Did You Ride Today?

Was finally able to get out after a bit of time!

Went for an early morning run this morning in cold weather, but not so cold as has been recently. I did another run out into the country but did it in a different route and ended up on some very enclosed country lanes and dirt paths. I felt very glad I had some powerful lights on my bike. Also I'm not sure if it was just my imagination but passing by a field I had that eerie sense that something was watching me...

Four days in a row...in January. I'll take it.

Just 12 point something miles with a bit of climbing fun this time. 39 degrees and sunny. It was fun to get out and shake off the Novocaine from the trip to the dentist this morning.

CAMPYBOB said:

Four days in a row...in January. I'll take it.

Happens all the time on our side of the planet 😉

Go ahead, Steve! Rub it in!

And worse...your Winters are better than our Winters.

We only had 1/2" of snow this morning and it's 28° this afternoon. We'll see what shape the roads are in in a few minutes...

There's still no snow in these parts. I'm sort of jealous of you guys having all the "fun" 😄

Went out for a ride last night and had a little music playing. I didn't go far, just cycled around the back roads for about 3 miles before returning home. I normally wear trainers for riding but these past few days I've been thinking of getting some boots and also thinking if they would be suitable for riding.

33.7 miles at a 15.5 mph pace. I felt like I had no energy today and the wind/38 temperature felt like it was zapping my energy. That and my chain fell off twice forcing me to full out sprint after the group....I saw the other riders far off in the distance and did not want to get dropped today,lol..The first few miles were kind of funny, a dog the size of a basketball began chasing after are group, he kept up for a good 2 miles.Were suppose to hit close to 50 tomorrow, hopefully ill have more fun then.

Yes I did. No snow on the road like last Saturday. I took a chance.

Friday afternoon I hit the trainer for 40 minutes and hit a new PB high heart rate. I was mashing it and doing intervals, trying to put time into the Garmin dude for the duration of the ride. A really good workout. Maydog would be proud of me for killing it despite the cold and snow outside.

With dead legs from that workout I hit the road this afternoon for 52 miles in 53 degree air. The sun was shining and I knew I would pay for the 15-22 MPH tailwind with gusts to 26 MPH that pushed me North to the turn for home.

Man, I didn't feel just how dead my legs were from that trainer session until I started working into the wind. I got low and kept it spinning as best I could. It was work going down grades into that wind. My legs were dead and I should have stopped to make a minor cleat adjustment and eat a gel, but the finish kept getting closer and base conditioning was more than enough to get over the last climbs and pick it up over the last few miles back to the truck.

What a beautiful January day though! Just spectacular!

59 miles today on the singles with Gina and some friends. It was cool and dark so I decided to take along my tights and windbreaker (water repel). I saw a 20% chance of rain on 2 sites. Aimee said her site said 0% so she only wore a jersey and arm warmers. Bad choice! 20 miles in she asked Gina why we were so bundled up. She found out later. 😄

About 45 miles in the rain started. We got to the beach stop and it was wet. I thought it would stop, what is 20% right? Aimee was wet and began to shiver. So I did the manly thing and offered her my water repellent wind breaker. Turns out she took Gina's and Gina took mine, closer fitting. We took a short break then headed back. It only got wetter! I got cold for a bit once the water started splattering up my back and crack!:eek: But after a bit being soaked it didn't seem all that bad. Of course it got wetter then by the end of the ride it was dry again! :p

Started with the group and this guy Dale. 6'6! I think we had the tallest and shortest rider award winners with us today!

Maybe he should have gotten a bike fit!

Getting a little wet

Wetter!

Wet and mud up the back but I still managed the sexy hip check pose after the ride.

I tell people we don't like to ride in the rain. They think we are sissies but it has nothing to do with getting wet. It's about cleaning the mess after a ride when usually all we have to do is wait one day to avoid the rain. Hey it's California!

But...but...it never rains in California, but boy don't they warn you...it pours. Man, it pours!

Nice old Slurpee jersey. 7-11 Hoonved! And that's a cool pose with the Giant bike.

And I agree 1000% about rain riding. It has nothing to do with not being able to dress for it or ride while soaked. Cleaning and detailing the bike takes a couple hours and if any re-packing bearings or replacing bearings is required it just adds more time and money to the equation.

And the first guy that says, "But sealed cartridge bearings don't let water infiltrate them!", gets a frame pump upside the head.

