December rides

[Helene2013]

I only did a 11km ride on trainer today. Follow by my PT exercices. It was my 1st ride in ages. Knees seem well. Winds are pushing at 90km/h at times. We are beating a heat record for the day. It was near 8c. That is warm. Too bad we had rain added to it. I think if we had no wind and 8c I would have tried to get our old bikes out just for a spin. But hey. Inside is just as well. Better than walking on crutches. Not going to complain for sure.

[Crankin]

Did just under 25 miles, on another very windy day. I thought it would not be so windy, but, we modified our plan a bit, by having lunch near the end of the ride and not doing a big climb, although there was enough climbing for me. We had a headwind for about 2/3 of the ride, and a cross wind the rest of the time. So, exceedingly slow, but fun. It was about 44 degrees out and sunny.
Tomorrow we are doing a club ride, that I've done twice. The beginning, right near the middle has some tough climbing, but after that, it's OK. You can be sure we will wait to leave the start after everyone else, as this is not an AMC ride, rather a regular CRW ride, not part of my Wednesday sub group of the club.

[ny biker]

I only did a 11km ride on trainer today. Follow by my PT exercices. It was my 1st ride in ages. Knees seem well. Winds are pushing at 90km/h at times. We are beating a heat record for the day. It was near 8c. That is warm. Too bad we had rain added to it. I think if we had no wind and 8c I would have tried to get our old bikes out just for a spin. But hey. Inside is just as well. Better than walking on crutches. Not going to complain for sure.

Sounds like good progress!!

[Crankin]

Did 35.8 miles with 2,100 ft. of climbing today. I am exhausted. We did the ride we were going to do yesterday, and it was a good thing we didn't, because the lunch stop place was closed yesterday. The day was supposed to be 50-52 degrees. I think it may have been that somewhere, but not where we were riding! I got warmed up before lunch, as that's where most of the big climbs were, but after lunch, even though it was 1:45 when we left Harvard center, the sun is so low and behind the trees, I was freezing. After a bit of climbing, I stopped to put my glove liners back on. Felt ok when I got home, but am drinking tea now, have that slightly chilled feeling, even thought he thermometer outside says 50.
Glad I did not do the club ride. I would have been miserable. Had a great veggie sandwich at the Harvard General Store. While we were there, we saw a couple that came on that charity ride we led for our synagogue in September. They were part of the obnoxious group that went ahead of DH and said they could do what they wanted to do, so I was not in the mood to be nice. I've known the woman for years, from the health club and she is very strange, always whining. So, I made myself feel better by thinking that she may be a faster rider than me, but she looks like crap, even though she must be 5-10 years younger!
Have 17 miles to go to make 2,700 miles. Don't know if that will happen. The weather might be OK tomorrow, but I kind of wanted to do something different and I need to get some food in this house!

[lauraelmore1033]

Oh my, what a miserable ride! Forecast did call for rain, but it was sunny and dry at home. Went to the Centennial trail and there were signs that rain was imminent. I thought I'd just cruise on down the trail until it did actually rain, then I'd turn around. The rain held off until I reached the very end of the trail and then it started dumping down in buckets! The seat angle on the recumbent is just perfect for rain to pound down directly into the eyes. That was the worst thing; it was raining so hard that it hurt my eyes. I was also horrified to notice that a large stretch of land along the trail has been clear cut. The whole hillside has been devistated! It's horrible. Oh well.

I am seriously happy to be warm and dry now.

[rebeccaC]

After a week of being gone, just relaxing and with some hikes/walks/runs for exercise I got back home yesterday and did a 78 mile ride into the santa monica mountains today. A few serious climbs and descents, including a fun fast final descent down the one way tuna canyon road to the pacific coast highway, 6800'+ elevation gains, weather in the 60’s for the whole ride with a slight headwind going out pch and more of a tailwind coming back all made for a good days ride. I’m doing an ACP 200k on Jan 10th so I’m in the process of preparing myself for that. The company I work for closes for Christmas through New Years, two full weeks this year, so I have next week to get some more rides in.

