August 23-25 Weekend Bike Rides

[Catrin]

I will start

Yesterday I experimented with a very brief ride with my hydration pack to see if my neurological symptoms would return. I ONLY had water in the pack and had everything else on my rack. 30 minutes was golden - no problems As it was supposed to be a rest day after 3 days of HARD workouts, I called it good.

Today I expanded that to a 13 mile ride that took a bit over an hour - our coach wants us to get 1-3 "long and low cardio output" sessions a week (HR in the second zone). That helps get my lazy azz out the door. I ALSO replaced my beloved Frogs with my Sunringle ZuZu pedals - it seemed worth an experiment since I am not riding near as hard or as long as I once did. THAT was a mistake!

All of a sudden I didn't feel in control of my bike when I stopped, at one point I was in the big gear at 18mph on the flats when BOTH of my feet came off at the same time. I think I am so accustomed to being attached that I no longer focus on keeping that contact between shoes and pedal. Some will remember that I put several thousand miles on those pedals before moving to Frogs (LHT days) and I had more trouble today than I ever did then. My knee was also cranky - which was why I moved to clipless, and Fogs in particular, to begin with. To cut it short, I kept my bike under control, didn't crash, and slowed down while focusing on that shoe/pedal contact.

I had a great ride notheless, and the Frogs are going back on tomorrow I wanted to trail run today, but trying to loosen up a tight calf.

[Crankin]

I feel the same way when I ride without clipless pedals, Catrin. I alnost killed myself while I was doing a 4 mile commute to the train station a few years ago... I was on my way to class at grad school and did not want to lug my cycling shoes around with me all day. Not only did both of my feel fly off the pedals on a long straight a way (I had dual sided pedals on that bike), I had stopped to make a left at a very busy angled intersection in our town center, and whoops, my foot went flying as I started to accelerate, with cars all around me. DH makes fun of me, but I have to concentrate too much on keeping my foot on the pedals with the flat ones.
So, we got home last night from Italy, and all I can think about is that I missed 10 days of perfect riding weather. I have hardly any miles this year and I am supposed to do a century on 9/22. I'll be riding today!

[Catrin]

I would like to leave them on as urban riding is a bit more complicated with being clipped in...but I will stay with that works for me Apparently I can't swing between the clipless/platform camps any more!

[redrhodie]

I rode for about an hour an a half, up to Portsmouth. It was nice, quiet and cool. I needed arm warmers. It was the first ride I didn't get passed in a long time. I don't really care about getting passed, but it is nice when it doesn't happen.

[OakLeaf]

I started out with the club yesterday. They were doing a hilly 55, but I'm nowhere near in shape for that, even if I'm starting to be optimistic about being able to do it again someday. I turned aside after about 11, and one guy came back with me. We got a couple of nice hills - would've liked to do a couple more, but he was having awful trouble with cramps, so we opted for the bike path when we came to it. Just 22 miles, but it felt really good to be out there, and it left my legs nice and fresh for today's run.

[Crankin]

Ack, I was so looking forward to today's ride. I ended up doing 21 miles, of painful agony. I am chalking it up to jet lag, but I felt awful the whole time. My average was only about half a mile slower than usual, but the horrible fatigue and generally crap feeling did not go away, as it usually does. DH dropped me at the end and I rode about 5.5 mph up the hill.
On the bright side, it's a gorgeous day out.
I guess this is the year that wasn't for me. The last time this happened a few years ago, at least I lost my appetite, too, so less riding didn't matter much. Nothing's wrong there, so I will carry on!

[emily_in_nc]

DH and I had a great 30-mile ride this morning, about 20 of which was on paved bike paths from Overland Park (KS) to the terminus of the Blue River trail in KC, Missouri. One nice thing about living in a big city is the bike paths. Many of them hook together so that you can put together a decent length ride, and they tend to go through shady areas with many trees (and fewer hills), so they are nice in the heat and when one is not in great shape as well. We have to ride about five miles to access the hop-on point, and most of the way there is downhills, so on the way back, there's a lot of climbing in that last five miles to get home. Today was hot and sunny, and it was my longest ride in awhile, making those five miles pretty difficult, but thank goodness we had a tailwind for most of it!

