Riding weather! Temps in the 50s today made me ride...

[wavedancer]

Oh yes, today was a gift! I took a comp day for the MLK holiday (I usually have Mondays off) and got out for a 19-mile ride on the Cape. I am riding my mtb with some Kenda Cross tires that are semi-slick in the center and have some lugs on the sides. Perfect for the road-to-packed-sand-roads that we have so often here. No ice anywhere! Looks like this could be the last outdoor-riding day for awhile, so it was great to be able to be out there.

My Spinervals DVDs arrived today, so it'll be me and Coach Troy...I hope he can keep me on the trainer...I have never been one to be able to stay on stationary equipment for long, but I would like to maintain some level of bike-related fitness this winter.

How's the XC skiing shaping up in the north?

Linda

[Crankin]

Not too much skiing so far... we went to Jackson over the New year's weekend. The first day they were bussing people to a higher location for x-country, so we went snow shoeing. That was fun. The second day, we went out on a short beginner loop on skis at a place called Bear Hill. It was OK, but we were told it was better on the blue trails. My husband and I were a little leery of big hills on skinny skis our first time out this year, so our friends went off and we snow shoed the blue trails. It was awesome! I felt bad I hadn't tried the skiing, but it was probably a good idea, since i was very sore from the 10k snow shoe the day before and the hour skiing that day. We are going to Lake Placid in February and i am hoping to get some practice in before then. It's hard to improve in a sport you hardly ever get to do. I was just starting to get good at the end of last winter.

[SpinSis]

So it's 9am and almost 45 degrees here in Bedford. Thinking of hitting the road later this morning to test the legs and lungs--supposed to reach 59 degrees! Hopefully the sand has moved inside the white line. And hopefully the slash in the tire from last spring will continue to hold!

Are others going to be out there?

And as an aside, or I guess slightly off-topic (OT) as we say on threads: I added myself to bikejournal.com with a goal of at least doubling last year's milleage, which would be 1600 miles! Only 1579 to go!

Happy spinning,
s

[DeniseGoldberg]

So it's 9am and almost 45 degrees here in Bedford. Thinking of hitting the road later this morning to test the legs and lungs--supposed to reach 59 degrees! ...
Are others going to be out there?
s

Me too, me too!

I had to work from home yesterday because the town I live in decided that to replace our water meters and I needed to be home to let them in. Luckly they showed up at 9am. So - with working from home, I was able to ride yesterday too. I worked from 7am to 2pm, then went out for a 26 mile ride, then worked for a couple more hours. No guilt, and I had a fabulous ride. The roads were totally dry, the temps were in the upper 50s, but yes, I did have to dodge piles of sand too. My bike and I are definitely heading out today too. I'm sitting here thinking of waiting until it warms up a little more, but hey - I think I'm going to head out soon!

Happy riding to all!

--- Denise

[newfsmith]

I actually have been commuting on Ruby, my Col de Madeleine, since last Friday. What a pleasant change from my winter commuter. I did give Wednesday's rain and highwinds a pass though. Thursday was still nice when I headed home in the dark so I was able to get some hill reps in. Once the sunset reaches 4:45 I will be able to start taking the longer routes home. That can happen any time now. Meantime, I'll take every warm, dry day I can get.

[SpinSis]

Wow. Got back around 12:30 from my 20-ish mile loop, and I think all of Eastern Massachusetts is out on their bicycles today! I felt like I was going the wrong way on the loop though, which always makes me feel like I missed some message somewhere. The roads were dry and relatively debris free. And aside from some occasional headwinds, the conditions were great. I may have pushed myself a bit much, but I've never been good and regulating pace. Oh well! Hope others had good rides.

Maybe again tomorrow?
s

[DeniseGoldberg]

Ah, another good ride. I managed 42 miles, but of course headed out in the direction that meant the wind was in my face on the way home.

And that wind did kick up while I was out.. just checked the weather service website, and the forecast for this afternoon in my area "West wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph". Oh well, that's part of the joy of riding, isn't it?

I find it truly amazing that at this time of the year I think that temps in the high 40s to mid 50s is very warm - but if you gave me the same temperatures in early September I'd think it was cold! The forecast is for cooler weather tomorrow, but it still sounds rideable...

We are definitely having an unusual January though. When I watched the weather forecast last night, the forecaster did say that winter will be back... And just out of curiosity, I looked back over my exercise logs for the past 5 years. I try to ride year round, but in a normal winter I'm lucky to get a few short rides in. The last year that I was able to ride the types of distances I am pulling off this year was 2002. So it's been a while since we had a mild January. No complaints here, although from Robyn's post last week I suspect she would like some snow for cross-country skiing & snowshoeing!

--- Denise