April Rides

[Crankin]

So the warm-is weather arrived, but it's not really gorgeous out. It was 48 when I rode to the gym at 5:15 am for my class, not the 53 as predicted. But it had rained around dinner time last night, so it still had a warmish, humid feeling. When I left the gym, it felt colder, and it was 47 when I got home at 6:45. By then, it was sunny. I debated if I would ride to the office, as that point DH was going to come home and ride in the afternoon. But, I did ride, wearing a new cycling dress I got at Terry, for 40% off. It's awesome, and I paired it with my commuter/spin knickers, a bolero, and a vest for the ride in.It's not a Terry brand, and is beautifully made. By then, it was partly cloudy, still a little cool feeling, though 57 degrees. Got to work, did a quick take off the knickers and exchange for underwear, and did my women's group. It was cloudier and 60 when I went home. I decided to ride home a longer way, as I was feeling like I didn't want to go out again, andI suspected DH might get delayed. So, I ended up with 11.5 miles of utility cycling and I was glad I made the choice, because DH didn't get home until 3:30.
The high temperature was 69, but it still felt cool out, due to lack of sun.
Going out in the AM, for a real ride, before the cold front comes in and then a few hours of babysitting my granddaughter, before going out for Mexican food tomorrow night.

[emily_in_nc]

I thought I'd posted this here, but apparently not.

I wrenched my back on my last ride, Thursday. I was coming up a small rise I've ridden 100s of times, at the end of our usual route, when I felt something pull hard in my lower right back. Fortunately, we were two miles from home at that point, so I didn't have far to go in pain. It hurt pretty bad the rest of that day, especially when bending over at the waist and rising from a seated to standing position. Did not ride with DH (who is usually the one with back issues, not me!) yesterday as a result.

It's getting better day by day but still making itself known. I won't attempt to ride for a few days since it's the weekend (very busy on the bike path), and we are leaving Monday and driving the motorhome north for a week at a state park in the Florida panhandle -- finally get to see the beach! I hope to do some casual rides there, as there's a bike path, but I will let the back be my guide. At least it will be flat -- and walking doesn't seem to bother it, so I can walk on the beach.

[north woods gal]

Emily, so sorry to hear about the back thing. Been there with my bicycling. Sometimes these things just come out of nowhere and you're left wondering why. That's the frustrating part. In one instance, for me, it was a nerve that was getting pinched from all my miles from riding in one position on the road bike, day after day. The repetitive stress kind of thing. Anyway, hope you're feeling better, soon.

Well, the big storm is about to hit us, this afternoon. All kinds of storm warnings for over a foot of snow, high winds, blizzard conditions and so on. Keep wondering, where's April? Going to try riding the fat bike on the trail while I can. Might be weeks - again - before I can.

Did change out the tires on the Krampus 29 plus, yesterday. The stock Dirt Wizard 29x3s are a very aggressive trail tire with heavy lugs for riding in mud and soft dirt, but are pretty clumsy and slow for road work. When I ride trails that are soft and/or muddy, I'll use my fat bike, instead. The wider tires on the fat bikes don't chew up soft trails as bad. Might not sound like a big deal to some, but I really HATE damaging a trail, mine or any others.

Anyway, replaced the Dirt Wizards with a new set of the Maxxis Chronicle 29x3s which have a much better all purpose tread. Road the Chronicles on pavement, yesterday, and was very pleased at how nice they ride, then rode some mud and sand trails and they did fine on those, too. On plus and fat bikes, tires make such a big difference in handling and performance, even more so than on the skinny bikes. With the big tires, you have a lot more contact with the ground.

[Crankin]

I hope your back is better, Emily. It was around this time last year I had my acute episode, but so far, the stretches the PT prescribed are keeping it at bay. My job makes it worse, from sitting; I try to get up in between clients and I've been known to shut my door to use the foam roller, but it's making me think I may quit sooner than later!
So the weather people have been correct. DH and I went out to ride at 9:15, it was already 55 and sunny, but it was breezy. We decided to "just ride" and not follow a GPS route. So we ended up doing 26.5 miles, plenty of climbing, though not the one we thought we might do. The biggest one is a long slog over 2 highways. It's the last thing we do at the end of a very hard 50 mile ride, with about 3K ft. of climbing. It didn't feel that bad today, but it is longer than most of the short steep climbs we encounter. We were about 7-8 miles from home, when it clouded over. It had gone up to 58 degrees, was back down to 55. It felt cold! Next comes the icy rain and sleet overnight and tomorrow. Lovely.
I felt much better today than my ride Wednesday. I think it was allergies and no sleep. Speed was better, not where I want it to be, but we did climb a lot. Tons of riders out. We saw the front 2 riders in a large group get pulled over by the policeman Littleton. God knows what they did. I suspect something funky either in an kind of weird intersection near there, or something going down Oak Hill.

[rebeccaC]

hoping everything heals quickly emily!!!

Alex isn't back until tomorrow night so i've been spending more time working this past week including today....so just commutes and shopping rides for me. Tomorrow I'll just do a ride into downtown for some photography. It's been in the 70's here at the beach and reaching into the 80's inland

[Catrin]

Oh my, feel better soon Emily! Hopefully some rest and a bit of heat will set you right. Enjoy your beach walking - and riding!

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks, friends! My back is SO much better. By last night I barely noticed it, and this morning, not at all, other than the usual morning slight stiffness. I am going to the gym in a bit and will do a gentle workout. If anything hurts, I'll not do that.

