Sunday March 9 Rides

[Mr. Bloom]

Well, I get to do it again!

A bit warmer today. I did the same 7.5 miles. The sun went away as soon as I got out!

It's tedious breathing in all that road debris from ice/snow treatments!

[SouthernBelle]

I woke up with a case of the rambling crud. Raw throat, runny nose. So I decided it would be better to stay inside out of the wind. :mad: & it was a really pretty day too!

[Geonz]

Took a little ride around 'cause it's 41 degrees. Saw only three otehr cyclists out there; saw four or five closer in.

Saw one of 'em going north as I approached from East Didn't look like he was going too fast, though the posture and gear seemed like they could. Just as I got to the intersection, another rider came along behind him. With a nudge of speed I passed her and we exchanged howdies. Then I gained on the fellow in front, who I inferred *could* have gone faster after all. He slowed... and as I went around: "How's my sweet petunia?"

Welp, we *were* both on red bikes with yellow jackets :) "She's doing just fine and will be along in a second!"

Here's to love and bicycling!

[Susan126]

Hubby was supposed to ride with me today but his knee was bothering him. I have to ride. I am in training for my big event so I went out alone and got 36.59 miles in. I had a little bit of everything. Flat stuff, rolling hills, and some big climbs too. Also picked up a head wind on the last 5 miles of my ride. But I feel great! I'm glad I went! :)

[alpinerabbit]

A round of the lake today, worth 65 K at a lovely pace (for the early season).
We could already drop the winter clothes in favor of a few layers of lycra, but it was chilly in places.

Coming home we took a longish nap. The cold takes a lot of energy out of you.

[makbike]

Started the day off with 20.7 miles on my trainer. The forecast did not look promising for a ride outside so opted for the living room option. However, as the day progressed and the sun bathed this area in lots of warmth I decided to put the warm clothes on and hit the road, just too pretty of a day to stay inside. The roads were, for the most part, very dry and clear. Hard to believe just yesterday morning state officials were asking people to stay off the roads due to the heavy snow. I logged 23 miles this afternoon and averaged 16.4 mph. Based on what I saw of the side roads I would guess we are having school tomorrow, dang! Oh well, just one less day we have to make up.

[KathiCville]

Just in from doing my longest ride yet: 33.75 mi!!!! Exhausted, but proud of myself. That's 6 miles longer than any previous ride. Was barely hangin' on the last 5 miles---I could vaguely tell that the countryside around me was gorgeous, LOL!---but I was too busy trying to stay upright and keep pedaling to notice.....Ironically, legs were mostly fine, but my wrists and forearms were absolutely killing me from about mile 25 on. I'm really going to have to work on my core, I guess, if I want to do any serious distance......Kinda pitiful av speed: 10.9, but I made it, yeeeeeehawwww! :D:D:D

[IFjane]

Just in from doing my longest ride yet: 33.75 mi!!!! Exhausted, but proud of myself. That's 6 miles longer than any previous ride. Was barely hangin' on the last 5 miles---I could vaguely tell that the countryside around me was gorgeous, LOL!---but I was too busy trying to stay upright and keep pedaling to notice.....Ironically, legs were mostly fine, but my wrists and forearms were absolutely killing me from about mile 25 on. I'm really going to have to work on my core, I guess, if I want to do any serious distance......Kinda pitiful av speed: 10.9, but I made it, yeeeeeehawwww! :D:D:D

Kathi!!!! AWESOME!!!!! wooooohoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! Good for you! Now you have no excuse not to ride with the rest of us up in the boonies! ;)

Four of us rode 45 miles. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Sparkling sun, crocus & daffodils blooming. It was wonderful! A high of about 45 here, light wind & traffic.

One of our riders bonked badly at about mile 30. He had been sick last week and is still on meds. Additionally none of us could get him to eat anything on the ride. :mad::(:o He wound up walking his bike up the last hill to the cars (this is a rider who is normally much stronger than I am). Scary, but he's ok.

Our 2x weekly after work rides start on Tuesday. yay!

[ninerfan]

A 16 mile birthday ride for me today along the San Francisco Bay after a tough 30 miler yesterday. The weather was gorgeous and the winds relatively quiet, which is unusual along the bay where I live, but the trail (multi-use, I should know better) was choked full of walkers and people on bikes who really don't have a clue on how to share a path with others.

Why must a large group spread themselves across the width of the path, be oblivious to you screaming "on your left!" (while riding under the path speed limit, or course :)) and then say nothing as you swiftly break behind them and lose all of your momentum? Grrrr.:mad: Anyway, still great to get out and get some sun on the bike. And I guess its better that these people are out getting some exercise than sitting at home on such a beautiful day.

