Sunday April 19 rides

[alpinerabbit]

Today, I went out riding with a couple clubmates for the first time. There were 3 others, one about my level and two seasoned ironmen/women in training for this year's.
The guy pullled us all the way to the base of our mountain of the day, about 40k at least.

This is my favorite love/hate mountain, I call it the b!tch, and consists of about 200m elevation gain in the first 5K and then about 500 in the second 5-6k. I'd never done it so early in the season, the pastures up on the mtn still had snow.
I made it - maybe in the light red zone - of course my heart rate was probably about 30 beats higher than those iron people at roughly the same speed. How. do. they. do it??!

This was followed by a nice ride home because these guys knew exactly where to go so the ride home was almost all downhill. I'm a scaredycat but I had a blast.
We went so fast - once there was a deep dip followed by a really rather steep uphill of maybe 100m and we almost just rolled over it. There's such an advantage to speed :-)

came home and did the complete recovery program - protein, bath, hydrate, self-massage, stretching. phew. Now I think I get a nap.

[Grog]

Looks like a good ride!

My husband was working this morning so I went with him on his almost-25 km commute. At 6:30 it was a bit early for me but my ride is done for the day. I also found a shorter way to return home so I'll let him know that.

I was riding along the Skytrain line (Vancouver's metro transit system) and there were lots of people flocking to the stations (early on a Sunday morning) wearing their Sun Run t-shirts and carrying their race number. The Sun Run is a 55,000-people 10K race that happens every year in downtown Vancouver. Pretty impressive. For the first time this year I'm not in it. It just takes most of the day to get there, get started (one year it took me 45 minutes to cross the START line!!), run and find one's way home through the crowd. But it's a great event! I'm glad I could get a glimpse. I was too cold to go to the finish line and wait for the winners to come in around 9:30 a.m. so I just rolled home.

[hipmama]

I'm leading a new guy on a ride today- he just moved here from Hawaii and had posted in a local riding group that he needed a tour- we're both riding tour de cure this year too which is cool. He hasn't ridden his bike since last year so we're taking it easy, shooting for 20-25 miles with a few rolls- mostly on bike path. It's maiden voyage for my new bike as well though I'm fudging the footing- have clipless pedals and no shoes to lock in with, so I'm just wearing my running shoes, should be interesting?

[Fredwina]

I rode to church. We're having Santa Ana Winds, so going east was challenging. Then I turned around and headed west going about 25 mph Woo hoo!
Although once I got in shadow of the Mountains, I had another head wind
When I got to chruch, one of the parishioner wanted my advice on a bicycle his daughter had left with hie and told it was OK to get ride of. It's a Celo Europa from the late 80's early 90's he supposed to get back w/ Frame size and Gearing (All I could tell was shimano 105 and a double)
Coming home I took advantage of the tailwind, but stopped to take a pic:

[txred9876]

Today, I went out riding with a couple clubmates for the first time. There were 3 others, one about my level and two seasoned ironmen/women in training for this year's.
The guy pullled us all the way to the base of our mountain of the day, about 40k at least.

This is my favorite love/hate mountain, I call it the b!tch, and consists of about 200m elevation gain in the first 5K and then about 500 in the second 5-6k. I'd never done it so early in the season, the pastures up on the mtn still had snow.
I made it - maybe in the light red zone - of course my heart rate was probably about 30 beats higher than those iron people at roughly the same speed. How. do. they. do it??!

This was followed by a nice ride home because these guys knew exactly where to go so the ride home was almost all downhill. I'm a scaredycat but I had a blast.
We went so fast - once there was a deep dip followed by a really rather steep uphill of maybe 100m and we almost just rolled over it. There's such an advantage to speed :-)

came home and did the complete recovery program - protein, bath, hydrate, self-massage, stretching. phew. Now I think I get a nap.

You deserve one!!!! I think I might need one too...lol

[txred9876]

I fell really good this weekend.....energy is still doing well. I went to the Velaway (3.2 mile two lane paved - only bikes and roller blades).

I met up with a friend who has not been on her bike in 9 years!!! I followed her for the first two times and then she went home. I did the last 12.8 miles in just under an hour. I felt like I could have ridden more but my saddle sucks!

