Weekend Ride 8/11

So I haven't riden in quite a while....
Found a "meet-up" group - Grumpy Old Cyclist over 50 and today was the first ride. Three of us, two guys and me, rode bike paths and roads for something like 40 miles. Not too fast pace, mainly flat, but there was a rather nasty hill.
I've decided that the path designers were sadistic - at the end of a run, you have to make a hard turn to down ramp for a road crossing. This wasn't once or twice, but several times.
But the company was good, I survived....
AND across the parking lot from the rendezvous place was a bike shop, where I was tempted by shiny new bikes (on sale!) for commuting. :)

Yay Beth! That must mean you're feeling a lot better! Congratulations!

I did the lbs ride last minute, which was pretty stupid on my part. Nothing to drink but water, and after the ride when I got dressed for work, I discovered I forgot my sandals. Luckily I had shoes at work, because my bike shoes looked kind of orthopedic with my dress, but with the discomfort factor of cleats.

Without time to get my fast bike ready, I rode my steel bike. It was really wet and gross out. I made the mistake of drafting but that ended quickly after a delicious mouthful of salty crunchy puddle splash. Without being able to draft, on that bike, I really struggled to keep up for the rest of the ride, and got dropped a bunch of times. And this was the slow group. I need to remember not to ride the steel bike on group rides, unless suffering is desirable.

It was still fun.

I've been sick, but rested Friday, so set out for a slow, short ride. Ended up with a just under 15 mile ride at a pace not much less than my average.
It was about 90% humid, but not so hot, about 75. Rode up Strawberry Hill to start, when a fast rider passed us, said hi, and I responded," yea, we're old, slow, and tired..." By the time we got to the flatter part of the ride, I was moving along as more usual, and then we decided to go up the other bigger hill in town. Took the long way back, and except for going slower than usual up the hills, I survived.
Was hoping to do a longer ride today, as I have a special 4 course dinner/wine pairing tonight that I bid on at a charity auction. Been looking forward to this all summer, but I need to get the metabolism going. It's been raining, still, though just very wet outside now. More storms on the radar.

Did a ride this morning with friends. We thought it was going to be pouring rain, but it turned out to be beautiful. 27 miles, more or less, faster than I expected (one friend hadn't ridden in weeks and she was pushing us to go faster!) so we averaged about 14.5 mph throughout the whole ride. Not bad.

Did a 20 mile ride yesterday with my other half. It was a rainy day but we watched the radar and made it with very little rain.:rolleyes:

Did 77 today. Coulda left out that first hill (at 1 mile) without missing it. Gorgeous morning. Felt really great for the first 40 miles. The last 37, not so much. Chose my route/direction based on wanting to ride up a particular hill (which is way fun as a 40+ mph downhill). Okay, so that hill started at about 41 miles, and sucked me dry for the rest of the ride.:o. I hurt EVERYWHERE. Cheek/saddle interface, neck & shoulders, LEGS, etc. This is the first time I ever remember just wanting to quit, and wondering how I was going to make it, anticipating all the uphill grades in the last 10 miles. Average speed dropped by 2 mph in that second half, but for me, 15.4 for 77 miles isn't that bad. I was wishing for somebody else to pull for a while!

I've gotta ride more, apparently. :rolleyes: Just haven't been getting out there enough.

This weekend was beautiful. Great temps, but fairly windy on Saturday. I had to take Friday off the bike. It was beautiful riding weather, too, but I had already made the mistake of riding on Thursday. My week starts on Monday and by Wednesday, I already had 100 miles in. I rode Thursday and had no juice in my legs. So, I should have taken Thursday off. Oh well. Saturday, it was windy, so I rode into the wind the first half of a fairly flat out-and-back. I did a few intervals into the wind. The return was a blast! Got in 37 miles Sat. Today, rode a hillier loop for 34 miles. I would have ridden more, but we had lunch plans a few towns over. I had to use my *new* arm warmers at the beginning of those rides... autumn is around the corner!!

We had a nice drop in temperature the last few days. The morning was cool, the sky was blue, and there was a slight breeze. I had a new handlebar and tape, so I decided on a shorter route to break things in.

I went down Huron River Drive. I kept having the urge to stop and take photos, so I gave in. I went a total of 30 miles and kind of treated them like intervals until I got to a spot that called out for a view and a photo. I think I had a smile on my face the whole ride. What a beautiful day!

Just got another 11 miles in. Trying to keep both my mind and body busy these days.

here I am before tonight's ride:

Cooler temps made for a nice riding weekend...finally! Got in 88 yesterday and 75 today.

lesson learned on todays ride. Yes it can actually reach feels like triple digits by 7:30 am- depending on the humidity. And no it is not wise to ride without gloves. Have you ever tried to wipe a drippy sweaty nose with a bare sweaty drippy hand. Not a good result.

15 miles at 15.3 .

I've done worse in similar temps. I have done better. It was a good ride, aside from the drippy nose part.

Mountain biking with my son on Saturday Morning for about 1 hour maybe 5-6 miles or so not sure though. Next time I will use my cyclometer app from my Android to keep track of how much of a distance we mountain bike.

