Did You Ride Today?

CAMPYBOB said:

In socialist Ohio, EVERY day is drive in middle of road day!

I see that socialist RINO Kasich took Ohio. What a waste he is.

Hohoho it finally stopped raining. I'll go for a ride... 😄

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Another 14Celcious Sunny breezy day, another 20km quicky! :p

and another "aquatic theme" 4 u drafting mountain cats, ehmm, people. 😄

I saw my First Zyrian Reduce-Reuse-Recycle `ees today! Oh man they looked all freaked and shhh... 😄 (Yep, we got our selfs a few bus-loads :p )

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I rode for 10 miles and I must say my buttocks were hurting SO much. I was riding a hybrid bike which was pretty decent and went fast down country roads where no cars were, but the amount of bumps and uphill struggle made my backside hurt like a ****. I hadn't biked for a while before that as I stopped for a little while; but now I'm definitely regretting that pain wise.

Like I said, when I get a free day off, I ride he he he! Today I figured I'd go up GMR/GRR. I rode to the high point then turned around. Back along the 4 mile point I realized I wasn't going to reach my 5,000 ft gain goal so I turned around and headed back up a bit. Then down. Again at the bottom I was 300 ft short darnit! So I turned around again and headed back up for a mile or so. That sucks since I'm out of water at this point. So I was out of water when I hit the shack on the return. But sometimes a man has got to do what a man has got to do ha ha!

The MTB riding must be helping cause I was up GMR before I even realized I was getting tired ha ha! A couple points on GRR I was getting ready for the struggle then realized I was beyond the point I was dreading. OK I will take it! OK so the last 1/4 mile was a pain in the butt but hey, I think my legs were somewhat fried from the 2,000 ft MTB ride I did 2 evenings ago.

I was feeling pretty good thinking I'd have a good ride to the shack at least. But there was some road maintenance just before Newman's Point so I was forced to stop. Lost about 3 minutes or so there. Oh well got in a good breather! But otherwise a really nice day to ride!

Man it is hard to get a good selfie on a 7% grade after 15 miles of climbing!

On the return. You can see the road above me helmet, then continuing on a little above that to the right.

Road shots!

The profile

Quoted post said:

="Bicycleman, post: 3807214, member: 133374"]I bought the Sony Action Cam, a nice camera, but the batteries don't last long. It doesn't have an LCD screen so you can/t properly aim the camera. It becomes a guessing game. It doesn't turn on immediately when you need it to. I tried to ride with it by using a helmet mount, but all it did was cause my helmet to slip down over my eyes. I took miles of boring road footage, just hoping some motorist would mess with me. When one did, the battery was dead. Batteries only lasted 2 hours, and the longest lasting battery went out after 4 hours. Since I do 8 and 9 hour rides, it's not feasible so I no longer use the camera. I spent $300 for nothing. I would recommend you buy the Go Pro. That's what Mr. B uses, and you can see the results. Pretty spectacular. Well, the Sony takes good videos, but battery life kills it.

I have been doing some research and it is down to the Sony FDR-x1000 and the Go-Pro Hero Silver. This particular Sony has the USB port at the rear allowing the connection of an aux battery pack unlike the FDR-200. There are two attributes of any of the Sony action cams that seem compelling. First, the image stabilization is very impressive as is the wind noise minimization feature. The only downside compared to Go-Pro are fewer mounts and the Go-Pro kicks the Sony's butt on still images.

I felt pretty good yesterday on my evening ride and the weather was very nice but It looks like a wet weekend. It is very hard to go back on the trainer after I have been spoiled with so much road time this year. This evening I have to go to a charity event but they do have alcohol.

Mr. Beanz said:

Man it is hard to get a good selfie on a 7% grade after 15 miles of climbing!

Sinister looking!

Nice pictures and an awesome ride! 5000' in 4 hours is good, hard work. Kudos for that effort!

Terrain like that will keep those wheel suckers off your backside.

