I was wrong

For the last 2 years, I've been learning how to dress for cold weather. Last winter I spent good money on winter gear and got 2 Pearl Izumi jackets. When I was doing research, I saw a lot of praise for Assos and Castelli. Honestly, I thought it was snobbery. I just couldn't justify spending 300-600 on a jacket. Last week, I saw that Castelli's Espresso Due jacket was on sale at Bike Tires Direct and decided to get it. Today it arrived. I tried it on and instantly noticed a difference. The cut of the castelli jacket fits snug, whereas the PI pro soft shell felt a bit loose. Both jackets are size medium. The second big difference is design. The castelli jacket has a mesh on the back, which lets it breathe. The PI pro soft shell doesn't. The third big difference is the collar. When I zip up the PI pro soft shell, it feels a bit tighter than I would like. In contrast the espresso due jacket is higher and stretches more. The end result is it keeps cold air out without feeling like it's constricting your neck. Tomorrow I'm going to try it out in the cold weather and see how warm it feels. I paid 150.00 for the Izumi jacket and 170 for the Castelli. Both jackets were on sale.

Another Saturday, Another climb

Today the weather was nice, so I went and did 2 intervals on Wachusett. The first climb I went to the summit. The second time just to the visitor center. There were quite a few cyclist today climbing Wachusett.

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/bc64/6357/4c7a/cf0e/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120421-1112.kml I managed to finish the ride with an average of 16mph, which isn't bad considering I climbed Mile Hill Road twice.

First climb up Wachusett summit

Last Saturday I climbed Wachusett summit for the first time this year. Considering it's only April, it felt great. I managed to log 62 miles, and took 2 pictures.

On my ride, I saw a few cyclist out, but not a lot. At the visitor center, there was several cyclist.

Riding around Amherst

Over the weekend I was in Amherst for passover and managed to get in some good rides. One great climb is up North Valley road in Pelham. It's a CAT4 climb, but it is harder than that. North Valley / Buffam road changes grade several times, so it's actually a harder climb than going up Shutesbury road. Shutesbury road maintains the same grade for most of the 4miles, so once you get into a good rhythm, it's easy to spin up the hill.

On Saturday I rode up to the town Orange and up route 202 going south bound. I stopped at Mattawa lake and took a few pictures.

Mattawa is a nice little lake. There were a lot of people out fishing on Saturday. I saw about 10 people relaxing on beach chairs fishing. When I got to the peak of route 202, I snapped a picture of Quabbin reservoir.