April Rides

[Crankin]

I had a meeting at a school on my "day off," so I couldn't go on the club ride. Probably a good thing. So, after lunch, I rode 7.2 miles to meet 2 friends for coffee in west Acton. Now, these were the same exact roads for the first part of my Saturday ride, when I felt great. Today, my legs are toast. I think the commuting is going to take some getting used to, even though I keep thinking "it's only 10.4 miles round trip." Last night, I wanted to throw out my pannier on the way home! Anyway, after the coffee, I made myself go a very long way home (14 miles), mostly uphill. While I did get my average up on the return trip, to what it was Saturday (still not great), I was hurting. Plus, I was kind of overdressed. By the time I got to my neighborhood, I had unzipped my jersey and and I took my jacket off and tied it around my neck, as well as taking off my gloves and light head cover. I would not have got up the hill with that stuff on.
21 miles. Wearing my compression tights, which haven't seen the light of day in a couple of years.

[ny biker]

Well, sometimes you just have a bad day. Hopefully that's what you had on Wednesday. Though you may find you need to alter your workout schedule to accommodate the bike commutes without wearing yourself out.

I finally got out for an after-work ride on Wednesday. This was the first week since Daylight Saving Time started that we had decent weather.

Since I am now working at a different office that is farther from home, I have to drive to a small park that is near my old office and start the ride there. (There are no good places to ride near the new office, and besides I really like the route near my old office.) However I have an ongoing problem getting out of work early enough to do the things I want/need to do in the evenings. Something always seems to come up at the last minute. So I left work later than I wanted, then got stuck in traffic caused by an accident. I ended up exiting the highway early and using back roads I've learned through cycling. Yeah bikes.

Though I was starting later than I wanted, it was still light out for about half the ride. I did a slightly shorter version of the usual route. I think it was about 16 miles total. There are lots of short hills, and some are quite steep, so my pace is always a bit slow on these rides. But I was happy that I averaged close to my normal pace, even though I'm not riding nearly as much now as I do during the summer.

The weather was pleasant, in the 60s. After sunset it felt a bit chilly. But I was generally comfortable with Shebeest capris, a long sleeved base layer and short sleeved jersey. I added a wind vest and windproof gloves near the end. No booties, no thermal tights, no caps or ear warmers or windproof jacket. It was so nice.

I was very happy afterwards.

[Fredwina]

I did a whole five miles, with the furniture getting here yesterday
300 junk bikes. There was supposed to be a freeway(I-40) built through here,but it was blocked:

Back side of the Memphis zoo:

Levitt Shell, where a 19 year old Elvis Presley gave his first concert as an opening act for Slim Whitman:

This is supposed to be a guitar:

[azfiddle]

I got out Weds after work, but only because one of my cycling team buddies who also started the coaching program said "I need to ride". Wind were 20 with gusts to over 30 which usually more than I want to deal with. When we got to the start, she said, "I only came because you said you were going to ride". Ha ha. But anyway, we rode the loop at Saguaro NP, which is somewhat sheltered from the wind and it wasn't too bad. Then we did 3 extra miles back and forth to the picnic ground to work on our cadence.

Today I rode in to work and will get in 20-22 miles depending on my route home. At least they are only predicting winds of 17 with gusts to 26 (headwinds) on the way home.. Well, the DH always says: "More exercise!".

[ny biker]

Fredwina, it took me a minute but I can see the guitar. That's neat.

[Fredwina]

Thanks
I went downtown and back. Not getting much with the job search and taking care of Mom (life is never easy)
Memphis Belle:

Kinetic sculpture from bicycle wheels:

Main st. downtown:

Who's this guy?

[salsabike]

Great pictures, Fredwina!

[emily_in_nc]

I love that bicycle arch, Fredwina -- thanks for posting!

We made our way back from Patagonia, AZ to Prairie Village, KS over three days March 31-April 2, so no riding those days, just a lot of driving -- and two "spring forwards" during the trip. Ouch!

Yesterday after a morning re-stocking at Costco, we had a nice ride in the afternoon with temps in the mid-60s and climbgin to the low-70s. I couldn't believe how strong I felt. I guess the hills and higher elevation of southern Arizona and lots of Feb/March miles really made a huge difference as riding here felt so EASY. Average speed didn't reflect that with all the stops and turns in this urban/suburban environment, but it was a fun 25 miles.