I was able to leave work early for the day and did a 19.7 mile/17.2mph/950 ft ride. The headwinds were very strong and I though id take it easy going in, but its not in my personality. I did as much out of the saddle and standing efforts it took to try to keep at least a 17mph pace. I'm starting to feel more confident in descending and cornering at higher speeds, I still seem to max out at around 35-38mph on descends. My goal is to expand my speed sessions to 30 mile rides at a hard effort. I'm no natural sprinter, but i'll see how much I can improve on the flats.

Only 18 miles yesterday with around 1100 feet of climbing. It was only 50 degrees and the wind was blowing 15-17 MPH, but it felt warmer. The sun was out, so maybe that helped. The Boy Wonder and I just put it on cruise control and rolled steady tempo when we weren't climbing. Heart rate hit 185 chasing him up the last big climb of the ride.

I dropped off one hill at 38 MPH and could have hit 45-50 MPH off it if we hadn't had to ride the brakes due to broken up pavement.

Going to meet The Boy Wonder again this afternoon for a few more miles. Currently 29 degrees this morning and it's only going up to around 40-42 degrees this afternoon, so I'm not going to push it much over 30 miles.

Rough ride today, I went too hard yesterday and didn't recover fast enough for my Saturday ride....It was cold and windy, only one ride group showed up today. The A/AA group, not ready to keep up with these guys yet on a good day. I stayed with them for maybe 10 miles and my legs were screaming since heading off. I ended up just riding solo at a moderately hard effort with no stops. 30.2 miles/1200 ft/16.8 mph. At this point, I don't care how I look out there as long as I'm improving. I have respect for these guys putting up big miles day in and day out.

Its good to know that I can finish a ride when sore and stiff. I've met the guy who leads the group a few times, he's around my age, I can tell he loves the sport. He trains hard and tells me to keep at it and i'll be riding with his group some day......That day was not today....😉 lol...

34 Miles with 2021' of climbing. The air was a cold 40 degrees with light snow flurries about three times for a few minutes each and light, spitting rain a couple of times. The wind was shown at only 7 to 10 MPH, but I'm calling [censored] on that. Even in the hills it was working us over. Slow 15.9 MPH average with all the wind and climbing.

The Boy Wonder got an assist from Cat. 2 Dude today. They took turns trying to hurt each other which, in turn, constantly hurt ME! I was time trialing with my arms draped over the bars and staying as low as possible while turning a big gear and constantly closing huge gaps caused by my lack of powah.

The only saving grace was watching Cat. 2 Dude pull over 50 yards up ahead and drop his bike...his legs cramped up bad! YES! Sorry for taking some measure of pleasure in his agony, but his last bridge up from behind me to The Boy Wonder left me gasping for air on a long climb and I couldn't claw my way back to them until they sat up...which was right before the next abuse heaped upon my legs.

He blew up so bad you could hear the Kaboom! in Tennessee!

It took 10 minutes of self-massage to get those legs to unlock. We waited, of course. He was only 5 miles from his office at that point and we got him home. And yes, I lost the last town sign sprint by about two counties worth of a gap. The run in to it was fast with a cross wind taking every Watt I had just to keep the distance to Boy from becoming humiliating. OK, it already was humiliating!

A fun ride! Killing it and drilling it!

Found out a friend put 70 miles on his fat bike the other day! No snow...how insane is that?!

60 miles at 16.2 average with Gina and the gang! I did plenty of climbing during the week so I played the wussy card today. Beating the guys to the punch I told them my legs were fried and that I could not pull the entire way as usual ha ha! I did about half the ride at the front then the other half was divided by 3 riders. I was getting spoiled back there ha ha!

Don't know the dude in green back there but he latched on for about 5 miles then turned around. Damn wheelsuckers!

The guys taking turns at the front!

Gina at the front.

Almost over!

Tomorrow is first day of spring! I bet we'll have more people telling stories about their rides pretty soon!

I spotted a Circle K store in Mr. B's pictures! Mmmmmmm! Good coffee!

CAMPYBOB said:

I spotted a Circle K store in Mr. B's pictures! Mmmmmmm! Good coffee!