Oddly enough, it's 50 degrees already this Sunday morning and WeatherUnderground says there's a 20% chance of rain. We'll see if I can get the bike home clean & dry.

Just did my first long solo metric+ century. 80 miles, it was tough and honestly a little disappointing. Everything that could go wrong did. My chain fell off at least 20 times,phone and gps ran out of battery the basic wheels and old tires began to creak and add unnecessary resistance and I honestly wasn't ready for it physically(had to get off the bike countless times, didn't walk it any though). I was going pretty strong and steady for the first 40 before(17 mph) most of the problems started(ended up at a 14.3 pace). I'm still new at and will use this at motivation to get stronger.

Saying all this, the weather was great as well as the scenery. Aside from my subpar performance😄,it wasn't a bad day

Did another ride during the night and did the same route.

Nothing interesting happened during this one. It was very quiet and I listened to some documentaries while riding.

Great job, Uawadall! Not all of them are easy and you will do better with more miles under your belt.

I only hammered out 34.8 miles this afternoon, but what hot miles they were! The Boy Wonder and I met up out in the countryside and then we linked up with a local Cat. 2 and a Cat. 3 roader that had switched to mountain biking and was missing the pavement a little.

The Boy Wonder was out on his disco brake cross bike with 34 MM tires. The Cat. 2 was on a brand new Pivot gravel racer...all carbon goodness and disco brakes and a large, floppy rear fender that, judging by the amount of road spray and [censored] was on the bike, did next to nothing. Billy, the Cat. 3 was on his new Raleigh cross bike. Both had big, wide, gravel and cross tires.

Weird...all three of their rides were plastered with mud...not a good omen!

We did maybe 7-8 miles of pavement together and then dropped off the radar onto some sketchy chip & seal 'roads'...and then we ran out of road...uh oh!

I showed them how brave and stupid an ex-motocrosser can be. I bombed down the slick, greasy descents like Swami hunting for a house to plant his face into. 23's be damned! I splattered up the bike and myself like it was a Belgian mud course. My 39x25 was a little much for a couple of the slick climbs and I had to stay seated to keep the rear tire from spinning out from under me in the gooey clay mud and loose gravel.

Killing the fast dirt descents was awesome on a road bike and I nailed one good attack that looked like Lars Boom over the cobbles of the Tour de France. Bouncing and chattering across the rough, pot holed flat section of dirt, I left them all to eat my road spray...until The Boy Wonder came flashing past on my right running a whole universe of Watts more than what I could pull off!

Well, Mr. B., it took a bucket of hot water, three scrub brushes, a rag, a sponge and an hour of cleaning before I could even think of bringing the bike inside for a proper detail job and lubrication. And my shoes? Man, it was almost 60 degrees today so no shoe covers and my Bontragers were coated with a dried layer of mud made from limestone that was like cement!

I tossed the shoes in the washer...damnit! I should have had The Boy Wonder snap a pic of my helmet and face. You would have sworn I had just got done with a wet cross race.

Anyway, more fun was had! The Cat.2 and 3 split off to go ride a local canal path that is not paved...go figure...and work their way back towards their houses in the big city. The Boy Wonder and I hit the asphalt for a few more fast miles. I swear, I was doing everything I knew and using every trick in the book to stay on his wheel as we worked our way back to my car. The wind was raging again today and sweat was pouring from under my helmet at 20-25 MPH as we blasted into the wind for the last 7 miles.

Does it get any better than that? I don't think so!

Susimi said:

Was finally able to get out after a bit of time!

Went for an early morning run this morning in cold weather, but not so cold as has been recently. I did another run out into the country but did it in a different route and ended up on some very enclosed country lanes and dirt paths. I felt very glad I had some powerful lights on my bike. Also I'm not sure if it was just my imagination but passing by a field I had that eerie sense that something was watching me...

I used to ride a mt. bike in the Great Dismal Swamp which covers NC and Va. I always had an eerie feeling something was watching me on those trails and probably was, bears, deer bobcats, snakes, or any other denizen of that wilderness area. Yeah, there are ghost stories that abound about that place. Just Google it and you will see what I'm talking about.

Nice temps but harcore wind and my bottom brackets went south on the way back. I thought I was going to fall over on the last climbs could barely turn the crank. Anyway took it apart and cleaned and lubed but I am ordering a new one. I think it is beyond salvation.

