28 January

[mimitabby]

hey, it was freeZing and i went out! I rode all of 7 miles but i even saw Ice.
we have had this fog appear this morning, before the sun came out, so the temp dropped at dawn .
I rode down to Seward Park, locked my bike with two cable locks (a latte lock and a much more substantial one) and then met a friend for a walk around the park (2.5 miles) then I rode back up the hill and met some friends on a tandem
and went home.

warm now

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I feel lucky that it went up to 35F today with a bit of sun. The roads were wet but clear, and DH and I got in a nice 21 mile 2 hour ride after breakfast with lots of medium hills. Got to add it to my Bikejournal TE total! We also walked a mile back and forth to breakfast. So good to get off my butt and remind my leg muscles to please not waste away completely just yet.
Pretty bizarre to be able to ride at the end of January in upstate NY.

And to top off the weirdness- we STILL have not gotten any "real" snowfall yet. Only an inch or so at a time, which then melts off the next day to nothing again. I've never seen a winter like it here.

[KSH]

You ladies are both braver than me!

I got my new Specialized put together yesterday (Sat.) and I will ready to ride today (Sunday).

The sun was out... BBBUUUTTTT... at 9:30 AM it was 32 with a wind chill of 22.

Wind and cold? No thanks. So I went to run some errands instead. I appauld BOTH of you for riding in cold weather!

[Aggie_Ama]

I got in 37.98 miles in 48 degree weather. Quite a few hills. I was layered to the MAX but I did it!

It took the following to make the ride:
Bacaclava
Long Finger gloves
Shorts
Thermal Tights over shorts
Arm Warmers
Sports Bra
Compression Base Top
Jersey
Wool Socks
Toe Warmers

Yup I am a wimp when it dips below 60!

I also learned it is possible to stay upright and make it up a steep hill at 3.6 mph!

[melissam]

Yup I am a wimp when it dips below 60!

No, *I* am a wimp when it dips below 60! I opted to stay indoors and try out my new 1upUSA trainer. I got in 55 minutes in my 2007 cardio-improvement program.

Good job, Aggie_Ama, MimiTabby, Lisa, and anyone else who braved the chillier temps!

-- Melissa

[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.

[Susan126]

It was freezing at 7 AM this morning. I got up, started the coffee, then looked at my outdoor thermometer . . . Yikes . . . 26 degrees! But Joe and I had a ride to lead at 10 AM. Thank goodness it started to warm up as the sun rose. By the time we reached our meeting place it was already in the mid 30s. When we finished it was 49! We did a mountain bike ride and you always get toasty doing those. Now if we had done a road ride instead the wind chill would have really affected me, especially my toes! Even with booties! Good news is this week looks like it's going to be a nice one. By the time I get off work at 2:30 and get home I may be able to get some nice 10-15 mile road rides in before dinner! Oh I do love the longer days!

[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 ... )