Tuesday Night, February 1 - Night Snow Ride
Ride Type: Snow Ride
Location: The first groomed area within a 1-hr drive of Boston
Date & Time: 7:00pm rollout
Distance: ~10 miles
Price: Free
RSVPs: Required, see bottom of page for RSVP form
Late breaking updates!
The good people of the Sherborn Forest & Trails Association invested in a Snow Dog to groom trails for fat bike riding in the winter in Sherborn! We are looking forward to getting back on the Sherborn trails, enjoying the grooming and supporting the very good work the SFTA does year-round in Sherborn!
We expect that the trails will be set up and rideable by Tuessday evening given how much snow is coming to the area. We have a backup couple of plans in case the snow dog won’t have a chance to get all of the trails clear for this ride with just how much snow there will be. We’ll let everyone who RSVPs know the plan by 10pm Monday night as to the whereabouts and details of Tuesday’s night ride.
We are taking a collection for the Sherborn Snow Dog to keep it running and help fund the expenses surrounding it. A suggested $10-15 donation is nice, but you’re not required to donate anything, do what you can to enjoy the tremendous resource of the Sherborn trails that we’ve enjoyed very much for many years!
We have a designated RHQ Super Domestique leading the last group who is riding a fat bike to depart which will be rolling at a moderate pace. If you have ridden mixed terrain before and can average 16mph on a paved road ride, you should be fine with the pace of this ride once the pace is translated to snow and fat bikes (probably 4-5mph average!). We typically have at least two groups - one spicier and peppier ahead of the Super Domestique-led group. We’ll split into more groups if we have a large turnout and we’ll also split up by bike type/tire sizes. We’ll stay together if we’re of similar riding speed. We don’t want anyone to get cold and no one is getting dropped.
We don’t have a sweep rider for this ride so only participate if you’re confident in your skill level and fitness.
Parking: We’ll email all who RSVP as to parking and starting location
Route: The weather and trail conditions dictate the route. We do not ride on soft trails ever; we have rain trail-friendly routes prepared and lots of plan Bs. Temps should be low enough that we’re riding on frozen, snowy trails for the duration of the ride.
Estimated time: ~1.5-2 hours depending on your speed group and final knowledge of temps and conditions.
Ride Notes: We discuss these with you prior to rollout.
Last Minute Information: We email all participants with any critical late-breaking news.
Contact Information: Email - connect@rideheadquaters.com, Phone which reaches the ride leader before and during the ride: 413-461-7433
Riding Rules, What to Bring, How Our Rides are Different: All riders are required to read and are expected to abide by These Rules.
Leave your fenders at home, there are so many twigs and leaves on the trails, fenders only serve to collect these in ways that can break them, your spokes, derailleurs, etc.
Per our usual recommendations, be sure to have everything you need in case of a minor mechanical including flat fixing and chain fixing tools and supplies, including a rear derailleur hanger if your bike uses one. Also have a plan if your bike or body decide to stop working mid-ride.
Ride your fattest tire bike. 3”+ tires are the minimum. Bigger tires roll better over things you can’t see and are more fun on rougher terrain. It’s fat bike season anyway so there will be a number of fat bikes on this ride. If you’re coming with 3” tires or narrower, be sure to come with the route (which we’ll share with you the night before the ride) so that you can navigate for yourself and anyone else with narrower tires. Our fat-bike-riding Super Domestique won’t be able to ride slowly enough for bikes not able to make it through the snow due to getting too cold to tolerate being outside.
Clipless pedals and shoes. These are important elements of bike control. If you are an experienced cyclist who has used platform pedals and sticky shoes extensively, this is acceptable. Note that mountain-style pedals/cleats are significantly better than road-style. We strongly discourage road pedals/cleats on a mixed terrain ride. You can possibly get away with road pedals/cleats on a gravel (dirt road) ride, but not a mixed terrain ride.
A Tuned Bike: Be sure your bike is in safe working order, have it properly lubed and tuned. We’ll ask you to call for a ride or take an Uber home if you have a mechanical situation that will hinder the forward progress of the group by more than a few minutes.
Ride with high enough tire pressure to prevent pinch flatting and burping your tires. We recommend about 80% to 90% of maximum rated tire pressure to begin. Ask us if you’re not sure where to set your tire pressure. We like you to have more than enough air for these reasons:
We want to minimize flats on the ride; waiting for someone to change flats is not why we ride. We typically see zero flats on our ride. One of the primary reasons for this is due to higher than average tire pressure.
You can easily take it out, much harder to add it in.
Flat tires and burped tires are especially problematic when it’s cold. We ride on the coldest days. Our ride leader(s) can’t help with mechanicals when it’s so cold, we risk freezing our sensitive extremities.
Waiver: Ride Headquarters requires a signed waiver before your first ride. Please fill it out online prior to your first ride.
How do we decide if we’re having the ride?
Snowing: We ride; it is so much fun to ride during a snow storm.
Snow on the ground: We ride. It doesn’t matter if there’s 1 inch or four feet, we ride. We recommend studded tires or fat bikes for these kinds of conditions. The only exclusion to snow riding is when there is a state of emergency and we’ve been asked to stay off the road and if the snow is soft from being too warm such that it would be rutted by our being on it.
Icy conditions: We ride. For this you must have studded tires in order to ride with us.
Cold: It doesn’t matter what the temperature is, we ride. The coldest ride we’ve hosted started at 5 degrees. It was a blast!
