Cycling 03/20/10

[shootingstar]

Did 42 kms. Just wonderfully cool sunny spring. Some cherry tree blossoms have already fallen off. Alot of cyclists out there.

[malkin]

Just under 50 mi. to the Great Salt Lake Marina and home.

It might be my favorite ride. We rarely do it because much of the year it is inhospitable due to the various pestilences that that we suffer including wind, bugs, smog, heat, cold, stink, etc. Historically, I guess there have been swarms of Mormon crickets, which I'd count as locusts. No firey hail or dead first borns, but nothing would surprise me.

Today it was lovely, breezy and cool; the lake was a bright blue reflection of the sky. The meadowlark was out and some of the water fowl were escorting their chicks through the ponds. Brewer only swallowed 2 bugs.

The water from the pump at the marina tastes sweet, almost like Evian.

[redrhodie]

I did a 30 miles commute. Second time this week I had a wicked tailwind back from work at night. It was awesome. Usually, there's a north wind that kills me over the last couple of miles, which is a low grade invisible hill. It's so nice when it's from the south and the hill feels flat. Gotta love a tailwind.


Malkin, your ride sounds gorgeous. I drove through Utah once, and the Salt Lake was so beautiful with mirror-like stillness. I wish I had tasted the water there.

[azfiddle]

55 desert miles- pleasant temperatures and beautiful wildflowers in the Tucson Mountains (Saguaro National Park) but persistent headwinds and crosswinds for most of the ride made it more exhausting. Nice my DH was there to keep me company when I completely fell off the back of the group at the end. My 2nd longest ride ever....

[Miranda]

I rode... in my vehicle... to my shop outta town... and picked my bike up from being crash repaired. So, yeah, my baby's home. She rode nicely behaved in the back of my suv while it heavily snowed outsdie. Thus, I didn't want to risk test riding her in the parking lot and crash again on the snow-slick pavement. Fingers crossed she is good to go now!

[MartianDestiny]

I rode maybe 2-3 miles on a fit cycle.

2 hrs of fancy smancy motion tracking cameras, range of motion tests, etc with my amazing fitter and shop owner.

Now 2 months of waiting, and then....

Beautiful new custom Spot Brand cyclocross frame!!!!

[owlice]

Woo-hoo, Martian!!

I now know that it is 11.75 miles to my mother's house by bike trail; I rode there and back with a little extra for 24 miles. I might have ridden a little longer, but got talking to TWO neighbors there (one new, one from my childhood) and that took up my riding time. I'm okay with 24; it's been a long, cold, lonely winter and any miles are good miles!

[Crankin]

My first ride in over a week. It was 71 degrees and absolutely gorgeous, although there was a a good crosswind. Since today was the first day I felt semi-human, after being sick, I decided to get out, but do a very short ride. So, I did my 12 mile loop, with 2 big hills, and nice scenery. Kind of amazing to be riding in March, in short sleeves and shorts.
I was glad I got out there, but also glad that I did not overdo it. I've had too many times where an allergy attack or a cold turned into bronchitis. Feel pretty good now.
Off to visit Brant in the hospital; he's already up and walking with a walker.

[Tri Girl]

It was 70 yesterday and today we have 6 inches of snow on the ground. Go figure???
I ran instead of riding the trainer inside. I hope to be out sometime later this week.

[7rider]

So....
A certain someone from this forum ("cough, cough...MDHillSlug...cough, cough") overslept and we couldn't do our ride through Rock Creek Park together this a.m., departing with the N2 crew. Since DH had a slow leak in his back tire, and Mike, the owner of the LBS had put it out on the shop's listserv that he was doing an easy ride at 9:30 and all were invited to join him, the stars aligned for a ready excuse to bail on the N2 and have DH properly fix his leaking tire and then join Mike at the shop. So we did. Only Mike wasn't ready to go. "What do you want? I've got 2 young kids and things happen!" So by 10 or so, we set out. We did a loop through the park and out to Potomac - where on a beautiful Spring morning, the class of car that nearly swipes you is soooo much fancier....the Ferraris, the Caddy's, the I-don't-even-know-what-they-are-but-they-probably-cost-more-than-my-first-townhouse! I knew most of the roads for the second part of the ride, and I was rapidly running out of steam (I also wanted to conserve what little steam I had, as I was supposed to go for a 2.5 mile training run/jog with a friend of mine in the early afternoon), and each turn that I THOUGHT Mike would take to lead us back to the barn, he took the opposite. Oh, and DH forgot his water bottles in the truck, so I gave him one of mine, so I was rationing water. So the ride was MUCH longer than I really was hoping for - 39 miles at 16 mph - and by the time we got back to the shop, I was sooooo spent (my longest ride since perhaps November), I called up my friend Terry and postponed our run until tomorrow morning (which means no shop ride for me).

[ZooZoo]

Did 30 miles today. The short 20 mile loop of McClinchy Mile, plus 10 on the Centennial Trail. (Great trail! I'll be going back on Monday to explore it more). Last year they had the food near the middle of the ride, this year it was at the end of the ride, and I didn't see it in the instructions. Add to that, I had brought food with me but left it in the car. So I 'bonked' a little but did complete what I set out to do. Hopefully lesson learned. LOL.

[Fredwina]

did about 50 miles thru the San Fernando valley
Started out at Van Nuys airport:

Carbent. must resist

locking up the shop:

heading down balboa Blvd:

two cranks are better than than one:

Porter Ranch:

a rest stop in Chatsworth, I got lost after this

I di find everyone at Selpulvda Dam:

[HillSlugger]

I was supposed to meet Regina for a 7:30 ride but didn't wake up until 7:12 (I guess I was so tired last night that I forgot to turn on my alarm). I ended up going out solo on the tri bike. (I had it re-cabled last week at a shop I hadn't used before; looks like it will need some minor adjustments.) I did 28 miles at a so-so average speed. I definitely NOT in race condition yet. I pulled my hamstring on Monday in a pool fall and started hurting again on the ride. I need lots of riding time before my first race on May 2!

[Red Rock]

Well, I was able to get out after a three hour long meeting(PEO). I came home eat , changed into my cycling clothes and headed to a new spot to ride on the dirt!! Yes, dirt.

I guess you could say this was my first offical ride off of pavement. I proceeded to uphill for about an hour. I intensionally took breaks everytime I saw a walking path or before another climb that I could see coming before me. I hoped that helped break it up for me as I have been trying not to overdo it (any exercise). It is really hard when your brain says GO and your body does respond as if you were in your 20's or something to that effect.
My quads had a workout of a lifetime. I can tell they need to be streched pretty well. I will get to that. My concern is getting my heart rate down so I can sleep.

The best part of this ride is that now I know of a great place to do a long slow uphill climb that has hardly any traffic on it. There are great views of the area.

After this ride, I think I have a greater appreciation for anyone who does a lot of mountain biking. I was on a ungroomed road not slingletrack by anymeans. I felt I could handle it since I really do not have a lot of mountain bike experience behind me. There were many cyclists around town. My goal was to get out of town somewhat to enjoy the ride.

Taking to allow for recovery and streching. Will try to run/jog on Monday.

Red Rock

[hirakukibou]

I rode over 100 miles this week. The first of the season. Happy Spring Equinox! Today I rode about 40 with a plan of another 40 tomorrow.