Fifty Plus (50+) - What was your best ride over the holidays?

I got in some long rides over the holidays but my favorite was simply going down to the corner store to pick up Cream of Mushroom soup for my wife. I didn't want to hop in the car and fight the crunch at the grocery store. Hopping on my bike instead was very enjoyable since the weather was great. Plus, my wife said it got me out of the kitchen.

Blimey!!!

Yet another to realise the joys of not wasting money and time getting the car out for short journeys.

Have to admit that I have only got into that this year. I used to walk to the local shops- but down into the town (About 1 mile) and the car would come out. But My LBS is about 10 miles away. I always ride there and have a muset in the saddle wedge- just in case I can't get the purchases in the pockets. Even earlier this year when a friend bought a bike from them- He got a lift down and I rode. Then it was a decent length settling in ride for him on the way home.

But best ride in the last Month? With our weather there has not been a decent one.

My best ride was in a car on Black Friday. Put money down on a new house in a 55+ community. Which happens to be approx 1/2 mile of flat road to market, bank and post office. Also funeral home, but suspect I won't be making that ride. Will be back on Bike on Sunday, when the current winds are suppose to be gone. Hopefully during that ride I can figure out how to tell the wife of what I did.

A timely topic as I watch my boarding pass being printed for our trip home and we reflect on a very nice but too short Thanksgiving. The trip has been so short I am just now getting sort of acclimated to the altitude as it is time to go home.

I had three memorable rides. The first one was a 20 miler right after I arrived. On that one I experienced once again the challenge of riding in a much higher altitude while tired from travel. The next ride was a 55+ mile ride over some very nice "trails"; more like paved bike highways. Then yesterday it warmed to +68F and I just had to have a farewell ride down to a lake that is about 5 miles away. Rode down the hills to the lake and then most of the way around it. Beautiful day with light breeze, lots of cyclists, lots of walkers, lots of animals, lots of cars; all enjoying a beautiful day in a cooperative way. On the way home talked to a guy who was test riding a bike. He was riding a Tarmac (sp?) and had just ridden a Rubaix (sp?). He said the Tarmac was a sports car compaired to the Rubaix.

All in all Definitely Quality Time.

I haven't ridden my bike since Wed. as I have some kind of crud that has sapped my strength and turned my head into a mucous-making machine. I hope to ride tomorrow. Glad to hear of so many holiday rides.

I haven't ridden my bike since Wed. as I have some kind of crud that has sapped my strength and turned my head into a mucous-making machine. I hope to ride tomorrow. Glad to hear of so many holiday rides.

Gack! Oh, you don't want to be messing with any of that stuff!
I just finally, this week, feel like I got my strength and snap back after a 2 or 3 week battle with a cold *** bronchitis *** early stage pneumonia.
Boy, you sure can lose it in a hurry but it's a long time coming back.

That said, I've taken a few 15-17 miles jaunts this week, the last being on Wednesday.
I'm trying to get motivated to go out for a couple of hours now <sigh> We'll see. I'll probably just do another 15 mile loop around town.
Still better than nothing and it's SO nice out today.

Get well, soon, RR!

Are the T-Giving holidays over?
Went on the 25 mile Medium club ride today. Sunny, breezy and cool - excellent for late November in the Heartland.
16.7mph on flat, not-terribly-smooth rural roads. That's about 1mph faster on the new long wheelbase 'bent compared to the short wheelbase 'bent. Plus, the looong wheelbase with 1.5" tires make for an amazingly smooth ride. Looking forward to Spring.

Two rides over the Thanksgiving holidays. The second one, a 45 miler was the best. At the end of that ride, I had exceeded last year's mileage by 2 miles!

I've been trying to get rid of some kind of krud, myself. Low grade fever, achy, chest congestion. This is very frustrating because I'm on vacation in the flatland with mild temperatures and not riding much. Back to reality on Monday.

My club did a pub crawl (on bikes). Great fun, great getting to know your fellow club-members off the bike. My other rides this weekend were 25, 47 and 87 miles. I'm taking tomorrow off. Of course, and it goes without saying, "Drink responsibly."

