28 January

[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!

[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!

[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 ... )

[Veronica]

You can do Sierra, Jo. You can! You can! You can!

Say it with me, "I can do Sierra Road."

V.

[melissam]

(Hey Melissa, do you remember this route from the Cindy training rides? )

Yes ma'am, I sure do! It's a lovely route -- one that I'm hoping to do within the next couple of months.

Jobob, good job on doing Felter! Hey, how fast did you go down Sierra?

Hopefully Mr. Bob is feeling better soon.

-- Melissa "I can do Sierra road....after a few months of intense training."

[uk elephant]

Had a very nice ride through Dedham Vale despite headwinds the whole way. Just when I was considering stopping, I had a flat. I had planned on doing 40-45 miles. Flat occured at 39.99miles. I figured that was close enough and caught the train the rest of the way home. The sun had set by then anyway and it's not very nice out on the country lanes alone in the dark. I'll have to try to get started earlier next time if I want to add any more distance. Damn. I hate getting up early, especially on a Sunday.

[cyclechick314]

Had to work today.....but just as well.
Here it was so windy and cold today...way too cold for me to ride.

I need to ride..but I need company when it gets this cold.
I'm not motivated much when icicles form from my nose and my hands feel
like frozen crab claws.

Where is everyone near Baltimore/County riding....and when?
I'm rusty from not riding much last year......but I turn 55 this year and
really want to ride my first century this year. I think this year has got to be it....lol...I am not feeling any younger.
Anyone ride on the Eastern shore? B and A trail? NCR?

Bonnie