April Rides

[emily_in_nc]

Crazy...I didn't realize it was any kind of holiday, but I did see some coverage of the Boston Marathon on the news, and it looked miserable!

In the meantime, it's still too cold for my blood in Florida, even. We drove our motorhome up to the panhandle yesterday and are in a lovely state park near the beach. This morning's low was 46. In Florida, in April, really? When I booked these reservations awhile ago, I certainly didn't expect this. Shoulda waited until May. Last year it was HOT in April, though. We're supposed to hit 73 today, and that will feel good, but it's still quite a bit cooler than normal.

I saw an article indicating that most of the US would have below normal temps through April. Maybe May will finally bring springtime? One can dream? Stay warm, y'all!

[north woods gal]

No spring yet, here, but, of course, I have to expect that at this latitude. After spending the morning digging out from this last storm, I checked our local roads to see if they're ridable. They have been plowed, but are still mostly snow and ice-covered. Nevertheless, I was tempted to go for a ride, but just didn't have the energy after hours of work with the shovel. 30 mph wind gusts out of the north and a temp in the mid 20s didn't help, either. Hit the trainer for a good workout and called it good.

As for clearing my trails, I only got thirty feet with the snowblower. The snow is way to deep now for even a snowblower, so will have to let Nature do the clearing for me. Looks like I'm going to be a road warrior for awhile.

[north woods gal]

Did just short of 10 miles of laps on our area paved roads. About half snow packed and half dry, so they should clear up, quick, with some nice weather. Stopped and visited with a neighbor. She told me that the Weather Bureau reports that we officially had 18.8" of snow, making it 100 inches of snow for the winter. That makes it the 3rd snowiest winter on record and only 10" short of the all-time record, a once in a hundred year snowy winter.

That makes me feel a little better, knowing that I probably won't see another winter like this one, but, of course, who knows? Climate change/global warming is throwing all the norms out of whack. Anyway, good to be out and riding. Sure beats staying indoors.

[emily_in_nc]

We had a fun ride today in the Santa Rosa Beach area of Florida's panhandle. We took a long beach walk in the morning, then got ready to ride out to lunch on the bike path along 30A. Found out when we got a couple miles west of our campground that two miles of the path was currently closed/torn up and being redone, so we had to ride along the highway, no shoulder. That two miles really dragged, as we had a headwind when we headed out, and traffic wa a bit heavier than I would have preferred. Fortunately, once we got through that part, the path picked back up, and we got to the restaurant we'd planned on for fish tacos for lunch on their "Taco Tuesday".

When we arrived and went to lock our bikes, we discovered that we had no lock! DH was supposed to bring it but somehow got distracted at the last minute and forgot it. Fortunately, there are a lot of bike shops along the path, so we backtracked a couple miles, bought a lock, and headed back to the restaurant. Had delicious fish tacos + a beer, then headed back. Riding along the road was not bad at all on the way back, as we had a tailwind, and traffic was lighter since the lunch rush was over.

All in all, a really fun time. Temps were in low 70s with bright sunshine and super low humidity. Hardly feels like Florida, but was very nice indeed, particularly after waking up to 46 degrees this morning. Sunshine warmed things up quickly!

Got in a touch over 18 miles. First time I've ridden my MTB in a long time, and that was fun. The path surface isn't always great, so I decided to ride that instead of the roadie for that reason, and it was a good choice.

[Crankin]

That sounds like so much fun, Emily. I started researching commuter/in town type bikes yesterday while I was home in the frightful rainstorm. I came across a great review in Bicycling of mostly women's commuter/hybrids/gravel bikes, from cheap to expensive. At least 4 I will checkout. I learned from clicking on some of the links that there are no extra smalls anywhere in the country of the new Trek commuter.
The holiday is Patriot's Day. It's only celebrated in Massachusetts and Maine. Perhaps Connecticut. It's all about the the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Yes, my little town swells with tourists for about 2 weeks, visiting the historical sites, watching the re-enactments, etc. The marathon is always on Patriot's Day. Schools have their spring vacation this week, too.
I seriously do not know how any of those people finished the marathon. I could barely stand going out to do 2 errands in that storm.
I am going to ride with my friend Jack tomorrow, and possibly his wife will come, too.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for explaining about the holiday, Crankin! I figured it was Tax Day, not a holiday in my book. ;-) Spring break here has come and gone at various weeks in March. I'll be interested to hear about your town/commuter bike search. Hope it's not impossible to find a small one! Doesn't make sense that Trek can't make more of a size that is obviously quite popular.

