Prime Bike Riding Time!

[Dogmama]

Attention ladies!

Superbowl is a great time to get on your bike! All of the rednecks are parked in front of the tube & their trucks are leaking oil in their driveways, bars, etc.

Seriously, it is almost as good as January 1 morning. Traffic is very sparse. And, you can pre-ride off those calories that you'll take in with the chips, dips, etc.

This announcement does not apply to those living in Houston!

[annie]

LOL! Prime bike riding time for those in warmer climes, maybe! I had to laugh, thinking of calling this prime bike riding time here in the midwest, when our high temp today MIGHT hit 10 degrees F, if we are lucky. It didn't even hit 0 yesterday. Tomorrow might be a heat wave of around 20, but that's with 10 inches of snow predicted. SO......... you who live where it's warm now, enjoy it for yourselves and for those of us who are freezing. It warms me up just thinking of you our there biking tomorrow. I will stick to the skis.........

Confession: In spite of the cold, I rode my bike outside today for a brief time. Wanted to see just how many layers it would take to stay warm, how my face, feet and hands would handle it. It was sorta ok......... Do-able, at least. There's a ride here in Iowa every year in early Feb called the BRR ride. It's next weekend; I am going so had to test out the cold weather gear. Decided it could be done at this temp if it isn't too windy. Only 25 miles but you can get awfully cold in that amount of time. Just have to keep moving, I guess. It's as much for a weekend away as for the bike ride; some people don't even take a bike. I am determined to ride!

[missliz]

You go girl! Just think of all those crazy Belgians who train every day in snow, ice, cowpoopie,- on cobblestones! You're that tough! It could be a glorious ride...
Enjoy

Lizzy

[Trek420]

"Confession: In spite of the cold, I rode my bike outside today for a brief time. Wanted to see just how many layers it would take to stay warm, how my face, feet and hands would handle it. It was sorta ok......... Do-able, at least. "

Confession? You should be bragging, that's great! I'm the one who should be confessing "forgive me sisters I wimped out on the Sunday club ride because there was a little rain and looked like it was heavy in the hills where we were heading." ;-)

Although I'm back inside and my dog is glad to see that I will have the bike up on the Cycleops during the game...maybe the entire game.

[bikerchick68]

ugh... how do you ride in that weather??? When it gets down to 40 here I start whining...LOL

I did a ride today but got a late start so only got 18 miles in... better than nothing I guess... It was gorgeous out... close to 70 degrees so no complaints here at all!

Trek- I will not ride in the rain either... not because I worry about crashing and getting hurt but because I worry about crashing and screwing up my BIKE!!! I just got it in Dec... the husband sprung for a new bike and I LOVE IT!!! If I wrecked it I'd be horrified...

[Trek420]

"Trek- I will not ride in the rain either... not because I worry about crashing and getting hurt but because I worry about crashing and screwing up my BIKE!!! I just got it in Dec... the husband sprung for a new bike and I LOVE IT!!! If I wrecked it I'd be horrified..."

If I'm caught in the rain I don't mind especially if I have a jacket with me, but it's hard to set out in bad weather. And it was cold but not as cold as where some of you gals are...

Congrats on the new bike...whadja get?

--was TREK420 soon Mondonico

[jobob]

I'm finding it's not the rain that bothers me so much, but I'm an absolute wimp in the wind.

Hubby and I set out this morning for the Alameda Creek trail and Coyote Hills, and it was drizzling. Not too bad, but then we turned a corner along one of the hills and ran face first into cooold wind, yech.

I met a new nemesis today too - there's a trail I never tried in the Coyote Hills called the Meadowlark Trail, which is a paved, fairly steep (to me, anyhow) uphill grade which goes for about 0.5 mile - Mt. Diablo it ain't. But still, I only made it maybe 1/2 of the way up that sucker today Something to work on.

- Jo.

[Trek420]

"I met a new nemesis today too - there's a trail I never tried in the Coyote Hills called the Meadowlark Trail, which is a paved, fairly steep (to me, anyhow) uphill grade which goes for about 0.5 mile - Mt. Diablo it ain't. But still, I only made it maybe 1/2 of the way up that sucker today Something to work on. "

I haven't been to ACT in a while, the last time I was there the trail near the staging area near the town of Niles was closed. haven't been back since.

sounds like the trails fixed now, I'll have to go back.

I think I know where your nemesis is, as you head west, towards the bay on the flat part of the trail there's a place where the trail curves and then you take a sharp left and imediate uphill. Is that it? If I don't downshift in preparation for it that stops me too.

TREK

[jobob]

I haven't been to ACT in a while, the last time I was there the trail near the staging area near the town of Niles was closed. haven't been back since.
sounds like the trails fixed now, I'll have to go back.

Actually, only the last maybe 1/2 mile of the trail, where it crosses Mission Blvd. near Niles, had been closed (and it still is, it's going to be finished sometime this year they say) - the remainer of the Alameda Creek trail past Mission Blvd. heading west toward the bay has been open.

I think I know where your nemesis is, as you head west, towards the bay on the flat part of the trail there's a place where the trail curves and then you take a sharp left and imediate uphill. Is that it?

If it's what I think you're talking about then, err, no... I'm glad to say I can do that one. The one I'm talking about is farther south, more towards the Dumbarton. It's near the camping area called Dairy Glen.

Here's a link to the map of Coyote Hills, if you're ever interested in going back there. I really love it there, it's especially beautiful this time of year with all the greenery:
http://www.ebparks.org/resources/pdf/trails/coyote.pdf

Jo's Nemesis Du Jour is the Meadowlark Trail, which is the gray line just above the words "Coyote Hills Regional Park" on the map. Good grief, according to the map the paved uphill part is only about 0.4 miles. Oh the shame I hope I can made it up it soon, LOL!

So when does the Mondonico arrive?

[Trek420]

"So when does the Mondonico arrive? "

...March, April'ish. I'd count the days but I'm not exactly sure of the date.

[snapdragen]

Cut yourself a break girl! Although what we did in the Cindy training were not huge hills, there were some long, slow, "God will this ever end" hills. Maybe your legs were just tired. That's my story, I'm sticking to it!

[Dogmama]

I don't like to ride in rain because my brakes don't work as well. Wind - hey - consider it your own personal trainer! Same goes for hills! Where I started riding (outside of Tucson in a small town) the wind blew constantly. So, I just get down in my aerobars & pump through it. Hills - they gotta go down sometime, so that's a big plus!

[jobob]

LOL, I'll try to remember that, Dogmama !

And Snapdragen, you're so nice to say that. Some of those hills did go on for a bit, didn't they?

Sad occurrence on our training ride yesterday - a woman in one of the more experienced groups fell, sounds like it was a fluke accident. Come to find out she broke her pelvis, and word is she won't be able to walk around for about a month

- Jo.

[Dogmama]

I really think that the fact we don't bounce off of pavement (like kids do) is another good reason to weight train. Get those bones up to their max density so that falls aren't so catastrophic. Not to say that the poor lady who broke her pelvis did anything wrong - she may have landed in such a manner that she would have been seriously injured regardless. But, it's like buying insurance for your body. Especially for those of us who are pushing 50 (but keeping our cadence up! Don't want to blow out those knees!)

[missliz]

One of the big perils of high mileage training is birdbones- literally! As the body dumps all the fat it can it'll start to thin out, and even hollow out the bones. Yeah, this was a real medical study and everything. I remember crossing that line and how creepy I felt. It's a training adaptation, but not a good one! Weight work will reverse it.
Some people break more easily then others too- weight training will help there ('nother study... )

Lizzy

In training to go make groceries on her Ugly Bike