December 6 Wed. Rides

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Last time I rode was Monday, and the wind made me way too cold. It was painful, though I somehow made it through my 21 miles.

Today was the same temps and same winds, but I added one more heavy sock layer and one more thin merino base layer, and I was "ok"- partly because I also shaved 50 minutes of my usual 2 hour ride!
It was 27 degreesF this morning, no sun, with gusty winds and a wind chill factor of 15 degrees. Damn cold! I got blown around a bit, but I managed to make it without my fingers and toes going numb- just cold. My core and head were warm enough. So I did a measley 13 mile rid, an hour and ten minutes.

I felt good that I managed to do even that much, despite my have a cough and cold as well. I know the time will come very soon now that I'll have to quit for the real winter. Time now for a hot medicinal herb tea!

[IFjane]

Oh Lisa - You make me soooo jealous! Not because you get to ride when it's cloudy, gusty and 27 degrees....nope....but because you get to ride during the week at all. My work hours and the short days keep me off the road except on weekends. I do get on the trainer during the week but somehow staring at that same spot on the wall - ipod or not - gets pretty tedious.

The temperatures are supposed to moderate a little this weekend down here so I hope to get out on the road at least once - maybe twice!

(and by the way - being 53 is fun, too!)

[five one]

Oh Lisa - You make me soooo jealous! Not because you get to ride when it's cloudy, gusty and 27 degrees....nope....but because you get to ride during the week at all. My work hours and the short days keep me off the road except on weekends. I do get on the trainer during the week but somehow staring at that same spot on the wall - ipod or not - gets pretty tedious.

Ditto the above. You'd think living in CA I'd get out more than I do in the cold weather months. But weekdays I leave the house at 7 am and get home at 6 pm. Riding on the road is relegated to the weekends. We're doing some remodeling and at the moment, and with the holidays rapidly approaching, the weekends are full of projects. My trainer seems to be it lately and I get up at 4:30 am to put in an hour of that. I'm not a morning person so it takes me nearly 30 minutes just to get up, splash my face, dress, and stumble down to the cold garage . Not fun, but better than nothing. I have a number of iPod playlists for cycling and have various workouts - high cadence, intervals, "hills" - propped up on an old aerobics step, etc. Sometimes I just work on technique like pedal stroke and relaxation. Yes, it can be boring. Insert big sigh here.

Lisa, you are fortunate to work at home and seem to be able to schedule daily rides into your day. I have to admire your fortitude bundling up and getting out there in the cold and wind. I'm not sure I would do that even if I could!

five one - already looking forward to daylight savings time

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa, you are fortunate to work at home and seem to be able to schedule daily rides into your day. I have to admire your fortitude bundling up and getting out there in the cold and wind. I'm not sure I would do that even if I could!

Thanks 5-1. Believe me, I am deeply grateful every day to be self-employed and working at home. I get to arrange my hours differently than most workers. I may take off for 2 hours in the morning, but then again I'm likely to be found working at my computer at 9 or 10pm too. I am lucky and grateful for my job.
As to my fortitude...it is wobbling right now, still standing, but a bit unsteady on its feet!

[GLC1968]

I don't know why I haven't been posting about my rides the last couple of days...guess I've been too distracted by the new bike!

I rode at lunch yesterday and while it was fairly warm (in the mid-40's) it was windy and my bike was squirelly (from a too short stem). Bad combination! I had to be very careful and really take my time.

Today I rode the same route at lunch again. It was slightly warmer (almost 50) and wind was from a different direction making it seem less difficult. Plus, with the new stem on my bike, the handling was perfect. I cranked out the 15 mile ride in about 50 minutes!! It felt wonderful and I didn't want to come back!!

[Fredwina]

Ditto the above. You'd think living in CA I'd get out more than I do in the cold weather months. But weekdays I leave the house at 7 am and get home at 6 pm. Riding on the road is relegated to the weekends. We're doing some remodeling and at the moment, and with the holidays rapidly approaching, the weekends are full of projects. My trainer seems to be it lately and I get up at 4:30 am to put in an hour of that.

I leave at 7 , and don't get home till seven, I also wake at 4:30, but I have lights instead of trainer. Beats staring at the tube. Also, Sandy Place Ranch is several hundred miles further south. The low for this morining was 37.
Riding,. I did my usual hill training route. not much to see at that time o' day, and the sun is getting further and further. I'm probably the only person here who dreads Daylight Savings Time

[DirtDiva]

I had a great ride yesterday. Sunny, warm (but not too warm), enough headwind on the way out to make you work without getting demoralised and enough tailwind on the way back to make you think you were awesome. 58km, or thereabouts.

[mimitabby]

DH dropped me off at work with the Bianchi. guess that means I'm committed right?
Sun shining at 3pm quitting time, but I didn't feel well. Gosh, I wanted someone to give me a ride home SO BAD!

but I got on the bike anyway. I rode the scary parts, finally got up to the top of the hill, where I could turn right and log 4 miles OR turn left and pick up a library book and log 10 miles. BELIEVE IT OR NOT! I turned left! It was so cold!
45 degrees and I was sweating from the hill climb. Then I took my shell off
at the library and i was hot and cold at the same time all the way home.

I logged 10 miles for TE today!

[im4smiley]

Between the weather and my work schedule the only riding I did in the last 2 weeks was at my monday night spin training class. So I decided that I would commute the the gym and to work today. It was beautiful riding under the moon light at 5:40 am, but chillly this morning at about 19 degrees. I have a short commute to the gym about 20 minutes and I was only cold for the first few minutes and then I was warmed up and I was toasty by the time I got to the gym (of course the last mile is kind a slight incline so that helped warm me up!) I am off this weekend so I am hoping for nice weather (meaning no rain or snow) so that I can get some riding in!!

[mimitabby]

ha, you guys show me for the weather wimp I am. When I got home i checked the Seattle weather to see the temp. It seemed much too high; so i checked the personal weather stations in the area too. They were all 45 and above as well. BRRR
I am just a weather wimp, what can i say? It felt cold to me.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yeah well I got really sick this afternoon after my freezing morning ride. Had to go to bed all day. Serves me right. Now i'll be laid up for days probably, if it's anything like how it has hit DH. Like a freight train

[mimitabby]

Well, i hope you get to feeling better soon!

[salsabike]

Rode my single today for the first time in weeks. And, Mimi, I found that I had WAY overdressed---I had to stop within five miles and take off my Ibex top and just use arm warmers and the usual soccer jersey. Changed my "cold" gloves for regular light ones. Wished I had brought my light headband instead of my fleece one (from my Oct. SS, who thoughtfully picked as close to celeste as she could find--got pretty close too, and the headband feels great, by the way!). It was BEAUTIFUL, a great day to ride on the river trail. But it did feel a little like a taffy pull, with my legs as the taffy, of course. OOOF. We've done several tandem rides (30-50 miles each) over the last 6 weeks, but it just ain't the same as riding your single. But boy, did it feel good to be back out on that bike.

[Grog]

Glad to hear it was a great day for many of us!

I also rode my road bike today, for the first time in over a month. I have scaled back my riding to increase my running volume and to re-build excitement about riding. It totally worked! I just rode 27km with a friend in the afternoon, but it was a great one, decent weather, sunny, some wind which always seemed to be a tail one. Didn't really even need the fenders.

Made me excited about a longer ride this weekend! Yooohoo!