April Rides

[ny biker]

Really the weather is against us. I realize it's nowhere near as bad down here as it is for those of you who are farther north, but it's bad enough for someone who hates the cold more with each passing year. I have cancelled four rides that I had planned over the past couple of weeks, partially because I've been busy and tired, but in large part because I'm just sick of being outside in the cold north wind.

Tonight I had planned to go out for a ride after work. It's been in the 50s here today and the sun has been warm, but the breeze is from the NW and there's a chill to it and the sun will be gone by the time I get out to ride so it will be chilly. I'm thinking of postponing the ride until tomorrow when it will be warmer. Of course I've been eating all day as if I was going for a ride tonight rather than having a light lunch as I would on a non-workout day, but dammit I'm tired of wearing AmFib tights and Windstopper gloves and booties. It's just making me cranky.

[Crankin]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've been wearing my battery heated gloves! Yes, they are a new toy, but I needed them yesterday morning on the way to work, when it was 36. Today, I just wore regular mid weight fleece lined cycling gloves. My hands just can't tolerate the Amphibs, even when I got a bigger size, I just feel like my fingers are being strangled.
I know this too, will pass, in terms of the weather, but I won't ride in pouring rain. Cold, I am OK with at this time of year, but the wind today really added a dimension I didn't need. Trying to stay positive. I may be able to get a commute in on Friday, but it will require a mad dash home from the gym at 6:30 AM, shower, eat, and get on my bike, see 3 clients, and book out of there quickly to get home, change, and head off to an important hair appointment. I'd be willing to do this in a light rain, but we'll see. It's only 5.2 miles each way.

[ny biker]

I totally agree about riding in heavy rain, especially cold rain. It can actually be dangerous, if you're not able to keep warm enough.


I decided to delay my ride until tomorrow night, and instead I went shopping for a dress for my cousin's upcoming wedding. I found something nice. It cost a bit more than I wanted to spend but I already have shoes, a slip, everything else I need to go with it and it looks good on me so I felt like I'd had a successful evening. Then as I was driving through the mall parking lot toward the highway, someone drove up next to me and told me that both of my tail lights were out.

The car is due for an oil change and inspection, but I had planned to wait until next week for that. But nonworking tail lights are a safety hazard so I would have to bring the car in for service first thing tomorrow. Since both lights were out, I hoped it was just a blown fuse, but it could be something more serious. My car (a Prius) is full of computers that control everything including the lights, and I've had problems with them in the past. Since it's no longer under warranty it would be expensive to deal with that again. And if I have to take the car in for service tomorrow, it could easily mess up my whole day and prevent me from riding my bike after work. This is what I was thinking as I drove home.

Then when I got home I asked the internet was what going on, and it told me that I probably just needed to replace some light bulbs. And there were even videos to show me how to do it. So I will attempt this first thing tomorrow morning, and hopefully after that my day will be routine enough to allow some cycling. It will be breezy but the will winds from the SOUTH. So it should be sunny and warm and pleasant. No more AmFibs!!

[Crankin]

I commuted again today. The rain stayed south, or at least it didn't rain while I was riding! I got home from boot camp and DH was still home, so we rode out together, at 8 AM. There was a major back up of traffic on one of the more main roads, as they were street cleaning along the curb. DH went ahead and I guess he went to the left of the cars to see what the heck was going on (a bad move I would never do.) But, then, all of the cars stopped, and I could see the street cleaning stuff. There was no room in the small area where I usually ride, as that's where they were cleaning. But, I got in the lane, and it was just a minute of stopping, as they were letting vehicles go through on a one way basis. I caught up to DH quickly, as we were in a wide bike/parking lane over the Concord River and then we parted ways. All in all, a bit faster today and I wore a new tunic from Terry (made by a French brand) and my commuting capris that have a tri chamois, with my bolero, so I did not have to change, except for my shoes. Nice.

[ny biker]

I did go out for a ride last night after work. (I also successfully changed the tail light bulbs in the car. It was easy -- sometimes car manufacturers make it difficult to access the light housings, but in this case I was able to get at them with plenty of room to work even though the bike was in the back of the car.)

It was windy yesterday, but it was warm. I was overdressed! It was 70 degrees and right around sunset when I started. I didn't know how much it would cool down while I was out, but I thought there was a good chance it would get chilly. So I wore wool capris, a long sleeved lightweight wool shirt under a short sleeved jersey, and toe covers. But it was still in the high 60s when I finished with strong breezes from the south, so I didn't really need the capris or the toe covers. It was a pleasant change from all the "I wish I had an extra layer" rides I did this winter.

In all I rode 16 miles, a short version of my usual hilly route. My legs were pretty tired, but I averaged slightly faster than the last time I did the same ride, not bad considering I've been off the bike for several weeks.

[Jolt]

It got up into the 60s here today (!) so I made sure to get a ride in. However, it wasn't one of the best rides I've had...first I was bombing down a steep hill, and when I was going pretty fast I came around a curve to find that at the bottom of the hill there was a logging truck turning right onto the road I was on and taking up both lanes. Had to come to almost a complete stop (fairly quickly) to avoid either running into it or having to ditch at high speed, neither of which would have been good. Later, I had decided to explore a road I hadn't ridden before only to find out that it turned from pavement to dirt which would have been fine except it was wet, mushy and my tires were sinking into the surface making it hard to keep moving forward without falling over. So, I turned around and went back to the main road home, making the ride shorter than I had originally wanted it to be (13 miles instead of about 20). It appears that for D2R2 this summer I will want to use different tires, and I really hope it isn't wet that weekend!! And, my average speed was a craptastic 11 mph (but then again there was a LOT of climbing in the first half of the ride, with a slight headwind to boot).

[azfiddle]

We get Friday before Easter off.. and unlike Crankin, I didn't have to do any Passover cooking because we're going to a friend's house and I'm bringing the matzah and a bottle of wine.

Getting warm here in Tucson- up to the 90's for a few days, but today was cooler (85?) and I did a ride this morning with one of the local bike clubs. Adding 10 miles of travel to the ride start and end, I rode 42. One of the usual destinations: Saguaro National Park east, with lots of brittlebush still in bloom and the earliest cacti blooming: Hedgehog Cactus with a brilliant magenta flower. I also saw my first live rattlesnake of the year (Western Diamondback), but it was on the side of the road, not even on the pavement, as I rode up the steep hill on the back of the loop through the park. I averaged a respectable (for me) 15.4 mph. Added a few miles with a bike trip to the doctor and will be riding my bike to the Passover dinner as my husband needed the car.

Tomorrow I'm riding Mt. Lemmon again but I will not get to the summit as we are starting at 7 am and I have to be home by 11. I would say that a reasonable expectation might be to get to about mile post 10 at Seven Cataracts view point. That should take about 2 1/2 hours up at my snail's pace, with a couple of stops to rest, and includes the 5 miles from the start to "mile 0", and about an hour ride or more down. I'm not one of those fearless descenders- glad I have good brakes).