
That’s (l-r) Wayne, Tina, Mike, Pat, Terry and Tim, with Maury behind the camera.
Pat, Terry and Tim did the 16 miler. I was planning to do the long route, to, but, about mile two, my feet got so cold I thought my toes would fall off. With Tina and Wayne, I opted for the shorter route. I wore two pair of socks (one of them thermal) and a packet of toe warmers in each shoe but the thin nylon shoe covers I wore just didn’t stop the cold. I need better foot gear if I’m going to continue this winter biking.
I talked with Jeff, from the Kinetics Systems Bicycles store in Clarkston that sponsors the ride and he suggested studded tires. The good ones would set me back $100 a tire and the foot protection would be another $50 or so. I’ll keep that in mind. They’re only good in snow and ice and, the way Michigans weather has been this season, we haven’t had much. Besides, the outdoor season is only two months away. Right?
This is our first involvement with the Flying Rhinos, who have to have the coolest name of any clycling club out there. They had steaming bowls of hot chili at the finish line, along with brownies, hot chocolate, coffee and bagels.
All in all, it was a great start to a New Year, I hope to do at least 3,000 miles this year. Tomorrow, it’s on the indoor trainer.
Happy New Year.
FYI – We got a great pair of studded tires for $90.00 a PAIR at Kinetic. They performed perfectly on the Polar Ride. Also worth mentioning; I have a pair of neoprene booties and they kept my toes quite happy with only a pair of silk sock liners under my shoes. BTW – I do have clipless pedals but I don’t use them for this ride. My shoe of choice is a hardy-soled low-rise. I found that the clipless, having the metal to metal contact with the pedal, transmitted cold directly to the ball of my foot. Not so good. I keep the clipless pedals on the bike because I don’t ride much in the winter and it is not worth it to swap them out. If you look for a sale after the winder season, you can get a great deal on neoprene booties for next year’s Polar Ride
See you there!