28 January

[Geonz]

I was HARD CORE today and rode 12 miles or so all told to get to church and the bike co-op meeting, which I went to instead of the "ride" part of our bike club's annual "Darwin Ride" (are you strong enough to survive a ride in January... or intelligent enouigh not to go?) ... and then rode out to the pot luck, which was further than the 2.4 miles that they went for the ride.
Temperature ranged from 7 to 15 degrees (F) and winds from 19 to 25 mph. Four layers... on that first trip to church I thought "It's finally so cold I'm not warming up my hands..." because they were hurtin' but at the next stop light everything but my pinky warmed up.
(Longest stretch at one time was prob'ly about 3 miles - so not *that* hard core, folks!!! Though that 3 miles took a while into the wind... but I worked it hard with the "breathing hard is *good*! philosophy that hopefully will translate into a few seconds more whittled from that time trial time...)

[Pax]

I was HARD CORE today and rode 12 miles or so all told to get to church and the bike co-op meeting, which I went to instead of the "ride" part of our bike club's annual "Darwin Ride" (are you strong enough to survive a ride in January... or intelligent enouigh not to go?) ... and then rode out to the pot luck, which was further than the 2.4 miles that they went for the ride.
Temperature ranged from 7 to 15 degrees (F) and winds from 19 to 25 mph. Four layers... on that first trip to church I thought "It's finally so cold I'm not warming up my hands..." because they were hurtin' but at the next stop light everything but my pinky warmed up.
(Longest stretch at one time was prob'ly about 3 miles - so not *that* hard core, folks!!! Though that 3 miles took a while into the wind... but I worked it hard with the "breathing hard is *good*! philosophy that hopefully will translate into a few seconds more whittled from that time trial time...)

I was thinking about you today Sue, thinking "there is no way in HELL she's riding today"...again your hard-core self astounds me.

[Fredwina]

I did 37. meant to do do more, but I had a cut in my tire, so I wound up at the bike shop. When I got home, I noticed that I had a loose spoke on the "old great mare" (my Cannondale road bike). wish I would have noticed it earlier, as I would have them fix it while I was there.

[emily_in_nc]

No riding, but DH and I did a 11.4 mile hilly hike in a state park. Fun!!! In the time it took, I could have just about ridden a metric, so I guess it counts for something.

Emily

[HillSlugger]

Temperatures made it into the high 30's today but the weather was misty with a breeze that cut right through and the roads wet. My exercise was a 30 minute swim.

I've only ridden outside once this month. I need an outdoor ride before I go crazy (crazier?!?)

[7rider]

No ride, but DH and I went skiing up at Whitetail in PA today. Was raining when we left the house, and we skiied in sunshine all day up at the mountain. Was glorious and we had a great time!

[Crankin]

I might have gone on a ride if I had been at home today; i think it was close to 40. We went up to the White Mts. Friday, with friends. Yesterday we x country skied 6.5 k, almost all up hill. Only fell twice (going up!). Did fine on the down hill, but when I got to the last 2k, it was flat and icy. I was hurting... my groin, arms. My friend, who rides much slower than me is a much better skier and I am getting paid back for dropping her all summer!
Today we went snow shoeing. Oye. I usually snow shoe on local trails, with some climbing, but we went up Crawford Trail. It started at 1900 ft. and we had gone up to 2500 in about 3/4 of a mile. I had to go so slowly, I thought I was going to faint. It wasn't my asthma and I could breath, but I almost felt like it was the altitude, which is silly, because that is not very high. My husband was running up the trail, but all 4 of us, decided not to try to go to the summit. The down hill was fine on snow shoes, despite being steep. We ate lunch at the AMC Highland center and then took a short hike around a lake and up to see a beautiful view of Mt. Washington. The sun came out and the peak was visible.
OK, I'm going to bed. Every part of my body hurts and I feel like I have never exercised a day in my life!

[makbike]

Far too cold to ride outside today (20F with a wind chill in the low teens). I opted for a 2 hour nap in the early afternoon. However, once I finished my nap I did climb on my bike/trainer and pedaled away 25.6 miles. I watched several shows on the history channel - helped pass the time as I pedaled away those mindless miles.

[jobob]

I had a really fun ride today. My hubby wasn't feeling too great so he stayed home & I went off on my own.

I really wanted to do a long-ish ride today with a goodly amount of climbing, so I headed down the Alameda Creek Trail to Niles, went down Niles Canyon Blvd to the small town of Sunol, and then I went over Calaveras Road which is a very remote country road with a gradual climb - not bad, really - and lovely views of the Sunol reservior. (Hey Melissa, do you remember this route from the Cindy training rides? )

Then I went down the descent that people around here refer to as the Calaveras Wall (heh heh, part of the reason why I go in the direction I do - I get the long gradual climb rather than the short yet steep climb )

But instead of my normal route where I hang a right at the bottom of the wall and head into Milpitas, this time I turned left and slogged up Felter Road.

Felter is the back way up to the Sierra Rd. summit, made famous as a Cat. 1 climb on the Tour of California. Rather than Sierra Road's 1800 ft of climbing in about 3.5 miles, Felter is only about 1200 feet (since you're already partway up on account of the climb up Calaveras) for about 4.5 miles. Still, there were a few steep bits (12%+, woo woo) but they don't last for long... for the most part.

I had started out the ride wearing two lightweight smartwool longsleeve tops under my yellow vest. About a mile or so into the climb up Felter I needed to remove one of the wool layers, but the remainng one was lightweight enough on its own under the vest that I didn't overheat. It started sprinkling on me a bit near the top of Felter, but it stopped before I reached the summit.

The sun came out by the time I reached the summit and wow, was it beautiful up there ! I'll bring the camera next time, I promise !

For the descent down Sierra Rd. I figured it would be cold so put my second wool top back on, and added the zip on-sleeves to convert my vest back to a jacket. That did the trick nicely.

I was pretty cautious going down Sierra Road, it's a very steep descent and although the road seemed dry, there were leaves & clumps of mud & other debris in the road, and I wasn't going to take any chances. My hands were a bit sore from all the brake feathering (and sometimes more than feathering, lol) I did going down. But it was no problem.

When I reached the bottom of Sierra Road I hung a right and started heading back for home. I took off the sleeves on my jacket soon after since I was starting to warm up a lot then, the 2 thin layers of smartwool & the vest were just right.

Just before the last steep-ish climb of the ride (which is blessedly short), the heavens opened up and poured down on me. By then I was about 20 miles from home and I figured oh well, so I'll be wet.

Gotta love that smartwool, even though I was soaked I stayed reasonably warm - so long as I kept moving. My feet were so wet that I could feel my socks squishing at I pedaled. gah. But I was wearing 2 layers of wool socks (one thin, one less so) and my feet stayed relatively warm.

So, Jo Drowned Rat finally reached home, dripipng wet & muddy but otherwise none the worse for wear. I felt great on this ride, and I'm really thrilled that I "conquered" Sierra Road - albeit the easy side, but I'll make it up the hard way sooner rather than later, methinks.

66 miles
3500 ft of climbing
12.5 mph (oh well ... )