April 28 ride reports

[Kathi]

My ride today is on the map that Pedal Wrench posted for the first day of Ride the Rockies. It was 20 miles round trip.

http://www.routeslip.com/routes/26242

If you look at the lower right hand corner of the map, at the junction of I-70 and C-470 you will see a green space. That's Bear Creek Park. I live in Lakewood and can ride from my house up the Bear Creek trail to the park.

I headed toward Morrison on the trail, rode though a golf course and up and over a hill called Mt. Carbon into the park. I only have 80 miles for the season so the climb up was a little slow, plus I had to climb back up on my return.

It was a gorgeous day here in Denver, sunny and temps close to 80. After the rain and snow on Tues. it was a nice change of pace.

Lots of cyclists out on the road in the park and the creek was running with water. I haven't seen so much water running since I left Cincy!

My ride ended with another climb from the Bear Creek Valley to my house.

Tomorrow, I'm riding with our bicycle club. 1st time out with them this year, it's a 30 mile flat ride.

[ace]

Thanks for the advice, Jobob. I do put GU2O in my 100 oz. Camelbak, so I'm getting electrolytes and calories. Then I have an Accelerade or Endurox when I get home, which helps a lot. Last year I was having horrible problems getting sick after rides- I'd come home and have a headache for 24 hours. I came to the realization that because of my body weight and the fact that I'm a big sweat-er anyway, I need to drink A LOT, and I need a constant source of calories and electrolytes for any ride over 30 miles, depending on the temperature. Not sure what's causing the cramping. I think I'm pretty deconditioned at the moment because of my knee injury, so a long ride in the heat just takes it all out of me.

[Crankin]

Wasn't sure if the weather would hold, but we were able to test out the route for our club's "new members" ride next week. Well, we didn't need to pre ride it, but one of the other leaders who is a friend of mine did, so we met her around 2:30 in Concord Center. She rides at a slower speed than we do, but we were bound and determined to ride at a relaxed pace today (my back is acting weird and my husband had been planting all morning), so she did a great job staying fairly close to us. It was really nice out, rolling hills, and good conversation. The rain held off until we got back to the start.
22.4 miles. I didn't even look at my computer for the rest. I'm supposed to go on a 35-40 mile hill ride (Groton/Lost Lake) today, but it looks yucky out. Right now it's only 48 and cloudy, with rain predicted. I need to get out there, since we are going to the White Mountains for Memorial Day for a club weekend. The first day is a 50 mile ride with a lot of climbing and right now I am not sure if I could do it. Well, I could, but it would be slow and painful.

[sgtiger]

I rode 41 miles yesterday starting from just north of the U-district and going around the southern loop of Lake Washington and back. I only averaged a little over 10mph on what other riders 'round here consider flat. Oh, well. At least I beat my average from last week and I didn't feel wiped out afterwards.

On a side note, I was kind of impressed with myself when we stopped to rest at a park and I could see the distance around the lake that I had ridden. Last year I would not have thought I could ever ride that far. Much less that I would ever do a century or a double century(signed-up for STP). Me from a year ago would have though that I'd have to be nuts to do that.

[SheFly]

I'm supposed to go on a 35-40 mile hill ride (Groton/Lost Lake) today, but it looks yucky out. Right now it's only 48 and cloudy, with rain predicted. I need to get out there, since we are going to the White Mountains for Memorial Day for a club weekend. The first day is a 50 mile ride with a lot of climbing and right now I am not sure if I could do it. Well, I could, but it would be slow and painful.

DH had arthroscopic surgery on his knee on Weds, and since he is off the bike, I actually have little to no motivation to ride this weekend... I was supposed to race Palmer today, and even bagged that.

Robyn - the Groton/Lost Lake loop is fun, but in this weather, I just want to curl up on the couch . Where in the Whites are you going on Mem Day? We do A LOT of riding up there on a regular basis - great loops and lots of climbing.

SheFly (who WILL get back on her bike this week)

[carolp]

I participated in Lifecycle "Day on the Ride" yesterday. 76 miles with a good bit of hill climbing. The ride is to simulate what a day on the actual lifecycle ride will be like. I am doing the ride with my husband on our tandem. (www.aidslifecycle.org/6009 to see my training blog) and it definitely had its moments. Luckily, we bonked at different times so we could keep pedaling. Today we will ride, but not as far.

We only have a month to be able to do seven days of rides like this, and I gotta tell you, I'm nervous! Any tips for this newbie biker with an almost one-year-old titanium knee?

Carol in NoCal

[SadieKate]

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.

YOu think so? Normal avg high of 77. A record 98 was hit. Many of us had temps of 100+ showing on our computers. Homey's heels were sinking into the asphault at stops.

