January 31st rides

[smilingcat]

Beautiful day today on the coast. Was a 4 bottle day again. and a flatted my rear tire while I was getting refil for my water bottles. So sat at the deli for about 15 minutes, taking my time to fix a flat. An older male cyclist came by and asked "any luck?" not sure what he meant so I said I think so. Well it turns out his patch job never holds. I'm a cheapie so my tubes may have half a dozen or more patches. Never had trouble. Oh only time I have is one of those super (paper) thin patches where you just stick. They don't work. A patch kit $2.00 and a tube $2.00 instead of 7 tubes at $2.00. $14.00 or $4.00

Anyway, total for January and considering I didn't ride Nov. and Dec. and October was so so... this is okay I guess. 295.19 miles. I wanted to hit 300 but just wasn't meant to be. and total climb is 17,963 feet. I really wanted the 300 mile mark for Jan. I didn't pace my self too well. Still working on getting my stamina up. BASE MILES!!

Oh yesterday, BAD BAD BAD. went out for a rest ride. Went out at 4:00pm with my old set of lights (Vista Lights) and a new tail light. I thought that the new battery pack I put together had enough charge. Well nope. Not good. I did make it home in one piece.

still happy.
Smilingcat

[deedolce]

Good news: 53 miles, perfect weather!

Bad news: I crashed. I was about 7 miles from home, when I let my water bottle slip from my hands, and I ran over it with my rear wheel. I remember thinking, "I need to just roll over it..." but my hand instinctively grabbed the brake, and fork-knifed my bike, and from my shadow, I did a pretty spectacular header, with bike over me. I landed mostly on my helmeted head (THANK YOU helmet!!) and my right side. Still clipped in on my left foot, so bike was spared! Good bit of road rash and a split thumb from the impact. A bit of a headache. Limped back into town. Ooh, but I saw a serious roadie, all in light blue kit, and PIC Armstrong (?) on his kit! OMG, he had the most amazing legs!!

Hey, I may have been injured, but far from dead! Thinking he's checking things out for Amgen starting soon. Saw a Bissell rider at Chipoltle, in line with his Pinarello and Levi was spotted at the Peet's!

[michelem]

First outdoor ride in a LOOONG time (since end of August, I think). In the 30's when we left this morning, but warmed to lower 50's by time of return. Went around 40 miles. HOWEVER, had lots of problems -- contact lens kept popping out (found it each time though, which is a plus!), and felt like the ride was so much harder than it should have been. I mean, come on! It's not like I've been on the couch for the past 5 months. I trained for and completed a 1/2 marathon race, 10k race, and full marathon race, plus I've suffered through more than a few Coach Troy dvd's since then. Turns out that my front brake was rubbing the front wheel the whole ride -- no wonder I felt like I was riding through sand! Still enjoyed myself though and my appetite is officially whetted for more outdoor riding this year! Rain is supposed to return toward the end of the week and last through part of the weekend though (I'm not a wet-weather rider). Here's hoping it clears up for next Saturday morning's group ride!

[Fujichants]

43 miles along the San Gabriel River Trail. Was a glorious day! I felt like I could do more, but decided to call it a day.

I really need to increase my mileage!

[OakLeaf]

Ouch Deedolce!!! I bet you're pretty sore this morning... hope you heal up quick.

Now I'm sure you've been reading all the pre-SuperBowl news about the NFL's head injury foundation and you KNOW not to get back on your bike until the headache's gone, right?

(And I know you know you need a new helmet and the LBS won't open until tomorrow or the next day anyway.)

Anyway, glad it wasn't worse.

[uk elephant]

I finally got out for my first decent ride of the year! Explored the Ystwyth cycle trail that passes by where I'm staying. Very nice in places, very steep at times. I was defeated by a couple of the hills and had to walk up. I was walking up a long steep hill when I thought it time to turn back as the sun was starting to set. But I didn't want the hill to win, so I continued walking to the top before turning back. Very cold flying down the hill though. All in all a great ride, with several close up sightings of buzzards as the highlights. Only 18 miles in total, but with the ride in to town for some shopping in the morning I did 23 miles for the day. Not nearly ready for alc yet, but I have at least started getting ready now. The chest cold is mostly gone and the legs are slowly getting stronger.

[7rider]

DH and I are in hibernation mode here.
But I did manage to drag my flabby carcass off the couch for a 40 minute spin on the rollers. Roads are still full of sand and ice, and more is expected this week. Ugh. I've started taking a Wednesday evening Spinning class at my gym, since I STILL have not fully recovered from the Great Treadmill Event. I am just not meant to ever be a runner.

[deedolce]

Ouch Deedolce!!! I bet you're pretty sore this morning... hope you heal up quick.

Now I'm sure you've been reading all the pre-SuperBowl news about the NFL's head injury foundation and you KNOW not to get back on your bike until the headache's gone, right?

(And I know you know you need a new helmet and the LBS won't open until tomorrow or the next day anyway.)

Anyway, glad it wasn't worse.

Thanks OakLeaf and others for the get well wishes! Uh,no, I didn't know that I'm not supposed to get back on the bike with a headache.... Is a trainer okay? Not a big headache, but a mild throb, as well as my neck muscles from the impact. There wasn't great damage to the helmet, just a flat spot on the forehead where I hit. I think most of it was on my shoulder, at least from the marks!