March Rides: In Like a Lion or a Lamb?

[Geonz]

So, last Thursday we had a weather alert for high winds, up to 65 mph. A man got killed when a tree fell on his moving car, about 30 miles from here. Several clients told me they could barely keep their cars on the road while driving to see me.
So, yesterday I got an email from the invite-only group of cyclists I rode with once. I stay on the list because occasionally I learn some news I wouldn't elsewhere. Most of these people ride with my Wednesday group and I occasionally see one on an AMC ride. A bunch of them also ride with another group, based right in my area, which has a similar, slightly slower type of group like my Wednesday group on Thursdays. Six people came for a ride in those windy conditions. Three ditched it quite quickly. The other 3 went on, when one of the men apparently ran over a twig that got caught in his spoke, which was just part of all the debris in the road from the wind. He did an endo on the road. He needed a spinal fusion in 2 vertebra and a few other cervical things. He fractured a couple of ribs. While he is recovering nicely, he still has not regained all feeling in one of his legs (he had none in the beginning). I know this man in a casual way; he is very friendly and a good ride leader. All I can think of was what was the ride leader thinking when he didn't cancel this ride? There were serious weather alerts being issued. This is why I lead for AMC, where risk assessment is emphasized in the training. It comes from the hiking part of the club, but I am very happy for this. Yes, there's been a couple of times I cancelled and could have gone, but overall, I feel responsible for safety. I know the leader of the ride; he's a strange dude who often rides alongside of me and then gets mad when I drop him on a hill. He seems to ride all of the time, so he's now a little better rider than me, but I've spent a lot of time talking to him.
I just feel really badly for the guy who got hurt, all because of wind.

The leader sounds like he could use a little training in leadership at several levels I wonder if/hope he learns from this. Hoping for full recovery for the rider!

When I find myself really wanting to ride... in questionable weather... I ask myself how stupid I would feel in the ER for *any* reason, with people saying "why were you out riding in this????" and justified. Now, reading this helps me nudge towards taking the bus if our winds are as predicted and gusting to 45 for the commute home...

[Pax]

Be careful, Sue, I've out behind Meijer in Urbana and it's already gusting big time.

[Crankin]

Sue, the leader is, ah, a bit socially challenged. His whole life is going on group rides, and not in a good way. He shows up in very weird garb, with a bike that is classic, but not maintained. I love old bikes, but his has broken things that look almost dangerous. The groups he leads for (as opposed to the group I lead for) do not provide any training. He looks decidedly unhealthy, in many ways. I know this sounds horrible, but, I don't have a lot of faith in someone who doesn't maintain his/her bike, wears clothing inappropriate for the conditions, and is gasping so loudly on climbs, I have asked more than once if he was OK. I am sure the club he was leading for that day will review this. The president is actually the dad of one of my former students and he is a very upstanding person in the local cycling community.

[emily_in_nc]

Took yesterday off to do chores and errands, but had a nice solo ride today. DH was in the middle of a project so sent me off on my own. I always enjoy my rare solo rides because I do a lot more photo stops than he likes to do. Great bird life along the trail today, a couple of Monarch butterflies, lots of flowers, and I stopped at a park by the lake to check out more birds. I would upload some photos, but our internet cnx is being super slow today, so I am not going to push it.

31 miles in warm (74-82 degree) sunshine with light winds.

[north woods gal]

Sounds sooo nice, Emily. What a contrast we are in weather, given our huge north and south spread. We're headed down below zero, again, tonight. Only teens, tomorrow. Crazy me, though, still riding. Our trails are back to being well frozen, so the fat bikes roll over the base instead of sinking into it. Only trails I can't do, even with studded tires, are some of the hilly stuff. The icy sections on the flats are doable, but you know its bad when studded tires start slipping on an icy climb. Tomorrow, though, will probably just play it safe and do some pavement riding, since our local paved roads are currently snow free. The bruised ribs, courtesy of my last spill on black ice, took forever to heal.

