Did You Ride Today?

[brianlt228]

Wasa great day in the Raleigh/Cary area for it too. However...i agreee the headwind was kinda rough. Was the reverse for me....started with a headwind.

[Velo Vol]

Yes. Very late. It got dark

P.S. Why is it still cold in mid-May?

[skiffrun]

.... P.S. Why is it still cold in mid-May?
Because it is ONLY May, and you live in the mountains!

[Jon8j]

Took my track bike for a little training on the local middle school's running track. Three little kids on bmx's had the audacity to try and race me while I was doing rolling sprints! For grins, after I finished, I challenged 'em to a standing start drag race. The results were a bit different!

[jaxgtr]

Did 36 miles today, was trying for a metric but the wind 12-15 mph was killing me today, not sure why. Could have been that it's been my first ride in 2 weeks. Slacker..... head wind the first 15 miles and I just sort of got beat up by it. I was suppose to ride with someone, but they never showed and I could not link up with anyone to help take the beating from the wind for a while until my way back. The heat and humidity a lot higher than expected. Should have gone out earlier but it looked like rain. Will try again tomorrow.

[JimF22003]

I did the Tour de Chesapeake (http://www.bikechesapeake.org/) in Mathews County today. Did 84 miles. Only got confused on the route once which is why I did the extra four miles. It was more of a family fun ride than I'm used to, which is OK, but there was a lot of wobbly traffic to watch out for. Also there were tons of out and back sections just because I guess they wanted to hit every spot they could where a road ended at the bay. Anyway it was great weather, and a good ride. I'm not sure I'd do it again, because it's a haul from my house, but I'm glad I did it once.

[Porter20]

I rode the Brasstown Bald Buster Century today. 100.29 miles, 6 hrs 11 mins, 16.1 mph, 10,592 ft of climbing with a max grade of 24%. Yes, after 97 miles of riding / climbing; Brasstown Bald is as hard as described. It's miserable as you climb & then you get to the wall (24%) and you look down & you are doing 1.9 mph & your cadence is 30. Ridiculous. One of the riders in front of me was going so slow, he just fell over. I wanted to stop but I knew there was no way I would get going again. I asked if he was alright & he said he was. After the wall, he was walking his bike up there & we laughed about it on the ride back down. My legs are really hurting. I can't even guess when the next time I climb on a bike is :)

[Gavush]

22 miles at snail like 15.6 avg. (my excuse is that I went up and down the attic stairs for 3 hours last evening...)

[jaxgtr]

Any riding is better than no riding no matter what the speed is. That being said, my 36 was at 15.2 :p

[JimF22003]

The rain held off long enough to get in my first crack at the Mt. Weather ride on Blueridge Mountain Rd. Parts were pretty hard but I held up better than I expected. I may have to do it again next week if the weather is nicer, and tack on a few more miles.

[DieselDan]

Rode 14 total miles. The first 10 were good, but then I couldn't shift into the big ring. The cable tension had gone slack, so I went home, retensioned the cable, then test rode a few miles.

[mebesaturday]

ok dont laugh.... Im still saving for a new bike (eta June 5th)....but my boss just purchased us a Beach Cruiser so I took off on it for a mail run.... again dont laugh .85 miles round trip. I would have gone further but i was on the clock.

[Gavush]

yesterday after all the racing was over I did the 8.5 mile mtb course for the Monkey Grinder at Montgomery Bell state park. One lap was enough for me... but it was a blast.

[Gavush]

yes! I went to the natchez trace again after work and a fellow by the name of Jim (assuming I got it right - I'm terrible with names) from Atlanta with a real pretty blue TCT trek was getting ready to go out and reasoned that it sounded like we were going to do about the same thing so we went together. He wore me out! Hardest I've ridden all year... doesn't help that on the way back we passed a couple of guys who passed us and naturally, we had to follow pursuit. It was a struggle to keep up and I kept yo-yoing, finally ran out of steam with about 3 miles to go. Got a couple of nice comments on my bike, might have heard the word "museum" in there somewhere but overall it was a fantastic ride. 22.3 miles, avg up 1 full mph to 16.6 - what a workout.

[Gavush]

HelloOOoo? - Where is everyone? Went on the Natchez trace again, same starting point as last time except I went a little further. I did a little over 25 with my avg up to an even 17 - and when I got to the car I was like "oh, back already?" rather than "praise the velo, there's the car!" I would have tried for 30 today but I'm also gunning for a mtb ride this weekend and didn't want to be wiped out.

