Road Cycling - How was your club ride today?

Borrowing from the similar, successful thread in the commuting forum, I thought it would be fun to post how your various club rides went. Since joining our local club, I have been impressed with the scenic beauty of the rides they chose, that i never knew was even around the area. I can only hope the same is for the cycling clubs in your area. Share your stories as you encounter them.

-=-

My ride was great, our first trek into the hills this season. I was begging for a triple chainring for most of the ride, but I made it through and kept pace with the group so I was happy. The weather was perfect and the views were amazing of the area from the hills. There was no haze so you could see for miles. One person in the group fell on on of our longer decents, but luckily she only tore up her tights. No major damage to her or her bike.

Minutes before the ride started there was rain, but it cleared up into the most amazing sunshine. The smell from the sequoias and the various blossoms made it a great day.

Due to the snow slush and other slippery conditions, the club opted for indoor training, we were supposed to be doing 4 hours tempo riding and doing that on a trainer was mind numbing.

I am fortunate in belonging to a quite active local club (Shore Cycle Club in south Jersey). We usually go out for a road ride and a MTB ride each weekend day. Rides are usually great fun and a good group of people. We are a social group and have a "no-drop" policy, which is good for me as I am pretty slow. If you are in the south Jersey area look up our website for our weekend ride posts on Thursday and come out and join. Everyone is welcome and we have five (5) local MTB venues and periodically go further afield to try new things. Yesterday we rode through a relatively flat county park (Atlantic in Estelle Manor) which has a nice single-track with some fun ups and downs. Also some areas through some swamp which gets a bit sloppy. Good day as was well above freezing so could clean the bike after everything. See you out there!

Ours was great! Why? All the EGO racer heads were out racing in the season opener here in So Cal. and it was just the really working folks out on a nice ride. No racing talk or tech talk.

Funny thing is we went faster on the loop than with the racer guys. Hummmmmmmmmmm?

Despite a brief shower while pedaling to the meeting place for Saturday's ride, the weather turned out great --- blue sky, temps up to the mid-60s. The clouds cleared before we left the parking lot.

About a mile down the road -- on the first short hill - I watched as the fellow next to me had his rear der. hanger break and proceed to chew up his derailleur. He managed to unclip safely and we all stood around while he figured he could shorten his chain and ride back to the starting point. Since the sun had come out by this time and it was warming up nicely, I took off my wind-vest. We started up again after about five minutes and cruised through some rolling hills.

After a short re-group at the base of our major climb for the day, I split off to make a "pit-stop" at a local county park. The route took us up 1600 feet over 4 miles, through the coastal redwoods, to the top of the ridge. About a mile from the top I regained contact with our ride leader. She normally is an exceptional climber but was not feeling well that day. We re-grouped again at the top and everyone put their vests/jackets back on for the descent. After a couple of miles of up-and-down, through magnificent redwoods, we hit the descent, losing about 1,800 ft in 8 miles. Fortunately, the road was dry and there was no ocean fog, as there is on many occasions. The skies were incredibly clear and there was a fantastic view across the valley to our right and the ocean to our left. A good crosswind tested our bike handling skills at a couple of points. After reaching the bottom, one of our group flatted and three of us stayed with him while repairs were made.

There were several club rides that were scheduled to meet at the park for lunch but they had pretty much left by the time my group arrived. After consuming our powerbars, two of us left together for the final leg. About a mile from the starting point, I split off to find my way home (and a beer!) after about 70 miles and 4,200-ft of climbing.

It would be hard to imagine a nicer day for cycling on the first day of February!

SteveE

P.S. Sailguy, I'm glad that you are enjoying the club rides.

My ride was bizarre. On Saturday I completed my first solo century. On Sunday I was anticipating a typical Sunday afternoon recovery ride with my buddies. As it turned out, the weather was uncharacteristically warm. There was no wind. The guys were feeling good and off we went.

For the first few miles I was convinced that I just needed to turn around. Soon though, I realized that I was actually feeling OK. At the end of the day, I'd averaged 18 mph over the course of the 50 mile ride. I've never ridden at that pace for that long, never. I was amazed.

