March outdoor rides - let's drop the Lion!

[azfiddle]

First ride since last Sunday- just the usual ride to Saguaro NP and back, plus the loop drive and extra trip out to the picnic ground, so it was a bit longer than usual (27 miles). Still cool in the aftermath of our first rain in months, so I had arm warmers and a windbreaker part of the time, but just a jersey part of the time. The air was crisp and clean, blue sky with puffy white clouds and snow on the mountains. It was just beautiful out.

[ny biker]

Woo hoo! Great ride today. I lead a 35-mile club ride in a beautiful rural part of Maryland. The weather was great -- sunny with temps rising from 50 to 60 during the ride. The roads were clear despite Monday's snow and Tuesday's cold. There were seven of us, plus a man who wanted to ride the route at a slower pace behind us. At the rest stop we met other club members who had started a longer ride in the same area an hour before us. It was fun.

I must say, I was tired out before the ride was over. With Daylight Saving Time starting tonight, I was hoping to get back to my weekly post-work ride this Wednesday, but the weather forecast indicates a coastal storm that day. So I will have to force myself to ride the indoor trainer. I've been finding excuses not to lately, but I'm tentatively planning to do a metric century at the end of April and the only way to ramp up to that is to ride more than once a week starting now.

[azfiddle]

Yesterday was about doing a few hills- rode with my husband and a friend out to a steep hill on the east side of Tucson, then came back for a special climbing clinic with the visiting Vanderkittens pro team at the base of Mt. Lemmon. I got in 40 miles altogether. It was fun- thought not much new information except to spend time with my hands more on top of the bar while climbing. I'm still slow... but it was fun.

Then we went downtown in the evening and sat in on the pre-race meeting, watched the girls race in the Criterium here and sat in on the post-race discussion. It was an interesting window into the racing world. BTW- the race was won by one of the Optum team who nearly lapped the field, but one of the VK riders came in 5th.

[rebeccaC]

A perfect day of riding in the Santa Monica Mountains. 6 hours of hard climbing, twisty roads, great descents and ending with ocean breezes… and weather in the 80’s. I love living here!!

Spent Saturday photographing an annual Native American Pow Wow on an ancient burial site found while doing construction on the CSU Long Beach campus. The many conversations during the day gave me a look into a spirituality that is an integral and seamless part of their very being. I used the feelings of those conversations to help on some of today’s climbs!

[emily_in_nc]

Been riding 5x a week here in southern Arizona. Today was windy, but not as bad as Sunday, which I took as a day off. DH rode and said the wind was brutal. It's been gorgeous weather -- generally around 65 when we head out at 10:30 am or so and low 70s by the end of the ride. My rides have been in the 25-35 mile range, which is perfect for me. I really don't care for really looooonnnnng rides.

Thanks to spending the winter in warmer climes, I've put in more miles for this time than any year ever. Tomorrow I should hit 1000 miles (all outdoor). Woo-hoo! I am sure I'll be slowing down at the end of the month, though, as we head back to KC and then onward in future travels. It's nice to start the year with a bang, though.

[ny biker]

Many of us are envying you, Emily.

My post-work outdoor ride got rained out last night. I was actually okay with that, because I thought the rain would be heavy and would therefore wash the salt from the roads and from my car. But no, this winter is determined to be a pest for as long as possible. The rain was not that heavy, it mixed with the salt to create a dirty white schmutz on the roads, which sprayed all over the car while I drove home from work. I could barely see out the windshield. Then the temperature plummeted overnight, so this morning I was standing outside in a <10 degree wind chill trying to clean the headlights. And the roads are still all white from salt.

I had to clean my bike after last weekend's ride, even though I used fenders on both tires. Now I will need the fenders again for this weekend's ride, and will have to clean the bike again when I'm done.

To make matters worse, there is a chance of snow again on Monday, which of course means more salt on the roads. If we don't get a good soaking rain to clear it all away, I may have to stop riding outside, because it irritates my eyes and throat and when it's really thick it causes asthma problems.

[azfiddle]

I've been out on my bike every day this week while I'm on my spring break. Longest ride was only about 28 miles, but it adds up.

Mostly my regular rides out to Saguaro National Park and the base of Mt. Lemmon. The brittlebush are in bloom right now- gorgeous yellow everywhere.

Today's ride was more of an adventure though. Wednesday I realized my chain had over 3000 miles and thought I should get it checked. Thursday it seemed like shifting wasn't going right, but hadn't gotten it in to the shop. Today-- I started on the 8 mile one-way loop at Saguaro National Park and as I started the series of rollers, I realized I was no longer able to get into all my gears. Suddenly, I only had ONE gear in the back

Fortunately for me, I was still able to shift the front into both chain rings and I was stuck in the next to lowest gear. Good thing, as there is a mile+ climb that starts around 5 miles into the loop and I am almost always in the lowest gear. Today, I rode it in the 2nd lowest gear. But did a lot of coasting on the downhill.

