Monday 8/24 rides

[Miranda]

Did my furthest training ride today for my upcoming century. 55mi total. Was to be 60mi... but morning fog did not co-operate to get an early enough start to fit it into my rest of day schedule. Climbing route. So, still good even w/a few less miles. No dog attacks--bonus. Googled & found myself a nice SAG stop just off the normal route for a H2O refill. Good ride day + beautiful weather to do it.

[Susan126]

You're half way there Miranda! 55 miles . . . excellent! When is your century? I got a nice 51.11 mile ride today myself. Gorgeous day here in the pacific northwest. 75 degrees, sunny, gorgeous day. If the calendar didn't say August 24th you would think it was a fall day! I totally enjoyed my ride. It was a HILLY one, very STEEP hills too, but I loved it. My legs felt strong on the climbs, coming down was thrilling, and I stopped at mile 21.59 for a wonderful treat at the Black Diamond Bakery before continuing on.

[Miranda]

You're half way there Miranda! 55 miles . . . excellent! When is your century? I got a nice 51.11 mile ride today myself. Gorgeous day here in the pacific northwest. 75 degrees, sunny, gorgeous day. If the calendar didn't say August 24th you would think it was a fall day! I totally enjoyed my ride. It was a HILLY one, very STEEP hills too, but I loved it. My legs felt strong on the climbs, coming down was thrilling, and I stopped at mile 21.59 for a wonderful treat at the Black Diamond Bakery before continuing on.

Thx for the word of encouragement. About 3 weeks away. I was planning on being further ahead w/my mileage ramping but some "life happens" things got in the way. Getting nervous I won't have enough miles in before. But, I'll just do my best.

Oooo... the bakery sounds yummy! The thought alone gives me motivation to ride another mile lol. Glad you had a great ride!

[redrhodie]

I went out for my regular 20 mile loop, and ended up with 30+. It wasn't sunny yet, so I didn't feel like I was roasting, and I just kept looping around some new roads I've started riding. It was really windy, which I love. At one point, I saw the fire dept. responding to a drowning. I didn't stop to look, but the ambulance rode off with sirens, so I hope they were still alive.

Later, I went to the beach (a different one than the drowning) and was surprised to find it open. It was closed to swimming yesterday because of rip currents. It was my favorite ocean conditions, warm water and giant waves. It was like being in a giant Jacuzzi. I stayed in for over an hour, getting pounded by the waves. It was awesome.

[Susan126]

Thx for the word of encouragement. About 3 weeks away. I was planning on being further ahead w/my mileage ramping but some "life happens" things got in the way. Getting nervous I won't have enough miles in before. But, I'll just do my best.

Oooo... the bakery sounds yummy! The thought alone gives me motivation to ride another mile lol. Glad you had a great ride!

Good luck Miranda! You'll have to give us a post century ride report after the event. Is it a hilly or relatively flat course?

Hey I ride so I can stop at the bakery and enjoy a cookie . . . or two! lol

[Chile Pepper]

Go Miranda!

I was planning on riding today, but I had a flat on my front tire. When I went to change it, I discovered that all I have are short-stemmed tubes (including the one in my tube bag on my bike). So it's a really good thing I haven't had a flat on the road in the past year since I got this bike. Yeah. It's been a year, and I only just now figured out I don't have what I need to change a flat.

[Crankin]

I did a 12.5 mile errand/appointment/farm stand ride on the Jamis which was quite pleasant. It was cooler (74) but still 90% humidity. I love using my bike for this kind of stuff.
Tomorrow I am driving down the Cape for a club ride, 38 miles, followed by a lunch at the leader's house. Sort of glad this came up for tomorrow, because the Cape is the only place it will be in the 80's instead of the 90's.

Clear and cool on Thursday.....
And, Miranda, I did a century with no more than a 65 mile ride as prep.