[north woods gal]

Emily, nice to hear you got out on the MTB. I used mine as a commuter in my Chicago days for much the same reason. Those Chicago suburb roads on my commute were very rough in places. That, and I had to bike in all kinds of weather since I didn't have a car. Lastly, I found that a good MTB makes for a safer commuter. Gets your head up higher, but also that quick acceleration allowed me to scoot out of the way in a couple of dangerous situations and avoid being hit. Still have the bike and am currently in the process of adding new tires, grips and so on. Hope to ride it, this summer ... if we get a summer, that is.

Crankin, you might want to keep an eye open for a used 26" MTB. Lots of them around and they can be had, cheap, cheap, cheap, now that the bike companies have mostly abandoned the 26" wheel for MTBs and gone with the 27.5 (sore spot and pet peeve for me). A lot of bike shops won't even take 26ers in on trades , now, even ones with very high end components. If you need a small bike, the 26" wheels are an ideal wheel size.

[Crankin]

I don't want a mountain bike; I rode a very nice 26" Voodoo as my first bike in 2000-2002. I just don't like the feeling of riding that geometry on the road. Although, I am still mad at my older son, whom we gave the bike to for commuting, for leaving it in the storage of his apartment when he bought his home. It was DH's first mountain bike, which he was able to set up for someone as small as me, as well as himself and my son, who are 5' 7." I want a "cool" looking commuter, most likely on a hybrid platform. Still not sold on needing disc brakes, although many, if not all of the cheaper ones have them. I am more concerned with the gearing. Not the gear combos, but which group set. I don't want something so cheap it will be a pain and not shift right. It will be fun shopping.
I rode 27.5 miles this morning, with my friend, Jack. He is what most would call a "character," and his riding kit today included screaming turquoise and pink running shorts, over a variety of tights and other things from the 80s. Although the weather people called today the pick of the week, it was windy, partly cloudy, and 45 when we left. We were heading straight into the wind, too. I told him I was enormously slow, so he started off really slowly, but I didn't mind, since I always need more warm up time than most, and the wind... things were fine until we went up a very hard hill in a neighborhood in South Chelmsford. Somehow, I never expect these hills in neighborhoods, not sure why! It did me in ,and after that, I really felt like cr*p and was struggling to keep up on the smaller rollers. But, I persevered, as I had woken up with all of my weird autoimmune symptoms, and it pretty much is something I have to just get through, or I would be at home, on my couch most of the time. With about 10 miles left to go, we stopped and I ate half a bar, which helped immensely. Once we turned on the main road, with 6 miles left to go, the tailwind kicked in, which, thankfully, pushed my average into the barely acceptable range.
I am glad I went, but before I left, 2 annoying things happened. First, there's been a change in the way you get files from a Ride With GPS link, and while I could put the link into my rides folder, I couldn't get it into my Garmin. It didn't matter for this ride, so I went to get ready and the pocket zipper on my wind jacket got stuck, after I had put my phone, money, etc in there. When I got home, I was able to move it enough, to get the stuff out, but it may be trashed, although I am hoping DH can fix it. This zipper has been finicky since day one. I had to bring it to be repaired after the first time I wore it. Hopefully I will have it for the weekend,when we are out in western MA with our friends.

[ny biker]

A zipper on my large suitcase got stuck that way a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been able to unstick it. Very annoying. I've been trying the "leave it alone and hope it magically comes unstuck" approach.

Today is our best day of the week, in terms of weather. Though it was very cold this morning with freeze warnings overnight, it has warmed up and should be about 60 for a high. Most important for me the forecast temperature is above 50 through the night, as winds change from the south today to north or northwest tomorrow. So I plan to go for a another hill ride and am hoping to be slightly less slow compared to last week.

[north woods gal]

We were running errands in town this afternoon and stopped at our local sporting goods store, which also carries bike stuff. Got two cell phone holders for the bikes, but we got to gabbing with one of the gals we knew, there, then forgot and walked off without the cell phone holders. They called us when we got home and told us they would hold them. I figured I might as well ride the bike the 5 miles into town to get them as my ride for the day. Grabbed the Pugsley and went for a ride.

Still a lot of slush on the road, but the Pugsley with its fat tires didn't even notice. What I did notice was the terrible roads in our little town (population 7000). After our long, hard winter, some of them are a pothole minefield. Some stretches would have swallowed a road bike. The Pugs, of course, just rolled over them. Really no worse than trail riding over rocks and tree roots. Didn't bother to go around most of them. That sort of take whatever comes your way on a ride and keep on rolling is why my Pugsley has become such a friend. I do have some much more advanced and up to date bikes, but the Pugs would be the last bike I would ever sell.