NWG, been thinking of you with the awful storm. I just can't believe that kind of storm is still hitting in April.

We are due to get 20-30 mph winds and t-storms today. We'll be getting our site ready to leave (tomorrow morning), moving plants under the picnic table, stuff like that, and glad we hadn't planned to ride today anyway! It's still supposed to be breezy tomorrow and will hurt our gas mileage as we'll have a headwind on our drive to the Panhandle, but at least it should be calmer than today -- so glad we aren't leaving today.

[Crankin]

It's definitely January 127th. Stepped outside to get the newspaper and the biting wind hit me in the face. The icy rain hasn't started yet, though.
I did a 30 minute yoga DVD earlier, and I think that will be the exercise for the day.
Emily, I went on the website for that t shirt company, and there was nothing like the ones you bought. They do a lot of custom orders, so I suspect yours may have been part of one of those.
Have fun on your trip!
North Woods, hope all is well in the storm.

[north woods gal]

Woke up, this morning to 8" of snow and that's only half of what we're forecast to get by the time the storm leaves, come morning. Had a great ride on our trails, yesterday, before the storm hit, one of my best of the winter, even if it was mid-April.

I finally did it. After all my best efforts not to ride indoors on the trainer, all winter long, I threw in the towel, yesterday afternoon and set up my old vintage Kona MTB on the trainer. Again, just when I thought I had made it an entire winter without any indoor riding, April decides it's a winter month. In fact, we've had more snow in April, this year, than any other winter month. Go figure.

Still, I am able to ride, if only on the trainer, so ride I will.

[ny biker]

Talk about contrast. I follow National Weather Service twitter accounts for Chicago and Omaha, due to having family in those areas. I also follow local meteorologists who were sharing news from Minnesota. All day yesterday it was snow, blizzard, slippery, ice, white out, and more than one "uffda." But here it was sunny with a high of 86.

I led a 39 mile ride between the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The forecast near the bay was 70, but it was much warmer than that. It was a bit breezy, but that was actually a good thing because it provided relief from the heat. Some trees are already losing their flowers, some are blooming and some still bare with just a hint of green buds. But none have leaves yet so there was no shade. A couple of riders in the group were slow due to mechanical issues and needing to avoid aggravating injuries, so I stopped often to wait for them to catch up. The result was a long day in the hot sun with no breaks in the shade. I was glad that it was not cold, but could have done without the headache that developed near the end. One good thing about riding slowly and frequent stops was that my legs did not feel worn out despite my lack of fitness.

I still had some saddle/chamois problems, and thought about tightening the tension on the saddle. Then I realized that when I tightened it recently to resolve the sharp peak that developed at the back, I also removed all the sway from the center. So I loosened it a bit, and I think that helped.

Now we have a "back door cold front," which is a front from the east. Since the Atlantic Ocean is east of us, that always mean cold, damp, gray and periods of rain. We're expecting the heaviest rain tonight into the morning rush hour. ( And thanks to major roadwork starting this weekend on the highway I take to work, traffic tomorrow morning will be a double-disaster, but I digress.) So today is a day to get things done indoors. I think the weather will improve in a few days so I should be able to get in a mid-week ride.

[emily_in_nc]

Crankin, that's too bad about the t-shirts. I expect you're right. Probably some cool LBS gal came up with those and ordered them custom.

Also, I told my mother about your "January 127th" comment yesterday when we did our once a week Skype call, and she laughed out loud. Much appreciated! But sorry you're having to live through it.

We have friends who spend six months each year in St. Paul, MN at their home and six months in Belize, in their oceanfront condo. They leave for MN around the first week in May. I am sure they are very happy for this schedule. Hopefully by May, January will be over! For all of you!

[Crankin]

Well, it's not snow here, so while I like snow in the *winter,* not in mid-April. Currently it's light freezing drizzle, but the temperature is going to start going up around 11 pm. So, hopefully, no issues on my early morning drive to the gym. But, it is going to be pouring, I mean pouring all day tomorrow, until after dinner. I cannot imagine the poor people who are running the marathon tomorrow. It will be between 40 and 50, pouring, and windy. Hypothermia, ugh. Just about all of the Patriot's Day festivities have been cancelled; the battle re-enactments at the North Bridge and Lexington Common, the parade in Concord, and several Minutemen companies are not marching to the bridge, since there's nothing happening. In 28 years, I've never seen this, nor do I remember this as a kid. Oh, and the Red Sox game is cancelled. There's thousands of tourists here for the historical re-enactments, and I guess they will all be shopping!

[north woods gal]

After a day of digging out, I hit the trainer for a short thirty minute workout. All I had in me after a day of shoveling snow, but it still counts as riding in my book. Today will be much the same, since more snow, overnight. Here's a pic of our patio table with 13" of accumulated snow from this last storm. Looking ahead, we may actually hit 50 degrees by Sunday, so that's something.

[Crankin]

Impressive, looks like February!
Just got back from doing a few errands; it is frightful out there, pouring rain, being driven right in your face by 30 mph winds from the NE, the cold direction. What a waste of my holiday. At least if it was snow,I could ski or snow shoe. Went to my regular 5:30 am class at the gym, despite it being a holiday here. Probably should have planned to do something later in the day, instead. So far, all of my attempts at making plans have not worked, and DH is leaving for NJ for 3 days, after lunch.
Oh well, things look good for the weekend.

[Pax]

Got the bikes ready last weekend, all set to go riding... and it's 27 degrees and snowing. Went swimming instead.