Did You Ride Today?
- Thread starter Mr. Beanz
- Start date
I did 107 miles today. I'm training for a 200k in March so it is looking doable. I spent 8 hours in the saddle. No, I didn't go for a speed record. It was just too blamed cold. I left about 8:15 AM when it was 28 degrees. It was supposed to warm up to 44, but it never made it past 40. The main route was closed due to floods. I didn't believe that so rode around the barricade. I didn't get far. Yeah, it was flooded, and the water was moving rapidly. I had two bridges to cross, and the first bridge was completely inundated. Word to the wise, never drive or bike over a bridge that is completely covered in water. We had close to 11 inches of rain. I had to turn around and take a route I had never ridden. I vaguely knew where the road went, having looked at a map before riding, but I was mapless and cueless today since I figured I knew where I was going. I expected a few puddles, but not a complete washout. One other street was completely inundated, but I was close to home so I rode through that one. That one wasn't too bad. Because of the detour, I rode extra mileage above the 100 miles I had planned.
I did the Assault on Mt. Mitchell and on the bus ride back to Spartanburg, SC, I talked to 2 cyclists from Florida. They had a better time than I had, and I thought I did well with a time of 7:54. I asked them if they did a lot of bridges since they were from Jacksonville. They said no, that all they had to do was ride 9 mph into a head wind, since any Florida wind would pin you to a pine tree. I know that some of the best hill climbers in the Tour de France come from Holland, and they don't have any mountains or hills to speak of. It's all that wind that makes the Dutch riders so strong.
Nice! That's a long day when it's only 40 degrees.
It got up to 39 degrees here in Ohio by 1 PM and I lit out for a short ride. It was only 32 miles and 1800' of climbing, but the sunshine felt good. I didn't set any speed record either. I rarely shoot for high tempo workouts when it's cold.
I raised the saddle 2MM on both of my main road bikes and I'll leave it there for at least a week or two and see if I notice any differences in pedal stroke, power, smoothness, etc.
Another 44 miles with Gina and Aimee. Mike started with us but was sick earlier this week. After 21 miles he decided he had enough so he rolled back alone while we continued on. Forecast said 20-30 mph winds. At one point we were doing 14 into a stiff headwind. Then it eased up. But the last 5 miles? Oh my gosh ha ha! 
Ran into a couple of dudes about a month ago. So we continued the conversation today. Chuck and Steve! the bikini is there to show other states how we suffer in the winter.
Ran into a couple of dudes about a month ago. So we continued the conversation today. Chuck and Steve! the bikini is there to show other states how we suffer in the winter.
25.6 miles/16.4mph/1300 feet of climbing. The wind was thrashing me around and I had to tread carefully in the corners and downhill. I think that nagging chain problem may finally be resolved. The shop switched out the gear cable that was frayed. My first ride all winter where the chain didn't fall off once.
38 fast miles this afternoon with The Boy Wonder. It was sunny and the temperature got up to 48 degrees. Around 1870 feet of climbing again. A beautiful ride. The new saddle height is feeling better. Warm weather will tell more about that adjustment.
Back to the Super Bowl!
Back to the Super Bowl!
I was thinking about adjusting my saddle height, sometimes it feels like i'm to big for the bike even at 6'4" and a 61cm frame. 48 is great during the winter, it will make spring feel that much better.
The weather was nice today, so I took advantage of it. I have been scheduling my rides around the weather since winter is kind of back and forth here. But, today it was in the mid 50s and it felt wonderful to be able to ride again. I only did a short 25 mile ride because I had company coming over, but I still felt so invigorated!
I've never been a beer drinker, don't care a rat's ass for pro sports and I don't eat nachos anymore so I went for a ride. A winier forecast than yesterday so none of my ride partners wanted to ride. But a man has got to do what a man has got to do so I rode.
44 miles at a 17.0 average. I worked my butt off and the best I could do was 17.0. It felt like the effort I put in when we did the 19.2 but the wind was tough today. Not may riders out there and the ones that were looked pretty beat up.
Getting ready to go, Mr. Solo!
42 miles in and I was trying real hard to hold that 17 average! a little sample of the headwind. Some tree movement and leaves/debris. I made it!
44 miles at a 17.0 average. I worked my butt off and the best I could do was 17.0. It felt like the effort I put in when we did the 19.2 but the wind was tough today. Not may riders out there and the ones that were looked pretty beat up.
Getting ready to go, Mr. Solo!
42 miles in and I was trying real hard to hold that 17 average! a little sample of the headwind. Some tree movement and leaves/debris. I made it!
I've never been a beer drinker, don't care a rat's ass for pro sports and I don't eat nachos anymore so I went for a ride. A winier forecast than yesterday so none of my ride partners wanted to ride. But a man has got to do what a man has got to do so I rode.
