15 miles before darkness fell. 46 degrees felt good. The roads are still drying out...just in time for the predicted rain tomorrow...followed by freezing rain and ice...followed by anywhere from 1" to 5" of snow on Thursday. Yay, Ohio! We suck!
Did You Ride Today?
- Thread starter Mr. Beanz
- Start date
I used to like snow, but since I got on the long distance riding kick, I don't want to see any snow. All we're getting right now is rain. I can ride in the rain if I have to, but will only do so if I need to get in a ride after a lay off of 2 days.
I guess it really depends what you're trying to accomplish. If I slacked off for some time, I want to go home feeling like I just got beat up. Sure I could have just went at a slow pace and stayed in survival mode for the entire ride, but thats rather bland. The only thing different I will do next time I go out unprepared is tell my fellow riders to feel free to drop me and i'll be fine getting home. BTW, I've taken punishment many times and will come out for more, sometimes even the next day
. I will also acknowledge that although I can stay with some pretty fast riders at times, I'm a complete noob when it comes to pacing. I see a nice shinny hill and charge up it like a dog chasing a bone, I often feel it 10-20 miles later down the road. If I can enjoy a ride for 40 miles and be in misery the last 10, I still enjoyed 80% of the ride. Deficiencies can sometimes be an exciting thing, I understand some of my weaknesses and will have fun improving.
The rain started last night and it's rained all day. 44° and we may hit 57° yet this afternoon. Too bad the day is wasted with the roads under water. We already had a little flooding from that last snow melt off. The streams and ditches are full and running. This will exacerbate the flooding, for sure.
I don't need big miles yet, but it sure would be nice to get a couple of metrics in or a good all-day ride under my 2016 belt. Back to the trainer for the next few days. Sucks.
Funny but we have friends that have raced and still have the racer attitude. We (including my wife) did a 60 miler a few weeks back. One racer dude asked if we mind if he tagged along. No problem. As soon as we hit ht road, no less than 5 seconds a pair of riders go by. He races up and takes a wheel.Oh he's gone so we thought cool. But he comes back and says, I just had to!". OK, 30 miles later he can't even keep a wheel. He blew up!
Next weekend I ride alone as my wife is busy. I'm happy cause I get to ride alone for once. I run into a racer friend and he turns around and rides with me. So he takes the front and starts pushing the pace. Very erratic pace. I'm getting tired from the accelerations but I know that he'll tire in 20 miles or so, so i just work with it.
Sure enough 20 miles later my grimace turns to a smile while trying to hold onto his wheel. He's fading from the hard efforts. His pulls get shorter and slower. He had a rear recorder but never posted the footage. He must have seen the part where I started waving into the camera sticking out my tongue and smiling he he he! I ended up at the front and when I pulled over he said he was done. I told him to hold my wheel but he said he couldn't so he said I could roll on alone. So I did! I did a 44 miler and he did 10 miles less he ended up with an average of 2 mph lower than mine.
If he could have worked with me a little nicer rather than blowing his wad trying to drop me in early miles, we both would have had a good average.
I like the racer attitude. It's better to burn out than fade away.
Jumping for a faster bunch? Gotta try it. If I get dropped...so what? I'm better for the effort.
Blowing up? It's a part of life. I'll get home. By myself or with the kids...it makes no difference. I sure as Hell don't finish with the bunch at every finish line.
I ALWAYS thank my training mates for kicking my ass. It's a privilege to be given that lesson. Even dopers like Dave Laduc...I look back and thank the man for giving me reason to train harder, go faster and last a little longer.
Life at a metronome tempo is boring. There's been a lot of rides where I come home with my tongue dragging on the front tire and there will be a lot more of those coming...I hope. I live for the next attack and surge...and the hope that I will survive it.
Exactly. I would rather ride myself into a hole than roll along at tempo.
That's a great attitude. Some days you're the hammer and some days you're the nail. And even at 62 I'm not about to stop at least making an effort at pounding a bigger gear than the guy next to me.
Perfect! Suffering is in the cards. Getting there is the fun part.
Different strokes and all that.
Jumping for a faster bunch? Gotta try it. If I get dropped...so what? I'm better for the effort.
Blowing up? It's a part of life. I'll get home. By myself or with the kids...it makes no difference. I sure as Hell don't finish with the bunch at every finish line.
I ALWAYS thank my training mates for kicking my ass. It's a privilege to be given that lesson. Even dopers like Dave Laduc...I look back and thank the man for giving me reason to train harder, go faster and last a little longer.