[JimF22003]

I actually did NOT ride today. Instead I went on a 10-mile hike in Harpers Ferry, WV. The shorter trails were crowded with other walkers. I can only imagine the roads were murder.

I'm ridin' tomorrow though :)

[bassic wilson]

I didn't break any speed records, but I did complete the Horsey Hundred (104 miles) today. I am very proud of the fact I graduated from metrics to true centuries. Although it was tough for me, there is only one slowest person and I wasn't anywhere near that! By the way, the ride originated at Georgetown, Ky.

[jaxgtr]

Damn I'm tired. It's been a while since I've ridden the Trek and man can I feel it. Hard to believe that 11 pounds can make that much of a difference. Forecast called for possible rain and my CAAD9 has yet to see rain and I want to keep it that way. Was planning on 50 miles on a different route, but with the wind blowing about 12-15 from the East and Northeast, that route would have been miserable, so I did the Southside Loop through the business parks and the 40 miles gave me the workout that 50 miles would have done, plus the last 7 miles would have the wind at my back for the most part.

So it was a fairly uneventful ride until I crossed Southside Blvd going East into the Deerwood business park where I witnessed a hit and run between 2 cars. Luckily the driver in the car that stopped was ok, I called 911 and when the police got there I made my report and continued my ride. I was hating the delay as the wind was building as time was ticking away waiting to be released.

I rode down Baymeadows and had the wind at my back which was nice, but I knew the return trip would be hell. The overcast conditions made the temps pleasant and it kept me from overheating as the time was approaching 11 am. Someone please tell the University of North Florida to repave the road that loops around the campus. My brain is still loose from the rough road. On my way out of the Town Center area, there were about 6 runners heading west in the bike lane even though the nice brand new wide and not in the bike lane side walk was available. The Town Center is a major busy area and cars believe they should never give way to a bike. Please people, run on the side walk in that area.

I make it back to Southside to start my way home and luckily see the light is about to change so I take the lane behind a few cars and the dufus in the car behind me starts honking the horn and giving me crap cause I am in the lane. I turn an wave an they flip me off, but I maintain my position. Karma was on my side cause when they went through the intersection, they threw something at me, some kind of fast food bag full of garbage which ended up all over the road. Kindly Mr. police office was sitting at the light waiting to turn right on the same road, saw it and promptly pulled them over. As I approached the cop, I asked if he needed my name as the victim of a drive by garbage throwing, he laughed and said sure and as I continued my ride, I smuggly told the two guys in the car to have a great day and and gave them a little wave. All the time, I could hear the cop laughing. By the way, littering in Florida is a $500 fine. From the looks of the car, they don't have it.

I'm now about 5 miles form the house and I start having massive leg cramps in my front thigh. Obviously the weight of the bike and the wind have really stressed my legs. I make it back to the hood and I start to feel like my rear tire is a little squishy. I look and damn if I am not getting a flat. Crap, I am 1/4 mile from the house and I have a flat and my quads are tweaking pretty bad. I stop and walk home which was quite a chore with the cramping. I look at my Garmin and see that I am .6 miles from hitting the 40 mile mark. Just damn. I open the garage, pull the wheel, replace the tube and go back out for 1 lap around the the neighborhood. I ended up with 40.22 miles.

This was the first flat I have had on these tires ever, and I have close to 2300 miles on them and they look brand new. I highly recommend the Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase for any looking for a flat resistance tire. They roll nice and are fairly lite and very easy to get on and off the rim. I can almost get them off the rims just using my hand, so I only need to carry one tire tool.

Whew, quite an entry for todays ride.

[digby]

Yes I did,

Rode 20 miles today. It was a great day in the Snellville area.

[DieselDan]

Yes, only 2 miles. I kicked up a stick into the rear wheel, my good 600/Open Pro, and broke a spoke.

[ActionJeans]

I turn an wave an they flip me off, but I maintain my position. Karma was on my side cause when they went through the intersection, they threw something at me, some kind of fast food bag full of garbage which ended up all over the road. Kindly Mr. police office was sitting at the light waiting to turn right on the same road, saw it and promptly pulled them over. As I approached the cop, I asked if he needed my name as the victim of a drive by garbage throwing, he laughed and said sure and as I continued my ride, I smuggly told the two guys in the car to have a great day and and gave them a little wave. All the time, I could hear the cop laughing. By the way, littering in Florida is a $500 fine. From the looks of the car, they don't have it.

:D

[jaxgtr]

^^^^ Yea, I'm still laughing at them. I Did a short ride of 27 miles today. Overcast and windy, so it made it cool, but it was not bad.