Went yesterday on a very nice and scenic 27miles ride.. (thanks Catrin)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Giulianna23

Mountain biking with my son on Saturday Morning for about 1 hour maybe 5-6 miles or so not sure though. Next time I will use my cyclometer app from my Android to keep track of how much of a distance we mountain bike.

Went yesterday on a very nice and scenic 27miles ride.. (thanks Catrin)

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I really enjoyed our ride yesterday, we hit the country roads so I could show her a reindeer farm :) I would have enjoyed it more with fewer brake problems, but all is well that ends well. Time for my beloved Gunnar to hit the shop for some TLC.

Hi all...what great sounding rides...and the Skierchickie...15.4 over 77 miles, that's awesome! I completed a tour of 5 Covered Bridges in 85 miles. It was a fun route with roller downhills that allowed your momentum to carry you up the next hill. Only one 'walk-up' with a 14% grade.

It has been super hot in Tucson, and I do not do well when the temps are over 100, so I didn't ride all last week. Saturday, my DH and skipped our group's planned 50 mile ride and went 32 miles out by Saguaro National Park. We ran into them and they had decided to cut it short anyway.

Sunday we rode Mt. Lemmon. My husband, who is a much stronger rider than I am, is training for a big hill climb time trial next month and rode for an hour about 10.5 mph. I think I averaged 6.5 mph. He came down and met me, and rode back up hill with me to about milepost 9. During the climb, I counted 60 people who rode past me and I only passed two people.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by azfiddle

Sunday we rode Mt. Lemmon. My husband, who is a much stronger rider than I am, is training for a big hill climb time trial next month and rode for an hour about 10.5 mph. I think I averaged 6.5 mph. He came down and met me, and rode back up hill with me to about milepost 9. During the climb, I counted 60 people who rode past me and I only passed two people.

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Yeah, but you made it up the hill without walking! Yay You! :D

I know Mt. Lemmon road, and can't imagine that it's much better than when I lived there in the late 70's. It's still a uphilll slog.

Yes, it's true- it's just a constant climb and I am always proud of myself, whether I ride up 5 miles, 15 miles or up to the top. But it's still a little demoralizing when everyone passes me....

We did it last year! What fun. You described the hills really well. Well supported too. More food than I could ever eat (and ride). What a great ride. Maybe again next year. Glad you had a good ride.

We did 52 miles around the neighborhood. Happy to be back on the bike after the STP. It had been 3 1/2 weeks without riding (son's wedding, vacation to ID and MT). Nice to be out in the heat. Love our very short, but very sweet SUMMER!

Last weekend was another rental car trip to the Tahoe area, which meant more climbing on the Bike Friday Pocket Companion folding bike. This time I climbed both sides of Luther Pass on Saturday, and the long Carson Valley side of Kingsbury Grade on Sunday. As usual, this was my first time up both these climbs. I am always looking for new climbs to explore.

I also recorded video of the riders in the NCNCA Hillclimb District Championship, which took place on the long side of Kingsbury.

Luther Pass was almost easy. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The southbound side is the long side. According to my Garmin Connect data, the real climbing is only 4.26 miles. It's a very gradual climb from Highway 50 to the bottom of the real climb. Near the summit it flattens out for a while. The northbound side is the shorter side at only 2.57 miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209415172

Kingsbury Grade was harder than I thought it would be. The first half wasn't too bad, but the last part is unrelenting, so the suffering increased accordingly. Thinking of the riders I witnessed flying up the mountain at 15+ mph in the hill climb time trial only added to it when I thought of my speed that was probably only a third of theirs. I tried to remind myself that they're much younger and aren't overweight like me, but I still wished I could at least climb it at 10 mph. Maybe someday.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209940083

Here's video of the climbs and descents of both sides of Luther Pass. Top speed was 40.2 mph (caution heavy breathing!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7d-LBGRW30

Here's the riders in the hill climb time trial up Kingsbury Grade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLNWE6EJJgc

Here's the climb and descent of Kingsbury Grade (caution heavy breathing!). Top speed was 43.9 mph. No speed limits broken, as the speed limit on that side of the mountain is 45 mph. The Lake Tahoe side has a 35 mph speed limit, and I'm not sure I've ever exceeded it by much. The pavement on that side sucks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDJz8nYTqMk

Top of southbound side of Luther Pass

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/7...33dd24e0_z.jpg
Bike Friday at top of Luther Pass southbound by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Top of northbound side

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8292/7...03ae74eb_z.jpg
Bike Friday at top of Luther Pass northbound by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

About to descend after climbing the northbound side

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8282/7...d82ea641_z.jpg
Luther Pass 6% grade sign by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Views from the flat area near the summit. Pics taken on the way back down.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/7...2a60b73c_z.jpg
view from near summit of Luther Pass 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7...0dd10211_z.jpg
view from near summit of Luther Pass 3 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8294/7...8ecbf5a9_z.jpg
view from near summit of Luther Pass by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Top of Kingsbury Grade

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7...818b46f4_z.jpg
Bike Friday at Daggett Summit by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr