March outdoor rides - let's drop the Lion!

[Crankin]

Welcome back, Mimi. I have often thought about you, and how nice it was to meet you!

[emily_in_nc]

Great to see you on TE, Mimi!

Tis true, "it's just like riding a bike".

[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.

[thekarens]

We rode Head For The Hills in Chappell Hill, TX today, which kicked my rear. On the plus side the wild flowers are starting to bloom. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pics of the bluebonnets.

[Crankin]

Rode another short ride, again today, same ride as Wednesday. It's pretty windy out, about 43. Wore my winter Assos jacket, with a lighter weight thermal jersey and I was on the verge of being too warm. I swear, the jacket is a size small, I usually wear an x small, and I think I could have taken a medium in this jacket. DH bought it for me, half price from some weird on line place, so I'll keep it, but it's really short and tight across the shoulders. I guess you need to be a female "little Spanish climber" to wear Assos .
Saw quite a few riders today and the only ones that we passed were on very old folding bikes, carrying heavy messenger bags. Well, and most were going the other way.
Also planned the 29 mile route for our club's bike rally, which is starting from a different location for the first time, ever. It's a nice route, but we had just re-done the one from the old start place last season, and it had rave reviews, so I am sorry we can't use it again, although several other leaders are using it for regular rides.
69.3 whole miles for my first week.

[ny biker]

Here's a photo I took on my ride yesterday. This is the WOD trail (Washington & Old Dominion), a 45-mile rail-trail in northern Virginia. I took the photo at Clark's Gap, which is roughly around mile 40, west of Leesburg, VA. When riding west, you reach this trestle after a long, slightly upward incline, then the trail corkscrews up at a steeper grade to the intersection of Dry Mill Rd and Charlestown Pike. That intersection was my turnaround point yesterday, which of course meant I could enjoy a long, slightly downward-sloping section of trail.

Once or twice on past rides I have hung out under that trestle waiting for a rain storm to pass.

I

(It looks much more inviting with leaves on the trees.)

[emily_in_nc]

Today I did my longest ride in Patagonia (AZ) so far -- 40 miles. I'm finding I really enjoy riding frequent but shorter rides. My typical ride is 25-30 miles with just a few shorter or longer than that. But I'm riding five days a week so very consistent. My body seems to do well with this regime, though I am constantly hungry so think I've actually gained weight here! Have not had access to a scale for four months!

[Crankin]

Longest ride of the season, so far, just under 30 miles. I felt really good. First ride on the Kuota, too. I usually leave it on the trainer until April 1, but there's no snow in sight.
We didn't ride anywhere special, just into Boxborough, a bit of Harvard, and back through Stow, Acton, and into west Concord. It is supposed to start raining badly this afternoon, and at one point, I thought we should take the shortest route home as it was getting kinda dark out, but we didn't.
I love riding on the roads I first started riding on. And there's not so many yahoos from the city riding, like there are in Concord. We did see one large group, and lots of single/couple riders, too. One guy, on the way home was annoying me with bad etiquette, so I dropped him on a hill going into west Concord and then he proceeded to stay on my azz right up to the point where we turn off to go home.
All in all, a very good ride.

[shootingstar]

We've had snow off and on for past 2 wks. So didn't go far ...um 15 km. Around -10 degrees and there was a sharp wind. Tiny mileage before it snows again in about 12 hrs. from now.

[Catrin]

We've had snow off and on for past 2 wks. So didn't go far ...um 15 km. Around -10 degrees and there was a sharp wind. Tiny mileage before it snows again in about 12 hrs. from now.

Yikes! Sounds worse there than here, we had slushy rain this morning that became rain for much of the day, but the temps are above freezing (F). -10 = 14F? Brrrrr

[azfiddle]

About 50 miles today - over Gates Pass west of Tucson, around the back side of the Tucson Mountains and then west over Picture Rocks Road. The hill was misery- I've been trying to up my cadence the last week and although it didn't seem to be an issue, I think it really did make me a little sore and tired. Most of the rest of the group went ahead and I rode back the last 10 miles or so a little slower - fortunately my husband didn't mind riding slower with me and listening to me complain.

Still, the weather was great and there are still some wildflowers even at the lower elevations.

[emily_in_nc]

Had a really good month here in Patagonia, AZ. Ended today with a short 22-mile recovery ride after a difficult MTB ride yesterday (lots of climbing and 35.7 miles) Leaving tomorrow and will be on the road for three days, so I did my monthly totals today:

March total miles: 678.96, Year-to-date: 1414.03

I won't be able to keep up this torrid pace since we have a lot of traveling ahead, visits with family, and probably some chilly weather days back in KC, but it's been a really good first quarter of the year, my best ever by far. It pays to fly south for the winter, like the birds!

[Catrin]

So no riding yet....BUT I give my Gunnar some well deserved love this evening. Polished all the dust away, cleaned and lubed her chain and let her know in so many ways just how pretty a girl she really is! She hasn't been ridden in 6 months, and while my neck may not allow me to ride regularly (that remains to be seen), I intend on giving her a little outing soon! Just as soon as all the snow has melted, none in the forecast, and the temps are above 60. There is, indeed, still a little mound of snow in front of my building...