[lauraelmore1033]

After a week of being gone, just relaxing and with some hikes/walks/runs for exercise I got back home yesterday and did a 78 mile ride into the santa monica mountains today. A few serious climbs and descents, including a fun fast final descent down the one way tuna canyon road to the pacific coast highway, 6800'+ elevation gains, weather in the 60’s for the whole ride with a slight headwind going out pch and more of a tailwind coming back all made for a good days ride. I’m doing an ACP 200k on Jan 10th so I’m in the process of preparing myself for that. The company I work for closes for Christmas through New Years, two full weeks this year, so I have next week to get some more rides in.

That sounds like an amazing ride. It's so cold, wet and dark here, I'm starting to feel not quite human and it's hard to find the motivation to ride.

[rebeccaC]

It's so cold, wet and dark here, I'm starting to feel not quite human and it's hard to find the motivation to ride.

I know I'm lucky to be able to ride in year round good weather....your wet/no sun/cold months would be hard on my motivation too. It would also communicate to my brain the need to consume every kind of chocolate available in the house and just cuddle up with a good book!!!
I have a good college friend who commutes year round in D.C. I greatly admire her determination and confidence in the winter, I definitely would need to come up with strategies to trick my mind into dealing with it in a positive way.

[AppleTree]

Oh my, what a miserable ride! Forecast did call for rain, but it was sunny and dry at home. Went to the Centennial trail and there were signs that rain was imminent. I thought I'd just cruise on down the trail until it did actually rain, then I'd turn around. The rain held off until I reached the very end of the trail and then it started dumping down in buckets! The seat angle on the recumbent is just perfect for rain to pound down directly into the eyes. That was the worst thing; it was raining so hard that it hurt my eyes. I was also horrified to notice that a large stretch of land along the trail has been clear cut. The whole hillside has been devistated! It's horrible. Oh well.

I am seriously happy to be warm and dry now.

Oh, no! Where did they clear cut, was it north of the Arlington area? I'm so sad about that... I haven't been out there for a while now, between work and holidays... Your ride sounds like an endurance test all right, but you did it! It feels amazing after you get done and really makes you feel "hard core", ha ha.

[rebeccaC]

marie, from the times i've been in the pnw i know it can be beautiful!!!!...golden gardens looks like a great place to ride!!

well, it's not always ideal here......some of that pnw rain came south today on my ride up topanga canyon drive.....in the 50's, 56miles with a wet final descent. when i got back to santa monica i was wet enough so riding through puddles was carefree and fun.

any water from the sky is welcome with the drought we're going through

from the top of topanga canyon looking over the san fernando valley

[shootingstar]

During the day we did 14 km. Then later on we went out last night for an additional 15 km. ride around a neighbourhood to see some Christmas lights. By a separated bike lane (newish) in a wealthy Vancouver neighbourhood (Point Grey) along the waterfront that faces rises north shore mountains.

[lauraelmore1033]

Oh, no! Where did they clear cut, was it north of the Arlington area? I'm so sad about that... I haven't been out there for a while now, between work and holidays... Your ride sounds like an endurance test all right, but you did it! It feels amazing after you get done and really makes you feel "hard core", ha ha.

It's actually south of Arlington. You know the kinda big (but not really) downhill where you go under two bridges? I think it was after the second bridge (or maybe just before it). Not only was the area clear cut, but there are some Mcmansions on top of the hill and it looks like there are new driveways apparently crossing the trail.

[khg]

December was almost all commuting for me. But after a Thanksgiving cold snap, my husband couldn't take it any more and redeemed a bunch of frequent flyer miles for a post-Christmas trip to Maui. While there we biked up Mt Haleakala (we got bikes and some ride support from Maui Cyclery). It was one of the most difficult, and most fabulous things I've done. We lucked out on the weather--it was warm, sunny, and almost windless, even at the summit. And with that ride, I went over 4,000 logged miles on the year--my best year yet!

A couple photos:

Looking out towards West Maui


At the summit with the Big Island in the background


The obligatory elevation shot


The moonscape of the Haleakala crater (well, technically, it's an erosion valley...)


my blog (address in sig) has a way-too-long write up, with a few more photos.

And now, we're back home, hunkered down for warmth in another cold snap. Oh well--it was fun while it lasted!

Here's to another year of fabulous riding to everyone--it's so inspiring to see what people are doing!