Did You Ride Today?

[CAMPYBOB]

Rain on Thursday.

Just a 22-mile keep the legs loose ride on Friday.

102 miles on Saturday, yesterday. Around 4500' of climbing and it got up to 93 degrees. The last 40 miles were fairly hot. I went through five bottles, a gel and a package of Bloks. The sun was out, the humidity wasn't bad and the only buzz kill was the bee that got trapped between my helmet and sun glasses. Yeah, that hurt a little...right between the eyes, he got me.

36 miles this afternoon and it got up to around 95 degrees and 1500' of climbing. The pavement has been melting the last two days and tar removal after the ride is necessary...including the tar dots on the back of my jerseys. And the leather seat cushion and seat back in the car. Damnit!


Weatherby, great job! I'm glad you're having fun and enjoying your epic adventure. 250 miles and 17,000' in one day? That's an extraordinary ride! Stay safe and ride on.

 

[Jcycle]

Over the hills and through the woods, literally even. Sticker bushes weren't fun.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

21 rolling miles with 1230' of climbing on a hot, sunny, beautiful afternoon! The temperature was 90-91 degrees and the humidity was reasonable, so not a lot of sweating despite a decent power output. Passed Amish and tractors pulling haybines and discbines...one was pulling a tedder or rotary rake. The wind was mostly a cross breeze running 10 to 13 MPH, but it felt lighter even on the headwind run back to the parking lot.

Climbed like a fool and pushed my already weekend-dead legs as hard as I could. I didn't get much recovery in yesterday so output was fluctuating more than it should have. I still was right on the money, time wise, for a very good run. Not record setting or even close, but a nice, solid work load.

That was a fun one!

The bee sting between the eyes from Saturday is still itching a bit, but I can't see any sign of a stinger buried in my hide.

 

[zipp2001]

Today was a stop and go ride doing loops thru Leominster and Fitchburg centers. The back was not being nice today and it took all I could to get my leg over the top tube. Thank goodness I had the TT bike in my office and that always helps stretch the back out best. So in-between all the stop and go sprints I was stretched out on the aero bars. Within a few miles the pain was very minor and I went out and did 27 miles. Did a visit to the new bike shop and just wandered about with no set route. Loved the heat 92 degrees with some humidity and a light wind 4-6 mph.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

22 miles yesterday, Tuesday, with 900' of easy climbing. 75° cool, but the wind was pushing fairly hard at 9 to 13 MPH with a front moving through. It had been a sunny day that turned overcast at the start of the ride with a few large rain drops splatting on the car. By the turn for home the sun was back out and I caught the tail wind down the back stretch and rolled in dry and fast.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

56 miles, 75 degrees and sunny with a light 5 to 6 MPH wind. 2400' of climbing on a rolling course. Alternated between fast spinning and pushing the big gears. A great workout and I felt fast all the way through it.

The Boy Wonder texted my to meet him and Cat. 2 Dude, but they were going out about an hour after my start time and I decided to keep rolling in the other direction. I did the sufferfest without them, but I know they would have beat 25 more Watts out me, minimum. Next time...

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Today was a stop and go ride doing loops thru Leominster

My secretary is from Mass. I was telling her about your rides and how cool the videos were and all about the city sights and the terrain you covered. She told me the correct pronunciation is something like...'lemon stir'! And not the 'Leo minster' I was calling it.

Hope your back stays pain free.

 

[Uawadall]

I've been riding a little, but nothing even worth discussing lately. Did a short test ride yesterday for my new Fizik Arione saddle. It suppose to be good for people who are mostly in the drops/ in an aggressive position. Only did about 8, but it felt fine. I move around in the saddle a little and think this will be a good fit, its perfectly flat and smooth. My stock Cannondale Synapse saddle felt uncomfortable and had too many raised surfaces on it. Think it was irritating my skin some on longer rides.

Next week I'll hopefully be able to post some real rides. I'm also on work vacation from from July 9-17 and plan on riding tons.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

U, you may not need it for shorter rides, but try a chamois cream for longer rides. Comfort =a good saddle, good shorts and some lube for the long hauls.

The Arione series are great saddles. If the size and design works for you (as it has for countless pro and amateur racers) buy a spare or two! Personally, I like the flat saddles, as a design group. They fit me perfectly. The Flite series was and is one of the most comfortable and efficient models under my ass and the Bontager Paradigm series is also working well for me...hard as a board and I like it that way.

I think I'm going to try Selle Italia's SLR Titanium or Team Edition just to see if it works for me. Based on size and contour it looks like it might be a winner.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

35 Miles with 1350' of climbing. Just a no power afternoon cruise on auto pilot. The legs were shot. It was a sunny 83 degrees and the wind was light at 5 to 6 MPH.

I found a 1/4" drive socket on the road...a 13/32" size. I'm not sure I even own a 13/32" socket in the many socket sets I have in the workshop, the barn, the garage and in my office. That's an oddball size, for sure. The socket is a cheap Taiwan POS I picked up off an almost paved road in Amish territory...and the Amish do buy some cheap ass tools...keep thyself Harbor Freight, yo!

 

[zipp2001]

I get a call Wednesday form the Race Director of the Max Performance Race Series that I Marshal the run course for. He saw one of my video's of me riding with a friend training for the upcoming Mass State Triathlon. He wanted to know if it was alright for him to use it on his race site. I told him I'll do it one better and do the full bike and run course video for him to use. So once out of work I started the video process, and it was a great day to get out and ride. 82 degrees 4-6 wind and a total of 34 miles, between riding the bike and run course. Then my ride back and forth to the event start and back home. As you can see I was flying out on the bike, that blood doping works (lol).