We used to do an out and back starting inland. My wife was getting headaches from the heat so we altered our course. We start mid trail, head inland then double back to the coast. This way in the afternoon we are already done with the hotter inland section and enjoying the ocean breeze and lower temps.

But before we did this, I can't count the times that Circle K saved her life. As well as there cyclist. They have some really cold Gatorade there. Like an oasis in the desert when the temps reach 105+. 😄

I did 127 miles (200K) with 7400 feet of climbing yesterday. A bit chilly (27F) at the 7 am start but it warmed up to 39F. My inability to hang with the faster kids confirmed that the extra 20 pounds of winter lard does not help going up hills. Going up the first climb of 2 miles and about 800 vertical, I was maxed out at threshold and off the back by 75-100 yards at the top. Did they wait? No. Never. After the third hard climb and the same result, it dawned on me to ride my own ride because these 20 minute VO2 max efforts might kick me in the rear at the end. I decided to just ride at tempo on the climbs and around Z2 (200 watts) on the flats. I finally caught the fast kids who stopped for some food at 55 miles and I just kept going on my own. With all the climbing, it would have been suicide to try to hang. Paradoxically, they tend to ride slowly on the flats. I had 1 1/2 bottles, one gel, a coke, and chocolate milk during the ride....no breakfast. Yikes. Lots of 10-20% grades......one wall indicated 24% on my Garmin. Training Peaks is telling me my TSB is -63.8 today. My record is -110.....if anyone knows what that means. It was a good workout. Might attend to the honey do list today instead of riding

Weatherby said:

I did 127 miles (200K) with 7400 feet of climbing yesterday. A bit chilly (27F) at the 7 am start but it warmed up to 39F. My inability to hang with the faster kids confirmed that the extra 20 pounds of winter lard does not help going up hills.

How old are you? I have to get on your training plan, impressive distance and climbing.

Well, here it is Sunday, but I won't be riding today, since it is raining and besides, I am recovering from the worst ride I ever did, my second 200k, yesterday.

I started the morning by downing a huge cup of Expresso and eating a hearty breakfast of waffles. I was wired. There were only six of us for the brevet, 4 road bikes and 2 recumbents. When the ride organizer told us to go at 7, everyone seemed to hesitate, so I took the cue and rode out ahead. I rode at 14 mph to start because of the hill. Finally my good friend, Kim caught up to me and related riding strategy. We would stop at the controls, get a bite to eat and then go. No wasting time like was done the week before. I thought it a good strategy to beat the previous week's time of 9 hours 35 minutes. Kim and I flew. We were running 19 and 25 mph, well ahead of everyone else. I was envisioning completing the 200k in less than 8 hours. I just couldn't shake that inner voice telling me not to count all my eggs before they hatched.

After 25 miles, I began fading on the hills. So we stopped to stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. That was when we were passed by the rest of the group. We soon went by them, since they had stopped to pee. Later, I would notice a flashing red blinky in the distance. It was Bill, one of the fastest randonneurs in our club and veteran of many 1200k's. We gave chase, but even kim's strong legs couldn't catch him, even after he stopped to pee and was soon just 100 yards ahead of us. We still couldn't reel him in at the first control. We rode on and made the second control and the turn-around point at the Skippers truck stop.

Kim was able to get out of the truck stop and ride up the hill. I was blocked by an exiting truck and several more oncoming trucks. I couldn't clip in due to the steepness of the hill. I then rode back into the parking lot, turning around and sprinting up the hill. By that time Kim was far ahead, but she waited for me after the train tracks. After I got up the steep hill, I noticed the powerful headwind in our faces. We alternated pulling for 5 miles each, but I couldn't help but notice how strongly she pulled and how slow I got when I pulled. We were constantly buffeted by the NE wind, and each turn we made, the wind came on from our sides. We formed an echelon for each of us to ride beside the one taking the pull. I then started to drop off her wheel. I just couldn't hold on. She slowed to wait for me. I told her to go on that I was causing her to waste time. I had done the course before and vaguely knew each turn. Besides, I had a cue sheet. She reluctantly agreed and left me but not with misgivings. We have known each other for years, and I know she was concerned, especially for an old geezer just turned 70. Aft 53, she is at the peak of her cycling career.