I stopped by the lbs and had them fit me with a new one!!!!

tina

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Good going, Tina!


DH and I did a very enjoyable and relaxing 25 mile ride today after breakfast.
I found another TINY newborn painted turtle on the road again- it's shell was exactly one inch diameter! Smallest I'd ever seen. There was a pond right near the road so I walked on down to it and put him in.

[7rider]

Did the shop ride. Had a few newbies and the C-ride was pretty crowded. I met a new TE'er....PFunk12. Unfortunately, DH and I arrived late at the start (per usual, sadly) and I didn't get to meet her at the start. I was asking for her at a light and a bunch of folks pointed her out behind me. We waved...and went with the green. The next light was the split point for the B- and C-rides. I went straight with the C's, but she went left with the larger group...the B's. I was a little nervous how she'd do on that ride, since it was her first time with the group. I talked to a bunch of folks at the end of the ride, and they all said she ROCKED. Smooth pedal style, no rocking in the saddle, held her line nicely. A real pro. So props to Pfunk12 and I hope to ride with you again soon!

Later in the day, DH and I went to the Carl Dolan races up in Columbia. We saw 3 friends race the men's Cat 4/5 race, and it was great. BUT....I lost my brand new Oakley Straight Jackets there. I am sick with anger over it. I take some consolation in knowing I got them for a relative song on Chainlove...but still.... Ugh.

[Triskeliongirl]

Today was our Fiesta Wildflower ride. The organizer did a great job, all turns marked so I never once had to look at my map, police to get us through intersections so we didn't have to stop, and a great lunch waiting for us upon our return. It was HARD, a lot of wind, but I pushed myself hard on my new bike and did a personal best time. Even got a lot of comments, even from a competing bike shop owner, about how well I was riding since I got my cervelo. Weather was great too, all in all just a great day. Sorry, no pics, I was in too much of a rush to make a good time!

[hipmama]

I'm in love with my new bike! Can't believe I rode it with my running shoes on the clipless pedals but couldn't get new shoes fast enough for me to pass up todays sun and not take her out to play. Went with a new neighborhood rider for 28 miles, couple of good climbs but mostly flat. My speed is much better on the new girl- averaged about 18mph and hit over 20 on some up hills- woohoo! My feet were cramping at the end from my foot set up though- getting shoes this week, have a couple rainy days coming so it won't be so torturous if it's not immediate.

[Possegal]

My sister and brother-in-law and I rode in the Girls with Gears charity bike ride in Limerick, PA. We did the 40 mile ride, had a good bit of hills to climb (my Garmin told me about 3700 ft total climbing). I toyed a few times with the idea of - the next hill, I've got to just walk it. But I never did. Which for me is a great accomplishment. Now if I could find a way to challenge myself like that regularly, maybe I could start dropping some pounds.

It was a really nice ride though, and a lovely day, and it would have been our mother's 90th bday if she were still here - so we rode with her picture on our backs.

[sundial]

Your mother looks so sweet. I am really touched by your photo.

[Possegal]

Thank you, I'm missing her extra hard right now. That picture is known in our family as "biker Meem" (Meem being what the grandkids called her). She joked once about those "Glamour Shots" stores and my one sister in law thought she was serious and got her a gift certificate for Christmas. Mum did NOT want to go do it, she hated having her pic taken and nearly never took a good photo. The day it was to expire she was hoping they forgot, but my brother called her and off they went. In the end, she had a BALL, the people there had even more fun with her, and we got his amazing photo of her. She was a pistol and it was an honor to be her daughter.

Sorry, feeling a tad emotional. Added to the emotion, while we were at our ride out near Philly, back in our hometown of Pittsburgh there was a fire in one of the 5 apartments in the building she/we lived in for 20 yrs and a woman I've known my whole life died in it. http://kdka.com/video/?id=56307%40kdka.dayport.com It was shocking to see the video online.

Yesterday was a very very difficult day, but with a beautiful bike ride with 2 people I love in there too. I guess I'm still processing it all.

[OakLeaf]

Oh (((((Posse)))))