[emily_in_nc]

I would just die in that climate, NWG. I could take it for maybe two weeks on a trip, but not all winter long. I (as always) salute you for being able to ride in it -- and for tolerating it in general. Are your ancestors from the far north, just out of interest? (Mine are Scottish/English, mostly, so you'd think I'd tolerate cold better than I do...)

Another lovely ride today. Upper 60s to upper 70s, low low humidity, sunshine, winds not too bad (and in our favor on the way back). We did the western hilly route to Lake Minneola and beyond. SO nice.

We're supposed to get a cold front starting with rain Sun/Mon, then much cooler Tues-Thurs. Not sure how much riding I'll be doing for awhile as we also have to take our motorhome in for service and have to do some prep for that as well. At least we timed it during the less good time for riding!

[Crankin]

It's 12 degrees with howling winds. We had snow showers yesterday and I awoke to the street being dusted with snow.
I am going to the gym!
Nor'easter predicted for Tuesday. At least I may get to ski one more time.

[north woods gal]

Emily, I'm half Norwegian and, yes, most of that side of the family has roots in the north woods of Minnesota and Wisconsin and our ancestral home in Norway is up near the Arctic Circle. My other half is Slovak and in case you are not familiar with Slovakia, it is actually a very mountainous country. That side of my family is from the mountains of NE Pennsylvania. Not sure if it's a genetic connection or conditioning as the result of my having never lived south of Nebraska or Pennsylvania, but the cold is simply not a factor for me. Don't give it much thought at all. Ride all winter long, no matter how cold.

Heat, though, is something I am not used to to, as I learned from my visit to Florida, last fall. Have to be much more careful. I've also experienced more issues with heat rashes and skin burns from that more tropical southern sun. Can go all summer, hp here, and hardly use sun block, but one day in Florida without it and I burned, badly.

So, temps in the teens, the last few days and, yes, been riding at least an hour every day and loving it. My trails are hard and crusty from snow and ice and have been riding the fat bike. Challenging, but of course, fun.

[emily_in_nc]

Interesting, NW! I do think there's some genetic tolerance for different climates that occurs. But no matter who you are and who your ancestors are, if you're not used to the southern sun, you'll burn in 20 minutes or so here during the warmer months of the year. Even during the winter if you don't watch it. Just being this much closer to the equator makes a huge difference.

I'm as intolerant of the cold as you are when you come to Florida. A lot of it too is just what you're used to. It certainly takes time to adapt to something really different!

[Geonz]

Be careful, Sue, I've out behind Meijer in Urbana and it's already gusting big time.

I got there Can't remember if Wednesday was "okay, if it's any nastier than this tomorrow, I"m on the bus!" or ... the tomorrow part where it was down to 13 by the time I left.

SO today I rode out to work even though it's Saturday because my phone is AWOL. SO Monday a.m. I will send an email to that company I've sent my resume to with my work phone since I forgot to add it to my resume... and figure out getting a new one which is long overdue... because no, I couldn't find it.

Except I'd had to swap bikes because I had topped off the tires on the Transport, then headed to friend's house... then headed back and had a flat tire. Oh, well, I wanted to swap out anyway since the Xtra's an easier ride... but this is two flats in two successive Saturdays and A: I don't get flats! and B: they happend right after topping off the tire, as if inflation had caused the flat ??@?

Oh, and yea, I wanted to swap out bikes so I had tried to get that car thing out of the garage and... nope. No juice. It hasn't been that cold and the thing started right up earlier in the week when I drove it the 20 feet from driveway to garage in case of hail...

So AWOL phone, flat tire, dead car... but it's a "first world problem" and on the weekend so ... found a friend to jump the car (okay, that was actually a little tough because ... the person who would have been my go-to died suddenly in December; that's why I'm at friend's - his wife's - house so much...) ... and I could take my cute credit card and go down and buy a new battery (I adopted this 2008 Avalon car January and don't know its battery history) ... and yes, the Xtracycle is still rolling and I can pay the credit card off right now and actually entertain getting another bicycle since gosh! I was down to one since the 7500 FX had a flat last week and I haven't fixed it yet...