Life at a metronome tempo is boring. There's been a lot of rides where I come home with my tongue dragging on the front tire and there will be a lot more of those coming...I hope. I live for the next attack and surge...and the hope that I will survive it.
Exactly. I would rather ride myself into a hole than roll along at tempo.
BTW, I've taken punishment many times and will come out for more, sometimes even the next day
That's a great attitude. Some days you're the hammer and some days you're the nail. And even at 62 I'm not about to stop at least making an effort at pounding a bigger gear than the guy next to me.
Perfect! Suffering is in the cards. Getting there is the fun part.
Different strokes and all that.
Yeah, after a couple of nice outside rides it's all going to **** tonight.
46 minutes worth of Trainer Hell this afternoon while it was 50 degrees and raining outside. High tempo work with some sad excuses for punches thrown in.
It's absolutely pounding down rain right now and I'm guessing we got over an inch today. It's supposed to turn to freezing rain tonight, then ice, then 1"-3" of snow tomorrow. Bummer.
46 minutes worth of Trainer Hell this afternoon while it was 50 degrees and raining outside. High tempo work with some sad excuses for punches thrown in.
It's absolutely pounding down rain right now and I'm guessing we got over an inch today. It's supposed to turn to freezing rain tonight, then ice, then 1"-3" of snow tomorrow. Bummer.
Well I had Wednesday off so I figured I'd make the best of it. But when I woke up in the morning I was laying there wondering if I really wanted to do GMR ha ha! I managed to get out there and figured maybe I would do the easy option of 2300 ft. If I felt good I'd go the distance 5,000 ft. But as soon as i parked my truck, a friend Ron came rolling by. Ron is a good climber so I figured he'd jam up the road and I wouldn't see him for long. BUT! He says his plan was to ride up for an hour then head home. BUT! Once we got in an hour of climbing he asked how far I was going. Uhhh I dunno! Ah screw it, let's go the distance. So we hit Baldy Village after 21 miles of climbing He went straight down Baldy Rd but I took the GMR route and doubled back. Once I got to the bottom I had 4950 feet! Dammit! I turned around and climbed back up a bit. Another 70 ft to get my 5,000 for the day. I did the extra 20 cause you never know what Garmin is going to do with the gain.
I outweigh Ron by 70 pounds so I told him if I was holding him up, he was free to go on ahead. He said no I was doing a good pace and he was happy. Said if he pushed himself any more he'd be feeling wasted at the end of the ride. Plus the chatting made the climb go quicker he said!
41 miles, 5033 ft gain in 3:45.....with about 30 minutes of rest and picture time.
I outweigh Ron by 70 pounds so I told him if I was holding him up, he was free to go on ahead. He said no I was doing a good pace and he was happy. Said if he pushed himself any more he'd be feeling wasted at the end of the ride. Plus the chatting made the climb go quicker he said!
41 miles, 5033 ft gain in 3:45.....with about 30 minutes of rest and picture time.
GREAT video, Mr. B! It doesn't look steep until I looked at the gears you guys were using. Posed bikes at the summit both look like they are still in granny or second gear. The 20 miles of constant climbing has got to be a major effort.
The descent must be a constant **** eating grin all the way down.
5000' in 41 miles is a hellova ride and it looks like you had a spectacular day to do it! Congratulations to you and Ron, both!
Here in craptastic Ohio...this morning I woke up to freezing sleet that was just turning to snow. Yes, we suck.
The descent must be a constant **** eating grin all the way down.
5000' in 41 miles is a hellova ride and it looks like you had a spectacular day to do it! Congratulations to you and Ron, both!
Here in craptastic Ohio...this morning I woke up to freezing sleet that was just turning to snow. Yes, we suck.
It was a very very nice day to ride the mountain. The Garmin has some prey big variances in temps which is usually the way it is on this road with the elevation differences. I show an average of 74, high of 91 and a low of 64. When we got close tot he top I felt the 64. Ron said it was hot along the way but I never felt a 91. He said I was crazy for wearing the under armor but I think I was more chilly than hot on the ride.
Yeah the road is only a 6% average climb but 20 miles long so it takes its toll. I did the 20 mile climb in 2:22 minutes which has about 4400 ft before heading back down which actually has 3 short climbs of about 1/4 mile each. SO yeah,most of the way back I'm just smiling and enjoying the ride.
Figure on the way down there are some sections of 7 miles and less where I am averaging 26 mph.3 mile sections averaging 31. So it's a good ride down.
My max was 37.6 and that is soft pedaling on the way down. If I tried I could easily hit a max of 43 but on the longer descents I'm usually just trying to stay alive.
