Did You Ride Today?

CAMPYBOB said:

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.

Awesome ride!

There are bike clubs 50 miles away. When I'm training for long distance events, I would rather train solo. That way I can go as fast or as slow as I want. I'm not beholding to any one group's way of riding. I ride with a group, who comes over my way on Saturday. We ride 65 miles. They stop at an ice cream shop to eat lunch. I go on without them because 2 hours is too long to spend stopped. I tried that when I didn't know the route, but now, I have my own route where I can go farther if I want.

Bicycleman said:

They stop at an ice cream shop to eat lunch. I go on without them because 2 hours is too long to spend stopped.

Oh man...your club/group sounds EXACTLY like the old farts make up my area clubs! Ice cream rides...hamburger rides...apple dumpling rides. Very food oriented. Lots of long breaks from pedaling. Not my style either.

The club nearest to me offers rides with starting points 20 to 30 miles from me. I find it easier to train with the much faster 'lone wolf' younger guys. The may be on a race team or race unattached, but few of them are even interested in belonging to a bike club. I did have to take up that new fangled texting fad in order to maintain communication with them...

I got an easy 14 miles in yesterday afternoon over drying roads. Rain today after significant overnight rain so it's going to be a 50/50 chance of doing the road or the trainer/rollers later.

CAMPYBOB said:

Oh man...your club/group sounds EXACTLY like the old farts make up my area clubs! Ice cream rides...hamburger rides...apple dumpling rides. Very food oriented. Lots of long breaks from pedaling. Not my style either.

The club nearest to me offers rides with starting points 20 to 30 miles from me. I find it easier to train with the much faster 'lone wolf' younger guys. The may be on a race team or race unattached, but few of them are even interested in belonging to a bike club. I did have to take up that new fangled texting fad in order to maintain communication with them...

I got an easy 14 miles in yesterday afternoon over drying roads. Rain today after significant overnight rain so it's going to be a 50/50 chance of doing the road or the trainer/rollers later.

I just finished a 22 mile ride. I hadn't planned on riding today, but since it's supposed to rain tomorrow, my long riding day, I opted to do the ride, today. That just gives me a 2 day break until I can do my 65 mile ride on Saturday. Those guys are fairly strong riders, but the ice cream stop gets me.

I forgot about the other group that's 22 miles from me, but they're really not worth mentioning. I will ride over there to meet them at this old church. I will average 17 getting there, and by the time they finally leave, they are riding 11 mph, 3 riders abreast. They will come to a steep downhill, but instead of picking up speed, they will ride their brakes all the way down. There are faster riders, so I got off with those riders, but as soon as they come to an intersection, everybody brakes and waits for the slow pokes to arrive. It seems that the leader, an 85-year old is the only one, who knows where they are going for the day. I only tried them once and decided it is better to go solo. Riders like this bunch give the rest of us bad names.

I started at Indian Hill and Thompson Creek Trail. So I had a warm up but once you hit the trail you climb 2012 ft to Potato Mtn. I was worried about being cold so I wore 2 under layers. But once I arrived at the parking lot it felt warm enough to ditch one. Of course once you start climbing to Potato Mtn, you warm up real quick ha ha! The dirt starts at 5 and 6 % then quickly you find yourself on 10 and 12% grades. Later only to find 16 and 18% grades! :-O I tried to make it up all the way to the top non stop but once I climbed above the red clay section right at the base (where the bees were) I had to stop. I think it was more of a mental thing! You know when you finish a steep section then it curves and you see nothing but steeper ha ha! I haven't been up there in years so I figured it might happen this way so I am actually pretty happy making it to the point I did without stopping. I've seen plenty of riders walking a mile before that section so I'm good! Once I was above that point I was actually feeling more relaxed thinking I could make it all the way from there. WRONG! I hit a section with 18% and did pretty well. The section that got me was right before the top. Loose rock and steep. I hit the rocks and had to put my foot down. Foot down or fall, I prefer the foot down ha ha! I waited about 30 seconds then tried to remount and no way! I had to walk about 10 yards beyond the rock cause there was no way! But it's all good. Maybe next time I can clean that section!

I did run into a pretty cool dude Patrick. Hiking up with them big stick things. I ran into him about a mile before the top so I was pretty happy. I always get this eerie feeling a lion is going to jump on my back or something. So it was nice to have someone near just in case I had to scream like a little baby he he he!

Total ride was 12 miles with 2.684 ft of gain. But from the park to the top is 4.5 with 2,012. Quite a climb!

Somebody left this little dude up there. Potato Mtn ha ha!

Mr. Beanz said:

I always get this eerie feeling a lion is going to jump on my back or something.

This is the part where I say: Pack a pistol! I ain't going to be the next, "Mountain Lion Eats Cyclist", headline. Bear? The pistol bore size I would recommend starts with a four!

