March outdoor rides - let's drop the Lion!

A perfect day of riding in the Santa Monica Mountains. 6 hours of hard climbing, twisty roads, great descents and ending with ocean breezes… and weather in the 80’s. I love living here!!

Spent Saturday photographing an annual Native American Pow Wow on an ancient burial site found while doing construction on the CSU Long Beach campus. The many conversations during the day gave me a look into a spirituality that is an integral and seamless part of their very being. I used the feelings of those conversations to help on some of today’s climbs!

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Been riding 5x a week here in southern Arizona. Today was windy, but not as bad as Sunday, which I took as a day off. DH rode and said the wind was brutal. It's been gorgeous weather -- generally around 65 when we head out at 10:30 am or so and low 70s by the end of the ride. My rides have been in the 25-35 mile range, which is perfect for me. I really don't care for really looooonnnnng rides.

Thanks to spending the winter in warmer climes, I've put in more miles for this time than any year ever. Tomorrow I should hit 1000 miles (all outdoor). Woo-hoo! I am sure I'll be slowing down at the end of the month, though, as we head back to KC and then onward in future travels. It's nice to start the year with a bang, though. :D

Many of us are envying you, Emily.

My post-work outdoor ride got rained out last night. I was actually okay with that, because I thought the rain would be heavy and would therefore wash the salt from the roads and from my car. But no, this winter is determined to be a pest for as long as possible. The rain was not that heavy, it mixed with the salt to create a dirty white schmutz on the roads, which sprayed all over the car while I drove home from work. I could barely see out the windshield. Then the temperature plummeted overnight, so this morning I was standing outside in a <10 degree wind chill trying to clean the headlights. And the roads are still all white from salt.

I had to clean my bike after last weekend's ride, even though I used fenders on both tires. Now I will need the fenders again for this weekend's ride, and will have to clean the bike again when I'm done.

To make matters worse, there is a chance of snow again on Monday, which of course means more salt on the roads. If we don't get a good soaking rain to clear it all away, I may have to stop riding outside, because it irritates my eyes and throat and when it's really thick it causes asthma problems.

I've been out on my bike every day this week while I'm on my spring break. Longest ride was only about 28 miles, but it adds up.

Mostly my regular rides out to Saguaro National Park and the base of Mt. Lemmon. The brittlebush are in bloom right now- gorgeous yellow everywhere.

Today's ride was more of an adventure though. Wednesday I realized my chain had over 3000 miles and thought I should get it checked. Thursday it seemed like shifting wasn't going right, but hadn't gotten it in to the shop. Today-- I started on the 8 mile one-way loop at Saguaro National Park and as I started the series of rollers, I realized I was no longer able to get into all my gears. Suddenly, I only had ONE gear in the back :eek:

Fortunately for me, I was still able to shift the front into both chain rings and I was stuck in the next to lowest gear. Good thing, as there is a mile+ climb that starts around 5 miles into the loop and I am almost always in the lowest gear. Today, I rode it in the 2nd lowest gear. But did a lot of coasting on the downhill.

I took it to the bike shop and the cable was shredded inside the mechanism that the hoods cover up. First they were talking major tune-up, replace all the cables and housings, replace the bar tape, check that chain.. OMG I was seeing $$$ and they told me they were so busy they wouldn't get to it until Weds. Not so bad if I was working next week, but that would be 5 days off in prime cycling weather. I left with a sad face ...

But then the shop called and they fixed the cable, saved the bar tape, didn't need to replace the chain... $24.01. Picked it up at closing time on the same day. Wow- I gave them a couple of my cds from my old band as a "tip"- that was all I could think of but I was so happy about how it turned out.

So now I can ride tomorrow and all next week :D

Last weekend we did the Skinny Tire Festival in Moab. Fantastic weekend, with great weather! We did the 2-day version. First day went to Dead Horse Point. In past years we had done the shortened version of that ride, but this year DH had his heart set on riding from town (despite our lack of winter conditioning - longest ride this year was only 18 miles!). It was hard, but so worth it! 70 miles (including the commute from our hotel) and about 4000 feet of climbing according to my Garmin, more climbing than I had ever done. And we were rewarded by this gorgeous view:

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Cyclist overlooking Dead Horse Point by DutchRosie, on Flickr

Luckily we still had the legs for the next day, which was only 53 miles with much less climbing, but also gorgeous, along the Colorado River (scenic Hwy 128).

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By Moab Action Shots

Yay, I can post here. First ride of the year, 19.5 miles with 1,052 feet of climbing. Slow, but I'm on my way. It was really nice out, 55 when we started, but really windy. Of course just after DH commented that the roads were in pretty good shape, we got on a series of 2 roads that were just full of puddles, snow melt, and mud. For awhile, it felt like mountain biking. After that, the roads were good, but the sun went in while we were riding through the water, and I was a little wet and nicely spattered with mud. The sun did come back out, I made it up the hill, and up my driveway, but that one had me going 5 mph.
On our way out, our driveway neighbors were also coming back from their first outdoor ride of the year. THey are 15 years younger, she's a spin/boot camp instructor and he's a triathlete. They were walking their bikes up the driveway and swearing as we were riding down :).
Guru got a nice bath when we got home and now I am going to do the same.

