Sat., 2/9 ride report!

[sundial]

Today it's sunny, 63 F, and W I N D Y !! I rode 38 miles today in the hills and flats and got tired of being blown off the road. Winds were 20-28 mph and I decided it would be much more fun to eat at a little dive in the middle of nowhere. It felt great to be outside in the sunshine though.
Note to self: must take up windsurfing.

How was everyone else's ride?

[makbike]

The shop called at noon to say my bike was ready so I drove into Louisville to retrieve my new love. Once home I quickly changed and headed out the door. Before I left my driveway I headed back in switched jackets (put the warmer one on) and headed out to ride some favorite roads. The wind was awful. A strong wind from the south to southwest was blowing at 13 mph and gusting to 30 mph. As long as it was at my back life was good but boy when I turned into it the ride took on a whole new life of its own - a real battle developed between and the wind. However, even the strong winds did not discourage me for I simply wanted to ride. When I finished the first loop of the ride I decided I was not ready to call it a day so I set off on another big loop I like to ride. Again, when I reach the spot where I would normally head home I again decided I was not ready to call it a day so off I went to explore yet another loop, one I had not been on but knew existed, and again I was having a great time. When I reached the turning point on this loop I knew the ride home was going to be hard - straight into the wind so I bit the bullet and headed home. The uphill ride into the wind was tough but I stuck with it and slowly made my way home. In the end I logged 29.2 miles and averaged 15.5 mph - not bad given the wind. Looks like the week ahead will be spent on the trainer for temperature are forecasted to plummet tonight and the high tomorrow is suppose to only be in the low 20's. Maybe next weekend we will once again be blessed with blue skies, warm sunshine and clear roads.

[froglegs]

22.5 miles this morning, good except for a small incident where I hit a large pothole, thought my bike was damaged, pulled over, unclipped, accidentally clipped back in while putting my foot down and fell onto an asphalt curb. Just a little bit of road rash and the bike is fine. Other than that, it was a beautiful day, the hills are so green after all the rain we've been having and it feels great to get outside.

[Fredwina]

Was going to do the palm Springs Century, But had to put my car in the shop.
So I rode up to Shinn Rd:


Then over to Baldwin park:

and past Covina:

then to San Dimas, where I picked up some Hammer Gel.
I then went past the Super Tent at the University of la Verne:

and past the old Station at Claremont:

Wound up with 55 miles for the day

[KathiCville]

Just in from a nice 22.5 miler, my longest ride to date. Temps were in the 60s when I started at 3 pm, but dropped at least 10+ by the time I finished at 5 pm.

I started out thinking that I wouldn't be able to do more than about 10---felt tired when I first put foot to pedal---but once I got warmed up, I felt so good that I added 2.5 to the 20 I usually do on Saturdays. To boot, I ended up going at a much better av mph AND hit the highest high speed so far this year. So, I guess something must'hv kicked in during the ride!

[IFjane]

Congrats Kathi! Sounds like all the riding is paying off!

After riding 77 miles last weekend, we only rode 24 today. Windy but warmish until the giant cloud rolled over the sun!

[melissam]

Got in a nice 40 miler today -- the weather was picture perfect.

I left my house and had a lovely descent for the first 2 miles. You know what that means -- what goes up must come down and vice versa.

About 10 miles into the ride, I encountered the Wall. It's a short, steep hill -- I think my Garmin said it was 15% at one of the steep points. I thought I could make it, since I've been riding fairly regularly and I have a nice low 30-34 gear. But no -- about halfway thru, I ... um ... had to take a break because I got violently ill. Then, to add insult to injury, I couldn't get enough momentum to get back on my bike, so I walked up the rest of the hill.

After that fiasco, the ride got much better. I did fine on the rollers, descended from the false summit, turned around at Welch Creek and rode back from where I came. Stayed in my middle ring for the shallow ascent and rollers.

Of course I was dreading the last 2 miles. After my performance on the Wall, it didn't bode well. Surprisingly, though, I ascended some double digit grades and made it to my house without stopping or barfing.

[smilingcat]

Beautfiul sunny day hardly any wind temp in the 70's except I'm feeling blahhh!!!

I don't know why but my heart was racing even with minor exertion. kept going up into high 170's when it should have been down in high 150 low 160's. Stopped few times to let my heart rate to come down. After 18 miles I was feeling a bit better so I went did another 10 miles for total of about 28 miles. Not what I had hoped for on such beautiful day. I was hoping to up my milage to 40+ in preparation for the Mardi Gras ride in Ventura county.

On a positive note, on my cool down I was riding and talking to this guy from Helen's cyclery team. Had a nice talk, cute but wayyy too young for me.

shawn