April 28 ride reports

[SouthernBelle]

What?! I'm the first!

Meg & I headed out about 8:00 a.m. Was a bit chilly so we started out with some layers which were later shed. We saw emus and made friends with a puppy and later with some Great Pyrenees. It seemed like a good idea to be friendly with them rather than be chased by them. Big.

Some idjit threw a Sonic cup at Meg and hit her on the hand.

I accidently reset my trip meter on my puter so estimating our trip at about 52 miles. Headwinds for about the last third.

[Mr. Bloom]

SilverSon and I did 9.5 miles. Weather was great. We were shooting for 20, but it was a tough course for him and he was uncomfortable on real roads with cars. But, we stretched him a bit, but I honored his discomfort and we turned around.

It was still a good ride, wonderful weather and magnificent flowers

[sbctwin]

Sulis and I met up and we did 50 miles today. We had it all, hills, tailwind, crosswinds and headwinds, but all in all, it was wonderful. Such a beautiful day today in the Salt Lake Valley :)

[Meg McKilty]

Some idjit threw a Sonic cup at Meg and hit her on the hand.

Let the record stand: I was highly offended.

Mr. Silver, how old is Silver Son?

[missymaya]

I had a great ride today!!
So our weekend club ride was cancelled, so I went to the big Saturday morning Lakemont ride (practically everybody shows up to this; 4 different rides start from here with different routes,speed, and level of skill). I decided (and was pushed by some I ride with :rolleyes: ) to ride with the A group, which is hella fast. But I've been wanting to ride faster, especially since I want to race.
Oh My Goodness, the 'soft pedal' was at 23mph and we hung at 28mph+ mostly:eek: :eek: There were about 60 of us and only 3 women out of the whole group.
The thing that was great about this was, I actually hung on for 35 miles out of 40!! These guys (and 2 other ladies) were fast!! I'm proud of myself for riding in this group, even though I got dropped the last 5 or so miles and 'pedaled' home at 20 mph. I think I might have to ride with this group much more often just to satisfy the sadist in me:rolleyes:

[makbike]

The club offered a 30/60/100 ride through southern Indiana today and I decided to participate. I awoke thinking I would ride the 60 but once on the road I decided I was up to a century and so I switched plans midstream. The course started out fairly flat and remained so for the first 60 miles or so. At the midway lunch stop my average speed as a sound 16.5 mph. After leaving the lunch stop things got ugly - the winds picked up and we battled a head wind most of remaining 40 miles. At the last store stop I pulled BF aside and asked that he stick around the starting point until I got in or until he got a phone call to come get me. The muscles in my lower back were starting to talk to me and I knew the 30 remaining miles were mostly hills. We left the store stop together and he and his riding partner took off and I continued to battle the wind. At the most I could get my speed up to 13 or 14 mph when fighting the wind. My legs were starting to talk to me as well so I had a chorus of screaming body parts as I fought the wind and climbed the hills before me. I peaked a hill and saw BF waiting for me at the next turn. He stayed with me until I told him to go on for I knew he had a good ride going and I was slowing him down thus pulling his average speed down. He started to take off but reined his bike in and stuck close by for the remainder of the ride. So today I officially rode 103.94 miles and ended up with an average speed of 16.0 mph. It was a great day on the bike but I'm beat. I'm going to eat dinner (I'm treating myself to a steak and sweet potato). I do believe I'll be in bed early tonight with my cats nestled all around me.

[Mr. Bloom]

Mr. Silver, how old is Silver Son?

SilverSon is 13 1/2. Oh, the wind was fierce.

[cosc]

Whoa-hoo I finally went for a outside gorgeous ride after too long a lay off. I rode down the marina road but turned around because the traffic was too bad. I was surprised to meet my son who was walking. I talked a bit with him and started to ride and couldn't get my foot in my spd pedal. After 10 minutes cleaning around my cleat(had greasy dead bugs around it) I finally got back on the road. I rode 26 miles today.