[mimitabby]

22 miles today; we took the long route to the Bike Expo and then a longer route home. My bike sat on display at Elliott Bay Bike's booth while I volunteered and walked around.

nice day!

[BikeDutchess]

Yeah, spring time is here! Did my first club ride of the year, just a short one (about 12 miles I think -- didn't hook up my Garmin today). Hubby joined me. It was so exhilarating to be out again and NOT on an indoor spin bike, I just couldn't stop grinning. Temp was in the mid-40's and it was sunny, just perfect.

Prepping my bike this morning I had my tire blow out though -- I felt so dumb for putting in a 2nd tube before I figured out the tire had a bad spot. My son actually pointed it out to me when we were adjusting the brake -- big bubble in the tire, tube poking through! Mad dash to the bike store to get a new tire and tube but luckily still made it to the ride in time.

[Blueberry]

Beautiful day here in NC. We're cleaning out our old condo which is *finally* under contract (we moved into our house last May and have been paying double mortgages since). But, we saved time for a lovely walk (with camera!) in Duke Gardens, and a 7 mile bike ride. It's still chilly (to me), but was a beautiful ride!! Now that it's easier to ride outside, hopefully I'll be able to make more progress on my weight loss goals!!

[kat_h]

Sunny and 12 degrees Celcius so I enjoyed a lovely 43 km ride. There was a group of riders on fairly nice bikes who passed me, then they stopped to talk and I passed them, then they all passed me again, then they stopped to talk again so I passed them. I also got passed by a couple on a pair of lovely Cervelos. I caught up to them shortly after when they stopped at a fence that was blocking the path. I guess that explained why so many people had been coming back along the path much sooner than usual. The couple on the race bikes turned back but I jumped the fence and kept going. There was some construction so the path was replaced by muddly ruts from heavy equipment. I quite enjoyed ripping through that. I'm really glad I got my Jake. If I wasn't so scared of hills I'd be a mountain biker. Finally I got to the Tim Hortons, had a snack, then came home along the highway.

[PscyclePath]

53.20 miles on the new Orbea bike I picked up yesterday... I think I have a new favorite! Rode a lap with the usual Sunday riding group, then dropped off in NLR to ride with the first training group for an upcoming summer ride event. Fast as all get-out, and we hooked it on down to the west end of the trail, but we've got a ways to go in trying to teach a little lane/speed positioning & general manners in traffic. Rode over across town to catch the guys at the coffee shop, then back out for another lap around the trail to top things off. 15.2 average after the miles thru the downtown area, but a lot faster out on the road.

[IFjane]

53.20 miles on the new Orbea bike I picked up yesterday... I think I have a new favorite!

Pictures, please, Mr. PP!!!!! One of my favorite bikes I ever noticed was an Orbea painted orange/red/yellow/black. Awesome.... (this is from someone who has an unpainted ti bike with pink & black accents????:rolleyes:)

[Mr. SR500]

Didn't you guys get hammered with snow this weekend? We did :mad:

[Mr. Bloom]

53.20 miles on the new Orbea bike I picked up yesterday... I think I have a new favorite!

Did you have to cancel your class on Saturday due to weather?

[Fredwina]

I may make you all jealous , but I was short sleeves today!:o
The only problem was the wind. No Dust storms this week:)
Rode to the womens' ride and wound do a brief tune clinic. also taught how the pedal when riding in your drops ;)
Finally, went by the library on way home. my books overflowed my bag, but I got them all home unscathed.
not bad to get 29 miles in

[Trek420]

I'd planned a short easy ride with Spazzdog but she text'd me early and said she was not feeling well. So we've postponed the "It's Spring, Get off the couch" ride till next week. I'd better get in shape because she's started riding to work or it'll be "Trek stays on the couch" after the ride.

So I did a half hour or so on the bike while watching VS. racing broadcast the Paris to Nice, a couple easy walks with the mutt.

Also I planted a few plants in the front yard.

[melissam]

Today's AIDS/Lifecycle Training ride was a sneak preview of the infamous Quadbuster hill. Since I have never ridden the actual ALC ride or Quadbuster, I wanted to see what it was all about.

A group of us started from King City High School, and made our way thru the rough roads of King City. I tell you what -- even with a carbon frame, I still felt pretty beat up. The good news is that there used to be a lot more rough road on this route, but it's been repaved and is much smoother.

About 20 miles into the ride, we found ourselves climbing the notorious Quadbuster. I just kept pedalling up the hill and reminded myself of all the advantages I have for hill climbing: 1. I only weigh about 115 lbs right now, 2. I have a light bike (Brooks saddle notwithstanding), 3. I have a triple in front and moutain cassette in back. If I recall correctly, Quadbuster is 1.3 miles at around 10% -- piece of cake! :)

We all made it to the top of Quadbuster. I broke out my Margarita Shot Bloks so we could celebrate!

