September 17 Rides

[DebW]

I did a lovely 25 mile loop through Wayland, Sudbury, and Marlboro. Passed the Wayside Inn of Longfellow fame, old Grist Mill, and the schoolhouse made famous by Mary's little lamb.

[HillSlugger]

I did three laps of an 11.6 mile loop, for a total of 35 miles; lap 1, 16.5 mph ave; lap 2, 15.5 mph ave; lap 3, 15.1 mph ave. My previous longest ride was 28 miles.

[Cassandra_Cain]

After spending the first 8 hours of the day moving all by myself - I counted some 29 trips up and down the 3 flights of stairs - I finished and of course, could think of nothing but riding.

Up the 4000 foot climb on the sandia crest, 14 miles. It was 60 when I started with a strong headwind. Wearing just a s/s jersey and shorts, it soon became rather epic. Dimming light as the evening drew cloer, gustier winds and a serious case of the chills epitomized the climb. After the first 1700 feet up or so I couldn't even feel my fingers, toes, or even my arms. Surprisingly my heart rate was rather low, averaging about a buck forty-five.

Somehow, a little after 2 hours of riding, I got to the top. The thermometer read 40. It was a rather odd scene....picture biker girl, gabbed up in pink from head to toe...shorts, and short sleeves - shivering!....being stared at by a half dozen or so of the parka wearing folks who had driven to the top. The one guy says, wow I admire you. I laughed....I thought, no I have a problem, and it has to do with sanity, nothing admirable!

I didn't stay up there for long at all, a few looks down at the view and I was chilled to the bone. Tried in vain to find newspaper, heh, to stuff down my jersey, but none was to be found!

The 14 mile ride down was more akin to bobsledding than riding. I was clenching the bars sooooo tight as I was virtually stiff going 40 down the mountain where the temp was also 40 degrees. I didn't even want to think about what that all equated with wind chill! When I got to the base and entered my car, I must have been shivering and clattering my teeth for a good 30 minutes~

ugggh, like the whimsical grasshopper, I have waited a good week or so too late to get armwarmers....TE should be shipping them any minute!

[Red Haired Girl]

Yikes! Glad my Saturday ride was warmer than yours! And yes, I will no go forthwith to the TE armwarmer page and order mine BEFORE it gets too cold. Thanks for reminding me!

But, chilled to the bone or not, I suspect the ride was more fun than moving!

[divingbiker]

After being a total slug yesterday, I decided I needed to move my butt this morning and did a 48.5 mile ride. I took the trail along the stream valley over to a small lake in College Park, MD, then rode on roads up through Greenbelt and into the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, took a short rest at the National Wildlife Refuge visitor center, went through Bowie, then back to Lake Artemesia and home again. Flat along the stream, a bit hilly on the road part. I passed three men on a hill and they couldn't stand it so they took a shortcut to catch up to me, then passed me for good. Nice weather, nice ride. First road ride with my Camelbak Dream. I like it.

[jobob]

Lee and I have started training (training ?? what is this word "training??") for the SF Randonneurs 200K brevet in January. I'm not so much concerned about the distance as I am about the climbing. Oh, and the fact that it'll probably be wretchedly cold and raining that day.

We're lucky to have a very scenic paved trail out by the SF bay near our home that circles the Coyote Hills Regional park. It includes a short yet moderately steep hill that I call my Nemesis Hill. It's roughly 1/2 mile with an average gradient of about 8% that kicks briefly up to over 15% in a couple of places, and with a couple of flat bits in between. So, for starters, we're going to do lots of repeats up that hill.

Today we rode out to the bay to warm up, turned back, headed up the Coyote Hills path, did 2 full circuits of that path including the nemesis hill (about 5 miles each circuit), then, after our 3rd time up nemesis, instead of doing the loop around the hills again we turned around at the bottom, and went up and down 2 more times for a total of 5 times up nemesis. Booyah ! It seemed to be getting easier for me, so the last time up I did as much of it as I could standing. Double booyah! It worked out to 28 miles and about 1350 feet of climbing altogether. We'll increase the number & intensity (speed, standing vs. sitting) of these repeats over time.

I'm really glad I did this today because early on in the ride I felt awful, I might be coming down with a cold and I thought that had a bit to do with it. Turns out I probably didn't eat enough beforehand because after I woofed down a Clif Shot I felt fine.

I hope to get in a few repeats of nemesis during the week, and next weekend we'll go for a hillier ride, maybe head out to Calaveras from out home. Who knows, maybe at this rate we'll even make it up that uber-stinker Sierra Road in a few weeks.

[mimitabby]

Cassandra, you are in New Mexico, what's this about dimming light? this is Sunday the 17th and it's 2pm here.

Today I did a Cascade bike club ride, called the Spawning cycle. There were 3 sized rides, and we did the littlest one because my sons' friend Susy has decided to get fit and get on a bike! so we all rode with her. It was not a long ride (I think it was about 14 miles) but there were some nasty hills, since it was around the Magnolia hill that we were riding. Susy walked up all the hills, but I puff puffed up all of them. Both of my sons rode fixy bikes and displayed their incredible strength by leaving me with all my 27 gears behind on every hill. My younger son (the stronger one) also passed me going downhill at 28 miles an hour (i was going 28mph, who knows what he was doing?!?!)

Susy had a good time on her old Schwinn. She was convinced it was too heavy but then i let her lift my steel Bianchi Veloce... see, your bike isn't THAT bad! (not much heavier than my modern cool bike)

Older son and I finished the ride up a hill to where I parked my car. He muscled his way to the top; i had to walk the last block... okay, i didn't HAVE to, i wanted to! and now it's starting to rain!

[Tater]

Went out on a 33 miler this afternoon. Took Hwy 44 through Star on over to Middleton and back. Nice ride, rather flat with just a few risers. Luckily the wind was pretty much non-existant. Smelled mint most of the way from Star to Middleton. I did find that I can make it a loop, but I think it may take me into more vehicles than I want to deal with for a Sunday spin.

[mimitabby]

Hey Tater! I got married at Liberty grange in Star.. isn't that on Highway 44?

[Kalidurga]

I had planned to head up to Gettysburg today to ride the rollers around the battlefield, but got a late start. So... headed over to my old standby, the C&O towpath.

As soon as I got on the path I realized that I had forgotten to check on the creak in my pedals after my last ride, so I decided to keep the ride short. Ended up doing 16.5 miles from Riley's Lock to Edwards Ferry, with beautiful weather and gorgeous views of the river.

[DebW]

Both of my sons rode fixy bikes and displayed their incredible strength by leaving me with all my 27 gears behind on every hill. My younger son (the stronger one) also passed me going downhill at 28 miles an hour (i was going 28mph, who knows what he was doing?!?!)

Mimi, you understand that someone on a fixie has NO CHOICE but to climb fast, since they can't gear down and they can't let their pedal speed drop too much.

[mimitabby]

Mimi, you understand that someone on a fixie has NO CHOICE but to climb fast, since they can't gear down and they can't let their pedal speed drop too much.

Deb, I think older son was trying to explain that to me, but i was still very impressed. he also told me that his bike had a lower gear than my other son (the one who went over 28mph) BECAUSE he is not strong enough! (when he gets stronger, he says he will get a bigger gear? or a harder gear?)

and neither of them have a freewheel, which boggles MY mind.
ps both of these guys have roadbikes and mtbikes too