Nice ride getting up the mountain! Loose dirt and 16%-18% is tough climbing. 2000' in 4-1/2 miles is damned steep and straight up!

There's not much a safety berm up there and none in some sections. Going over the edge would result in a long slide or fall. You sure were rewarded with some spectacular views from the top! Nice job on the video and the ride.

Thanks for sharing all these pictures, they are great. Nothing like the feeling of freedom when we pick up the bike and simply go, awesome to see all the ground we can cover and the new places we can discover.

Mr. Beanz said:

I started at Indian Hill and Thompson Creek Trail. So I had a warm up but once you hit the trail you climb 2012 ft to Potato Mtn. I was worried about being cold so I wore 2 under layers. But once I arrived at the parking lot it felt warm enough to ditch one. Of course once you start climbing to Potato Mtn, you warm up real quick ha ha! The dirt starts at 5 and 6 % then quickly you find yourself on 10 and 12% grades. Later only to find 16 and 18% grades! :-O I tried to make it up all the way to the top non stop but once I climbed above the red clay section right at the base (where the bees were) I had to stop. I think it was more of a mental thing! You know when you finish a steep section then it curves and you see nothing but steeper ha ha! I haven't been up there in years so I figured it might happen this way so I am actually pretty happy making it to the point I did without stopping. I've seen plenty of riders walking a mile before that section so I'm good! Once I was above that point I was actually feeling more relaxed thinking I could make it all the way from there. WRONG! I hit a section with 18% and did pretty well. The section that got me was right before the top. Loose rock and steep. I hit the rocks and had to put my foot down. Foot down or fall, I prefer the foot down ha ha! I waited about 30 seconds then tried to remount and no way! I had to walk about 10 yards beyond the rock cause there was no way! But it's all good. Maybe next time I can clean that section!

I did run into a pretty cool dude Patrick. Hiking up with them big stick things. I ran into him about a mile before the top so I was pretty happy. I always get this eerie feeling a lion is going to jump on my back or something. So it was nice to have someone near just in case I had to scream like a little baby he he he!

Total ride was 12 miles with 2.684 ft of gain. But from the park to the top is 4.5 with 2,012. Quite a climb!

Somebody left this little dude up there. Potato Mtn ha ha!

Mr. Beanz said:

I started at Indian Hill and Thompson Creek Trail. So I had a warm up but once you hit the trail you climb 2012 ft to Potato Mtn. I was worried about being cold so I wore 2 under layers. But once I arrived at the parking lot it felt warm enough to ditch one. Of course once you start climbing to Potato Mtn, you warm up real quick ha ha! The dirt starts at 5 and 6 % then quickly you find yourself on 10 and 12% grades. Later only to find 16 and 18% grades! :-O I tried to make it up all the way to the top non stop but once I climbed above the red clay section right at the base (where the bees were) I had to stop. I think it was more of a mental thing! You know when you finish a steep section then it curves and you see nothing but steeper ha ha! I haven't been up there in years so I figured it might happen this way so I am actually pretty happy making it to the point I did without stopping. I've seen plenty of riders walking a mile before that section so I'm good! Once I was above that point I was actually feeling more relaxed thinking I could make it all the way from there. WRONG! I hit a section with 18% and did pretty well. The section that got me was right before the top. Loose rock and steep. I hit the rocks and had to put my foot down. Foot down or fall, I prefer the foot down ha ha! I waited about 30 seconds then tried to remount and no way! I had to walk about 10 yards beyond the rock cause there was no way! But it's all good. Maybe next time I can clean that section!

I did run into a pretty cool dude Patrick. Hiking up with them big stick things. I ran into him about a mile before the top so I was pretty happy. I always get this eerie feeling a lion is going to jump on my back or something. So it was nice to have someone near just in case I had to scream like a little baby he he he!

Total ride was 12 miles with 2.684 ft of gain. But from the park to the top is 4.5 with 2,012. Quite a climb!

Somebody left this little dude up there. Potato Mtn ha ha!

You are truly a cycling god. I have an old Fuji MB, but it's upstairs in my garage attic with dry rotted Farmer Johns. I never got into Mt Biking. I used to take it on some logging trails and ride it when it rained, but I'm just a roadie at heart.

You take some nice pictures.

First post on forum..Here we go...... Biked 6.14 mi into work this morning. 21min with an avg pace of 18mph Max speed 24mph. Warm and Sunny in Florida. Super flat. 🙂

Yeah I rode today. 😄 (After a while actually.)

Did 40km's with a Steady 10°C temperature, cloudy, with occasional Sun spells. 😄

Did the first 20 km with a headwind, which was very welcome on the 7km climb at the end. 🙂 Then "l dropped the Hammer" 😄 and did the descent (oh man I had to zip up the jacket 😄 ) and another tenner with tailwind. 🙂)

Only -the Perfect- Cycling conditions. 😄

How about you guyz? 😄 Are the wolves back on the mountains yet? 😄 Is the show melting much? 😄

Meh, cant complain. 😄

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I actually got to ride Tuesday evening for a quick 40 min. ride. Borrowed my wife's bike since mine is under the weather and except for the seat being a few inches too low and good ride. I met a fellow yesterday that had ridden up the mountain and after a short conversation with him I gathered he rides about 20k a year but is retired.

I wish I could ride today, but it's raining cats and dogs. Yeah, I could ride but don't like to start out in the rain. It makes for a miserable ride.

Just 12.6 miles yesterday, but it was 63° and sunny. We broke a temperature record that was 126 years old. Yay, Global Warming™!

Today, it's back to reality and 33° with light flurries in the air. Trainer or road? Could go either way again.

CAMPYBOB said:

There's not much a safety berm up there and none in some sections. Going over the edge would result in a long slide or fall. You sure were rewarded with some spectacular views from the top! Nice job on the video and the ride.

Yeah and I am a big baby when it comes to downhill in the dirt ha ha! I hit a max of 22 on this ride., I have hit 32 before after I refresh my memory of the course. My buddy hits 40 but heck no, not for me. That is too far down to go over the side. :eek:

Bicycleman said:

You are truly a cycling god.

Naaaaah! :p I'm just lucky to have a wife that rides with me and supports my habit. That gives me the chance to ride MTB, roadie and tandem.😄

Mr. Beanz said:

Yeah and I am a big baby when it comes to downhill in the dirt ha ha! I hit a max of 22 on this ride., I have hit 32 before after I refresh my memory of the course. My buddy hits 40 but heck no, not for me. That is too far down to go over the side. :eek:

Naaaaah! :p I'm just lucky to have a wife that rides with me and supports my habit. That gives me the chance to ride MTB, roadie and tandem.😄

You lucky dog. I can't get mine off the couch.😄

I will let her rip on a short downhill, but when I'm in the mountains, I watch my downhill speed. I especially get giddy when I see those wide open spaces on my descents. I know guys, who never hit a brake and will hit 65. I have hit 47 on a straight down descent and on a curve 41, and that 41 mph speed was on my Bike Friday.

Giga said:

First post on forum..Here we go...... Biked 6.14 mi into work this morning. 21min with an avg pace of 18mph Max speed 24mph. Warm and Sunny in Florida. Super flat. 🙂

Flat rides can be harder than hilly rides with the wind being the factor.

Bicycleman said:

Flat rides can be harder than hilly rides with the wind being the factor.

Yes , the upside here is the weather is good most of the time. The down side is, it it will never test my hill climbing. I guess I'll have to book a trip.

Trainer :>(

Maydog is right about the Winter indoor workouts being harder than the outside rides. My frackin' lungs hurt from the effort. You just sit there and kill yourself...looking at the numbers...trying to squeeze out a little more power...more RPM's.

I see Kurt Kinetic is offering a streaming video Tour of Sufferlandria:

https://kurtkinetic.com/blog/posts/join-the-tour-of-sufferlandria-with-kinetic-fit/?utm_source=Kinetic+Product+News&utm_campaign=967e25b95e-Kinetic+Fit+for+iOS&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3f1be3a97b-967e25b95e-&ct=t(November_2015_US_DealerUpdate)&mc_cid=967e25b95e&mc_eid=cc1dca2293&utm_source=Kinetic+Product+News&utm_campaign=967e25b95e-Kinetic+Fit+for+iOS&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3f1be3a97b-967e25b95e-224573365&ct=t(November_2015_US_DealerUpdate)&mc_cid=967e25b95e&mc_eid=cc1dca2293

Holy Mother of Long Links, Batman!

Anyway, if Winter wasn't just about over and if I could figure out what an 'App' was and how to rig a TV to my smart phone to my trainer to my Garmin and learn how to pair everything and synch my gigawatts...I might be tempted to download or stream or steam or whatever the Hell the cool kiddies do with their electrons these days and ride that Tour. The demo stuff from Sufferfest is pretty cool to train to.

Volnix said:

Yeah I rode today. 😄 (After a while actually.)

Did 40km's with a Steady 10°C temperature, cloudy, with occasional Sun spells. 😄

Did the first 20 km with a headwind, which was very welcome on the 7km climb at the end. 🙂 Then "l dropped the Hammer" 😄 and did the descent (oh man I had to zip up the jacket 😄 ) and another tenner with tailwind. 🙂)

Only -the Perfect- Cycling conditions. 😄

How about you guyz? 😄 Are the wolves back on the mountains yet? 😄 Is the show melting much? 😄

Meh, cant complain. 😄

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I miss my bottle of water support. Changed bikes and never got to install it just yet, so now I am always looking for water. No place to screw it though, need to buy one that just hangs in there.

Just a 16 Mile ride at a medium tempo this afternoon. No big efforts and only 500' of climbing. It was 32 degrees, but the sun was shining.