Yeah the road is only a 6% average climb but 20 miles long so it takes its toll. I did the 20 mile climb in 2:22 minutes which has about 4400 ft before heading back down which actually has 3 short climbs of about 1/4 mile each. SO yeah,most of the way back I'm just smiling and enjoying the ride.
Figure on the way down there are some sections of 7 miles and less where I am averaging 26 mph.3 mile sections averaging 31. So it's a good ride down.
My max was 37.6 and that is soft pedaling on the way down. If I tried I could easily hit a max of 43 but on the longer descents I'm usually just trying to stay alive.
Both of my Garmin's read 3°-4° lower than the actual temperature.
A base layer in 91° air? We Ohioans would agree with Ron! I would have gone out in short sleeves and not even have bothered with arm warmers if I knew it was only going down to 64° at the summit. You must have really thin blood!
Yeah, 20 miles of climbing at any percentage takes its toll on the legs and lungs. Long climbs are just another thing I miss about being out West. And the views in your still pictures are awesome.
A base layer in 91° air? We Ohioans would agree with Ron! I would have gone out in short sleeves and not even have bothered with arm warmers if I knew it was only going down to 64° at the summit. You must have really thin blood!
Yeah, 20 miles of climbing at any percentage takes its toll on the legs and lungs. Long climbs are just another thing I miss about being out West. And the views in your still pictures are awesome.
Actually I have been told that I have a built in radiator system by most the riders we ride with. I never get really cold and I never get really hot so I wear the same thing whether it is hot or cold and all year long. I wear an under layer up there during the summer too and other riders are like WTF!
But really I wear the under layer as protection from the insects. They get really bad up there. The horse flies bite you and draw blood. Over a period of a couple years, the bees stung the F out of me.
So I just got used to wearing the under layer all year.
Nice video, but those tight turns at speed you take when you're going around a sharp curve with the cliffside facing you, whoo! I'd be tapping the brakes around those places. I guess you have to get used to the climbs and the high speed descents. I unfortunately don't have mountains like that to ride in unless I want to drive 170 miles west every weekend.
I had planned to go out today for a long one, but high winds from last night's tornadoes and heavy rain decided for me. I went out for a half mile and almost got blown into somebody's house. I turned around and went home. I then went out again at 2:30 and headed to the south and managed to do 13 miles. I will try it again, tomorrow. The winds were a steady 25 and gusting to 44 mph, not good for distant riding. Incidentally, the tornado last night killed 3 people, one of them a 3-year old child. That town is about 140 miles away, but that tornado could have just as easily hit my neck of the woods.
IT does take time to get used to the descent. When Gina first wen up she was doing 10-15 on the dh riding the brakes. After doing the climb several times she now descents at 20-25 and maxes out at about 33 or so. I've seen some really good climbers that couldn't descend for beans. We did a forum ride once. One guy was probably 3 or 4th up the climb out of 30 riders. But heading down he couldn't do more than 10 mph. Seriously! I don't know how that happens but after he ad to wait for others at the top for 10-20 minutes, we had to wait for him at the bottom for about an hour.
Well I had Wednesday off so I figured I'd make the best of it. But when I woke up in the morning I was laying there wondering if I really wanted to do GMR ha ha! I managed to get out there and figured maybe I would do the easy option of 2300 ft. If I felt good I'd go the distance 5,000 ft. But as soon as i parked my truck, a friend Ron came rolling by. Ron is a good climber so I figured he'd jam up the road and I wouldn't see him for long. BUT! He says his plan was to ride up for an hour then head home. BUT! Once we got in an hour of climbing he asked how far I was going. Uhhh I dunno! Ah screw it, let's go the distance. So we hit Baldy Village after 21 miles of climbing He went straight down Baldy Rd but I took the GMR route and doubled back. Once I got to the bottom I had 4950 feet! Dammit! I turned around and climbed back up a bit. Another 70 ft to get my 5,000 for the day. I did the extra 20 cause you never know what Garmin is going to do with the gain.
I outweigh Ron by 70 pounds so I told him if I was holding him up, he was free to go on ahead. He said no I was doing a good pace and he was happy. Said if he pushed himself any more he'd be feeling wasted at the end of the ride. Plus the chatting made the climb go quicker he said!
41 miles, 5033 ft gain in 3:45.....with about 30 minutes of rest and picture time.
One of my randonneuring buddies rides a recumbent. He says he makes better time by riding alone. I don't see how. Whenever I ride with a group, I ride faster and the chatting makes the ride a lot easier. When I ride alone, I don't really push myself that much and always ride slower.