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[zipp2001]

Just finished off a tough 32 miles as I took today off to start the long holiday weekend. Was headed out to do some climbing to get the legs loose. The plan was to just set a moderate tempo on all the climbs, not attack any of the descents, but attack the shot flat sections in-between. The temp was 81 degrees with a brisk 12-15mph wind at the start. As I turned to start my return leg home all I can see is a wall of dark clouds over where I was headed in the distance. When I hit about 7 miles to go the wind started to crank up to 25+mph gusts and there was no sun, and I could start to hear thunder in the distance. Thank goodness I didn't spend myself climbing, because I needed all the gas I had left in the engine to make it home before the skies open up. Beat the first rain drop by about 10 minutes.

Great way to start the long holiday weekend !

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Just 12 miles with dark clouds overhead and the wind a steady 15 MPH. Only 430' of climbing. I think I'll ride long tomorrow.

 

[zipp2001]

Today I spent 3 hours out in the woods, finding a way to cross the river without getting wet. Been using the mountain bike at least once a week to help work on my spinning. As a road rider I would be classified as a masher back in the day.

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[CAMPYBOB]

107 Miles with 4,300' of climbing. Just a long training ride with two **** stops and a quick cell call to the wife near the turn for home. 61 degrees at the start and it got up to a nice 75 degrees by noon. The wind was low at 3 to 6 MPH.

I went through a bunch of small towns and tried to stay on County roads to avoid the holiday traffic. That plan worked well for the most part. It rolled through a State Park lake known for great fishing, a resort lake and State Park with big dollar homes lining the shore next to white trash vacation shacks mixed in for fun. I hit two area water reservoir / recreation lakes on the way home.

Lots of boats were being towed to the lakes and traffic was insane on the two State routes I had to spend four or five fast miles on. Both had good berms and I hugged the right edge hard! Pontoon boats are WIDE.

I pretty much rolled a steady tempo with a few intervals tossed in whenever I felt the need to up the pace. The overcast sky kept it cool enough I only went through 1-1/2 bottles ( I did hydrate well with coffee before the start). A pack of Shot Blocks, a couple hard candies and a gel kept the energy flowing and the last 25 miles were faster than the first 80 or so.

The Boy Wonder bailed out on this ride. Too early to start...didn't want to load the bike in the car and drive over my way....blah blah...

He missed some fantastic roads, great scenery and a good workout.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

31 Miles with 1400' of climbing. The legs feel good! Time for a cookout and fireworks. Have a great 4th of July everyone!

 

[zipp2001]

Got out for 40 miles, then showered ate and just got up from a 2 hour nap out on the back deck absorbing the sun. Wife's closing tonight so it'll be quite so I think I'll head down to the basement and clean a few bikes. Have a Great 4th everyone, stay safe !

 

[jhuskey]

31 Miles with 1400' of climbing. The legs feel good! Time for a cookout and fireworks. Have a great 4th of July everyone!

Yes, I rode today and yesterday and remember it's not about the 4th of July, it is about Independence Day and the victory over Hillary... I mean tyranny and the price paid to achieve it , lest we forget.

 

[Uawadall]

Glad to see you guys putting in the miles! I road yesterday, just a short 18 miler in tough wind. 17.9 mph/800+ ft of climbing. I wave to a random cyclist passing on the other side of the road and as he approached I realized it was my older brother! We live in the same town, but usually ride in opposite directions and rarely have the same time off from work. I have a 9-5 thats usually a 8-6 with weekends off and his schedule varies. I gave him a pull for 10 miles or so and we went our separate ways. He was inside all winter when I was facing the cold and has a little catching up to do. Was definitely glad to see him and hope we can get some more rides in this summer.

Work vacation is approaching, will be glad to be doing some real rides.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

33 Miles with 2000+' of climbing. I jumped in a littles after the official meet up and ride start (fireworks were spectacular and went from 10 PM to 11:20 PM! An awesome display!) with The Boy Wonder and our powerful sidekick, Cat. Two Dude.

The three of us made like a runaway freight train and beat the **** out of each other. I managed a few feeble fast fading flat flyers (Alliteration???) that kept the young guns in my slipstream on the descents and any level spot the wind wasn't burying me before I managed to bury myself in the red.

Jumping back on the caboose took timing and a saved bit of punch as the speed was probably edging up rather than down after I got off the front.

Climb?! We pounded up the steep stuff and I kept finding myself going full gas on the lower percentage climbs and almost wishing I could boot it up another gear. Yeah, the speeds were good today. The air was heavy with humidity and the report called for rain. Instead, we were blessed with miles and miles of freedom and friendship and fine efforts from my two companions in the speed game.

I was on a low energy curve by mid-ride so last night was catching up with me...Burgers...pie...oh, what great pies!...corn on the cob...salad, potato, macaroni, conventional with Eyetalian, of course...coleslaw...all home made and served on the farm between the barn and the house near a grape arbor that provided a little vino!

Today is the 4th! Let us remember all those that have fought and continue to fight for freedom and the glory that is The United States Of America!. The greatest nation ever seen on the face of this miserable little planet of ours!