April 28 ride reports

[SouthernBelle]

What?! I'm the first!

Meg & I headed out about 8:00 a.m. Was a bit chilly so we started out with some layers which were later shed. We saw emus and made friends with a puppy and later with some Great Pyrenees. It seemed like a good idea to be friendly with them rather than be chased by them. Big.

Some idjit threw a Sonic cup at Meg and hit her on the hand.

I accidently reset my trip meter on my puter so estimating our trip at about 52 miles. Headwinds for about the last third.

[Mr. Bloom]

SilverSon and I did 9.5 miles. Weather was great. We were shooting for 20, but it was a tough course for him and he was uncomfortable on real roads with cars. But, we stretched him a bit, but I honored his discomfort and we turned around.

It was still a good ride, wonderful weather and magnificent flowers

[sbctwin]

Sulis and I met up and we did 50 miles today. We had it all, hills, tailwind, crosswinds and headwinds, but all in all, it was wonderful. Such a beautiful day today in the Salt Lake Valley

[Meg McKilty]

Some idjit threw a Sonic cup at Meg and hit her on the hand.

Let the record stand: I was highly offended.

Mr. Silver, how old is Silver Son?

[missymaya]

I had a great ride today!!
So our weekend club ride was cancelled, so I went to the big Saturday morning Lakemont ride (practically everybody shows up to this; 4 different rides start from here with different routes,speed, and level of skill). I decided (and was pushed by some I ride with ) to ride with the A group, which is hella fast. But I've been wanting to ride faster, especially since I want to race.
Oh My Goodness, the 'soft pedal' was at 23mph and we hung at 28mph+ mostly There were about 60 of us and only 3 women out of the whole group.
The thing that was great about this was, I actually hung on for 35 miles out of 40!! These guys (and 2 other ladies) were fast!! I'm proud of myself for riding in this group, even though I got dropped the last 5 or so miles and 'pedaled' home at 20 mph. I think I might have to ride with this group much more often just to satisfy the sadist in me

[makbike]

The club offered a 30/60/100 ride through southern Indiana today and I decided to participate. I awoke thinking I would ride the 60 but once on the road I decided I was up to a century and so I switched plans midstream. The course started out fairly flat and remained so for the first 60 miles or so. At the midway lunch stop my average speed as a sound 16.5 mph. After leaving the lunch stop things got ugly - the winds picked up and we battled a head wind most of remaining 40 miles. At the last store stop I pulled BF aside and asked that he stick around the starting point until I got in or until he got a phone call to come get me. The muscles in my lower back were starting to talk to me and I knew the 30 remaining miles were mostly hills. We left the store stop together and he and his riding partner took off and I continued to battle the wind. At the most I could get my speed up to 13 or 14 mph when fighting the wind. My legs were starting to talk to me as well so I had a chorus of screaming body parts as I fought the wind and climbed the hills before me. I peaked a hill and saw BF waiting for me at the next turn. He stayed with me until I told him to go on for I knew he had a good ride going and I was slowing him down thus pulling his average speed down. He started to take off but reined his bike in and stuck close by for the remainder of the ride. So today I officially rode 103.94 miles and ended up with an average speed of 16.0 mph. It was a great day on the bike but I'm beat. I'm going to eat dinner (I'm treating myself to a steak and sweet potato). I do believe I'll be in bed early tonight with my cats nestled all around me.

[Mr. Bloom]

Mr. Silver, how old is Silver Son?

SilverSon is 13 1/2. Oh, the wind was fierce.

[cosc]

Whoa-hoo I finally went for a outside gorgeous ride after too long a lay off. I rode down the marina road but turned around because the traffic was too bad. I was surprised to meet my son who was walking. I talked a bit with him and started to ride and couldn't get my foot in my spd pedal. After 10 minutes cleaning around my cleat(had greasy dead bugs around it) I finally got back on the road. I rode 26 miles today.

[mimitabby]

Went for a little 10 mile ride with the DH. He was feeling pretty good after riding 50+ miles so I decided to challenge him to 10 more to wear him out.
He took me on a merry chase up and down hills, including a quick down and up which were too steep for me. At the top of the down, I had to gather my nerve... and went down the hill on my brakes with him yelling from way in front of me; YOU NEED YOUR MOMENTUM! (yeah, right)

at the bottom I had to go straight up. so I did. Fortunately, somehow i was in my lowest gear, and i slowly pedaled, slower, slower, slower. There were cars behind me and i was terrified because how slow can you go? afraid of falling, i couldn't unclip my feet, don't ask me why, so I moved closer to the curb and threw myself bike and all onto the freshly trimmed grass side strip.
no pain at all. I got up, and was shaking like a leaf.. DH was way way ahead of me, and of course, he missed the entire drama.

the rest of the ride was rather uneventful except for the fact that i was shook up. we rode behind our hill, and thus had to take the 14% grade switchbacks.. This time i was in the wrong gear, so I stood and took that hill
without falling. I guess the one i fell on was 15 or 16%, Believe me, i DID NOT LOOK.

[jobob]

I'm slowly getting over the head cold from hell so I went out today, not sure how far I would go. I headed towards Sunol and figured if I was feeling good I'd see how far up Calaveras Road I could make it without pushing myself too hard.