[mimitabby]

Went for a little 10 mile ride with the DH. He was feeling pretty good after riding 50+ miles so I decided to challenge him to 10 more to wear him out.
He took me on a merry chase up and down hills, including a quick down and up which were too steep for me. At the top of the down, I had to gather my nerve... and went down the hill on my brakes with him yelling from way in front of me; YOU NEED YOUR MOMENTUM! (yeah, right)

at the bottom I had to go straight up. so I did. Fortunately, somehow i was in my lowest gear, and i slowly pedaled, slower, slower, slower. There were cars behind me and i was terrified because how slow can you go? afraid of falling, i couldn't unclip my feet, don't ask me why, so I moved closer to the curb and threw myself bike and all onto the freshly trimmed grass side strip.
no pain at all. I got up, and was shaking like a leaf.. DH was way way ahead of me, and of course, he missed the entire drama.

the rest of the ride was rather uneventful except for the fact that i was shook up. we rode behind our hill, and thus had to take the 14% grade switchbacks.. This time i was in the wrong gear, so I stood and took that hill
without falling. I guess the one i fell on was 15 or 16%, Believe me, i DID NOT LOOK.

[jobob]

I'm slowly getting over the head cold from hell so I went out today, not sure how far I would go. I headed towards Sunol and figured if I was feeling good I'd see how far up Calaveras Road I could make it without pushing myself too hard.

Yee gods, it was hot out today! I was wondering how the hardy souls riding the Devil Mountain Double were faring, it was our first really warm weekend and they were going thru Livermore and Mines Road up the backside of Mt. Hamilton without any chance to acclimate to the heat. Hope no-one had problems with the heat out there :(

Okay, back to me. :) I made it fine to Sunol and continued on across the warm valley leading to Calaveras Road. There was a light breeze blowing which kept it from getting uncomfortable. Happily, once I started up the relatively shallow climb, the road was reasonably well shaded.

I started playing little mind games with myself - if I made it up to the "false summit" (which is the bulk of the climbing in that direction) before I turned around, then not only would I have the full extent of the fun descent back into Sunol, but I would reward myself with a Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar. :)

Well, I started tiring a bit around the mile 5.5 road marker. I couldn't remember where the false summit was located - was it mile 7.8? Or was it 8.8? Ugh! I wasn't sure if I'd have the energy to go that far. I convinced myself to go on to mile 6.0, I could do that. Then, when I got to 6.0, well, maybe I can make it to 6.5. Once I got to 6.5 I was thinking, waitaminute, am I approaching the false summit already??? I turned a corner, and lo and behold and hallelujia, the false summit was at 6.8, not 7.8 or 8.8! Sweeeet!!

So, at the top I guzzled more water, blew my stuffy nose about 10 times (ewwww), turned around and had the lovely descent, and the tasty Haagen-Dazs bar at the little store in Sunol. Then, a slightly windy ride along Niles Canyon Road and a much more windy ride along the AC trail back to home. The last 8 miles or so into the afternoon headwind on the AC Trail was really taxing for me and I was starting to peeter out, so I just geared down and spun into it and took my dear sweet time.

47 miles, only about 1000 feet of climbing, 13.7 mph, and one Haagen-Dazs bar. Eh, not bad for my first head cold "recovery" ride. :cool:

In retrospect, I'm very glad I took a pass on the SLO Wildflower this weekend, I'm obviously lacking in stamina right now & I heard it was really hot down there. :p

[Starfish]

Jobob, glad to hear you are recovering!

It was SUNNY today!!! O my gosh I was grateful for a break in the rain! :D

Did two repeats of the lower part of the mountain today for 21.5 miles and 3110' climbing. Pretty happy with myself, but pretty hilarious...a lot of 4.5 mph today! :o

Still, sunshine, so all was well in my world today.

[Celeste]

Had our weekly Saturday training ride with our TNT group. Back out to Chappell Hill, TX. Last time we were there it was Easter weekend and it was freezing cold and sleeting. I broke a cleat and wound up driving as extra Sag wagon.

This time it was nice and warm, no wind hardly at all. Qutie nice. I did ride today but only made it 50 miles. Planned route was 65!