If I ever decide to race (fat chance), I'll make sure to ride a century the day before.

Peace,
Lou

Originally posted by amerpie
If I ever decide to race (fat chance), I'll make sure to ride a century the day before.


so much for tapering :p

after I ride a century, I'm pretty much done the next day... good job :)

Today we went on a nice 52 mile ride through the hills. The colors were breathtaking. Its pretty rare that you get the brilliant greens on the hills with the nice bright sunshine. Its only around for a couple months of the year before everything turns brown.

Our club had a great turn out for today's ride, which was ironic since the start location was 40 miles out-of-town. I hope this weather keeps up, its been absolutely gorgeous.

I attached an image for you all to drool over.

Sounds like a great ride.

I bailed on my club ride today because it was raining a little bit and was 36 degrees out. I felt really guilty / sad about it. Decided to make the best of it and get into the bike shop for my new bike tune up - it is about time I have 900 miles on it. Needless to say when I got there, none of the club members cars were in the parking lot either - they must have all decided to stay in too.

Just dont want to skip much - I have the MS150 coming up in 7 or 8 weeks.

Matt
:confused:

Had a good ride today. It started out a bit chilly but warmed up by the end of the ride to about 60 F. Skies were clear with nice views of the Pacific Ocean at a couple of places on the route.

I thought about doing the same ride as Sailguy, but decided I didn't want to drive to the stating point. So I went with my other club 'cause the start is only 6.5 miles from the house.

Had a great ride today. I rode with Team in Training and went around the Santa Cruz mountains, up Eureka Canyon. It was a great climb, with some gorgeous views. We did about 4300' worth of climbing total.

The ride started in the fog along the beach, then went up the hill through the redwoods. There were nice creeks and waterfalls along the way. When the sun came out it was amazing.

This picture is at the summit, looking through the valley out to the ocean. The fog is still socked in around the water in the distance.

We decended back to the water when we were done on a nice 13 mile decent. The road was in nice shape with sweeping curves, so keeping the downhill speed at 35-40 mph was easy.

Got out with a couple of the other guys from the club today. It was rainy, foggy, and generally wet on the roads. Made for an interesting ride. Didn't go too hard though, just trying to get base miles at this time of year.

I got 57km in about 2:15.

I decided to try a local club here in SoCal that i had seen off andon the last year or so since I started back up in cycling... The Bicycle CLub of Irvine... I think I was just about the youngest guy there at 28, but everyone was super friendly esepcially for this time, my first time riding with them... it is sooo much better riding with a group that alone... makes my ride seem faster and much more enjoyable...

we started at a park which the general meeting place everyweek, then down the road up a "hill" (last year I was dying trying to get to the top of it, this year it was a minor inconvenience :-)) then down my John Wayne Airport, thru the city of Costa Mesa, and stop a a coffee place at about 18 miles... then back on for a smooth course back to the park.. all in all a 30 miler for me.. I'm gonna do that a few weeks and work up to the 45-50 milers they do in about the same time... I was really surprised I kept up with the group, going about 18-22 mph the whole way on my old Centurion LeMans 30 lb. bike... I can't wait until I get a new bike later this summer... jsut have to save some more, and sell some more junk on ebay to afford it :-) all in all a good saturday

Jeff

WEll I rode again with BCI on Saturday.. a good ride.. i started off on the 30 mile couse they had planned out.. then when i realized I had passed all the 30 milers, I latched onto the tail of the 40 mile group.. I ended up riding with them the rest of the way.. and ya know what.. 40 miles was no big deal.. they kept a good pace about 18-24 mph for most of the way with just a few hills thrown in... it was a nice day, a bit cool at the beginning... but over all it was nie... so 40 miles on Saturday, and rode almost 20 with my wife on Sunday, just cruising down the hill for breakfast, and a haircut... i'm pretty happy.. 60 miles is a good weekend for me, and today my legs are just a bit stiff, but feeling good overall...

How was your Club ride ?

Jeff

Our club ride on Saturday, was the Tierra Bella. My account for it is Here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?postid=201383#post201383)

It was a great ride!