Yee gods, it was hot out today! I was wondering how the hardy souls riding the Devil Mountain Double were faring, it was our first really warm weekend and they were going thru Livermore and Mines Road up the backside of Mt. Hamilton without any chance to acclimate to the heat. Hope no-one had problems with the heat out there

Okay, back to me. I made it fine to Sunol and continued on across the warm valley leading to Calaveras Road. There was a light breeze blowing which kept it from getting uncomfortable. Happily, once I started up the relatively shallow climb, the road was reasonably well shaded.

I started playing little mind games with myself - if I made it up to the "false summit" (which is the bulk of the climbing in that direction) before I turned around, then not only would I have the full extent of the fun descent back into Sunol, but I would reward myself with a Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar.

Well, I started tiring a bit around the mile 5.5 road marker. I couldn't remember where the false summit was located - was it mile 7.8? Or was it 8.8? Ugh! I wasn't sure if I'd have the energy to go that far. I convinced myself to go on to mile 6.0, I could do that. Then, when I got to 6.0, well, maybe I can make it to 6.5. Once I got to 6.5 I was thinking, waitaminute, am I approaching the false summit already??? I turned a corner, and lo and behold and hallelujia, the false summit was at 6.8, not 7.8 or 8.8! Sweeeet!!

So, at the top I guzzled more water, blew my stuffy nose about 10 times (ewwww), turned around and had the lovely descent, and the tasty Haagen-Dazs bar at the little store in Sunol. Then, a slightly windy ride along Niles Canyon Road and a much more windy ride along the AC trail back to home. The last 8 miles or so into the afternoon headwind on the AC Trail was really taxing for me and I was starting to peeter out, so I just geared down and spun into it and took my dear sweet time.

47 miles, only about 1000 feet of climbing, 13.7 mph, and one Haagen-Dazs bar. Eh, not bad for my first head cold "recovery" ride.

In retrospect, I'm very glad I took a pass on the SLO Wildflower this weekend, I'm obviously lacking in stamina right now & I heard it was really hot down there.

[Starfish]

Jobob, glad to hear you are recovering!

It was SUNNY today!!! O my gosh I was grateful for a break in the rain!

Did two repeats of the lower part of the mountain today for 21.5 miles and 3110' climbing. Pretty happy with myself, but pretty hilarious...a lot of 4.5 mph today!

Still, sunshine, so all was well in my world today.

[Celeste]

Had our weekly Saturday training ride with our TNT group. Back out to Chappell Hill, TX. Last time we were there it was Easter weekend and it was freezing cold and sleeting. I broke a cleat and wound up driving as extra Sag wagon.

This time it was nice and warm, no wind hardly at all. Qutie nice. I did ride today but only made it 50 miles. Planned route was 65!

This is only my second week on hills due to broken cleat that one week. Grrr! The hills were kicking my butt today! I was doing ok for most of the ride. Coach was teaching me more about hill climbing and how to use the momentum and sling shot over the next.

Whew!! After about 100+ hills and 50 miles...My brain had had enough! It was fried! I just could not shift and deal with one more mentally. I was having to stop after each hill and psyche myself up for the next...That, and my body was sweating but I was getting chills....Don't know what that was about. DH said I was very red in the face.

So, 50 miles for second week on hills and this was a real challenge. I may not have made it the whole way, but still feel pretty good about it. Sort of.

[ace]

Did a 28 mile ride with the local club (actually it was about 33 because I rode to the starting point and back), almost entirely flat. It was hot! Had to deal with the ride leader from last week (who substituted a 38 m. hilly ride for a 29 m. flat one without telling us), but he just treated me with an extra smidge of his jerky arrogance.

It does really piss me off that he's always saying how if we work, we'll be out of the light group in no time, and tells the people who are fast that they "have good attitudes," and basically just barks at the rest of us. It's demoralizing. Don't know how long I'm going to be able to ride with th3w3 people...my knee is probably going to keep me from doing much more than 40 flat miles this summer.

I continue to be surprised at how much water I have to drink- I went thru 133 oz while cycling, and had another 24 when I got home (I weigh over 200 lbs, so that's not a crazy amount). Plus I got some foot cramps during the ride. I think I need more calcium/potassium. Any advice about that?

[jobob]

Ace, are you drinking any kind of sports drink, or just plain water? You might want to consider carrying a bottle with Gatorade or Cytomax or some other sports drink w. electrolytes (i.e., salts) , in addition to a bottle of plain water, now that it's finally heating up. Many people cramp easily, especially when it gets hot and they lose more salts from sweating.

[Kano]

Just a short 12.75 jaunt down "the greenbelt" after work tonight. DH brought the bikes down and met me at the shop and we took off from there, rode to one end, and then back. LOTS of tree roots making some wicked bumps in the asphalt trail, so I got some new experience on my new bike -- told DH, lots of "butt ups" on this ride! Some were pretty wicked, and more than my butt, I worried about my poor wheels, but all seems well after the ride.

All in all, it was a nice little cruise -- mostly flat, so easy pedaling, but lots of pedestrian obstacles to mess with my average speed! (trailside entertainment: two mini pinschers -- on leash -- taking on two REALLY BIG dogs -- also on leash -- those little guys have huge heart! There are some on our other routes that are always chasing DH. They seem to like to tackle the biggest guys they can find!)

Karen in Boise