March outdoor rides - let's drop the Lion!

[azfiddle]

Emily- I started a ride yesterday and turned around much earlier than planned. I couldn't fathom riding into the headwind for another two hours, and then playing at the St. Patrick's Day festival (also outside and in the wind). Took the tailwind home.

[SheFly]

With the glorious weather here on Saturday (sunny and temps in the low 50s), I went out for a training ride with the boys on the team. As Crankin' said, the roads here are a pot-holed mess, so you definitely need to be careful, especially when riding in a paceline at speed . Luckily, no flats. I managed to hang with the boys until we got to Harvard - they were going to go and try the new race course loop at speed (we lost a road race in Sterling, MA this year, but are getting a new one in Harvard in its place). I rode back with one other teammate, and finished with just about 58 miles and 2900 ft (nothing compared to riding fat bikes in Maine!).

Unfortunately, yesterday was a bit cooler. Ok, it was cold. Temps never got much above 30 during the day so in addition to the pot holes, we were also watching for ice on the roads. Went out with the boys again, but we all struggled with the most god-awful wind. It seemed we rode into a headwind no matter which direction we went. Managed another 57 miles and 2600 ft, and then spent the remainder of the day on my couch. Yup - we must be heading into race season...

SheFly

[Becky]

2 rides this weekend- hooray! Saturday was a flat ride along the canal path on the MTB. 26 miles, and it was warm, sunny, and windy. So nice! On Sunday, I did a solo ride while DH did boy stuff. I ended up with 27 miles and 2300 feet of climbing. At one point in that ride, I was averaging 95'/mile of elevation gain , but it felt so good to get out, even if it was colder than Saturday and I was underdressed.

[Sky King]

We had a fantastic Wandering Wheels Idaho Desert Ride on Sunday. Per usual we started with a loose plan in mind and ventured off course One of my riding buddies titled the ride "page 64" in honor of a new book about roads and trails in and around the Owyhee Wilderness area. We really did start out following the directions but ended up in a great spot she also named "little lost indians" here are a few shots, one is a rock we decided looked like the Indian Head Nickel. The only downside for me was I really need to learn how to fall better, Two dumb crashes, one I was trying to do a favor and pick up a multi tool someone dropped and the other was due to coming off a dirt road onto a gravel road to fast, both time I feel on my left side which is my bad knee side so am paying for it with swollen and stiff knee, ugh.

[marni]

todays' charity ride "Education Expedition" was foggy, warm, humid but with very little wind. Rode 50.25 miles in 3 hours of riding time giving me an average moving speed of 16 mp[h which for me is phenominal. Unfortunately the cool front will bring back rain and wind tomorrow. Still today felt nice.

[azfiddle]

Last "vacation" rides this week. Yesterday I rode 33 miles with my soon-to-be coach and one other woman from my team. It was climbing practice- no huge hills or steep grades but a lot of rollers. She was very encouraging and gave me really good pointers!

Today- 54 miles with one my husband and one friend (who only went part way). We rode north of Tucson to the turn-off to the Biosphere, riding around the west and north sides of the Santa Catalina Mountains, but not up into them. Still quite a few flowers were blooming along the roadside- lupines, parry penstemon and poppies, but I think some are not actually native....

I calculated that I've ridden 385 miles since my spring break started March 8. These last two rides finally did me in- I'm taking a well-earned DOR tomorrow and probably a couple more as I ease back into the last quarter of the school year.

[ny biker]

I did 40 miles today on a local rail trail, so it was pretty flat, with long upward or downward slopes between 1-3%. I wanted to ride alone so I could just pedal, push myself a bit and not worry about staying with a group. I also wanted to test a pair of shorts for long rides and am still testing a new cleat position on my left shoe, and a long flat trail is a good testing ground for those sorts of things. The trail was very crowded, but happily there were only a few morons who refuse to accept that they have to slow down and wait until it's safe to pass on a trail that's crowded with all sorts of cyclists and pedestrians of all ages.

The weather was beautiful. The morning was cloudy but the sun came out just as I started, around 1 pm. I was very pleased with my pace after the first 15 miles. Then the headwinds kicked up (which I knew to expect from last night's weather forecast). My speed dropped from 14.9 to 13.4 mph. Fortunately it was an out-and-back ride, so I had tailwinds for the second half, which brought my average speed back up.