[mudmucker]

Did my Monday ride out of Lancaster. Throughout the day I felt rather lousy, crampy, legs like lead, felt tight restricted lungs/chest, hadn't ridden in several days, and my 1 o'clock terrible sandwich from the cafeteria was still with me at 5 pm. The ride started at 6 pm but once I got on the bike I quickly worked through all those things - somehow it all just fell into place. I ended up having a very good ride and I felt stronger than I expected. We mainly rode through Harvard and Bolton. Overall the terrain was reasonably mild - we encountered some nice varied rolling topography in Harvard and a fairly short but fun graded hill along Wilder-Old Bay Rd in Bolton, which is otherwise a flat riding town. It was just one of those rides that ended up being very good and satisfying and after getting back that was the general consensus of the group. Unfortunately we were only able to get 30 miles in before dark, and even then we were riding in darkness for the last 4 miles. So, tonight, no PB but 17.1 mph at 30 miles.

Earlier in the day I went for an asthma test based on spirometry screening. Following the positive response of this test the nurse recommended I get more sophisticated testing at the hospital.

Hmm. Now I never thought I might be asthmatic. I do feel tightness in the chest sometimes. And I can breathe very heavy on the hills. Over the years I thought that as I advanced to the next level during the season, my cardio was just bad and I was out of shape for "that level" of exertion and I just had to get in condition for it. But on occasion, I would cough after an all out on "some" hills and it would seem as if I just couldn't get that full breath. And it happens alot when I run. It can be warm and humid or cool and dry. I just thought this was through natural exertion until someone with exercised induced asthma told me that is a classic symptom. So it's nearly 50 years that I end up figuring this out. Interestingly, it never has really prevented me from riding just fine or improving during the course of the season. But if I find this is the case how nice that I might be able to remedy it and even breathe better and get more oxygen in while I bike. I truly don't believe I am an extreme case at all and I certainly don't wheeze or have fits. There's one woman who rides with us sometimes on Saturday's and she'll start coughing at even small inclines. I feel so bad for her - no wonder she hates hills because they must be so painful for her. But she still gets out.

[Miranda]

Know this is yesterday's ride thread... but just wanted to say "thanks" for the wonderful support on my century training! You guys rock.

And, btw... the century is said not to be a "hill killer". Few challenging ones, and some rollers--but part flat too. When I do a training ride, I always try to ride straight to the hills. Hope it will pay off on event day.

[Crankin]

Mudmucker, Old Bay Rd is one of my favorite climbs!! I have talked about it here, a lot. We always stop at the top and eat lunch, by the abandoned farm shack. At times, I feel like I am in Vermont.
And Bolton is NOT flat... you should try Vaughn Hill Rd.
I have the same kind of asthma. Mostly, it doesn't bother me, but the humid weather has brought it out lately.

[mudmucker]

I've done Vaughn Hill Rd. before. Actually I used to ride that whole area as I lived in Shirley in the 90's. Overall Bolton is pretty flat but that's just my opinion in the overall geologic scheme of things - 2 or 3 short hills or several lower inclines during a ride through the course of one town makes not a hilly town or ride - it's just a couple of small hills in an otherwise flat landscape Nor do I consider it climbing as it's usually not really sustained. These are just my cycling world definitions (in the age old argument of what is a hill), such as grades of <6 % that are less than 3/4 mile that might have 50-300 ft of 7-10% grade aren't hills but pesky inclines. Now that's not to say I'm not huffing and puffing on some of them. Harvard and other nearby areas aren't bad either. There seems to be greater distances of flat between the pesky inclines so it doesn't seem bad. Mostly I guess we all just call anything with an incline a hill generically, relative to a flat landscape regardless of the grade.

Yeah, I still need to find out if I really do have asthma. If I do I don't think it's ever really hindered me and certainly not like I've seen some people. But it'd be neat if it's something "they can fix" and make it even better.

[Crankin]

Well, it's true that we don't have the sustained climbs that they have out west. But I consider Old Bay and Vaughn Hill 2 of the toughest local climbs. Yes, they are short, but the grades go up to 13-15%. The ride I do from my house to Old Bay is 55 miles and has 4,000 feet of climbing. To me, that's a lot. I like short, steep climbs. I guess it's all what we are used to.