44 miles at a 17.0 average. I worked my butt off and the best I could do was 17.0. It felt like the effort I put in when we did the 19.2 but the wind was tough today. Not may riders out there and the ones that were looked pretty beat up.
Getting ready to go, Mr. Solo!
42 miles in and I was trying real hard to hold that 17 average! a little sample of the headwind. Some tree movement and leaves/debris. I made it!
That looks like a fairly flat course but appearances could be deceiving. I can see how wind would be a factor.
What camera are you using? I have a Sony Action Cam, but the batteries don't last any time, $300 for nothing.
17? If I can average 15, I'm doing good, but with the winter cold and the high winds, I'm happy. With my 107 miles Saturday, I did average over 15 for awhile until I hit the heavy wind so I dropped to 14.6, but I guess my speedy days are over.
That's...that's...the UNAMERICAN trifecta!
Your ride looked pretty windy...what? Around 20 MPH wind with higher gusts?
Last weekend the wind was brutal. This weekend it calmed down to more normal speeds. Yesterday the wind was at 10 to 13 MPH. We didn't feel much tailwind though. Both of us worked hard and traded the lead to keep the tempo up. Dead on into the wind we were on a climbing section of steep rollers and no matter how much we tried to carry speed across the bottoms and onto the next rise the wind squashed us. With the wind at our side holding 21 to 23 MPH was max effort, but it felt good to be rolling the miles off fast.
Only the last 5 miles or so should have been the true tailwind section of the ride and even that didn't feel particularly fast.
With the wind at my back I attacked over the last tough climb in the 39x23 and spun the 25 hard over the last of the hill before a false flat. I left The Boy Wonder about 20 lengths back, but the effort put me way too deep in the red zone. He spun around me as I tried to recover. He crushed me on the descent into the creek valley and no amount of pounding big gears across the valley floor could close the huge gap he opened up. Sucks to be me.
Yeah, forecast said 20-30 mph winds. It felt about 20 consistent to me. Wish the Gamin had a wind meter.
Yeah pretty flat. 900 ft over 44 miles. The biggest factor on this ride is the wind.Rarely do we ever get a ride that does not have a stiff headwind. Not as much as in the video but always a headwind.
On a good day I did this same course with some help at 19.2 average without my wife.
On a good day with my wife we can do anywhere from 16.5 to 17.5 on single bikes. Our tandem we have averaged 18.1.
My wife did 100 miles on this an extended version of this course at 15.7 average on a hot flat century with 1,320 ft. NOt bad for a grandma of 9 who has only one kidney.
Heck a couple of weeks ago she did a 17.1 on her single bike. She's also done some tough 5,000 ft mtn climbs so hitting that trail make it that much easier to hold a decent pace.
Climbing up Mt Baldy!
Warmed up to balmy 38F and the ice melted off the roads. I did a 36 mile ride with a 20 minute FTP test. Nice to get out. My training has me over-reached or over-trained. Going to cut back the volume and intensity for a while. I was out for 2:20 but that included a stop for coffee. Probably 2000 feet of climbing or maybe a touch less. I don't look at average speed. Power was 207 watts for the ride. I cut the ride short because was not feel real strong and did not do the bigger climb that I had planned. I actually felt like **** and could not get my heart rate up. Paradoxically, Training Peaks called it a breakthru ride. Best of best so to speak. Go figure.
How do you check power output? I'm assuming you have some kind of sensor that connects to your Garmin? I don't have any of that since I'm low tech. I never thought much about power, just what it takes for me to do the distance at a half way decent time.
I put this in the wrong place. I guess I got chicked. Anyway, to repeat, I rode 41 miles with a nice headwind. it was 37 when I left and warmed up to 48. I did some nice interval training up and down hills and into the wind.
I am using 2 go pro recorders. One front and one rear.
I usually stop and start my clips in one minute intervals so I don't run continuously and haven't drained a battery on a ride by recording.
The one time I did drain a battery was because I used the remote control. The wifi drains the battery even if not recording. I figure it may be the searching that drains it. So when I can, I turn off the wifi signal thingie.
I recently bought a back up battery for my gopro3 in case I want to use it with the remote. Consistent running with the wifi I read is should last about 45 minutes and 1 hour without the wifi.
Plus the other day I picked up a battery bank at the store for $10. So if I do need extra power I now have a back up battery and the power bank.
I really didn't know what a power bank was till my wife pointed it out. It's a lipstick sized device charged by usb port. Stored power so on a ride you can plug in a device to recharge. Works with Garmins, cell phones, go pros, and other rechargeable devices.
My recorders.