My eyes were tearing for much of the ride, I guess due to pollen and the headwind. When I stopped for a break at a trailside bench after 18 miles, I put eye drops in my eyes and rinsed my eyelids. As I started to ride again, my left contact lens felt like it wasn't in the right place, so I closed my eye and tried to center it better, and the next thing I knew it was out of my eye and stuck to my face. So there I was, out in the middle of nowhere on a trail, trying to keep my contact lens from blowing away while I took off my glove, got the eye drops out of my top tube bag and took the top off the bottle. Somehow I managed to accomplish this and get the lens back into my eye. Crazy.

After the ride I stopped in to visit the LBS and had a nice chat with the owner. His oldest kid is 12 now. I remember when that boy was a little baby.

We're due for another cold snap this week but it should be warmer again next weekend. I am tired of seeing bare trees -- I want flowers and then leaves. I know the pollen will irritate me, but I'm ready for those shady green leaves.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily- I started a ride yesterday and turned around much earlier than planned. I couldn't fathom riding into the headwind for another two hours, and then playing at the St. Patrick's Day festival (also outside and in the wind). Took the tailwind home.

Don't blame you a bit. It was nearly blowing me off the road a couple of days ago and easier going uphill (with a tailwind) than downhill with a headwind. Yesterday not quite as bad.

This would be a perfect time to mountain bike in the woods, shielded from the wind. However, DH is training hard for a possible cross-country tour this summer, so road bikes it is. I'm not riding nearly as many miles as he is, but I'm putting in five rides a week, which is a lot more than usual for me.

[Crankin]

Second ride of the season. G-d, I am slow. But, nothing hurt today and I was dressed correctly! By the time I got out, a bit after 1:00, it was cloudy, but the sun peeked out near the end of the ride. It was about 44, no wind, and I didn't have as much water in the road as on Saturday. The town has nicely filled in the horrendous potholes, but, unfortunately, they are covered up in kind of a "lumpy" way,that I don't want to ride over. I think they may settle in once the temperatures even out. Saw a few riders, all going the other way, which means no one passed me. At this point, I feel like I can barely make it up my driveway, but, I am forcing myself. Did my regular loop, not the short one, about 15.5 miles. All the climbing is in the first half, until I get back to my street.
Onward. It's supposed to be near 60 tomorrow, DH is working from home, so we'll go out when I get home, around noon.

[rebeccaC]

The VP I work directly for wanted to take two days to get away from the office, do some riding and photography and when not that think about and work through strategies for a couple of new bids and a new project. When she interviewed me cycling was a much longer subject than it should have been for an interview and I kinda knew my chances had gone up.
We went around 40 miles north of Joshua Tree NP and rode part of the Ca. portion of the old Route 66. Good desert riding with very little traffic, temps in the 60 to 70 range, little wind and a good sense of isolation. Yesterday we worked in the morning rode 52 miles and worked again later. Today we rode some side roads for 42 miles in the morning, worked and then had dinner and came back to LA.

Part of the road between Essex and Amboy on Route 66

[Sky King]

RebeccaC sounds like a perfect way to get some work done. Looks awesome!

[BikeDutchess]

I like that VP!

[azfiddle]

Rebecca- neat picture. How were the wildflowers?

I've ridden every day this week: wore our Irish jerseys for a quick 16 miles on St. Patrick's day before gigs, quick trips to Saguaro NP Tuesday and Wednesday, and today rode the very long way via Pistol Hill (southeast of Tucson) to my classroom with a friend. Took her to lunch at the Thai restaurant and she generously helped spend about 2 hours organizing and sorting papers to be filed and recycled. That's a really good friend!!

43 miles, perfect 70's with almost no wind and very thin cloud cover. We saw lots of wildflowers everywhere. These are ones I noted from the ride: brittlebush, desert marigold, Parry penstemon, desert chicory, paper flower, desert zinnia, lupines, phacelias, creosote, fiddleneck, popcorn flower, Streptanthus (common name??), fairy duster, some little yellow mustards, desert globe mallow and prickly poppy. Plus I got a look at a circling hawk that seems to have been an out of place Gray Hawk- usually found in riparian areas where there are some cottonwoods, but this was over dry and not too vegetated Pantano Wash. Other birds noted- Pyrrhuloxia, Phainopepla, Mockingbird, Curve-billed thrasher, Gila Woodpecker, Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove, Black-throated Sparrow.