Location: See schedule below, various starting places
Ride Type: Mixed Terrain
Time & Date: Departs Every Full Moon or nearly Full Moon, varying start times
Distance: Usually ~15 miles, for the December Full Moon, route is usually 24 miles
Price: Free
Description: The Full Moon ride takes cyclists all over the trails and back roads of Ashland and surrounding towns for the December version of this ride. The route includes paved roads to trails, dirt roads, grassy areas, and other places off the beaten path.
Important Ride Updates
Since December 18 is a Saturday, we’re doing a longer than usual route! The start is at 5pm and route is ~24 miles in length. Allow 3-3.5 hours for the ride.
Weather at this time of year dictates the final route and plan. We’ll let you know if anything changes via the Updates Section of this web page along with our Twitter feed, so keep your eyes peeled. We’ll email those who have RSVP’d only in extenuating circumstances. RSVPs are REQUIRED in advance to participate.
Best Bike Setup for the December 18 Ride: Your bike that has 700c x 35-45mm tires is best suited for this ride. If there is ice on the roads or trails, we’ll require studs. At this point, it’s looking warm and dry, but we’ll keep an eye on weather.
We remain vigilant with COVID safety. Stay masked if indoors, respect each other’s space, and don’t come to the ride if there’s any chance you were exposed to COVID or may be sick with anything. No need to share your germs, only your good cheer!
RSVPs are required, fill out the RSVP form below the calendar!
You are welcome to RSVP as late as 5pm the evening of the ride. We appreciate earlier RSVPs so we can plan appropriately.
Schedule of Full Moon rides, these are running through the winter and throughout 2022!
| Date | Day | Moon Name | Town | Departure Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 June | Thursday | Strawberry Moon | Sherborn | 7:30 PM |
| 22 July | Thursday | Almost Full Moon | Sherborn | 7:30 PM |
| 24 August | Tuesday | Not a full moon, but a great night ride! | Sherborn | 7:30 PM |
| 21 September | Tuesday | Nearly- Full Corn Moon | Belmont | 7:00 PM |
| 20 October | Wednesday | Hunter Moon | Newton Center | 7:00 PM |
| 18 November | Thursday | Beaver Moon | Waltham | 7:00 PM |
| 18 December | Saturday | Cold Moon | Ashland | 5:00 PM |
Route: The route is available to anyone who asks for it in advance. You don’t need the route since no one will get dropped.
Ride Notes: We have a designated Ride Headquarters Super Domestique leading the ride and pointing out turns. We don’t have a sweep rider for this ride so only participate if you’re confident in your skill level and fitness – or know your way back.
Last Minute Information: Watch our Twitter feed for last-minute updates, weather cancellations or other changes. We send emails to those who have RSVP’d with anything critical that isn’t communicated on this page that is very last-minute in nature.
Estimated time: For the 13-15 mile rides, expect a little under 2 hours.
Contact Information: Email - connect@rideheadquarters.com, Phone - 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.
Waiver: Ride Headquarters requires a signed waiver before your first ride. Please fill it out online prior to your first ride.
Proper Bike for this ride is usually, note that any mentions of proper bike, above, supercedes what is written here:
32c knobby tires minimum. Wider tires are nice, too. Tire choice depends on your riding skill set. In the winter, we will require studded tires when we expect to see ice. Road bikes with 32mm tires or bigger all the way up to fat bikes are all invited and will have fun.
Clipless pedals and shoes. These are important elements of bike control. If you ride with platform pedals you’re likely to be over your head in some of the more technical parts of the ride.
A bike that’s in safe working order and is free of creaking and squeaking.
Higher tire pressure: We recommend about 80% of maximum rated tire pressure, for two reasons:
First, 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 rides. One of the primary reasons for this is due to higher than average tire pressure.
Second, on average, about 30% of the ride is on pavement; having slightly higher pressure makes the road sections go by faster.
We do not recommend fenders since sticks and twigs can get caught in them.
How do we decide if we’re having the Full Moon ride?
Thunderstorms: If there’s a 33% or greater chance of a thunderstorm at the ride start time, we don’t ride. It is not safe to get caught out in a thunderstorm.
Rain or sleet: There are a few variants of this. We don’t ride sensitive trails when they’re wet; this can cause damage that’s not repairable. Fortunately, we have some rain-friendly routes that don’t damage sensitive trails.
If it’s raining at the start of the ride we probably cancel the ride. If it’s only threatening rain, we ride.
If it’s misting or drizzling at the start of the ride, with less than 50% chance of rain in the coming hour, we ride.
If it’s been raining a lot for a couple days, but not raining the night before, we ride. Our rain-friendly routes avoid sensitive trails. Of course, every few years there’s such a bad storm that we won’t ride; we take the force majeure very seriously.
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 and 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.
Icy conditions: We ride. For this you have to have studded tires in order to ride with us.
Cold: It doesn’t matter what the temperature is, we ride. We’ve held the Full Moon ride at very, very below zero temps in the past and we still get a great turnout!
RSVPs are required so we know who is coming, RSVP here now!
We are looking forward to seeing you at the next Full Moon ride and future Full Moon rides!