[wolfpack]

i've been a little lax with posting....

5/13: 24.5mi - 3x10min intervals at 95% of FTP, high cadence
5/16: 20mi on BRP
5/17: 51mi on Hwy 276/215/BRP
5/18: 7mi in Sylva (hurt knee could not continue)
5/19: 15mi easy, low cadence ride because of knee pain
5/21: 27mi to the airport and back, some climbing low knee pain
5/22: 28mi commute to work (14mi there & back)
5/23: 28mi commute to work (14mi & 14mi)
5/24: 12mi - 3x2min high cadence intervals (116, 125, 117) (appears knee is better:))
5/25: 63mi - ncbc summer metric route, jordan lake area
5/26: on riding today - total non-cycling rest day. very much needed, as legs are still slightly sore from sunday's ride.

[JimF22003]

I did by far my hardest ride ever today, in Loudon and Fauqier counties in VA. I've ridden nearly all of this route in sections before but never all at once:

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/va/marshall/814997614936

And this was after doing the "Blue Ridge Challenge" (Mt Weather) yesterday and a 10-mile hike on Saturday. I'm really, really wasted at this point.

But it was fun :) No problems with traffic. I did get one guy in a pick-up truck flip me off while coming my direction, for no apparent reason on Taylorstown Rd. Oh well.

[wolfpack]

yes. 21mi to include 3x10min intervals at 95% of ftp. very nice out this evening.

[Alasdair]

Went out yesterday (Memorial Day) with 3 friends from work (Red Fred, whose bike is a red Giant and he is a fred; Spinning Bob, aka Sissy Boy or just SB for short; and MTB Mark, who rides MTB's all the time but occasionally decides to show us how his skillz translate on a roadie). We started out at the Red Fred's house in the city and did a little urban riding. Heading out of town toward the local YMCA, Red Fred's chain dropped, so we all pulled to the sidewalk for a short mechanical. Once taking back off, Spinning Bob decided to play the part of Niagara and Fall - you know, one of those 0 mph tumbles that everyone but me (insert your name here) has had. After checking that Spinning Bob was OK (except for that bruised ego), we headed for the start of the first rural portion of the ride. Some nice back roads heading out to one of the straightest and flattest sections of the ride. We headed on into the "downtown" of the next town. We blink and zoom on through it heading toward the next county over, which we briefly venture into. On this back road we come up on a doe and her recently born fawn. They decided they wanted nothing to do with us so ran out of the road.
Next we came up on asphalt hell. The hills totally sucked! Stupid hills... and me suffering from gravity poisoning... so we huff and we puff and get to the top... and stop for a power bar. After getting some weird stares from some passersby, we head on back toward the city. We hit Main Street and end up making most every light. During this stretch, we lost two of our number (Spinning Bob and MTB Mark). I look back and see two cyclists, so I tell Red Fred to go ahead and hit it. We do and shortly I hear MTB Mark yell, "We lost one but picked up another!". Sure enough, Spinning Bob got caught at a light and we picked up an occasional riding buddy (we'll call him Mr. Fixie, for obvious reasons). We find that Mr. Fixie is taking a different route and has just started. We're about 30 miles into our ride at this point. We say ur farewells when he turns off and then we pull over to wait on Spinning Bob. He comes up fairly soon. We get out of the city and then get rural again. At this point we are riding among cows, horses and goats and we run into another cycling work buddy going the opposite direction. We stop to chat and then head on. We then decided to ride a "Rails to Trails" path that is only about 2.5 miles long, but it takes us back into the city without getting back in the traffic lights. MTB Mark and I are just inside the entry of the path when I yell out to Red Fred to watch for glass at the entrance. He was oblivious to where we were and went right past us. As he was turning around and causing a traffic jam, Spinning Bob follows him. We finally regroup and head down this path. It is quite flat and shaded. Really nice. MTB Mark and I decide to just lay down some rubber (yeah...) and it felt good. Then we started seeing the gang sign painted all on the path... then we had to dodge all the broken glass. That little bit of unpleasantness didn't ruin the path for us though. We regrouped at the end of the path and headed back out to Main Street and back to Red Fred's house, where we had grilled burgers. 46 miles total at a leisurely 15.7 mph average. Wonderful ride, but it reinforced that I need a new saddle that doesn't chew on my inner thighs... it'll hopefully be in Thursday. :thumb:

[Gavush]