I took it to the bike shop and the cable was shredded inside the mechanism that the hoods cover up. First they were talking major tune-up, replace all the cables and housings, replace the bar tape, check that chain.. OMG I was seeing $$$ and they told me they were so busy they wouldn't get to it until Weds. Not so bad if I was working next week, but that would be 5 days off in prime cycling weather. I left with a sad face ...

But then the shop called and they fixed the cable, saved the bar tape, didn't need to replace the chain... $24.01. Picked it up at closing time on the same day. Wow- I gave them a couple of my cds from my old band as a "tip"- that was all I could think of but I was so happy about how it turned out.

So now I can ride tomorrow and all next week

[BikeDutchess]

Last weekend we did the Skinny Tire Festival in Moab. Fantastic weekend, with great weather! We did the 2-day version. First day went to Dead Horse Point. In past years we had done the shortened version of that ride, but this year DH had his heart set on riding from town (despite our lack of winter conditioning - longest ride this year was only 18 miles!). It was hard, but so worth it! 70 miles (including the commute from our hotel) and about 4000 feet of climbing according to my Garmin, more climbing than I had ever done. And we were rewarded by this gorgeous view:


Cyclist overlooking Dead Horse Point by DutchRosie, on Flickr

Luckily we still had the legs for the next day, which was only 53 miles with much less climbing, but also gorgeous, along the Colorado River (scenic Hwy 128).


By Moab Action Shots

[Crankin]

Yay, I can post here. First ride of the year, 19.5 miles with 1,052 feet of climbing. Slow, but I'm on my way. It was really nice out, 55 when we started, but really windy. Of course just after DH commented that the roads were in pretty good shape, we got on a series of 2 roads that were just full of puddles, snow melt, and mud. For awhile, it felt like mountain biking. After that, the roads were good, but the sun went in while we were riding through the water, and I was a little wet and nicely spattered with mud. The sun did come back out, I made it up the hill, and up my driveway, but that one had me going 5 mph.
On our way out, our driveway neighbors were also coming back from their first outdoor ride of the year. THey are 15 years younger, she's a spin/boot camp instructor and he's a triathlete. They were walking their bikes up the driveway and swearing as we were riding down .
Guru got a nice bath when we got home and now I am going to do the same.

[ny biker]

You ladies are posting some really great pictures here. I should take more photos during my rides.

We had another good ride today. I led a club ride again, starting at the same place as the ride I lead last weekend, but using a totally different route. It was chilly at the start, cloudy and in the mid 50s, but like clockwork the sun came out just as we started to ride, and it was up to 68 when we finished. We rode 37 miles in all. It was an exploratory ride for me, a chance to check out some roads near a park-and-ride lot that I'd like to use as a ride start for some new routes. We also explored a couple of residential areas on the Chesapeake Bay.

Due to the chill at the start I was wearing a wool cap, windproof gloves, my Subzero tights and neoprene booties. By the first rest stop (after 9 miles) I was able to take off the cap and gloves. At the second rest stop I took off the booties, so this was my first ride without any shoe covers since last September. Though I felt I would have been comfortable with lighter tights (or capris or knee warmers), I didn't feel uncomfortably warm in the Subzero tights. I have problems with cold legs and feet (more than most people, it seems) and these tights keep me comfortable with temps in the mid-40s, so I'm impressed that I'm okay with them when it warms up. I was also happy with my Gore Ultralight jacket -- I wore it for the whole ride, and it was more than I needed near the end, but I didn't feel uncomfortable or get really sweaty while wearing it.

And now we prepare for snow Sunday night into Monday. Still, I left my floor pump in the car after today's ride, in the hopes that I'll be able to do an outdoor ride after work later this week.

[Fredwina]

Probably should have ridden today, but didn't. Still too icy, and I'm a little blue. knew I should have gone to the mall and walked.

[Biciclista]

hopped on the bike finally on this lovely spring day and got in about 8 miles. I have been very distracted by life and haven't ridden much so far this year. It got to the point that I was afraid of getting back on the bike. Of course, once I actually got on the bike, it was like riding a bike.

[Veronica]

Nice to see you back Mimi!

Veronica

[ny biker]

hopped on the bike finally on this lovely spring day and got in about 8 miles. I have been very distracted by life and haven't ridden much so far this year. It got to the point that I was afraid of getting back on the bike. Of course, once I actually got on the bike, it was like riding a bike.

Nice!!!

[jobob]

Lee & I took a midweek trip down to Pacific Grove. Our hotel was near Asilomar, great riding around there. On Thursday we rode thru Pacific Grove, past Cannery Row in Monterey and headed north up the coastal trail towards Seaside, and back, ~25 miles. It was great being there midweek in the off season, riding by Cannery Row there were hardly any tourists or pedicabs to dodge.

We stopped a lot to admire the scenery.