This is only my second week on hills due to broken cleat that one week. Grrr! The hills were kicking my butt today! I was doing ok for most of the ride. Coach was teaching me more about hill climbing and how to use the momentum and sling shot over the next.

Whew!! After about 100+ hills and 50 miles...My brain had had enough! It was fried! I just could not shift and deal with one more mentally. I was having to stop after each hill and psyche myself up for the next...That, and my body was sweating but I was getting chills....Don't know what that was about. DH said I was very red in the face.

So, 50 miles for second week on hills and this was a real challenge. I may not have made it the whole way, but still feel pretty good about it. Sort of.

[ace]

Did a 28 mile ride with the local club (actually it was about 33 because I rode to the starting point and back), almost entirely flat. It was hot! Had to deal with the ride leader from last week (who substituted a 38 m. hilly ride for a 29 m. flat one without telling us), but he just treated me with an extra smidge of his jerky arrogance.

It does really piss me off that he's always saying how if we work, we'll be out of the light group in no time, and tells the people who are fast that they "have good attitudes," and basically just barks at the rest of us. It's demoralizing. Don't know how long I'm going to be able to ride with th3w3 people...my knee is probably going to keep me from doing much more than 40 flat miles this summer. :(

I continue to be surprised at how much water I have to drink- I went thru 133 oz while cycling, and had another 24 when I got home (I weigh over 200 lbs, so that's not a crazy amount). Plus I got some foot cramps during the ride. I think I need more calcium/potassium. Any advice about that?

[jobob]

Ace, are you drinking any kind of sports drink, or just plain water? You might want to consider carrying a bottle with Gatorade or Cytomax or some other sports drink w. electrolytes (i.e., salts) , in addition to a bottle of plain water, now that it's finally heating up. Many people cramp easily, especially when it gets hot and they lose more salts from sweating.

[Kano]

Just a short 12.75 jaunt down "the greenbelt" after work tonight. DH brought the bikes down and met me at the shop and we took off from there, rode to one end, and then back. LOTS of tree roots making some wicked bumps in the asphalt trail, so I got some new experience on my new bike -- told DH, lots of "butt ups" on this ride! Some were pretty wicked, and more than my butt, I worried about my poor wheels, but all seems well after the ride.

All in all, it was a nice little cruise -- mostly flat, so easy pedaling, but lots of pedestrian obstacles to mess with my average speed! (trailside entertainment: two mini pinschers -- on leash -- taking on two REALLY BIG dogs -- also on leash -- those little guys have huge heart! There are some on our other routes that are always chasing DH. They seem to like to tackle the biggest guys they can find!)

Karen in Boise

[Kathi]

My ride today is on the map that Pedal Wrench posted for the first day of Ride the Rockies. It was 20 miles round trip.

http://www.routeslip.com/routes/26242

If you look at the lower right hand corner of the map, at the junction of I-70 and C-470 you will see a green space. That's Bear Creek Park. I live in Lakewood and can ride from my house up the Bear Creek trail to the park.

I headed toward Morrison on the trail, rode though a golf course and up and over a hill called Mt. Carbon into the park. I only have 80 miles for the season so the climb up was a little slow, plus I had to climb back up on my return.

It was a gorgeous day here in Denver, sunny and temps close to 80. After the rain and snow on Tues. it was a nice change of pace.

Lots of cyclists out on the road in the park and the creek was running with water. I haven't seen so much water running since I left Cincy!

My ride ended with another climb from the Bear Creek Valley to my house.

Tomorrow, I'm riding with our bicycle club. 1st time out with them this year, it's a 30 mile flat ride.

[ace]

Thanks for the advice, Jobob. I do put GU2O in my 100 oz. Camelbak, so I'm getting electrolytes and calories. Then I have an Accelerade or Endurox when I get home, which helps a lot. Last year I was having horrible problems getting sick after rides- I'd come home and have a headache for 24 hours. I came to the realization that because of my body weight and the fact that I'm a big sweat-er anyway, I need to drink A LOT, and I need a constant source of calories and electrolytes for any ride over 30 miles, depending on the temperature. Not sure what's causing the cramping. I think I'm pretty deconditioned at the moment because of my knee injury, so a long ride in the heat just takes it all out of me.