Shades of the Chico Wildflower 3 years ago. Lesson learned - do not let SK and Bubba sign-up for any ride called a Wildflower ride. Good news is no one in our group hurled. I'll write up a report later.

http://www.weatherunderground.com/cg...KPRB&almanac=1

[Veronica]

We worked the Devil Mountain Double, two different rest stops. At least one rider got a helicopter ride out from the Junction with heat related problems. I don't know if he was with DMD or the Mount Hamilton Challenge.

We had a lot of DNFs on DMD because of the heat. At one point we had three SAG cars go by our rest stop on Hamilton, one right after the other, all filled with riders.

We took two riders who DNFed to Sunol to get their lights and then drove the rest of the course. There was a section of road that got torn up this week - Castro Valley Rd. I think. We were following a recumbent and he tipped over in front of us. I am so glad that we were behind him because he was REALLY hard to see in the dark and he could have so easily been run over at that point.

We stopped and checked on him. He said he was okay and I helped him check out his bike.

It was an interesting day.

V.

[7rider]

DH and I did 41 miles from the house to Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. and back at a 15.7 mph pace. Was a nice ride. Had a couple of guys latch onto our wheels, so DH had to push much harder than he intended (keeping his "race face" on, as he said. Not showing any effort at all), just to try to put the hurt on these guys. Alas, we couldn't shake 'em and they just got a free ride for his efforts. Uh...me, too!
I hit a max speed of 73 mph, according to my Garmin! Woo Hoo. Discovery?? Hello?? Where do I sign??
Silly computers......

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

Group of friends and I drove 45 min from Tulsa to do "Flower Power" down in Muskogee. Yes..everyone..come on... sing it with me, "I'm just an Okie from Muskkk-OH-gi.." LOL Craziness... drive nearly an hr to pay $25 to ride 68 miles of HILLS. yeah... We're nuts. LOL
One hill on the ride map was labeled "respectable hill"... OMG.. the hills before it looked like freekin walls to me.. and I was warned that the "respectable hill" was about a mile long and worse. GUT CHECK!
All in all, it was a great ride. I thank my TRIPLE (and weaving) for making it up all hills without walking any!! On that nasty one though.. if any cars had come along and ruined my pacing, I would have been done-for. LOL I had an avg speed of 5mph on that hill, and that was lucky! HA. I'm surprised I didn't just tip over..going that slow.
Fun note... I did pass a GUY who'd given up before 1/2-way up. He was standing on the side of the road gasping. I think he lost part of his lung somewhere on the spokes. La la lahhh..here I come..mashing and weaving...right on up - no problem. I just wanted to puke at the top and I had sweat dripping off my sunglasses and nose, but hey... THIS IS FUN, right? heehee

Beautiful day... started at 56 and by the end of the ride it was about 80. Low winds... couldn't ask for anything better. Worth all the pain and sweat.

[Jo-n-NY]

This is the first time I am posting a ride report. I had my first club ride of the year. I normally would not have road with the club today, Saturday because of time and other things I have on my platter over the weekend. But I had to make time for this. The AAA was putting on their annual Bike Rodeo at one of the Elementary Schools, actually a school that is next door to the one I went to. They asked our bike club to help out. Our president thought that anyone who wants to be a part of this will meet at the regular ride & time meeting place, and we would take a long route to the school, volunteer our two hours of showing bike safety through all the activities the AAA set up then ride back.

This was so much fun. We got in a 20 mile ride, the route was great with some nice hills. I finally was able to see how my Ruby road up a hill. I kept up very nicely with everyone (I just love this group) even doing stretches of 17 & 20mph. I didn't know how fast I was going until I looked at my computer. Before heading back to the parking lot they stopped for bagel and coffee break that they usually do mid ride.

Oh also very important...it was so much fun working with these little kids grades K-4. My part was to teach them hand signals which I did with another club rider. AAA chalked out a little course with turns. I left with a smile on my face all day long.

Now I cannot wait to be able to ride with the club beginning in June or July.

~ JoAnn

[Fredwina]

Here's mine. It was an adventure. And a half!

[PinkBike]

Yesterday's long-awaited Tour of the Tucson Mountains signals the end of the real season for us here in arid-zona. Should soon start to get in the hundreds every day and that will last til september. We'll still ride of course, but no big races locally. I did the TTM 70.4 miles yesterday in 3:41, 18.9 mph average, and i feel real defeatist about it. the first 30 were very fast, the last 20 were very fast, but the climbing in the middle just wrecked me. i attribute it to the 20 extra pounds i've picked up since turning 50, because i used to be a great climber. well, its off to another forum to search for the magic weight loss program that will quickly and easily transform me into svelte. where's that thread? . . . . . .