October rides: put a little color into it.

[north woods gal]

Hey, Crankin, way to go, girl! Yeah, the dressing part is always the trickiest for me, too. Have an old Gore-tex bicycling rain jacket, but it ain't what it used to be. Definitely showing its age and it leaks a bit, now. Time to get something new, but they are so darn expensive. The one plus I have going for me is that most of my biking is close to home, so if I start to get wet and chilled, I'm never far from home. In my Chicago days, though, I did have a very close call with hypothermia on a wet and cold day. That taught me a lesson. You can always shed layers if you over-dress, but if you dress too light and things turn nasty, you're in trouble.

We pushed our errands back till late afternoon, instead of running them first and then riding when we get back. Cool this morning, but no wind and lots of sunshine, so our morning ride was quite pleasant. Not a lot of miles, but anymore, I don't worry too much about the miles. I'm more interested in getting a good workout and that's a matter of adding a lot of hills on a ride. Oh, yeah, hills we have. Most are gentle, but some are challenging. Riding single speed also makes hill climbing a good workout, too. Not riding anywhere near the total miles I once did, but, thanks to the single speed riding, I think my leg strength is as good as it's ever been. My wind, too.

[Crankin]

Yes, this is why I don't fret about my 7-12 mile rides in the early AM, or in yesterday's case, because of weather. These rides always have 1-2 good hills and frankly, the only flat rides I can do are either across town and back (10 miles), an extension of this that has one hill, but we still call it the "flat ride," and is 18-20 miles, or riding to the bike trail in a longer way.
I woke up at 4 AM, so since I was up, I went to spin class at 5:30. Only one other person was there, I guess they were all up late watching the Red Sox. I am glad they won, but I can't alter my schedule for that! I am meticulously rigid about my sleep, exercise, and nutrition schedule, because if I am not, bad things happen.

[north woods gal]

Yipee! Got my Krampus back from the shop and those big 29x3 tires are now tubeless. Does it make a difference? You bet it does. The Kramp now rides the way I always hoped it would ride. Much more lively and responsive with those lighter wheels, plus a softer ride with better traction.

... and the single speed addiction continues. Dropped off the Pugs 2 at the same time. Soon to be another single speed for me to ride.

[north woods gal]

Gray and cloudy and cool all day, yesterday, but at least reasonable for this time of year as far as the 40s temp. Did 13 miles of pavement on the Nature Boy, but cut it short, there, so I could get home and ride the Krampus to see if it was really as big an improvement as I thought it was, now that it's tubeless. The good news is that, oh yeah, I wasn't imagining it. Did 6 miles of trail riding on the Krampus and loved it. May seem contradictory, but on a plus size bike like the Krampus, going tubeless makes for a softer ride (more flex in the tires, no inner tube pushing against it from the inside) AND a faster ride because the greatly reduced wheel weight makes for much better acceleration. That's especially important on a single speed.

May do one final cleanup of my trails, clearing them of all leaves and debris, before the snow covers everything. Up here, of course, that can be any day, now.

[north woods gal]

Another wet, cold and rainy day, yesterday. Not much better, today, but at least it's not raining. Anyway, did my usual rides on both the pavement and the trails, yesterday. Used a fat bike, on the trails, as I always do when they're wet and soggy. Pretty amazing how little imprint those monster wide tires make in wet dirt and mud.

If the trails are dry enough, today, will go a bit smaller on the tires for trail work with either the Krampus or maybe even the Log Lady with it's 2.25" wide tires. Could really, really, really use some sunshine, though. Would make me feel a lot better, at least.

[Crankin]

I did the usual ride I do in the super early AM, but instead at 10:45 AM. It was in the 20s this morning, waited until it would be 35+. Of course, the lovely bright sun went in and it was cloudy and I swear I felt a mist when I started. I wore my heated gloves, why suffer?
Something was off with my clothing. I either needed my wind jacket instead of my winter jacket or a lighter jersey or base layer. I was simultaneously cool and sweaty. Not terribly, and unzipping helped.
Glad I went, but it's embarrassing to be doing such short rides. I am meeting someone for lunch, otherwise I would have gone on a group ride. Feeling a little burned out; this is normal at this time of year, but since I hardly rode any big miles this year, I shouldn't feel this way. I will not look at my total measly mileage until 12/31.

[north woods gal]

Hey, Crankin, those short rides can add up. Never even hit 30 miles, this month, on a single ride, but by riding every day, I managed to do just over 400 miles for the month. I'm very pleased with that, given that October was mostly lousy for weather. Also, about a third of those 400 miles were the harder to pedal trail miles and all but about 75 miles were on single speeds. I think that doing short rides, every day, is better for me at my age than doing a few really big rides every week. Those big rides tend to wear me out, more, now, and take a lot longer for me to recover.

Of course, I am retired and can ride right outside my back door all I want, so riding every day is doable for me. I know it is not for most folks. I am grateful for what I have. I am blessed.

Yeah, hard to believe that it's November, already, tomorrow.