[Crankin]

Wasn't sure if the weather would hold, but we were able to test out the route for our club's "new members" ride next week. Well, we didn't need to pre ride it, but one of the other leaders who is a friend of mine did, so we met her around 2:30 in Concord Center. She rides at a slower speed than we do, but we were bound and determined to ride at a relaxed pace today (my back is acting weird and my husband had been planting all morning), so she did a great job staying fairly close to us. It was really nice out, rolling hills, and good conversation. The rain held off until we got back to the start.
22.4 miles. I didn't even look at my computer for the rest. I'm supposed to go on a 35-40 mile hill ride (Groton/Lost Lake) today, but it looks yucky out. Right now it's only 48 and cloudy, with rain predicted. I need to get out there, since we are going to the White Mountains for Memorial Day for a club weekend. The first day is a 50 mile ride with a lot of climbing and right now I am not sure if I could do it. Well, I could, but it would be slow and painful.

[sgtiger]

I rode 41 miles yesterday starting from just north of the U-district and going around the southern loop of Lake Washington and back. I only averaged a little over 10mph on what other riders 'round here consider flat. Oh, well.:rolleyes: At least I beat my average from last week and I didn't feel wiped out afterwards.

On a side note, I was kind of impressed with myself when we stopped to rest at a park and I could see the distance around the lake that I had ridden. Last year I would not have thought I could ever ride that far. Much less that I would ever do a century or a double century(signed-up for STP). Me from a year ago would have though that I'd have to be nuts to do that.:eek: ;) :D

[SheFly]

I'm supposed to go on a 35-40 mile hill ride (Groton/Lost Lake) today, but it looks yucky out. Right now it's only 48 and cloudy, with rain predicted. I need to get out there, since we are going to the White Mountains for Memorial Day for a club weekend. The first day is a 50 mile ride with a lot of climbing and right now I am not sure if I could do it. Well, I could, but it would be slow and painful.


DH had arthroscopic surgery on his knee on Weds, and since he is off the bike, I actually have little to no motivation to ride this weekend... I was supposed to race Palmer today, and even bagged that.

Robyn - the Groton/Lost Lake loop is fun, but in this weather, I just want to curl up on the couch ;) . Where in the Whites are you going on Mem Day? We do A LOT of riding up there on a regular basis - great loops and lots of climbing.

SheFly (who WILL get back on her bike this week)

[carolp]

I participated in Lifecycle "Day on the Ride" yesterday. 76 miles with a good bit of hill climbing. The ride is to simulate what a day on the actual lifecycle ride will be like. I am doing the ride with my husband on our tandem. (www.aidslifecycle.org/6009 to see my training blog) and it definitely had its moments. Luckily, we bonked at different times so we could keep pedaling. Today we will ride, but not as far.

We only have a month to be able to do seven days of rides like this, and I gotta tell you, I'm nervous! Any tips for this newbie biker with an almost one-year-old titanium knee?

Carol in NoCal

[SadieKate]

In retrospect, I'm very glad I took a pass on the SLO Wildflower this weekend, I'm obviously lacking in stamina right now & I heard it was really hot down there. :p

YOu think so? Normal avg high of 77. A record 98 was hit. Many of us had temps of 100+ showing on our computers. Homey's heels were sinking into the asphault at stops.

Shades of the Chico Wildflower 3 years ago. Lesson learned - do not let SK and Bubba sign-up for any ride called a Wildflower ride. Good news is no one in our group hurled. I'll write up a report later.

http://www.weatherunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=ICAO:KPRB&almanac=1

[Veronica]

We worked the Devil Mountain Double, two different rest stops. At least one rider got a helicopter ride out from the Junction with heat related problems. I don't know if he was with DMD or the Mount Hamilton Challenge.

We had a lot of DNFs on DMD because of the heat. At one point we had three SAG cars go by our rest stop on Hamilton, one right after the other, all filled with riders.