Yesterday we did a utility ride to two different grocery stores (and a bike shop!) and got in about 13 miles total.

We've been traveling visiting relatives for the past few weeks, so these are our first two "home" rides for awhile. We did get to ride some, but not a lot, on our trip. The highlight was doing part of the Virginia Creeper trail (around 32 miles). We had already done the Whitetop to Damascus section, so this time we conquered the Damascus to Abingdon section. Very nice indeed!

[Jolt]

Rode to the fair a couple towns over yesterday...7.3 miles each way. Going there is all gradually uphill (only 285 ft elevation gain, but feels like more) and I did not time myself in that direction, but I know it was extremely slow. Coming home only took half an hour--14.6 mph average which is unheard of for me on my heavy bike (not that I am ever one to hammer...I prefer to ride at a steady comfortable pace that I could keep up for a long time). That little bit of downhill made a big difference!

[thekarens]

Saturday was the Hotter N Hell 100 in Wichita Falls, Tx. Our club packed up the bikes Thursday night on a U-Haul and then at 4 am Friday we left Houston for Wichita Falls. Got there around 11 and crammed 40 people into one room in the YMCA. Between nerves and the freight train sleeping by us I pretty much got zero sleep Friday night. We got up at 4 am to start getting ready. Took a club picture at 5:30 and then rolled out to the starting line to grab a spot around 6.

This was my first LARGE group ride. It was me and literally 14,000 other people. I admit it made me very nervous. There were people passing on the left, on the right, cutting people off and general unsafe behaviour. I just did what my mentor told me to do, "Hold your line." I stayed in my line on the right side and rode predictably. Took about 20 miles for it to thin out.

I have to say the ride was nicely organized, the people were super nice, rest stops were great and for the most part the roads were pleasant. I think my favorite part was that they closed the road for cyclists. The only vehicles we had to deal with were sag wagons, medics and cops. It was VERY nice.

I started off that morning feeling lousy. I think it was a combination of lack of sleep and nerves, but once I got going I felt really good. I didn't stop until mile 40. Then I stopped at 50 and again through the Air Force base and chatted a few minutes with the pilots they had out there. At mile 50 I met up with some club members and we road the rest of the way in together for a total of 62.6 miles and headed straight for the beer. Cooled down and road back to the Y for a shower.

My partner had decided to go for the 100 and seemed to do it with ease. Up until yesterday her longest ride was 65 miles, I believe, but she found a good pace and didn't have any problems with the 100. I was very impressed and proud of her.

It was a great ride with great people, but I'm not sure I'll do it again. I'm too old for sleeping with a large group on a gym floor

[shootingstar]

I'm too old for sleeping with a large group on a gym floor

Hey, maybe we might be convinced with an air mattress. But after a long, hot bike ride, it's harder.

14,000 people is a lot of cyclists. Congrats. for doing the ride.

Mine was pretty tame..did around 45 km. yesterday. Less today. Seems to me I'm doing a lot of grocery shopping, am like a pack rat preparing for winter and slugging around with panniers stuffed with fresh veggies and fruits from the farmers' market.

[Becky]

I did 85 miles with ~5400 feet of climbing on Saturday. The first 71 miles were with a friend, and the last 14 were solo. I was sorely tempted to make it a full 100, but DH and I had an event to attend Saturday night and time was not on my side. This was still my longest ride this season (seeing as this has been the year of the mountain bike), and I feel like I'm in good shape for a century this coming weekend.

[Jolt]

Seems to me I'm doing a lot of grocery shopping, am like a pack rat preparing for winter and slugging around with panniers stuffed with fresh veggies and fruits from the farmers' market.

It is that time of year...soon I will be going apple picking at the local orchard. May ride there this year and load up the bucket panniers with apples :-). The orchard is only 1.5 miles away so not much of a ride, but they have some easy trails that I might try to ride before picking.

[denda]

On Saturday my husband and I did the Hotter N Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls, TX. We did the 100 mile route. We didn't stop until the 40 mile rest stop, skipped the 50 mile stop and then stopped at all but the last one. The weather was GREAT, especially after what we had to ride in last year. WIND! Looking forward to next year. It will be our 10th!