I brought my bike to work today "just in case" and lucky me, late this afternoon the ugly front that was passing across the state stalled and parted which made for a very nice ride up on the Natchez Trace. I did another 25 but lost two tenths down to 16.8 avg, maybe having worked 10 hours has something to do with that. I feel like I really suck at hills... even the slightest incline has me on the inside ring up front and climbing the rings in the rear. I'm not very muscular (6'2" 140lbs) so maybe that has something to do with it but I really need to work on climbing. I do seem to do better after about 40min in though, usually can do the mild stuff still in the larger ring up front. Next week I think I am going to start prior to the on-ramp to the trace which will give me a 3.something mile climb up onto the ridge. It's not a climb like we had back in VT but it's pretty good for this area. Hopefully going to be able to justify some clipless stuff for fathers day... I'm probably going to go with MTB shoes and egg beaters because you can use mtb shoes for on the road but not the other way around... and I do a bit of both.

[wolfpack]

41mi yesterday, 2:30hr. no riding today.

[NealH]

... even the slightest incline has me on the inside ring up front and climbing the rings in the rear. I'm not very muscular (6'2" 140lbs) so maybe that has something to do with it but I really need to work on climbing.

No, you need to work on gaining weight and becoming stronger. 140 lbs for a 6'2" fellow sounds dangerously thin unless you are under the care of Dr. Ferrari.

[Gavush]

No, you need to work on gaining weight and becoming stronger. 140 lbs for a 6'2" fellow sounds dangerously thin unless you are under the care of Dr. Ferrari.

nah - it's just in the genes. I'm a high metabolism / ectomorph sort of person as are most of the males on my dad's side of the family. I've weighed between 130 and 140 since high school. (almost 10 years ago) I actually weighed 144 prior to starting cycling again but I lost the 4lbs... and I eat constantly. (see my myspace (http://myspace.com/gavush) if you'd like to see a few pics..) When I was in high school in a personal fitness gym program I had a series of weight training routines for cycling that I did for several months and saw very little (if any) increase of muscle / weight... I wouldn't call it impossible... but it's against the nature of my physique.

oh, and Yes... I got to ride today... went down, then up the 2 mile hill over by the start of the 'trace 4 times, then passed the parking area by a mile or so and turned around to call it quits as my mother in law was nice enough to watch our daughter a while later so I could ride. Did 18.25 miles. the 3rd time up the hill was at a difficult 72-74rpm to do the steeper section of it and just about wiped me out. The 4th time I couldn't get it above 68 and had to stand . I hit 40.8 on the way down the hill one time... probably the fastest I've been on my bike, it was everything I had to get that spinning at 114 in the tallest gear.

[jaxgtr]

5/30: Did 29 at the jax-baldwin trail late in the day.
5/31: Did 23 in my normal loop, started off warm and really got hot toward the end.

[wolfpack]

41mi route of the 3 Mountain Madness in Pilot Mtn, NC.

[Velo Vol]

I rode yesterday--does that count?

Wow . . . 140 pounds. That makes me feel fat.

[areynolds65]

I rode yesterday, too. I found a 36 mile route through Powell and Halls on MapMyRide.com and tried it out. It featured three tough (for me) climbs that really wore me out! Improving my performance on that ride has just become my next personal fitness goal.

I was going to go out for a recovery ride today with my wife, but the evening rain scrubbed that idea. I may take her to Cherokee Blvd tomorrow after work.

[referee54]

I rode 30 miles today---not great, but the most that I have ridden since my double knee replacemnt. I rode from Elyria to Kipton, Ohio, on a nice rails to trails path. I averaged about 13.5 miles an hour---again, not great, but I am still working through things.

OOOPS! WRONG PART OF THE FORUM!!! SHOULD BE IN GREAT LAKES!! SORRY!

Tim C.

[Gavush]

went out on the natchez trace again after work, decided to push a bit harder and go a bit further, wound out going further and faster than I have to date with 28.0 miles at a 17.7 avg.. could have hollered a whohoo when I got back to the car if I wasn't so busy trying to stay alive. :) I found I was able to push 1 smaller gear going up many of the hills except for the steepest few and one long one (about a mile?) around the 24 mile mark.. read an article about climing last night and tried to apply what I learned... like breathe even, space hands / arms far apart for less restriction... seems like it helped... could have been just in my head though.

[wolfpack]

13.8 miles which included 3 sets of 3x30s intervals. light week for me because of Assault on Marion next monday.