I then rode on. I finally saw her up ahead and chided her for waiting on me. She replied that she had just stopped to stretch her legs and wasn't that far ahead of me and that we needed to work together. We then rode together to the 3rd control at the 90 mile point. We stopped at the Red Barn gas station and took a break. Soon the two recumbent riders arrive, both complaining about the wind. The sixth rider, riding a Surly Disc Trucker is way back. I last saw him at the turn around point, who wanted to know if the ride back was all downhill. Nope. I would not see him again so don't know whether he finished. At the start of the ride, he did indicate that he had never ridden a 200k before, and looking at his heavy weight, I wondered whether he had properly trained for the ride.

Kim and I then realized that the Red Barn bathrooms were out of order, but they were working fine the week before. Every time a large group of cyclists come through, the bathrooms suddenly aren't working any more. Kim and I rolled out of the control and left the recumbents behind.

Soon I would drop off Kim's wheel again. Besides, I was more interested in searching for a place to pee because by then, my teeth were floating. Wherever I went, there was a house nearby. I then remembered that Mt. Horeb Road was all forest land so I then stopped on a logging road and relieved myself. The wind by then was howling around the trees, making an eerie sound and often sounding like a motorist was rounding the bend, which interrupted my flow several times, until I just concluded it was the wind. I then consumed another Kind bar. My heart sank as I saw a flashing headlight coming around the bend. It was Jacob and Tom on their recumbents. They slowed, concerned about my well-being, but I just informed them of my need for a pit stop, so they rolled on. They told me that they planned to stop at the Franklin truck stop for a much needed coffee. I knew that I couldn't catch those two strong riders with their low profile recumbents, but I had a chance to beat them across the finish line if I didn't stop at the truck stop. When I got to Franklin, I rolled right on by. As I rode through the downtown area, a familiar female voice of none other than Kim asked me if I rode much. I replied, "Apparently, not enough." She rolled on by me. I bravely trudged on. Now, Carrsville Highway is one long road and a fun ride to be on with its rolling hills. Not yesterday, the wind was blowing a steady 30 mph with gusts of over 40. The crosswinds were trying to blow me into the roadway, which strangely enough was loaded with motorists. I was being hit by a wall of wind, which was trying its best to stop me in my tracks. Then the rains started pelting me. I was wearing 3 jerseys and a Goretex rain jacket, but my tights were getting soaked by the cold rain, falling.

Yesterday. I knew Kim would beat me across the line, but I thanked my lucky stars that I could show those recumbents that they couldn't catch me. The slow tortoise will beat the rabbits again. Then, I heard Jacob's voice behind me, asking how I was doing. My heart sank as I knew I'd never hold the line against those two. I replied that I wasn't doing too good. He said he wasn't either, and that the winds had reduced him to 9 mph. Well, they hadn't bothered him too badly because he easily passed me at my 13.8 mph and all I could manage. I knew I was ahead of the Surly Disc Trucker, though, and that was some consolation that I was not DFL. I rolled in at 10 hours and 7 minutes in the saddle. Our ride director congratulated me and assured me that my time was awesome, compared to the conditions we faced. I would have written this story last night, but I was just too tired. Then when I almost blacked out at the monitor, I realized I better put some hot chocolate in my system and go to bed. I was suffering from extreme low blood sugar, and I'm not diabetic.

After yesterday, I don't see me going after the 300k. Yesterday's 200k was almost undoable. On good conditions, no rain or wind, a 200k is fun. Not yesterday, and it was hardly fun for the guy on the Disc Trucker, doing his first 200k.

Uawadall said:

How old are you? I have to get on your training plan, impressive distance and climbing.

57 yo. Not too old but power is lower than when I was younger, for sure.