January 29th rides

This was my first ride of the year and my first ride on my Jamis Coda. I didn't have a lot of time, and I had to negotiate the ice and snow still on my driveway by walking down the hill in my Merrills, and changing into my bike shoes and booties outside.
It was great to be outside on a bike, but I did not feel like I was riding a "flat bar road bike," as others have said. In fact, it felt just like the old mountain bike I had been using as a commuter, except that it fits me! My speed seemed pitiful, but when I told my husband, he told me that he had forgot to reset the computer for the new wheel size and that would make a 10% difference. Still, I think that when I ride this to work, I will have allow for an extra 15 minutes commuting time. But, it will be nice to have a pannier, instead of a backpack.
The bike is so small it only fits one bottle cage and it's so tight, I can't get the bottle out! I think I may have to use a little one. And I think the seat hight needs tweaking.
At least I dressed correctly, maybe a bit warm, but it was 37 out and I have not ridden below 40, except in the woods. Saturday is supposed to be 45, so I will go for a longer ride after all the tweaking is done,

Robyn,

You might take a look at those cages that fit on the back of your saddle.

Today was hill repeats. Not "hill play" as I've been doing to stave off the boredom. Honest to goodness repeats on Newport Coast. Hill repeats with a purpose and my eyes glued to the power meter. I got six of them in. Not bad. 22.4 miles and 3100 ft. of climbing.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2174/...4b51768f9f.jpg

This came after a talking to from the coach about how the steep hills that I've been climbing are not going to help me and that I need sustained climbing. When that is not available...hill repeats with a purpose. So that's what I did today.

Wow, Brandy, very nice! My coach has added, for this next month, something called GWHR (Gut Wrenching Hill Repeats) :o afraid, very afraid.

Brandy, how long would you say the hills are, and how steep, that you're doing?

Today, no ride outdoors. An hour of body conditioning/resistance class, followed by an hour of spin class. Spin class takes on a whole new meaning after an hour of total body conditioning, including squats and lunges. :eek:

(This is new to me...I actually went home in the morning right after class and took a 30 minute nap. :eek:) But, I know I will build up to this and just have to push through the initial surprise to my body!

Thanks Starfish-Here's the info and charts for Newport Coast. It's the top entry...

http://epictrain.com/My_Favorite_Climbs.html

1.6 miles with 462 Elevation Gain 5.83% Grade

Brandy, That is a LOT of climbing! Wow. I have a question. How do you figure the Grade of a hill if you have the elevation and the mileage? I know there must be some equation. I'm not understanding. There is this huge hill I see ppl training on that is right down the road from me and it is 717ft of elev. gain in .86 miles :eek: The one I finally did last year that I was so proud of was 306 ft in 1.06 miles. So how do I know the grade?:confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ticia

Brandy, That is a LOT of climbing! Wow. I have a question. How do you figure the Grade of a hill if you have the elevation and the mileage? I know there must be some equation. I'm not understanding. There is this huge hill I see ppl training on that is right down the road from me and it is 717ft of elev. gain in .86 miles :eek: The one I finally did last year that I was so proud of was 306 ft in 1.06 miles. So how do I know the grade?:confused:

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TICIA!!! :) Good to see you here! It's a good amount of climbing for the limited amount of time that I have to ride on Mon/Tues mornings.

There's a Percent Grade Calculator on the bottom of the page in the links section on George's website.
http://epictrain.com/links.html

Yes, your hill is steep! Around 15.8% average grade. Your other hill is about 5.46% average grade...pretty similar, though shorter in length than Newport Coast.

Robin,

Do you have the water bottle cage on the seat tube or the down tube (the diagonal)? Mine is tight on my road bike on the seat tube, but fine on the down tube.

You'll be faster than on your mountain bike just by virtue of less friction due to the narrowness of the tires.

Thank you B that was EXACTLY what I was looking for :D

Commute in: 46 degrees. 20 mph wind from the south. Brought extra clothes.
Get to work. Realize I forgot the bag with the extra clothes (and the work clothes to change into). I am wearing holey, grunged out purple sweat pants over tights that used to be white... Go to bookstore where there are 8 or 9 pairs of XXL and XL sweat pants... and a single "storm duds" bottoms, size Small, which fortunately fits.
Plow through that wind to LBS and roasted at 52 degrees, to look at Dahon catalog because LBS guy emailed that yea, they're going to sell them so I can make an order for a folding bike. Oh, my! There are so many! P:ut air in tyres (let em go a little soft 'cause it's my snow bike and last time I rode it there was snow and the studs grab better with a little less pressure). Flew back with firm tyres and the wind behind me.
Temperature careens to 26. Wind shifts and increases. Wild stsorm blows through. I look out to check on my bicycle and for the third time, the other bike's light is on... so I go out and turn it off because mine was turned on the last time, too... and there's a sheet of ice over everything. (Karma-rattles on whatever dweeb thinks it is cute to turn our lights on. The other person can take his/hers off; mine's ductaped on but I"ll have to take it off anyway 'cause the batteries are dead now.)
It's 13 at 6:00 when I start home and there's horizontal snow and 35 mph winds... but it's at my back. And that Gazelle and its 50 pounds is being blown right up the (so-called) hill... but it's so heavy and studly that those little places I have to go with cross winds are no problem, and around here drivers don't freek out, they just slow down and stay home. And it's not so snowy you can't see, and because it is at my back I can see, and fortunately it's enough snow to reflect light well because my headlight is dead and I am going to put a little card on it that says why? with a tear ... I mean, this weird person could just steal the lights or do damage... why just turn the lights on? (We do have some people with odd compulsions here, whose meds may need some tweaking. I just don't know.) It's also weird that there weren't limbs down but maybe that's more with NS winds if I'm going East.
I get home and the winds pick up even more - glad to be here!!!

Wow Sue...what a commute!

Tulip, my bottle cage is on the down tube. I think by getting a cage with a looser fit, I will be able to pull the thing out. After all, my bottle drinking skills are on the edge to begin with. Change one thing, and my precarious coordination is gone. I finally stopped using my Camelbak last season. after 6 years of riding! I am not going to get the cages that go behind the seat, because I have a rack attached there and I don't think there's room for anything else. This bike is not going to be used for long rides. My commute to work is 14.5 miles and I usually only take one drink in the morning. On the way home I have a routine of stopping at a park and taking a long drink on those really hot days at the end of the school year (Why are the 90 degree days always on the day I decide to commute?).
I can always put extra bottles in the pannier. Since it's going to be 45 on Saturday, I am going to test the bike out more; probably do a 20 mile ride.

Riding this bike will make me feel really strong on my Kuota, which is happily on the trainer, out of the sandy, slushy street.

I jumped on the trainer last night. Then I had a flat. Who has a flat on the trainer?

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Originally Posted by Robyn Maislin

This was my first ride of the year and my first ride on my Jamis Coda.

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Yay! Hard to have a bike saying "ride me!" and the weather saying "nah, not today..."
Glad you finally got out and trust you have a great day on Saturday's ride. (Fingers crossed for good weather)

And SouthernBelle... too funny! A flat on your trainer... :rolleyes:

On the 29th I took an hour on false flats to ride 22kms... I "big-chain-ringed" the whole ride and did a couple of intervals. Legs were a bit tired...