Holiday weekend rides

[Catrin]

Mountain bike parking lot and grass drills this morning for about an hour or so, plus another 30-40 minutes just roaming around on my lovely Jamis

[Grits]

Ride from hell yesterday. Nah, I guess I've had worse. Still it is disappointing to really be looking forward to a ride and then have it turn out to just be a "bad ride day." 5 of us were doing a 40 - 50 mile ride. I started out leading and my legs immediately felt like lead so I dropped to the rear and then started feeling better after warming up. Was good until about 20 miles in, and then my legs started feeling really fatigued, and I had trouble keeping up the rest of the ride.
It was REALLY hot yesterday. The last few miles my on-bike thermometer was saying 100 degrees (102 for a brief time). The actual temps yesterday got to the mid 90's. Only explanation I can think of is it is the week before my period, and that can cause me to not have my best rides. The good news is that my average mph on a bad ride day was a speed that I would have been very happy with just last summer, so at least there has been improvement. One of the riders invited us to his pool afterwards, so that was heavenly!

[Orange utopia]

29 miles in terrible humidity with lots of never ending hills today. I am wiped out but I did get my average speed up to 13.5 which is surprising because I felt like I was going super slow.

[Crankin]

Quick 14 miles to W. Concord and back. I rarely ride on some of the streets we cruised on, so it was fun. Stopped and had a cold drink, back in Concord center. It was supposed to thunder and be quite rainy, but we got home just as it started sprinkling. I actually stretched when I got home, which is needed, because tomorrow, we are going on a hilly 40-50 mile ride.
My last 3 rides have been in an average zone which is making me happy. Nothing super fast, but approaching where I was 4 years ago, before my mystery illness. I don't expect that on a hilly long ride, but it's good to see it on the rides closer to home.

[solobiker]

Got in 30 miles this morning before the heat set in. I was on my bike by 630am. Such a beautiful morning. Not too many hills on my route today. My back usually does not like any more then 20-25 miles and it was telling me so today too. Oh well. No ride for me tomorrow..have to work and by the time I get out it is supposed to be in the upper 90s. I may ride my spin bike. Have a great day everyone.

[nscrbug]

Saturday's ride was 76 miles in horrid humidity and temps in the mid 90's. Despite how dreadful the air quality was, I ended up having a pretty good ride. Wish I could say the same about today's ride, which was 103 miles of misery. Humidity and temps weren't nearly as bad, but I was just having a terrible "pain" day. Everything that could possibly hurt me today...DID. My hands, my back, my butt, my girly bits, my neck...about the ONLY thing that did NOT hurt me were my feet! At one of the rest stops we made, I really felt like crying but I held it together for the sake of not embarrassing myself in front of my DH and another riding buddy of ours. I felt bad because DH and our riding buddy had to keep slowing up to wait for my slow @ss. I finally told the buddy to just go on without us (which he did)...DH stayed behind to ride with me. We left our house at 6am and didn't get home until almost 1:30! I don't care what anyone says...that is just too damn long to be on a bike.

Sorry for venting and ranting...I'm just havin' one of THOSE days.

Linda

[PinkBike]

nscrbug -- dont beat yourself up, i'm WAY impressed with your 2 days of riding. 100 miles in 7.5 hours is more than admirable. and after a 76 mile day. you rock.

saturday fat cyclist tweeted that he rode 96 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing. woh.

but i think i got him beat. 35 miles, No climbing, No wind, but 118 degrees. you have no idea.

THAT's what post-ride naps are for!! and cold showers.

[jessmarimba]

Rode 43ish miles from glenwood springs to aspen on a 30 pound bike + 12ish pounds of gear. I think the whole thing was a gradual uphill...looking forward to the ride back in the morning! (though I've learned that 45-pound bikes don't even coast down hills.)

Nice to escape the worst of the heat, though with the altitude and the dryness I think I had 5 bottles of water.

[Owlie]

but i think i got him beat. 35 miles, No climbing, No wind, but 118 degrees. you have no idea.

I don't think I could move if it were that hot.

[luv2climb]

The heat down here in the valley chased me up to the mountains today for my first high altitude ride of the summer. Since the road I planned on riding was littered with goat-head thorns when I climbed it last summer, I played it safe and rode my 32 lb Rockhopper with 26 x 1.95 Specialized Hemispheres. The thick tires do a much better job of resisting flats from those pesky thorns.

I climbed Ice House Road from US 50 in El Dorado County, then up Granite Springs Road to the top at 5,709' elevation. Since this was my first ride on this road, I kept going a little while after reaching the top just to make sure I really completed the climb.

