riding through the days of August

[wildnrg01]

Was good to know everyone is being sporty and health conscious and enjoying the August fun run.

[Helene2013]

So far...still cycling INSIDE! Weather is overly hot and humid here. Hubby did try a 20km ride Saturday and said it was truly painful. Coming from him, it must have been.

So I did my training inside on trainer last night. At least we're moving and keeping up...

[Crankin]

Demoralizing ride experience today, but it turned out OK in the end. The cycling group that seemed perfect for me has been evolving over the past 10 years. There is often a longer and shorter ride, which is fine, but the longer ride is always at a faster pace. I have always been on the edge of that pace, and I have gone out with these guys (some women, too) a few times over the past 10 years. Today I really wanted to do the long ride, as the shorter ride was advertised at a "relaxed" pace, which means slower than the "normal" pace for this group. So, what's happened is longer always = faster. I can't do 42 miles, with 2K feet of climbing at the faster pace, but I started out anyway. My friend, Jack, who I lead with for another club was sweeping and after about 5 miles, I stayed with him. I tried to abandon then, but he encouraged me and also said he'd go as slowly as I needed. I ride with him a lot, and he knows what I can do. But, after about 11.5 miles, I was at the point where if I continued, it was lots of climbing and I just was not having fun. I am feeling better than in the last few weeks, but my immune system is still wreaking havoc on my body, mostly when I ride. Then I get pissed at myself for being lazy. It's true I don't like to "train," and have been able to do what I want in almost every case. And this group (the faster ones) is almost all older than me, or my age... so I told Jack I was abandoning and I actually had a lovely, bit slower ride home. I had ridden to the start, so I didn't have to go get my car. Got in 27 miles, and despite the heat and humidity, most of it was shaded.
DH is telling me I need to be kind to myself, but it just gets me angrier when he does this, as he is riding more and getting very fast. I don't have time to do all of the modalities that helped me the last time I went through this (acupuncture, PT, massage, meditation), so I think I am going to pick one thing, which will probably be massage. I also don't feel as badly as I did a few years ago, I know I am not dying, and it will pass. It does seem to be related to the hot weather, and always happens near the end of the summer or early fall.

[Crankin]

I'm a leader for AMC, not this club. There's a lot of cross over between the groups, and I wouldn't have to "pass" any tests. My issue is that today's shorter ride was advertised at a relaxed pace. In this group, this means slower than the established "regular Wednesday Wheeler pace." The people who show up for anything advertised as relaxed tend to have squirelly bike skills and they scare me! I would have gone on the shorter ride, if it had been the regular pace. I am always in the front of that group, mostly because I climb better than a lot of them. Part of the group splitting stems from 2 things: one, a lot of the original people are too old to ride (like 80+ or dead!) and this group of people around my age have become more visible. They do nothing but ride, long crazy rides every day, but they don't want to give up doing this ride. They are very nice and encouraging, but... the other reason is the groups were getting so big, that we have had the police called on us in a few towns. Anyway, next week is just one ride, up the NH/Maine Seacoast, led by 2 women who ride at about my speed. I haven't been into driving far to rides, but, it's summer and I love this ride.
I really don't want to get involved with leading for another group, but I will mention this to someone who may be able to do something. I guess, if push comes to shove, I could lead a slightly slower paced version of a long ride. I also think i need to commit to getting out with the faster group in the winter, if the roads are OK, or at least start out with them in some of the early season rides.

[Aromig]

DH is telling me I need to be kind to myself, but it just gets me angrier when he does this, as he is riding more and getting very fast.

I'm going through this now. A friend that I rode a lot with last year has been focusing on getting faster and faster. Because of various issues, I'm slower this year and I find that riding with him just makes me angry at myself as well as self-conscious. I'm looking for others to ride with, but I'm running into the same problems with the local group ride that you have with this group. I can ride forever, but I'm not fast, especially if you add hills. I'm much faster than the short ride group (not all are on road bikes, its a more relaxed ride for sure) but I'm not fast enough for the long ride group and I exhaust myself trying to keep up. I'm new to this group, and I can't make many rides because of my work schedule so that just adds to my self-consciousness. So I'm riding a lot by myself and I've just resolved to work harder over the winter.

[steppink]

I was thinking about this the other day, that I can ride for a long time, I would ride all day if the day didn't get in the way!
I have also been having vague thoughts lately of maybe joining some sort of group for rides, but I have a hybrid not a road bike and I think all these groups are road bike people and I am definitely not fast enough for those groups and am also slow on hills, so I will stay a solo rider for the foreseeable future. Luckily I think I am pretty good company for myself so I don't mind it haha! :-)

[Crankin]

I have steadfastly had the attitude that I don't "train," but since I live in a hilly area, on top of a bigger hill, I am OK at climbing. However, I am content to do my climbing at a slow pace, so I don't blow up on a long ride. I also do boot camp, trail run, and other outdoor stuff in the winter. This strategy worked for me for about 7 years, then I had some health issues, and it took me a year to get almost back to where I was. Compared to other almost 62 year olds, I am no slouch. Problem is, I know and ride with a lot of people my age or older that just do sufferfests everyday. I also have some weird medical issues that seem to be aggravated by riding in hot weather. I have a couple of other friends to ride with, but they are slower than me.
I am rejoining my old health club in October, so I can take advantage of more spin classes this winter; there are not enough at times i can go where I go now. Although I x country ski and snow shoe like crazy, I have issues making myself get on the trainer at home. I am hoping more spin classes and maybe a bike trip to jump start my season in March will help. I'd like to be just a teeny teeny bit faster, like 1 mph on average.

[azfiddle]

Aromig- I am just like that- slow but can ride a long way. I ride with a women's group on Saturdays (club?team?) not sure what to call it but I am thinking seriously of quitting because they are all faster than me. I average about 14 mph on long rides. I can't keep up and I sense certain amount of tension about waiting for me sometimes. A couple of the women will stay back with me sometimes but not always. I might as well ride by myself and not worry about catching up with them....I even used a coach last year and I didn't get faster.

But I just finished my 4th climb up Mt. Lemmon here since late June- starting at about 2400 feet and riding up over 8000 feet. And I've done several 200k brevets.