[Crankin]

Ha, ha. I like the description of the potholes. We had some so bad a couple of weeks ago, they were more craters than holes. They were filled quite quickly, as it was really dangerous.
DH was able to fix the zipper, but it will need to be approached gingerly. He has the same jacket, but never uses the pocket, choosing to put his stuff in his jersey pockets. I think this is dumb, but perhaps I may have to start using this strategy.
Today is a rest day from all exercise. Tomorrow is bootcamp, and perhaps a little ride or just commute to lunch with a friend. The weather looks fabulous (50s and sun) for our weekend in western MA. Finally. And, next week, in the 60s.

[north woods gal]

Given that I've been pretty consistent about reporting on our extreme weather, thought I would balance things out and report that we are scheduled for about a week of weather with temps in the 50s. To say I am relieved and happy is an understatement. Still have a LOT of melting to do before I can ride trails, but our paved roads are already open and will only get better with more melting. Don't want to jinx it and say spring is here, but it is getting into late April, after all.

[ny biker]

I did ride last night, as planned. Averaged speed was about 0.1 mph less slow than last week. So, progress! I did feel better than last week. My quads were pretty tired at the end but that was normal since it was a hill workout.

As noted in the thread I started over in the apparel section, I decided I need a reflective windbreaker for night rides. It was in the high 50s for the whole ride (16 miles and almost two hours including a snack break, from 9:30 pm until almost 11:30). I think it was a bit humid. For the first couple of miles I was a bit underdressed, then was okay during the hilly part -- warm enough going up and chilled on the descents. But in the last few flat miles I was cold. I was wearing a wool long sleeved base layer, short sleeved jersey, fleecy arm warmers and a wind vest. I think if I'd been wearing a windbreaker instead of the arm warmers and vest I would have been unzipping and re-zipping a lot on the hills, but overall would probably have been more comfortable.

[emily_in_nc]

We are having so much fun riding here at the beach! I had no idea this little stretch of the US even existed in the Florida panhandle, but it is a big deal. Google "30A Florida" if you don't believe me. The bike path isn't ideal, as there are many driveways and road crossings, but it's fun to tool along from beach town to beach town (one in which every building and home is white!), go by several pretty lakes, occasionally catch a peekaboo view of the ocean, and have the ability to stop at little shops, restaurants, bakeries, and a zillion bike shops along the way. You just can't worry about speed, as you have to deal with slow/novice riders, some walkers, construction, and other things that slow you down, but in between, you can zip along pretty well.

I agree with you, nwg, it is a shame about the 26" wheel MTBs going the way of penny farthings. I have really enjoyed riding my MTB these past few days, and just can't imagine riding one with larger wheels at my size. It feels like a big bike anyway, compared to my Bike Friday with 20" wheels, my beach cruiser with 24" wheels, and even my 700c skinny-tired roadie, just because that bike is so much lighter and more streamlined. My MTB shifts very well, accelerates quickly, fits me perfectly, and since it's a full suspension, really smooths out all the bumps and cracks and occasional potholes or gravel areas of the trail. It is really a pleasure to ride, and with a rack (which I have, but not here) and smooth tires makes a fine "town" bike.

Yesterday we managed 27 miles in three rides -- one long and two brief (out to dinner and over to walk on the beach). At our very slow average speed here (10-11ish), that's more time in the saddle than it sounds. Today we took it easy and only put in 11 miles in three rides: one to Publix for some groceries, and again out to dinner and to the beach. We also walked at least 8 miles, mostly on the beach.

We'll probably ride again tomorrow, but not Saturday, as I can only imagine the zoo the path will be that day! That will be a beach walking and dune hiking (there are some trails) day instead, before we head back to central Florida on Sunday.

[rebeccaC]

Whoa…three posts in a row about improving weather…….glad to hear it.

NY…..maybe I missed it but how did the floors come out?

Emily….30A looks like our 26 mile beach path…ours may be less crowded because of its more isolated location right on the beach for the majority of its length but it can also be too busy going through parts of venice and santa monica during the day, especially weekends and summer times. A couple of miles on quiet side streets and alleys can get you through both areas, quicker and easier than riding the path, and then back to a much less crowded path for the final 8 miles north. Here is the part of the bike path that goes by the back of our building and then for 16 miles going south on the least populated part of the path. Most of the path has a separate walking path which does help some.



I run 26/1.5's on my urban bianchi commuter and luv them for city riding and not so well paved roads/alleys.
....just commutes for me….a nice rain this morning made it interesting