Did You Ride Today?

[Bicycleman]

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.

We have a ski resort called Mt. Wintergreen. It is a fairly steep climb to the top, and they have a springtime hill climb race. I made the climb with a buddy of mine.He and I rode together, but he descended like a pro, hitting 55 on the way down. I hit 35, but wouldn't go any faster. I feathered the brakes, mindful of the rims heating up and rendering my brakes useless. He had to wait for me. I do remember descending into those mountain towns at the base of the mountain and realizing I was exceeding the speed limit of 25 mph in the town. I was expecting to see a blue light special but got through the town unscathed. Stopping would have been difficult, too without standing on the brakes. I might have been cited for felony eluding.

 

[Bicycleman]

Do you put your camera on your fork? You have that down to a fine science.

 

[Bicycleman]

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.

This guy is used to riding with the old codger group that rides all day at 12 mph. He takes off from the front of them and hauls ass with the other racers. Only, they don't have any cue sheets and have no clue where they are going. They all stop at the next intersection and wait around until the 80-year old, who knows where they are going shows up. Macho man and his buddies then take off again at a high rate of speed, only to come to another intersection where they have to wait again. That goes on all day. He then brags to others that he did 75 miles on Saturday. In contrast, he goes out with me and rides 65 miles and blows up at the end because I don't take long breaks. On that whole ride, we only took 2 breaks. Hence, he's hurting and doesn't return to any more of my rides. Oh well.

 

[Weatherby]

Tested out the new fenders in yesterday's rain. The plastic ones keep breaking, so I went with some pounded aluminum ones hoping they last longer. They sure keep the water off better.

Went out this morning on the fendered rig after last night's 50-60 mph winds and untold inches of rain. A "lazy" 50 mile ride with 2900 feet of climbing. I stopped for coffee twice and stopped at a bike shop to get a Thule hitch rack for my truck. Windy and rainy with trees, mud, and rock all over the road. Nasty. Spent some time on gravel and dirt roads testing out the new Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tires in 28 mm. Smooth ride, good grip, and fast. Time will tell if they are durable enough. I guess with the junk all over the road, wind, rain.....I needed a bit of MoJo.....don't think I have ever stopped twice like that for coffee.

I have been using TrainingPeaks software for several months and am trying to cut back a bit on my workload overall. My TSB was -110 and no better than -67 for a month. I might have overdone the intensity a bit. Ya think. What did Nietzsche say? I'm trying to find the right level of fatigue/stimulation for this old bag of bones.

UPS also just delivered Friel's "Fast after 50"....maybe Joe has some tips up his sleeve.....we'll see. Where is them reading glasses.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

The horse flies bite you and draw blood. Over a period of a couple years, the bees stung the F out of me.

Horse flies...deer flies...skeeters...bees...wasps...it's hard to out run them when you're climbing and the needle is already over the red line a little!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

One of my randonneuring buddies rides a recumbent. He says he makes better time by riding alone. I don't see how.

They are, for all the goofy looks, pretty aero. With a Zipper fairing or some such **** and a good rider they can absolutely put a conventional bike rider in the pain locker just trying to find a bit of draft. On the flats they can really roll it out.

Most of them just plain suck at climbing so possibly they make better time by staying their own climbing zone instead of forcing themselves into the conventional bikes' climbing zones?

Those dorky looking trail trikes? Get behind one that has a decent motor in the seat you might find yourself gagging at 25+ MPH getting zero air block running behind one. Again, as long as the ground is pancake flat those things can cruise.

Uphill...tandems, trikes, bents...they are mine. And at least I get some dead air behind a fast tandem team.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Do you put your camera on your fork? You have that down to a fine science.

I mount the camera using different mounts but the one in this video is a K Edge handlebar mount. Just realized the rain a couple weeks ago left my front bolts a bit dry and rusty. Seems I cleaned up the bike well but missed these bolts. Tiem for a wipe down with lube.

I do have a rear seat rail K Edge mount seen in my other videos. But I never mount on the fork cause I don't have a mount for that. I've used the chesty mount in my mountain bike videos and a rear facing mount attached to the rear wishbone to capture the rear tire.

Chesty mount facing forward on the climb 1:53
Rear facing wishbone mount view of rear wheel 2:15

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Rear seat rail mount

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[CAMPYBOB]

Forgot to whine...er...add:

47 majorly boring minutes on the fluid trainer going stone deaf to techno, trance, euro dance and some other **** you old ***** wouldn't like either. 72-85 BPM and my ears were ringing like I just shot a couple mags through the M16 with no ear pro.

Even with the tunes blasting I was questioning my sanity 20 minutes into it.

Must...Not...Look...At...The...Clooooock!

And here we have Beanz killing me with his base layer in 90 degree HEAT! AAARRRGGGGHHHH! Someone...call me the Wambulance!