[Pax]

Good lord Sue! Hope you catch a break soon, that sounds exhausting.

[azfiddle]

All you folks getting the brunt of the storms- stay safe and warm.
Out here in AZ it's getting HOT! Predicted to be 95 on Friday- which is about 15-20 degrees above normal. But then again, normal was calculated based on pre-global warming averages.

Saturday: quick ride up to Saguaro NP and back to meet up with a friend. We met up about 2 miles from the park, rode the "picnic loop" (just 3 miles) and I had to go back. Had a funeral and a wedding to play for on the same day.

Sunday- my husband and I drove south of Tucson to the town of Tubac and rode around looking at birds. The annual hawk watch was on and we stopped for 20 minutes. I saw several Common Black Hawks, new for the "bird by bike" list, and then we took our road bikes on a dirt path- maybe not the best choice but it was mostly flat, hard packed and not rocky, stopping to look and listen periodically. We got off the path and onto pavement for a couple miles, then headed back north on the road. We ended up seeing 13 Common Black Hawks and one Zone-tailed Hawk, but missed the Golden Eagles sighted by the group at the hawk watch site.

Today I rode around the east side of Tucson - mostly suburban desert & a couple of ponds- saw 42 species of birds, none particularly notable but wound up with 28 miles. Ouch- fell over at a stoplight because I was trying to maneuver my bike with one foot still clipped in. Dumb, but not really serious. A little bit of a skinned knee and a bruise.

[north woods gal]

AZ, we're kind of in between on our birding, now that I took the feeders down and cleaned up under them. (It's standard operating procedure to get your feeders down before the bears are out in the spring.) Other than the Northern Shrike that stayed around for a couple of months, pretty much a so so feeder season for me. Definitely not as much variety as usual. The mild winter could have something to do with that.

Looking forward to birding by ear, via the bikes, soon, though. Have also had a flock of Tundra Swans use our lake during spring migration the last couple years. Can't wait to see what the migration brings.

Since this is the March rides thread, I have been riding the fat bikes, every day, some road work, but mostly trail work on my icy trails, only doable with those studded fat bike tires. Even then, have to be careful in the hilly areas. Definitely a big high when I get through a tricky section, successfully. Only an hour a day working out on the fat bikes, but that's enough to keep me in good trim and my skills up to par.

[Crankin]

Here we go, 12-24 inches of snow predicted for tomorrow. I am thrilled to be able to get more x country skiing in (at least 1-3 more times), but I need to start training for my trip to Spain!
Despite the predicted sow and the frigid temperatures over the weekend, there was a robin chirping on our lawn thins morning....

[emily_in_nc]

Well, it doesn't look like I'll be doing much cycling in the near-term. We just received word today that my father-in-law passed away today. :-(

It was not unexpected, as he was less than a month from his 88th birthday and in progressively failing health, but his doctors didn't expect this to happen quite so quickly. We thought we had ample time to get up to Ohio for one last visit in April or May, once the danger of snow/ice passed. But it was not to be. He's been in declining health for a long time, so my DH is doing pretty well with it, but you're still never ready to lose a parent.

So, looks like we'll be renting a car and driving up from Florida to Ohio on Saturday/Sunday and staying up there for several days for family time and the funeral/burial, then taking another couple days to get back down here. We are not taking the motorhome up as that is a slower drive and more difficult to find good places to stay. It would take us at least 3-4 days each way instead of two.

We won't be able to take bikes and wouldn't have time to ride anyway, plus it will be too cold for us. So, at least a week off the bikes for that, coupled with the cold, windy weather we've had here looks like two weeks off in total. Blech. But it is what it is...a necessary, if unpleasant, part of life....