In the depths of Winter, I've seen fatbikes displace CF racers as the fastest thing on the Minuteman... but only when trail conditions have been kind of awful. Speaking of which...
I took the recently-rehabilitated 1987 GT Karakoram rigid mtb, in its icebike persona shod with 47mm Nokian Hakkapeliitta W240 studded snow-and-ice tires, out for another post-storm survey ride of the Minuteman, through Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford. Temperatures were falling through the 30s.
The results of that were a lot like those of Monday's ride, only more so:
Arlington's segment of the Minuteman featured bare, dry pavement.
Lexington was much the same, with a few puddles and stretches that were wet with meltwater.
Lexington also had a few yards of pavement that snow had fallen onto from the boughs of trees, after plowing. This was most noticeable in the stand of pines between Hartwell Ave. and Westview St. At the time I rode the (late afternoon), these were shallow, soft, and easy to traverse.
The Bedford segment, starting for plowing purposes at Wiggins Ave., initially looked plausible (although it was the only at-grade crossing of the Minuteman that had a barrier of plowed snow across its entrance).
Conditions quickly deteriorated, however.
While the Bedford segment had evidently been plowed (judging from the tire tracks at the margins of the cleared path), either the blade had been set too high, or the plowing had occurred prior to some significant additional snowfall. Long fields of slush, ~3" deep and setting up to harden in places, dominated much of the Beford segment. My tires put me in a relatively favorable position to ride in this stuff (due to the aggressive tread, rather than to the studs), but it simply wasn't any fun, like riding in a somewhat slippier version of mud, and I turned the bike around before reaching Elm Brook.
Whatever Bedford spent for the plowing, it seems to me they didn't get their money's worth. The comparatively good condition of Arlington's and Lexington's segments suggest they might have done better. To be fair, every year, one town or another seems to fumble the plowing job. Everybody has taken at least one turn at that. Conditions will evolve day by day, as we cycle through freezes and thaws. What I saw in Bedford seems to me to have the potential to form icy ruts, a dangerous condition.
That said, it was a nice day to be out on a bike, and there were some lovely Winter scenes to be enjoyed. It was fun, too, to be rolling on the old GT, with its weird old Biopace crank. Hard to believe this is the first time I've had it out this season--it's almost as if the whole Winter riding season collapsed into a single day.
rod