November 2nd rides

[fastdogs]

I went on a "haunted" ride today, well, not really haunted, but i did ride on "zombie road", which has been the subject of numerous paranormal investigations. I rode al foster trail till Ifound the singletrack that leaves al foster and leads to zombie road. I rode up zombie road for about a mile, until I came to a big tree across the road. I turned and went back at that point. I ran into an older couple who had also read about the legends and were headed up the road. They invited me to walk with them, but I wanted to get in some riding on the trails, so I went back out to al foster and on to stinging nettle. I road stinging nettle a couple of times, criss crossing on the connector trails. There were very few people there, a big difference from al foster, which was really crowded, and I suspect castlewood. I did run into one poor lady on a schwinn, whose crank kept falling off. She'd just stick it back on, ride a bit, and it would fall off again. She said the nut was missing.
On the way back I truned off on the trail to zombie road again, this time I rode for a couple of miles. The road was completely washed out a couple of times, and I had to climb down into the washout and climb up the other side, awkward with the bike. I did find a nice little singletrack on the way back that parallels the road and bypasses a couple of the big down trees and one of the washout areas. I didn't see any shadow people. I am waiting for uforgot to join me so we can ride th whole thing. I was glad to be on the mtn bike due to the broken up road and washed out areas.
zombie road, looking back toward al foster...

[fastdogs]

can't put the photo in.
vickie

[uforgot]

I'm still here waiting for my dinner my son promised me. I could have gone with you today. He fell asleep again! Sounds like a fun ride! And I'm still ready to ride the Al Foster, haven't done that yet.

[Jolt]

I went for about a 45-minute ride late this afternoon; it was in the mid 40's here. I need to figure out how to keep my hands and ears warm on cold rides! Especially with doing more riding right now since I can't run yet (still working on fixing IT band problems which fortunately cycling doesn't bother).

[Tri Girl]

Ummm... Yesterday I rode 5 miles doing errands and today I only did 10 miles running errands (shoe store, grocery store), and my quads are really sore. Hmmm...
Granted, I haven't ridden much at all lately, but still. I'm not in bad shape. I guess my legs just have forgotten what that crazy riding thing is all about (might be the 20 lbs of food I was hauling).

[arielmoon]

Yep, within reason. I found that as well. My theory (and I have NO basis for it because I'm not a PT or anything remotely like that) is that when you spin constantly very easy you are stressing your tendons and not using your muscles, and so your tendons do all the work, which they are not meant to do. So a bit of mashing (again within reason) uses muscles that work in concert with the tendons and ligaments, and every part does its particular job and there's no pain.

Some PT please explain what really happens.

I agree that the muscles work more. The more I could feel my quad working the less I felt in the knee.

In addition, have a theory that may or may not hold water. When I spin I must follow the entire motion of the pedal or else I bounce like mad. When I mash (within reason- like you said) I dont have to because the power of the push carries the pedal around.

I am open to a more educated interpretation if anyone has one!

[tulip]

When you bounce, you are spinning too much. However, you can (and should) do the whole circle thing even on bigger gears. Don't just push down, but pull up on the backside of the stroke, too. Be smooth.