You ladies are posting some really great pictures here. I should take more photos during my rides.

We had another good ride today. I led a club ride again, starting at the same place as the ride I lead last weekend, but using a totally different route. It was chilly at the start, cloudy and in the mid 50s, but like clockwork the sun came out just as we started to ride, and it was up to 68 when we finished. We rode 37 miles in all. It was an exploratory ride for me, a chance to check out some roads near a park-and-ride lot that I'd like to use as a ride start for some new routes. We also explored a couple of residential areas on the Chesapeake Bay.

Due to the chill at the start I was wearing a wool cap, windproof gloves, my Subzero tights and neoprene booties. By the first rest stop (after 9 miles) I was able to take off the cap and gloves. At the second rest stop I took off the booties, so this was my first ride without any shoe covers since last September. Though I felt I would have been comfortable with lighter tights (or capris or knee warmers), I didn't feel uncomfortably warm in the Subzero tights. I have problems with cold legs and feet (more than most people, it seems) and these tights keep me comfortable with temps in the mid-40s, so I'm impressed that I'm okay with them when it warms up. I was also happy with my Gore Ultralight jacket -- I wore it for the whole ride, and it was more than I needed near the end, but I didn't feel uncomfortable or get really sweaty while wearing it.

And now we prepare for snow Sunday night into Monday. Still, I left my floor pump in the car after today's ride, in the hopes that I'll be able to do an outdoor ride after work later this week.

Probably should have ridden today, but didn't. Still too icy, and I'm a little blue. knew I should have gone to the mall and walked.

azfiddle, I now know that climb at Saguaro NP well, and you were very lucky you didn't get stuck with only a high gear! That would be a loooooong walk.

Glad things all turned out good for you re. the bike repair. My chain is getting stretched too and getting a new one is at the top of my list!

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Originally Posted by Fredwina

Probably should have ridden today, but didn't. Still too icy, and I'm a little blue. knew I should have gone to the mall and walked.

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Maybe tomorrow? Feel better. The ice should be gone soon.

I've been riding nearly every day here in southern AZ, as mentioned, but now that it's March, the winds have increased considerably. My February rides were mostly fun, with light winds. Now it's a battle every day. Temps are fine, sunshine is great, but oh, the wind. I thought riding at N. Padre Island in January was hard with the wind there, but this is every bit as challenging.

Ugh...wind.

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

I've been riding nearly every day here in southern AZ, as mentioned, but now that it's March, the winds have increased considerably. My February rides were mostly fun, with light winds. Now it's a battle every day. Temps are fine, sunshine is great, but oh, the wind. I thought riding at N. Padre Island in January was hard with the wind there, but this is every bit as challenging.

Ugh...wind.

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We rain into a headwind in the last few miles of my ride yesterday. All the other riders were ahead of me, except one. Since I was the ride leader, I stopped at an intersection to let the last rider catch up. When he caught up, he stopped too, and we took an impromptu break. We were both tired and just not feeling like fighting the wind.

We finished the ride together, reminiscing about days past when we had other struggles finishing rides on that same road, due to extreme heat and injuries. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.

Emily- I started a ride yesterday and turned around much earlier than planned. I couldn't fathom riding into the headwind for another two hours, and then playing at the St. Patrick's Day festival (also outside and in the wind). Took the tailwind home.

With the glorious weather here on Saturday (sunny and temps in the low 50s), I went out for a training ride with the boys on the team. As Crankin' said, the roads here are a pot-holed mess, so you definitely need to be careful, especially when riding in a paceline at speed :eek:. Luckily, no flats. I managed to hang with the boys until we got to Harvard - they were going to go and try the new race course loop at speed (we lost a road race in Sterling, MA this year, but are getting a new one in Harvard in its place). I rode back with one other teammate, and finished with just about 58 miles and 2900 ft (nothing compared to riding fat bikes in Maine!).

Unfortunately, yesterday was a bit cooler. Ok, it was cold. Temps never got much above 30 during the day so in addition to the pot holes, we were also watching for ice on the roads. Went out with the boys again, but we all struggled with the most god-awful wind. It seemed we rode into a headwind no matter which direction we went. Managed another 57 miles and 2600 ft, and then spent the remainder of the day on my couch. Yup - we must be heading into race season...

SheFly

2 rides this weekend- hooray! Saturday was a flat ride along the canal path on the MTB. 26 miles, and it was warm, sunny, and windy. So nice! On Sunday, I did a solo ride while DH did boy stuff. I ended up with 27 miles and 2300 feet of climbing. At one point in that ride, I was averaging 95'/mile of elevation gain :eek:, but it felt so good to get out, even if it was colder than Saturday and I was underdressed.