[Gavush]

went to go do a 40 mile loop with a guy I met and got back at to the car at 38 and still feeling pretty good, so I went to do the last two and thought "Well, 10 more isn't a whole lot..." but I did my math wrong and wound up at 53.54 - it helped that I found 3 guys who were 62 miles into their ride and had about 18 to go. One guy was having a bit of a tough time and was in uncharted territory for distance in a day. I went with them a bit... with about 2 miles until I had to turn around I went to take the lead but apparently miscalculated my speed because when I looked back they had dropped back quite a bit. rookie mistake I guess, hope they don't think I was trying to be a jerk .
the last 6 miles were pretty tough...to top it off my rear derailleur cable slipped while I was shifting and I got stuck in the smallest gear with only a half a mile to go... and then it decided to drop off between the wheel and frame so I had to dismount, loosen the wheel, readjust the cable enough so it would work and go another 1/2 mile to my car. ride time was 3 hours and 27 minutes. 15.5 avg. Think I'll go take a nap.

[wolfpack]

yea, i rode today...short ride that included my last set(s) of 30s intervals before AoM. 23mi. only 36mi for the week so far - i'm used to having WAY more miles in by this time saturday (at least 2.5x more). that's ok tho, need to be well rested for Monday.

[cruzinator]

Yes, I rode in the early-mid AM when it hasn't gotten above 85 F yet, even though it hit 100 yesterday and is going to do that today also. I did 33 miles today and 45 yesterday, both at about 16.8 mph. The first ride pretty much drained me and I was cramping at the end, mostly since the heat has just gotten cranked up this season. Though I did feel a little better today even though it was just as hot. I was just trying to make the distance at a decent clip and not overdo it. Hopefully I'll be well prepared (i.e., sans cramps) for a metric century on the 4th from Cary.

[Velo Vol]

42 sweltering miles in Loudon and Roane Counties. I was sidelined by a flat tire, but had a lucky break as another cyclist came by and helped out.

[DieselDan]

Rode 35 miles down the new bike lanes on US21 on St. Helena's Island, and disliked the sandy surface SCDOT had put on the lanes in Frogmore. I felt as if I was riding on sand. I then hit a rock and damaged a cord in my rear tire, but did not puncture the tube. My wife and son brought me another tire at the Sonic, as I didn't want to end my riding and planned for more.

My son and I switched out the tire, and I continued on across Lady's Island, on to Coosaw Island, then back to my house in town. I'm a bit sunburned, and those 90+ temps didn't feel too good, but I'm a lifelong Southerner.

[Gavush]

Did 28 miles up on the trace after work... was too excited about going fast and used myself up on the way out... pretty slow going on the way back.

[jaxgtr]

Left bike shop and it was really hot and windy. The ride to the bridge was good and fast. Upwards of 20 for most of the way. Got to the bridge and felt good, went slow, but HR really spiked and heat started to take effect. I stopped and rested before ascending the return side. HR hit 190 about 1/4 way back up so I stopped and rest for 3 or 4 mins for the HR to get back in the 150's. Finally maked it over the bridge and waited for the remaining riders to gather up. Ride back to shop was in the wind the whole way, although it was cooler as the sun went behind the trees. Played sweep and pace another rider and right in from of Epping Forest, I picked up 3 or 4 nails\tacks in my rear tire. This is really getting old, that is 4 flats in 2 weeks. Made it back to the shop ok.

[wolfpack]

75mi AoM.

[DieselDan]

Just 4.5 miles this evening, but I had my youngest on the trailer-bike and my oldest rode with us.

[wolfpack]

yes. 16.8mi recovery ride tonight.

[Velo Vol]

It almost felt cool riding in the mid- to lower-80s this evening.

[wolfpack]

well, yes i did ride today....20 miles. started out in hot & humid conditions, but a storm was blowing in and about 6 minutes into my ride the temperatures drastically changed. could feel the cooler air blowing in. the direction that i was riding was directly towards the darkened skies.

10 miles into my ride, i start hearing thunder. ok...maybe i better turn around and try and hurry up back to the car. 2 miles later, you could smell the rain on the pavement and hear the drops hitting - those big rain drops that hurt when they hit you. 1.5 miles and it really starts to rain, wind blown rain, the kind that really stings when it hits you.

the last 6.5 miles was in a torrential down pour, coming towards me and from the side. the wind was blowing me all over the road. i was trying to stay away from the shoulder because that's where the water was draining and i had no desire to ride in that and lose traction and take a spill.

finally make it back to my car, still pouring, throw the bike into the car and head home, where it has rained nary a drop!

[Gavush]

I headed over to the mtb trails at the state park to get a ride in and went from my car, around the race loop (8.5 miles) and back to my car in an hour and a minute... (down about 4 minutes from my last attempt) It felt like I was flying through a lot of it, it was fun. and I didn't even wipe out this time.