December rides

[Crankin]

Had an awesome ride today. And I think everything is dialed in on my new bike. Saddle height/tilt and tilting the bars so they are not like for an 85 year old. I think the position of the bars was getting in the way of me feeling like I had any power. Only 18.5 miles, but beautiful sun, as many riders out today as in the summer!

[Bones8]

I had a longer than planned ride yesterday. I mapped out a 20 mile route using strava, but I don't actually use any apps as I ride because my handlebar phone bracket thingy broke recently so I was planning to go off of memory. Only three turns so it should have been easy.

Well, I got lost, which ended up adding 7 miles onto my ride. 20 miles would have been the furthest I have ridden, so 27 was 10 miles more than I had ever gone previously! It was tough, especially since I did not bring food and it was really windy out, but I made it. The best thing is that my tush was not feeling too bad. I guess my new Specialized Oura might work out after all.

Anyways, this was just one more reason for me to "invest" in the new Garmin 920xt. I currently use the Polar RCX5 and although it has GPS it doesn't give directions or show maps. Ugh. I'm trying to hold off on buying it until I meet my weight loss goal (16 pounds to go!).

[lauraelmore1033]

Had a good trail ride on the new n+1 (candy apple red tadpole trike) yesterday on the Sammamish River Trail. Was a little slower than I would like, but we'll get there. Today, I did the first half of the Stinky Spoke Ride as practice for the real event in January. It starts out with a climb up "heart attack hill" on the Tolt Pipeline Trail, which I practically crawled up on all fours (pushing a bike!) Oh my gosh, they are not just whistlin' Dixie, calling it that! I think it is 18 percent grade--and rough gravel. A few more "mild arrhythmia" hills and some scary descents, and I see I've got my work cut out for me, getting ready for the ride!

[salsabike]

Had a good trail ride on the new n+1 (candy apple red tadpole trike) yesterday on the Sammamish River Trail. Was a little slower than I would like, but we'll get there. Today, I did the first half of the Stinky Spoke Ride as practice for the real event in January. It starts out with a climb up "heart attack hill" on the Tolt Pipeline Trail, which I practically crawled up on all fours (pushing a bike!) Oh my gosh, they are not just whistlin' Dixie, calling it that! I think it is 18 percent grade--and rough gravel. A few more "mild arrhythmia" hills and some scary descents, and I see I've got my work cut out for me, getting ready for the ride!

Think I saw you out there, Laura! I rode yesterday too, 35 miles on and around the Samm Trail, and I saw a trike! Beautiful day for it.

[lauraelmore1033]

It really was a beautiful day. Probably was me--although I did see another trike out there...

[ny biker]

Well yesterday's weather was not as nice as expected -- they forecast sunshine but it was cloudy all day. Temps were a bit warmer than the day before so it was still okay, just not what we had hoped. I did the 37-mile club ride that was led by my friend. We had a nice time. It was the first time in a while that I rode so much in one weekend, so my legs were pretty tired well before the end.

[ny biker]

I was going to go for a ride last night after work. It was sunny and in the 50s during the day, and in the mid-40s in the evening. It would have been my last post-work ride of the year. I had everything ready to go.

Then during the afternoon I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold. My throat hurt, and I was tired and had that fuzzy-headed feeling. And I just did not feel like changing into my bike clothes and putting air in the tires. So I decided to skip the ride. At first I planned to go for a walk instead, but by the time I got home (fighting more traffic on the highway than usual -- this week has been really bad with traffic) I was too tired to do anything other than collapse on the couch. I couldn't even muster the energy to wrap the Christmas presents that I have to mail out this week.

If I hadn't done two rides last weekend, I probably would have been more inclined to ride last night. And if the storm they were forecasting for this coming weekend had not shown indications of staying far enough south to miss us, I would have forced myself to go. But the weather looks like it will be chilly but dry for most of the weekend, so I will try then for one more ride in 2014. After that I will be busy with holiday things.

On the positive side, I usually reach the can't-muster-the-energy-to-put-air-in-the-tires stage much earlier in the fall, sometimes as early as October. This year has had more than it's share of obstacles and stresses, but it's been good for cycling for me.

[ny biker]

So, I did ride yesterday, lead a club 29-mile club ride. Six people joined me. On the positive side, the route was nice and the company was excellent. On the negative side, I was cold for much of the ride, and my feet were very cold.

Temps were in the low 40s, the sun was out and there was no wind. But yesterday was the solstice, and sunshine this time of year just does not seem strong enough to me. I should have worn more layers even though the exact same outfit was sufficient under similar conditions a few weeks ago. So, note to self, dress for 10 degrees less than the actual air temp this time of year.

After the ride I ran errands, including a stop in REI to return a couple of things. Of course I checked the sale items in the cycling section, and found a pair of Gore Windstopper gloves for $20 off. Since they are lined and windproof, I think they will work for me, and I can fit my wool glove liners under them if needed.

