Ride Type: Mixed Terrain Ride, appropriate for the conditions
Location: Start and end at Revival Cafe + Kitchen near Alewife Station in Cambridge, MA.
Date & Time: 6:00am rollout Saturday, January 29
Distance: ~10 miles
Price: Free
RSVPs: Required, see bottom of page for RSVP form
Late breaking updates!
Urban Ride: Variety Pack with Snow
As the name suggests, this is an urban ride. That means roads, pavement, alleys, playgrounds. But, it's also a Variety Pack because we have some trails, urban jungle, and even a few NESTs (nonexistent secret trails).
We designed this 10 mile route for 2 to 5 inches of fresh and falling snow. It's about as flat as any route we've ever put together. About 14 feet of climbing per mile. Roads to keep us moving. Trails to keep us warm.
While there is lots of easy terrain -- roads and paths, we strongly recommend fat bikes for some of the primitive trails. Studded tires are required because there is ice out there.
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. 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 don’t have a sweep rider for this ride so only participate if you’re confident in your skill level and fitness.
Parking: Revival Cafe + Kitchen has a parking lot that is free and they have welcomed us with open arms to park our cars here during the ride.
Public Transportation: Revival Cafe + Kitchen is next to Alewife station so this is especially convenient!
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 trails and roads for the duration of the ride.
Estimated time: ~2-3 hours depending on your speed group.
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. 32mm 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. Gravel bikes are perfectly acceptable and will have plenty of fun if this is your fattest tire bike.
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.
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!