I turned around and descended to Ice House Road, then completed that climb and rode a little further down the road, again to make sure I really did reach the top and not a false summit.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96655663

Here's video of the ride up Ice House Road, plus the steeper sufferfest part of Granite Springs Road. Since Ice House Road didn't cause much suffering, there's not a lot of "suffer sounds" until Granite Springs Road. I'm glad, actually. It means I'm getting stronger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYrkt57xJ2w

On the way back down Ice House Road, I decided to see if my non-suspended mtb with 65 psi in the tires would make it up a steep, rocky trail by the side of the road. It did. Here's video proof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk527z78-0I

Bottom of Ice House Road climb:



View from the top of Granite Springs Road:



Top of Ice House Road climb:



A closer look at the mountains from the above pic:



Dirt trail near Ice House Road:



View from top of trail:



About to descend Ice House Road:

[wackyjacky1]

Great pics, l2c!

I was going to do a nice ride to the Missions and back, but discovered I had a flat on my bike just as I was getting ready to leave the house. Turned on the TV while I was fixing it and got hooked on the Wimbledon final. By the time that was done, it was too hot, so no ride for me. Bummer!

(BTW that's the first flat I've had on that bike, and I've had it for something like three years now. Yay for kevlar-reinforced tires!)

[Crankin]

My 50 miles turned into 22.5, as my son called and said he was coming over while we were riding.
It's really humid, about 83 degrees, so i was not particularly sad to cut the ride short. DH decided to document the ride with lots of pictures, which I will post later.

[Catrin]

Great pics Luv2climb, and you really DO love to climb

I broke my 40 mile barrier this morning with a 42 mile ride While Saturday was hot and humid, a cool front came in this morning with drizzle, so the first 14 miles or so of my ride was in a cool drizzling rain. I do not intentionally ride in the rain normally, but it didn't look like it would get any worse so I headed out into the rain It remained overcast, and the high today is only supposed to reach 84 - I will take it!

I rode from my apartment to the SAG of a ride in the next county, then turned around and came home. It was just under 42 miles, though my computer and MapMyRide are disputing about the actual mileage. I believe my Sigma over MapMyRide.

Obviously I don't count the mountain bike drills in my mileage, so that gives me 75 miles between Saturday and today's rides. I am FINALLY starting to feel like my old self! Quads and hamstrings are quite happy, though my hip is complaining just a little bit, I will add more hip stretches to my after-ride routine. I will go for a slow walk shortly.

[redrhodie]

New rule, if I want to watch the tour, I have to be on the bike by 7 (unless I'm working or taking a rest day). This will not be like other Julys, my lowest mile month of the year. I know they show it over and over, but once I start watching it, I can't stop. I am nipping this in the bud right now. Besides, there's way less traffic, and it's cooler at 7 than at 10.

Rode 20 miles in record time this morning. I know it's the wheels, but I don't care. Yay me.

[luv2climb]

Great pics, l2c!

I was going to do a nice ride to the Missions and back, but discovered I had a flat on my bike just as I was getting ready to leave the house.
(BTW that's the first flat I've had on that bike, and I've had it for something like three years now. Yay for kevlar-reinforced tires!)

Great pics Luv2climb, and you really DO love to climb

I broke my 40 mile barrier this morning with a 42 mile ride While Saturday was hot and humid, a cool front came in this morning with drizzle, so the first 14 miles or so of my ride was in a cool drizzling rain. I do not intentionally ride in the rain normally, but it didn't look like it would get any worse so I headed out into the rain It remained overcast, and the high today is only supposed to reach 84 - I will take it!

I rode from my apartment to the SAG of a ride in the next county, then turned around and came home. It was just under 42 miles, though my computer and MapMyRide are disputing about the actual mileage. I believe my Sigma over MapMyRide.

Thanks!

I seem to get flats in groups of two or three. A few weeks ago I got a rear flat on my hybrid from an inch-long nail that looked like a miniature railroad spike, complete with rust. Then a few days later I got a rear flat on my road bike from a tiny thorn that somehow worked its way through the Stop Flats (AKA Mr. Tuffy) tire liner.

I make it a habit to glance at the tires on all my bikes and my truck when I walk by them. So far that has prevented any nasty pre-ride surprises.

Rain rides suck for me unless it's warm out, then they feel good.

I don't trust mapmyride either. The rides I've seen posted by other people, on roads I've measured with my Garmin, show wildly inaccurate percent grade readings.