Nov.21/09 cycling

[shootingstar]

Only 28 kms. but it feels like a minor achievement at this time of year because it was raining steadily during latter 50% of ride. Cold when it rained, enough to freeze fingers. Hills during such weather always feel a tad longer.

Well at least, it probably snowed some more in local mountains for others to enjoy before the big avalanche of Olympic crowds in a few months.

[drdwin]

DH and I decided to opt out of today's ride and hang X-Mas lights instead. The weather is making a change for the worse on Monday and I hung the lights last year when it was only 20-30 out - not doing the same this year. Will definitely ride tomorrow.

[violetpurl]

Yay! 11 miles on my road bike (clipless), no mishaps!!! The first mile was shaky, finally settled down and had a great time. About time - it only took three weeks of ignoring it in favor of the Hybrid.

[OakLeaf]

Just a short one with the club today, and skipped the usual Saturday morning breakfast, so everyone could get home and watch the Ohio State-Michigan game (OSU 21-UM 10 go bucks).

33 miles, but we threw in two of the biggest hills in the county to make it worth coming out for. We had another big hill planned, but the road was covered with fresh deep chip-seal. Bummer. Pretty mixed group of riders, it was fun.

[kimikaw]

Yay! 11 miles on my road bike (clipless), no mishaps!!! The first mile was shaky, finally settled down and had a great time. About time - it only took three weeks of ignoring it in favor of the Hybrid.

Great job, that's a good feeling as the clipless starts to feel a bit more natural!

[kimikaw]

Our "biking" today began with bringing the now 6 week old or so old bike (with almost 250 miles on it) back to the shop to get the fit tweaked. I was feeling like I was reaching too far forward, and that maybe the seat was too low, as if my pedal stroke wasn't complete. However, being a new rider, I wasn't sure if that was the case. Earlier this week I'd started a "CycleStrong" indoor class at another LBS. The trainer asked me if I had any discomfort in my back, then told me while she was no bike fitting expert, it appeared I needed to have my seat moved up and forward. Hmmm, that seemed to match what I was sensing.

Spent about an hour at the shop I'd bought the bike getting fit tweaked. Seat up, moved forward. Handlebar stem swapped out for a shorter one, bars moved down - from being about a centimeter higher than seat to about a half inch below. Wow, much better.

So for the ride, hubby, 10yo son, and I rode about 8 miles on a local trail. That's the longest my son has ridden (and the poor guy is on a MTB). Nice time! Next summer we'll have to work him up to a bit longer. Plus I'm kinda thinking I want to learn to mountain bike (on forest trails, nothing too difficult) Could be a nice family sport.

[RolliePollie]

51 miles for me today in the miserable wind! I was freezing cold for about the last 25 miles but it was just because I was under-dressed. It was a nice ride though, just got really annoying because of the wind.

So I had a weird thing happen when I got back to the car, which I'm going to blame on riding hard to fight the wind and on being too cold. Everything was fine and then all of a sudden on the freeway, my quads just freaked out. It wasn't exactly cramps, but they hurt SO BAD that I was doing lamaze breathing to deal with the pain. I finally had to pull off the road and stop. I tried rubbing them out but it wasn't helping, so I pounded on them with my fists and although I probably looked like a crazy woman beating herself, it helped a little. By the time I got home 45 minutes later, they felt fine again. I've never had this happen before. I've had leg cramps, but this was different. I kinda hope it doesn't happen again.

[Crankin]

Had a nice 21 mile ride with my son and DH. My DH worked on my other son's old Serotta, to fix up for Josh to ride. After putting on 2 new tires and a new chain, and flat pedals, it looked new. Josh rode out here from the city, on his commuter, although I did pick him up at the end of the bike trail and brought him to the house.
Anyway, I was a little nervous about him riding a bike with a double, after using mountain bike gearing, but of course, he just got right on and climbed up the 10% grade hill. It was gorgeous out, about 55 and mostly sunny. We saw lots of cyclists and it seems like there were a lot of cows out grazing today, too.
Josh decided to keep the Serotta at our house, as it's just too nice to ride in Boston or Cambridge. I guess the clipless pedals are coming next...

[PamNY]

Once again my ride was cut short by a chance to view the Great Horned Owl. On the way home, I realized that I am feeling slightly more comfortable biking in traffic, and I feel good about that. I'll never be the bravest rider in NYC traffic, and there are some situations I avoid, but I am more confident than I was this time last year.

I did get two compliments: a lady in Central Park stopped to thank me for not biking illegally on the paved path, and a cop praised me for being so well-lit and wearing screaming yellow. The fact that people mentioned these two things tells you a lot about NYC bikers.

[blackhillsbiker]

I ran all my errands on my bike today It was amazingly warm and beautiful today. My only complaint was the wind, and it really wasn't that bad. About 15 miles in all.

Deb