A front blew in (and I do mean BLEW) in overnight, and today it was overcast and cold with a strong northwest wind. Windchill in the 30s in the afternoon. From wearing shorts and short-sleeve jerseys yesterday, today I bundled up for a walk in wool, gloves, a scarf, and hat. Hoping to get out for another ride tomorrow as the temp is supposed to warm up a bit in the the afternoon -- and we should see the sun. Spending the entire winter in the south has made chilly early spring weather difficult to take!

[marni]

is it possible that your compression tights were part of the problem. like anything else, they probably take getting used to. Plus with the winter you all have had your are still building your base miles. Some weeks it's all I can do to get on the bike once let along do back to back days like I used to. Is there an option of commuting every other day for a while until things ease up?

Trying to figure out layering in the spring is an exercise in strip tease.

Give yourself a break and say hi to west Acton for me.

[Crankin]

Marni, are you replying to the post I made a couple of weeks ago?
I don't commute every day, I only go to the office 3 days a week, and I target 2 for commuting. The other day I go to a high school and I don't work on Wednesdays. Last week I didn't commute at all... weather and other commitments. It's only 10.4 miles rt.
I don't wear compression tights while I ride; they are for recovery and they work! I've used them every weekend since that one.
I haven't done any rides over 30 miles yet, but I am pretty much back in the swing of things. Building a base is something I just never seem to get. I have about 2-3 weeks of suffering, slowly building up, with short rides, gradually up to about 20-25 miles and then one day, I feel OK. It's the same every year. I am pretty active over the winter, but it's just not the same.
Lots of building going on in west Acton. I guess it might actually become more of a real village.

[emily_in_nc]

Got in a couple of good rides over the past two days with DH. Yesterday was a 32 mile ride on the MTBs primarily on bike paths (though it's 5 miles there and back on roads). Today I did 42 hilly miles on the roadie with quite a bit of wind -- gusts in the 20s from the south, so every time we had to turn that way, it was rough. Fortunately, the last 12 miles or so were all north and east, so it was fun at the end! We rode on some roads we hadn't tried before, so that was fun, though we had to stop a lot and look at the map on the way back to figure it out. I am soooooo tired of wind, though. Seems like every time we have a warm, sunny day, like today, it's super windy. The gusts at times felt like they were going to blow me off the road. Ugh!

I went over 1700 miles YTD today, my best year since my accident in '05. Being retired helps a LOT, obviously!

[Catrin]

Sounds great Emily! I think you renamed my....errrrr....YOUR bike quite appropriately given the winds you've been dealing with!

[rebeccaC]

Been doing some hard climbing routes lately to get ready for todays ride on Little Tujunga Canyon road in the western part of the Angeles National Forest. The route has a very steep at times 6 mile climb and an even steeper 4 miler among shorter ones...a couple of great descents though on nicely banked switchbacks and all on a well-paved road with very little traffic. Perfect weather too. Started in the low 60’s and ended in the low 70’s. I rode a route in the eastern part of the Angeles last April that had some good climbs but Tujunga is steeper and gives a better sense of isolation with incredible views. It was only a 40 minute drive to our start point, which was nice too. There are a couple of other canyon roads on the western side of the Angeles that we are thinking about riding now.

The roadside memorial is for Sarah Alarid. She was 19 when her car went off the road and into a deep steep ravine at the site of the memorial. A park ranger who stopped for a moment told us she and her car weren’t found until spotted by a passing helicopter a few weeks after she went missing. I sat there for about 20 minutes looking at what has been left for her by friends and family and thinking of her being so young and the accident itself. That led me to a moment of crying. Those thoughts also made me thankful of just being alive in that moment and made me appreciate even more my ability to be enjoying a ride in such a beautiful and peaceful area. Sarah was with me the rest of the ride....

[BikeDutchess]

Salt Lake City Marathon Bike Tour today. 6 a.m. start (yawn!), luckily we only live about 2.5 miles from the start so we could ride there. They changed the course this year, it's no longer all downhill and goes more through the city. It's a much prettier route although some parts were a little iffy on bikes in the dark. I had to work harder to make it by the cut-off time but we had a blast. And the weather was so, so, so much better than last year! No ride photos, but this year's medal was pretty cool.


Salt Lake City Marathon Bike Tour by DutchRosie, on Flickr

ETA: rebeccaC, gorgeous photos! And yes, how great to be alive and able to ride.

[emily_in_nc]

Sounds great Emily! I think you renamed my....errrrr....YOUR bike quite appropriately given the winds you've been dealing with!

Yes, I kind of named the Jamis "Toto" in honor of Kansas, since that is where I took it on its maiden voyage (as my bike, that is) and continue to ride it, including today's ride, a nice jaunt on mostly bike paths up to Walmart for all the important groceries: dark chocolate, coffee, and wine.