Now I just need to figure out what's going on with my feet. I'm wearing the same socks and booties that worked for me last year and the AmFib tights are keeping my legs warm enough. I though the new insoles might be causing a problem since the arch is higher, but I went back to the old ones yesterday and that did not help. It might be time to break down and use chemical toe warmers.

[Crankin]

Had a pretty good 17 mile ride today, while everyone else is out celebrating the holiday. It's 50 degrees, but with winds gusting to 35-40. The sun was out when we left, but had gone back behind the clouds, just when I was heating up, which was good.
Did our "flat ride," which means the one that is about as flat as a ride you can get when you live on a big hill. The first 7 miles are rolling, with one small hill. We had a tailwind here, but the rollers felt a bit hard today. Once we got out on a main road, we saw a few other cyclists and the pace picked up. Of course, as we headed back, we had a stiff wind of about 15 mph, with those nasty gusts.
I hadn't ridden outside in almost 2 weeks, and I still am amazed at how much I love my new bike. I am going to keep the Oura saddle; my azz is getting used to it and to have no soft tissue pain after a ride is a treat. Going to be warm tomorrow and Saturday, too.

[Helene2013]

I only did a 11km ride on trainer today. Follow by my PT exercices. It was my 1st ride in ages. Knees seem well. Winds are pushing at 90km/h at times. We are beating a heat record for the day. It was near 8c. That is warm. Too bad we had rain added to it. I think if we had no wind and 8c I would have tried to get our old bikes out just for a spin. But hey. Inside is just as well. Better than walking on crutches. Not going to complain for sure.

[Crankin]

Did just under 25 miles, on another very windy day. I thought it would not be so windy, but, we modified our plan a bit, by having lunch near the end of the ride and not doing a big climb, although there was enough climbing for me. We had a headwind for about 2/3 of the ride, and a cross wind the rest of the time. So, exceedingly slow, but fun. It was about 44 degrees out and sunny.
Tomorrow we are doing a club ride, that I've done twice. The beginning, right near the middle has some tough climbing, but after that, it's OK. You can be sure we will wait to leave the start after everyone else, as this is not an AMC ride, rather a regular CRW ride, not part of my Wednesday sub group of the club.

[ny biker]

I only did a 11km ride on trainer today. Follow by my PT exercices. It was my 1st ride in ages. Knees seem well. Winds are pushing at 90km/h at times. We are beating a heat record for the day. It was near 8c. That is warm. Too bad we had rain added to it. I think if we had no wind and 8c I would have tried to get our old bikes out just for a spin. But hey. Inside is just as well. Better than walking on crutches. Not going to complain for sure.

Sounds like good progress!!

[Crankin]

Did 35.8 miles with 2,100 ft. of climbing today. I am exhausted. We did the ride we were going to do yesterday, and it was a good thing we didn't, because the lunch stop place was closed yesterday. The day was supposed to be 50-52 degrees. I think it may have been that somewhere, but not where we were riding! I got warmed up before lunch, as that's where most of the big climbs were, but after lunch, even though it was 1:45 when we left Harvard center, the sun is so low and behind the trees, I was freezing. After a bit of climbing, I stopped to put my glove liners back on. Felt ok when I got home, but am drinking tea now, have that slightly chilled feeling, even thought he thermometer outside says 50.
Glad I did not do the club ride. I would have been miserable. Had a great veggie sandwich at the Harvard General Store. While we were there, we saw a couple that came on that charity ride we led for our synagogue in September. They were part of the obnoxious group that went ahead of DH and said they could do what they wanted to do, so I was not in the mood to be nice. I've known the woman for years, from the health club and she is very strange, always whining. So, I made myself feel better by thinking that she may be a faster rider than me, but she looks like crap, even though she must be 5-10 years younger!
Have 17 miles to go to make 2,700 miles. Don't know if that will happen. The weather might be OK tomorrow, but I kind of wanted to do something different and I need to get some food in this house!

[lauraelmore1033]

Oh my, what a miserable ride! Forecast did call for rain, but it was sunny and dry at home. Went to the Centennial trail and there were signs that rain was imminent. I thought I'd just cruise on down the trail until it did actually rain, then I'd turn around. The rain held off until I reached the very end of the trail and then it started dumping down in buckets! The seat angle on the recumbent is just perfect for rain to pound down directly into the eyes. That was the worst thing; it was raining so hard that it hurt my eyes. I was also horrified to notice that a large stretch of land along the trail has been clear cut. The whole hillside has been devistated! It's horrible. Oh well.

I am seriously happy to be warm and dry now.

[rebeccaC]

After a week of being gone, just relaxing and with some hikes/walks/runs for exercise I got back home yesterday and did a 78 mile ride into the santa monica mountains today. A few serious climbs and descents, including a fun fast final descent down the one way tuna canyon road to the pacific coast highway, 6800'+ elevation gains, weather in the 60’s for the whole ride with a slight headwind going out pch and more of a tailwind coming back all made for a good days ride. I’m doing an ACP 200k on Jan 10th so I’m in the process of preparing myself for that. The company I work for closes for Christmas through New Years, two full weeks this year, so I have next week to get some more rides in.