 

[Weatherby]

You can get a little draft off some recumbents but not off the real low ones like an M5 or there is another one, I forget the name of it but it reminds me of that toasted italian bread with minced tomatoes, basil, and olive oil on it. I'm tall anyway and there just is not much benefit riding behind one. The slipstream is just too low for any upright and you are also in the recumbent's turbulent air. Not saying it won't help but there is art and a touch of science to wheel sucking and the picture ain't pretty. I was thinking of getting one but maybe someday. My torn rotator cuff never healed well and maybe one of those is in the cards if I go under the knife. Kinda tired of being in pain

A velomobile is a whole different beast trying to draft one. No draft period. I've done 600Km and 1200Km bike rides with a gentlemen who has one and it was fun duking it put at the end. He would come by me like 50 mph on slight downhills and then he would be crawling up the relatively gentle hills (5%).

 

[Weatherby]

I've taken to watching Netflix on the computer while on the trainer. I use Bose headphones to cancel out the trainer whine. B grade martial arts movies seem to make the minutes fly.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I forget the name of it but it reminds me of that toasted italian bread with minced tomatoes, basil, and olive oil on it.

Bacchetta, the bent.
Bruschetta, the bread.

I can't wrap my mind around a bent. Maybe when I'm old(er).

22° this morning and the ground is white with a dusting of snow. Melt, baby, melt! 45° and clear tomorrow, 53° on Sunday. Hopefully the roads will be under my wheels soon.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Why do they AWAYS picture a bunch of huge fat old ***** behind some touron dweeb that can't even get his helmet on straight on the bent? And on a climb? Puhleeeeze.

 

[Weatherby]

Bacchetta, the bent.
Bruschetta, the bread.

I can't wrap my mind around a bent. Maybe when I'm old(er).

22° this morning and the ground is white with a dusting of snow. Melt, baby, melt! 45° and clear tomorrow, 53° on Sunday. Hopefully the roads will be under my wheels soon.

I forgot the garlic.

I can't get my head around a bent either but the left shoulder is shot. Maybe a bent for just an interim so I can ride. Then sell it.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Bacchetta, the bent.
Bruschetta, the bread.

I know a Triple Crown riders that rode a Bacchetta bent. Super fast on the flats. We were on our tandem trying to record him. We were holding 25 trying to keep up but he just pulled away like nothing.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

. Maybe a bent for just an interim so I can ride.

The young man (30-something) that I bought the Santana tandem from had what they call the Tree Trimmer's Stroke...busted blood vessel in the back of the neck. Due to his increased risk of the effects of holding his head 'up' when riding a conventional drop bar bike he was forced to sell them and go to a bent.

When I loaded the tandem up to haul away...even with his new/used bent sitting right beside where the tandem had set in his garage...I could detect a note of sadness. Not many guys want to ride a bent, especially younger men. I know of exactly one that did and although he also rides conventional bikes every now and then, he still prefers his Easy Racer.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

51 Minutes high tempo on the trainer. 26 degrees and light snow outside.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

13.2 miles on the MTB trail again. This time the opposite direction, CCW.

13.2 miles/ 2037 ft gain.......... 7,070 ft gain for the week in 55 miles!

I'll get another 1000 ft of gain on Sunday. Can't ride Saturday.

 

[Bicycleman]

107 miles today. Wanted to do 120 miles, but the wind was too strong. I rode into a cold Northwest wind for 50 miles Speeds were sometimes reduced to 9 mph. Strong wind.. On the turn around, I had a 30 mile tailwind and took advantage of it, but afterwards, the wind started playing tricks on me. Lot of the principal roads I travel on were flooded out due to the rains we had this week.

I will be doing a 70 mile populaire on Sunday with some of my randonneur buddies. Next Saturday, I will be doing a 200k training ride with 2 other people. Then the ride I have trained so dilligently for will be on March 19. After that, I can relax a bit and not have to go out for such high mileage. I can't see me doing a 300k this year, but maybe next year. Knowing me, though, I will make a stab at it to train for it, just the same. Once, I get this long distance riding in my blood, it's hard to shake the desire to go out and do more miles.

 

[Uawadall]

A quick 10 miler, was to busy to have a full Saturday ride. Did a few speed intervals through a very windy, yet sunny day. At one point there was so much headwind on a downhill that I felt like I was being pushed back....Thats a new one for me....Tomorrow is suppose to be 55, maybe a 50 miler will be the goal.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

44 miles with The Boy Wonder in 38-41 degree temperatures with sunshine and the same wind everyone else mentioned. The wind was 12 to 18 MPH steady with gusts into the mid-twenties. I worked hard through the wind and ended up chasing more than I wanted, but that effort will pay dividends when the temperature comes up and the days get longer.

The terrain was flattish with only 1400' of climbing. We saw some flooded fields and the ditches are still full of water. Anything with a slope to it had fast moving water in it and the streams and creeks were all moving right along.

The sun felt good and I hit the clothing just right. We saw lots of new stuff, including two new barns and a nice garage that hit the tax books sometime last Fall. First time we were over a couple of the roads in over a year.