Then it was time to turn around, go down hill and back to the start. Life was good, right? After all, the reason you climb a hill for the fun of the descent. This particular descent was straight with a good shoulder. Felt pretty safe.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. About a third of the way down, the person riding in front of me said, "Oh sh!t!" I thought she had a flat or other mechanical issue, so I backed off and asked what was up. And then I saw it. One of our riders was down, lying on the shoulder of the road -- his bike was sprawled out next to him.

The group of us riding behind him pulled over. Everyone did a great job of handing an emergency situation. We ascertained what was wrong with our fallen comrade (broken collarbone) and how coherent he was. We directed traffic away from him. We found that someone had a cellphone that got reception and called 911.

It didn't take long for him to ask the big important question: how was his bike? Nice bike, Dura Ace equipped Cervelo -- needs to have the front wheel trued and get the right brake lever put back into place, but it will probably see many more miles on the road. His helmet is toast. His jersey will have to be retired, as it sustained some pretty significant tears.

The emergency folks showed up -- 2 CHP officers, then the ambulance and fire truck. He was taken down into King City and airlifted back to SJ Regional. One of the firemen had a pickup, so he took the bike down to the starting point. One of the riders in the group ended up driving his car + the bike back up to San Jose.

After that, we had a somber ride down the rest of the hill and a slog into the headwind back to the start point.

And then...I heard from my housemates that 3 cyclists were hit on Stevens Canyon Road in Cupertino by a deputy sheriff, and 2 of them died. A hard day for cyclists to say the least.

Yesterday's ride with the Russians was much more fun to write about.

[PscyclePath]

Here's the newest addition to my little fleet, a 2008 Orbea Onix TDF...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t108/TomEzell/OrbeaOnixTDF.jpg

Lightning does strike twice sometimes... About 4 years ago I won an Orbea Velota at the Tour de Rock ride in North Little Rock, and it's been my back-up road bike for a good while. Last month, I went over to the local bike shop's (http://www.chainwheel.com)customer appreciation night to pick up some closeout deals on tires, winter duds, and a very nice set of panniers, and wound up winning the door prize, an '08 Orbea Onix. The prize was actually a TDI model, but I threw in a little boot and got the next model up, with the Ultegra gruppo. Orbea bikes are pretty awesome to start with, but I am really impressed with this Onix. Maybe not superlight (17.5 pounds), but is doggoned fast, and smooth.

Orbea USA is located right here in downtown North Little Rock, and Chainwheel is their local distributor.

Mr. S:
Yep, the Road I class got snowed/iced out Friday evening. We got about 4 inches of snow, which was okay, but then the temps dropped to about 23, and we had glare ice late Friday night and Saturday morning. So, no class, since it's tough to do the parking lot drills on ice without losing a lot of hide. And the course is supposed to be about how not to crash, not a practical exercise in crashing :D

The ice was pretty much gone by noon, though, so I headed over to Chainwheel to pick up the new bike, then took it out for an 18-mile shakedown spin. About 37 degrees and a stiff wind, but still a lot of fun. It climbs nicely, too... I took the original tires off Sunday morning and replaced them with the new blue-striped Rubino Pros that I got on customer appreciation nite for a little extra bling. The seat bag kind of stands out, but hey, it was supposed to be a red bike... I'll get that fixed in a couple of days or two...

Tom

[Bad JuJu]

Over the past few weeks I've been upping my mileage, from my usual 30-32 to 40-42. I rode 42 last Sunday and 40 yesterday. Last Sunday, I felt like a million bucks and yesterday I felt like...well, like you-know-what. All around. My muscles and joints hurt, my breathing was the pits, and I struggled up every little roller. Jeez, if that had been my first ride ever, I'd never have gotten on a bike again. I can't think of anything I did differently other than spending too much time at my desk during the week and having pancakes for breakfast rather than my usual oatmeal. It doesn't seem like that should've been enough to change the whole ride experience like it did.

Have any of you had this kind of experience, where you feel great one week, then do virtually the same ride the next week and feel like you can't wait to get off the bike?

[SheFly]

Well, no rain on the ride today, but was it WINDY! Went out and rode with some of the Elite team - did 44 miles (in the sunshine - YAY!) with an AVERAGE wind speed of 21.6 mph :eek:. I just want to ride on DRY roads with little to NO WIND...

I don't think this is too much to ask, despite it being March in New England :D.

SheFly

p.s.
PP - nice new ride! And can I have some of your luck?