We took two riders who DNFed to Sunol to get their lights and then drove the rest of the course. There was a section of road that got torn up this week - Castro Valley Rd. I think. We were following a recumbent and he tipped over in front of us. I am so glad that we were behind him because he was REALLY hard to see in the dark and he could have so easily been run over at that point.

We stopped and checked on him. He said he was okay and I helped him check out his bike.

It was an interesting day.

V.

[7rider]

DH and I did 41 miles from the house to Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. and back at a 15.7 mph pace. Was a nice ride. Had a couple of guys latch onto our wheels, so DH had to push much harder than he intended (keeping his "race face" on, as he said. Not showing any effort at all), just to try to put the hurt on these guys. Alas, we couldn't shake 'em and they just got a free ride for his efforts. Uh...me, too!
I hit a max speed of 73 mph, according to my Garmin! Woo Hoo. Discovery?? Hello?? Where do I sign??
Silly computers......

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

Group of friends and I drove 45 min from Tulsa to do "Flower Power" down in Muskogee. Yes..everyone..come on... sing it with me, "I'm just an Okie from Muskkk-OH-gi.." LOL Craziness... drive nearly an hr to pay $25 to ride 68 miles of HILLS. yeah... We're nuts. LOL
One hill on the ride map was labeled "respectable hill"... OMG.. the hills before it looked like freekin walls to me.. and I was warned that the "respectable hill" was about a mile long and worse. GUT CHECK!
All in all, it was a great ride. I thank my TRIPLE (and weaving) for making it up all hills without walking any!! On that nasty one though.. if any cars had come along and ruined my pacing, I would have been done-for. LOL I had an avg speed of 5mph on that hill, and that was lucky! HA. I'm surprised I didn't just tip over..going that slow.
Fun note... I did pass a GUY who'd given up before 1/2-way up. He was standing on the side of the road gasping. I think he lost part of his lung somewhere on the spokes. La la lahhh..here I come..mashing and weaving...right on up - no problem. I just wanted to puke at the top and I had sweat dripping off my sunglasses and nose, but hey... THIS IS FUN, right? heehee

Beautiful day... started at 56 and by the end of the ride it was about 80. Low winds... couldn't ask for anything better. Worth all the pain and sweat.

[Jo-n-NY]

This is the first time I am posting a ride report. I had my first club ride of the year. I normally would not have road with the club today, Saturday because of time and other things I have on my platter over the weekend. But I had to make time for this. The AAA was putting on their annual Bike Rodeo at one of the Elementary Schools, actually a school that is next door to the one I went to. They asked our bike club to help out. Our president thought that anyone who wants to be a part of this will meet at the regular ride & time meeting place, and we would take a long route to the school, volunteer our two hours of showing bike safety through all the activities the AAA set up then ride back.

This was so much fun. We got in a 20 mile ride, the route was great with some nice hills. I finally was able to see how my Ruby road up a hill. I kept up very nicely with everyone (I just love this group) even doing stretches of 17 & 20mph. I didn't know how fast I was going until I looked at my computer. Before heading back to the parking lot they stopped for bagel and coffee break that they usually do mid ride.

Oh also very important...it was so much fun working with these little kids grades K-4. My part was to teach them hand signals which I did with another club rider. AAA chalked out a little course with turns. I left with a smile on my face all day long.

Now I cannot wait to be able to ride with the club beginning in June or July.

~ JoAnn

[Fredwina]

Here's mine (http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=15142Here's mine). It was an adventure. And a half!

[PinkBike]

Yesterday's long-awaited Tour of the Tucson Mountains signals the end of the real season for us here in arid-zona. Should soon start to get in the hundreds every day and that will last til september. We'll still ride of course, but no big races locally. I did the TTM 70.4 miles yesterday in 3:41, 18.9 mph average, and i feel real defeatist about it. the first 30 were very fast, the last 20 were very fast, but the climbing in the middle just wrecked me. i attribute it to the 20 extra pounds i've picked up since turning 50, because i used to be a great climber. well, its off to another forum to search for the magic weight loss program that will quickly and easily transform me into svelte. where's that thread? . . . . . .