CAMPYBOB said:

Well, Mr. B., it took a bucket of hot water, three scrub brushes, a rag, a sponge and an hour of cleaning before I could even think of bringing the bike inside for a proper detail job and lubrication.

I'm the lucky one! I get to clean 2 bikes! Yesterday after the ride and today I am happy to say, nice and clean again! 😎

A couple of pictures from yesterday's ride as taken by The Boy Wonder.

Why are my tires so skinny? Disco brakes...fat tires...fenders? Am I the only manly man on this ride? My bike's filthy (check out the back of the seat stay cluster area) and we haven't hit the mud yet.

Hmmm...I got the Peter Sagan hair thing going on.

The Cat. 2 dude is in the hi-vis on his new carbon Pivot. Sweet! He said the fit was really good for him.

Cat. 3 Billy was on his brand new Raleigh for its first ride: $1750 retail? Deal!

Nice road, eh?

The view was often really cool, but I can see why those guys ride cross/gravel bikes. The ground isn't frozen and the busted up asphalt literally floats under the tires.

90 miles today. The 200K in March is doable. I'm afraid there aren't any other retirees I know, who ride so it's just me during the week days. I left at 8:30 AM and got back by 3:15 PM. I wasn't doing any speed records. Even if I wanted to, the wind about blew me off the bike, and there were some mighty steep hills. I choose hilly rides for a reason, only way to really get in good shape. I figure if I suffer during my training rides, the ride that matters will be a breeze.

Sorry, no pics. A camera is just added weight, and I don't own a smart phone, just a basic phone that I take with me but never turn on unless I need it.

The temps late last week in MN were warm and the snow was disappearing. I had a chance to get out an explore a bit on Saturday. I rode some familiar routes and then took an unexplored section of snowmobile trail on the way home.

I ran into a few hairy obstacles along the way. The first was a creek crossing with what appeared to be thin ice with a few froze over holes. I chose to hike-a-bike around that. Then the trail ended abruptly, doubling back another way I encountered a sandwich of thick matted down weeds on top of uncompacted snow and what seemed to be thin ice.

On reaching terra firma, I chose to take gravel roads home only to find them muddy. The drivetrain was feeling pretty gritty by the time I reached home after dark. The ride totaled ~20 miles and 2 hours. The bike needed a trip to the self serve car wash to clean off the adobe covering the matted swamp weeds.

YouTube is pokey in handling edited video, but maybe this link will eventually work.

After hearing there was to be snow tonight, I carpooled to work with all my gear for a fun ride home. I left for home around 3:30 in the afternoon; I figured the trip would take about 2 hours of easy riding so I would have light the whole way. I chose to avoid traffic as much as possible, I drove over unplowed bike paths and trails for the first 12 miles. Riding through the woods during a snowfall is awesome. The snow was thick and untouched 4" to 6" with drifts. The surface underneath the snow varied, it started good but there were sections of ice and rough compacted snow that made handling challenging. I went down once on a patch ice underneath the snow and again a short time later because I couldn't make out where the curb was on the road.

I had not accounted for the wind. The winds were 20's mph with gusts from the north and east, my route was to the north and east. It slowed my progress considerably. On the slippery stuff, the crosswinds were enough to make the bike loose traction, the big wheels really catch the wind. Head on the winds were enough to make the rear spin on the slush and ice.

With the slow going, I needed to use my lights - but my main headlamp would not turn on because the battery froze. I did have a backup on the bike, but I was having a hard time seeing the road. I had 4 bright tail lights on my rear for the whole ride.

Near the end, I chose to drive in the street in the tracks the traffic made. The conditions were getting worse as it darkened and got colder, the fresh snow turned to slippery slush. I walked my bike over the last overpass as the slush was too slippery and I figured a gust could have sent me to the interstate below.

I got home, behind schedule, but in good spirits, at 6:00 pm.

Bicycleman said:

I'm afraid there aren't any other retirees I know, who ride so it's just me during the week days.

No bike clubs in your area? Every club within a 75-mile radius is comprised of at least 75% retired folks. Their ride schedules are mainly in the 9 AM to 3 PM start time range. that eliminates the opportunity for most working stiff to join those rides, unfortunately.

maydog said:

I got home, behind schedule, but in good spirits, at 6:00 pm.

Awesome ride!