Jan. 14 Rides

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY! I NEEEEED TO RIDE MY BIKE!!!!!!! I think I am in opiate withdrawal. I know I could go ride the trainer but its just not the same.............

From our club's blogsite this weekend:

Sunday, January 14, 2007
The La Vernia/Wilson County Ride has been CANCELLED. It is currently raining, 41 degrees with a wind chill of 34, and the forecast shows the chance of rain increasing from 40% to 70% by noon. Better luck next time!

Saturday, January 13, 2007
Update for Jan 13: It is raining in Boerne and there is lightning. The Boerne ride is CANCELLED. The ride starter will NOT be at the ride start.

Third day in a row that I've had to ride in light rain. Luckily, it's been warm (50 degrees when I head out at sunrise) and it's more drizzle than full-fledged rain, so it's not that bad! Got in 40 miles. I am so happy I bought that Showers Pass "steelers" jacket, as it keeps me dry and comfortable. Today, I had an gnat fly into my ear--was wedged in there almost the entire ride. Uggh. Tomorrow--more rain predicted but still warm. Thank goodness the temps are mild or we could have snow/ice.

The Sunday afternoon spin class is s'posed to be an easy 45 minute "recovery" ride. Recovery my a$$! Well, maybe it's my low hemoglobin count. But whatever the reason, I hit my hr ceiling at the top of both climbs, and the Sunday coach is a merciless little gal! Felt good though. Now off to BJ to register some estimated indoor miles towards my goal.

Wet roads and an all-day threat of rain made me bag my road ride. Instead, I did and indoor/outdoor brick (my first ever brick): 11.5 miles on the trainer and a 2 mile run. Amazingly, I posted my best trainer times and run times ever. I didn't feel any leg problems in the switch from the ride to the run.

The quads were feeling tight this morning (after intervals on Friday and 30 miles on Saturday) so I thought a short brick workout would loosen me up. Headed out in 33° weather and pointed to the ocean bluffs. Felt the muscles loosening and the power starting to come back, and the cold weather gear kept my body temp up. Up a small incline, got my heart rate up and still felt good. Did a turnaround and freewheeled back down at 28mph.

Coming down, the wind and cold snuck in. Lost the feeling in my feet about 3/4 way down and didn't regain it at all on the way home. Had to abandon the scheduled 5k run in favor of an immediate soak in a steaming tub. The feeling came back into the piggly-wigglies, but only in a halting, resentful way. Had to appease them with a promise of new pair of booties.

Had a nice 25mile group ride today. The weather was great, 70F with 10mph winds, but we were worried about the rain coming the entire way. Luckily it held off. We had about 10 people there with a pretty wide range in abilities. Two were racers who were kind enough to give hints too all of us about riding in a group, how a pace line works, and just general help in drafting.

The only bad part was when some people (who had their MTB and were fixing to go on a ride), had let their dog loose, and what did it do? It ran right into the middle of the group. Only about 2 people made it in front. I'm still amazed that no one went down. The dog went right across the road, and we all went left, the dog started to go back left, but froze for a second, and luckily when one of the riders yelled stay, the dog stayed there long enough for us to get by. It was a close one though. That dang dog came so close to taking out my front wheel it wasn't even funny. But hey, we all stayed upright and finished the ride without any other incidences.

Now I just have to wait and see how long this nice weather lasts. The keep saying that's it's going to rain the next day, but the day keeps ending up beautiful. Wonder how long my luch will hold out.

I hadn't done any Mountain biking in a while,so I got out Captian Peg leg (a Cannondale with a lefty front shock) and did about 11 miles today. Could have done more, but that pesky 2300 feet of vertical gain slowed me. The only real glitch was at the end. I was crossing a stream, and the was short, but steep rise afterwards, I put it in my granny, but I was spun out(too low of a gear) and had to dab to keep from falling over.

Today I rode my husband's Christmas present. I gave him a bike trainor and my bike. (He gave me a Specialized Ruby for Christmas) Anyway, it was my first time on a trainer and I actually enjoyed it. The trainer came with a training CD by Chris Carmichael so I was entertained. I rode for 70 minutes and I felt just like I usually do when I ride outside, GREAT!!

I did my first ride (outside - been riding religiously on the trainer 2x a week) since late October today. Couldn't let a 70-degree day in January (!!!) pass by without hauling out my mountain bike and taking a spin around the easy single-track trails on our property. We'd already done a five-mile hike this morning, and I'm out of mountain biking shape, so this was a short ride but great fun. I took it easy, not knowing how riding on dry leaves would be, but didn't fall, thank goodness. It felt great to be riding outdoors again -- and in shorts and short-sleeves in January, no less!

DH came out and took some photos of my riding, so I changed my avatar to my mountain biking persona! (I sure wish TE allowed just slightly higher-resolution avatars; I had the devil of a time trying to shrink a photo to under 10K and still have it look human!!) Actually, you gals will be the judge if it looks human or not! :D

Emily

I rode 25 miles in 30 degree weather this morning ,but it was sunny. I was so tired the whole ride, I wanted to fall asleep. I think the cold weather is taking all my energy ,and fuel. I want warm weather to come back.

Great fudge ride. It was so cold my bottle froze solid (ask SK). But there was fudge at the end, a short hill and my longest ride in 6 months! :)

Not just any old fudge ride, mind you, it was the 2007 Group Stupid Fudge Ride.

I think it was a stroke of genius on SK's part to get the annual Group Stupid ride out of the way so early in the year.

Finally a day of less wind and some sunshine. Had a great ride listening to the birds tweeting. Felt like spring! Got passed by three much faster riders (judging by the logo on the jersey they were triathlese). All three were smiling and cheerful and said hi as they passed. Made me smile and happy too. Stopped half way for a cup of hot chocolate and to put on an extra layer (it wasn't as warm as I had expected despite the sunshine), but my hot chocolate was still too hot to drink. Fantastic thermal cup! And while I was stopped, another pro looking cyclist whizzed past and said hello and asked if I was ok. Nice to know someone would potentially stop if I wasn't.

Just the church commute and a few back and forths - rainy and 36 doesn't make me exactly want to go out for a long one.

Now I'm going to sneak out anyway. Temperature is about to start dropping like a rock and this stuff will freeze up. Woops, better go fast, it's 33 - that "cold line" is arriving.

the church commute - 35 miles round trip.
but when i left the house the weather channel announced 21 degree wind chill. i have never ridden in that cold. this is arizona for gosh sakes. anyway, i think i nailed the clothing this time - on my feet i had thin sock liners, stormsocks, shoes with booties over them plus gator toe covers over that. my toes didnt freeze off this time. it was around 40 when i rode home and i ran into the (37,000) marathoners finishing the PFChangs rock and roll marathon. passed several live bands. i just felt very slo-o-o-o-ow today in the cold. but i think it's more the extra weight i'm carrying in all that cold weather gear that makes me slower.