February 14th ride

I have never started a ride thread and the only reason I am doing it today is because I rode OUTSIDE for the first time since February 3rd! And I am soooooo happy :D:D. One of the shop riders sent out an e-mail yesterday saying that he was going to get out today and he asked if anyone wanted to join him. The responses varied from the enthusiastics YES to the ARE YOU CRAZY?! Granted, there is still a ton of snow out there but the sun is out and the roads are clear so why not? There were 9 guys and me (yes, lucky me!). We stayed inside the park. It was a great ride. There were some patches of snow and tons of potholes so you had to be alert. I did 31 miles and was covered from head to toe with mud. My entire face was brown with mud but that's what you get for riding in the back of the pack. :D Man, am I happy right now.

Awesome that you got to ride outside!!! Sounds like a blast.

Some of my friends rode outdoors this morning, but alas, I couldn't join them.

54 hilly miles on the computrainer today for me . . .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chicagogal

54 hilly miles on the computrainer today for me . . .

---

Impressive!

Icy roads here. many car wrecks today. I don't think i'll be having that "Valentine's Day Ride" with my Sweetie today. :( Hurry up spring. Hurry up.

I had a beautiful ride with bright sun and 36 degree weather. The snow is still beautiful in the parks, the hawks are soaring and building their nests, and I was glad to be alive and biking.

My ride was only 10 miles with an avg speed of about 8 mph, but it was with my favorite valentines, hubby, son and daughter. We had a great ride and the weather was awesome about 58 degrees with a lot of sun.

ah fooey. we were going to ride downtown. Got 2 miles and my stomach alarm went off. Spent the next half hour at a cafe. Then DH went home to get the car to pick me and my bike up. Lucky this doesn't happen very often.

Dinky little ride of only 13 kms. since I woke up late, but i wanted to go the market for a coffee when it was still quiet before the Olympic crowds started sweeping in.

And I had to get back to wish my family in Ontario well today at their Chinese New Year's luncheon. So timing was important.

And later in afternoon, the crowds truly started to pour into our neighbourhood to get to Olympic venues. Cyclists really had to stay on the road. Of course beautiful spring weather helped encourage people to get out there.

So un-Winter Olympics like weather!

We are having a lovely break from winter here so I rode twice today!

First I took my brand-spankin' new mountain bike out for her maiden voyage. Wow does it feel different than my road bike! I went about 10 miles...about half of that was paved and the other half was an unimproved old railroad right of way that will eventually be paved. I got to experience dirt, pine needles, grass, sand, small gravel, medium gravel, humongous gravel, and a couple of big scary mud holes. I stayed upright, so all was good. I think I need a few tweaks to the handlebar set-up, but everything else felt pretty comfy.

Then when I got home, I decided to take my road bike out for a spin. I only did 10 hilly miles but that was enough. I think I was very tensed up on the mountain bike ride, so I felt pretty pooped on the road bike.

We need more snow here desperately, but I must say I really enjoyed the sun today.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pfunk12

I have never started a ride thread and the only reason I am doing it today is because I rode OUTSIDE for the first time since February 3rd! And I am soooooo happy :D:D. One of the shop riders sent out an e-mail yesterday saying that he was going to get out today and he asked if anyone wanted to join him. The responses varied from the enthusiastics YES to the ARE YOU CRAZY?! Granted, there is still a ton of snow out there but the sun is out and the roads are clear so why not? There were 9 guys and me (yes, lucky me!). We stayed inside the park. It was a great ride. There were some patches of snow and tons of potholes so you had to be alert. I did 31 miles and was covered from head to toe with mud. My entire face was brown with mud but that's what you get for riding in the back of the pack. :D Man, am I happy right now.

---

I would have loved to ride outside today. Instead, I did 22mi in the basement.

I got to do the 40 (but it was really 46) mile Worst Day of the Year Ride with my sweetie, something that rarely happens these days. A perfect Valentine's treat!

And the weather was actually pretty great, all things considered. The rain stopped just as we started, and there was even some sun by the end.

It was the maiden voyage on my bike with my new 11-speed groupset, and boy did I need it. I would NOT have made it up the biggest hill on the ride without my new compact double and some extra gears. Oof. But it was a great ride. Didn't think I was that sore until I hopped on the xtracycle with the boys to go to the grocery and could barely peddle home.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MDHillSlug

I would have loved to ride outside today. Instead, I did 22mi in the basement.

---

I assume there's no safe place to ride out your way? That's the nice thing about Rock Creek Park.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pfunk12

I assume there's no safe place to ride out your way? That's the nice thing about Rock Creek Park.

---

The main roads by me are barely full width; I have no idea about the more country roads I like to ride on. I guess I could have driven to Beach Drive.

Wonderful powder today at the small, Ski Cooper today in Leadville Colorado. We came to this small, family-oriented area to avoid the crowds of the big resorts and to get ourselves acclimated to the altitude. Of the many years I've been coming to Colorado, I think today was the first time we ever had more than about 3 inches of "powder". Empty trails, no lift lines (sloooow chairs), and a mix of snow showers and sun all day. It was fantastic.
Tomorrow is Breckenridge.
:D:D:D
Have fun biking.

My husband was sweet enough to encourage me to ride 18.5 miles with him. I felt terrible because the weather turned sour with a cold front coming in just as he set off for the rest of his ride. He was dressed for it but the winds got blustery, it was a beautiful ride while I was along!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 7rider

Wonderful powder today at the small, Ski Cooper today in Leadville Colorado. We came to this small, family-oriented area to avoid the crowds of the big resorts and to get ourselves acclimated to the altitude. Of the many years I've been coming to Colorado, I think today was the first time we ever had more than about 3 inches of "powder". Empty trails, no lift lines (sloooow chairs), and a mix of snow showers and sun all day. It was fantastic.
Tomorrow is Breckenridge.
:D:D:D
Have fun biking.

---

Awesome, 7! Glad to hear your vacation started off so well. Enjoy!!!

Yesterday we had The "Valentine's Day ride" a day early. My DH and I went 38 miles in perfect Arizona winter sunshine. It was our first time on this route. The distance, and the ride profile were great as long as we didn't look too closely at the scenery- we were surrounded by copper mine tailings piles for half the ride.

Today, my Dh went running and I rode 42 miles with with a group that was just a bit too fast for me, especially after yesterday. They are a nice group and very encouraging, it was a beautiful route that I've done before, and they regrouped & waited for everyone about every 6-8 miles, but I was discouraged about dropping off the back almost every time. I felt like I was pushing myself to keep up, and couldn't and then ending up riding alone about half the time.