Newbie weekly achievement thread

[Roadtrip]

For the very first time I managed to pedal 22mph last night

Whooooo hoo. That's great. I can manage 20-22mph on my roadie for sprints, but getting my hybrid (un-aero) bike that fast requires REAL effort. I've only managed 18-20mph (no wind, head or tail) and my legs were jelly. Strange I can ride at high tempo and stamp out 16mph for miles on the flats, but kicking it up for short/intensive effort and I'm cooked.

Nice when you can challange yourself like that. Way to go

[Catrin]

I suspect there was a bit of a tailwind, but I've had other recent evidence that I am getting stronger than I realized and have been sandbagging a bit It was good to see that last night, and quite a surprise.

Of course there was the incentive to get to the entrance to my apartment complex as quickly as possible so I wouldn't get ran over or knocked into the ditch...there is a REASON why I normally take the bike/ped trail.

[RubyTuesday]

So I have been at this road biking thing now for about six weeks. I started off pretty slow, but have gained distance and speed each week.

Yesterday was my longest ride yet. I did 33 miles with a very steep mile long hill. I came home tired, a bit sore and happy. Today my body feels good and I could actually ride, but I am giving my muscles a day rest.

Hills are a struggle for me. My normal riding speed yesterday was from 13 to 16mph. The hill dropped me down to 6.8-7mph. Will it ever get easier?

[hebe]

So sorry to read about your bump, Shannon. What a dreadful way for him to behave, I am glad that your injuries weren't worse and hopefully he has learned a lesson.

In awe of all the achievements here. We have had a truly miserable August weather-wise so I've just done a bit of tweaking on the bikes (added a water-cage and new pump to my errand bike, and also swapped the saddle back onto the suspension post after riding it over a path that I'd normally take my mountain bike over I've done a couple of nursery rides with the trailer, and a very surreal trailer ride to the local petrol station. Small Girl was taking forever and several tantrums to get out of the house, it turned out she wanted to ride in the trailer rather than walking the fraction of a mile. So I ended up on my mountain bike in a short skirt and vest top ( there was no saddle on my errand bike at the time). Lots of fun, though I'd definitely go for more modest underwear next time.

[MojoGrrl]

Total mileage this week was 190, with 140 of that being commuting - 30 miles each way on Weds, and 84 miles today with 3600 feet of climbing on the ride today. Yes, that was a commute. For real.

[Velocivixen]

I checked my tire pressure prior to a ride yesterday and the tip of my Presta valve broke off. Long story short is that the air came out of my tire. Now I have all the supplies and know, in theory, how to replace a tube, however I have never had a flat before. So, I layer out everything, got my reading glasses on so I could see the details of what I was doing. There were a few surprises. It didn't occur to me to use the floor pump (duh) to put a little air into the new tube so it would more easily go into the tire, so I used a CO2 canister. I did not know that when the CO2 is expelled it sends out this white powdery stuff and it is very cold! No big deal, just didn't know it would happen. So then when I put the partially inflated tube into the tire the tube was waaaay too big! How could that be?! So I tried letting a little air out & guess what? It fit!! I put the tire & new tube easily onto the wheel, inflated, and reinstalled the wheel (front) onto my bike. Then I was worried that somehow it wasn't right. I went around the tire/new tube with my hands on both sides to ensure the bead of the tire was seated, on the inflated tire the small circumferential line ran parallel to the rim and the tube didn't bulge out, so everything should be good. Then I worried that somehow my wheel wasn't on fully, despite the fact that the brakes were equidistance from the rim with no rubbing, etc.
After everything was done I couldn't unscrew the lid to the CO2 device and had my neighbor unscrew it for me! I could have had it cross threaded but I don't think so.
NOTE: after initially cursing that my tubes were cheap pieces of cr*p as evidenced by the valve tips breaking off, I came to the realization that the tips (now noticed on the back also) were getting bent because of my pump hose "dismount" technique. I stopped by my LBS to buy new CO2 cartridge, tube, and have them eyeball my work and confirm that it was alright. I also got some tips regarding how to dismount the pump mount from your stem without bending the stem!

[redrhodie]

Velocivixen, I just wanted to let you know that the CO2 will leak out rather quickly, and that's normal. I usually let it all out and pump before the next ride. Also, when I'm using CO2, I usually blow into the new tube to add a little air.