Today. Gorgeous weather. Mid-50's, felt warmer. 27 miles in the Boonies. Very few cars, about 4 cyclists and equal number of hikers.

Several great rides. The best was on Thanksgiving Day. Riding by myself, approached a Great Blue Heron in the middle of a heavily wooded road. The big guy took off and flew just ahead of me down the road for about 100 yds. until he got to a break in the woods. Beautiful.

Nice 52 mile loop on the tandem with some good climbing. Great weather. Would have been perfect but for a pretty good headwind much of the last 20 miles

My best ride was Thanksgiving Day. The daughter and I left the house about 10:30 and headed north on the Seminole Wekiva Trail. It is about 10 mile from the house to Panera Bread where we stopped for a cold iced tea and a sweet roll. Upon leaving Panera Bread we jumped on International Blvd and rode it to just short of state road 46. We turned right on Wayside Road and crossed 46 to Orange Blvd. Turning west on Orange takes us in a big loop back to Wayside Dr which we took east ot International again. We turned south on Intenational and took it back to the Seminole Trail. While on International we cranked up the speed to between 20 and 22 mph for about a mile and a half (this is much faster that either of us ride). We stopped at the Panera Bread again to catch a drink of water and the daughter says to me "boy we were A riders there for a little while". We had a good laugh the headed for home where the wife had prepared Thanksgiving dinner. It was a good 37 mile ride.

:cheers:

My best ride was the commute home from work before the start of the four days off. Everything after that was just gravy. Leaving work behind to be with family and friends is tough to beat. On Wednesday night the road just seemed to disappear beneath me and all the minor inconveniences of traffic were mysteriously absent. The new lights on the commuter all seemed to function properly as evidenced by the wide margin of room accorded me by drivers. Even the normal headwind seemed diminished. Heck, I rode slower than normal just to savor the trip. When I walked in the door my wife said, "What are you grinning about? Did work go especially well today?" I responded, "No, but the ride home was spectacular."

Mine was the 20 miler on the indoor trainer on Black Friday. Best I could do even with outside temps at 55+ F. RE: Need to let my broken hand and finger heal after the deer / bike encounter on the Nov 2nd. I know a lot of you hate trainers, but it has been a Godsend in dealing with the injuries.

I was able to get a great spin in on Thanksgiving+1. Just a fast 18 mile blast on the C&O Canal in its Western Maryland reaches in the mud 'n slop 'n sticks 'n roots. Covered head-to-toe in wet gritty slimy mud. . .a rivulet of cold wet dirt down the crack! At the half-way mark, stopped to see my [84 year old] mom and present her with her 60-ish son's mud-drenched spectacle and two bags of pistachios. Afterward stopped at the "Lost Dog" for una tazza d'espresso. . .sipped with a great [90DB] roar of sipping noise. . .like my daddy before me. . .and his daddy. . .and. . .

Anyway, I knew I was alive. . .and just exactly WHERE!!! Che beatifico!

Seven of us on a short 32 miler on Thanksgiving morning to the Wild Chicken in Loomis, CA. Crisp weather, crisp riding. It's the fourth year this pre-TG ride has been done.

Today. Nice little 30-miler up along the lakeshore and back. No traffic, no wind.

And before that, yesterday's 10 miles of errands after work. Wind, spits of rain, had a blast.

And before that, Thursday's nice little 20-mile loop along the canal. Met a new potential ride partner.

And before that, Wednesday's commute home in the dark and wind and rain, with a stop for a pizza party at an AA meeting I frequent.

And before that, Sunday out to my parents' for Thanksgiving dinner. Nice appetite builder, and burnt some stuffing off on the way home.

And before that…

I got 3 nice rides in since Thursday. Todays ride was probably the best, a fast 30 miler. I was over feeling stuffed from turkey day and well rested. Although I would have rather skiied today, at 50 degrees there just isn't any snow

17 mile round trip commute to work on Friday. Still weak from being sick I took my cross bike with Bionx electric assist. The weather was blustery and in the 40's F. It's my first ride in two months.

Unfortunately, I spent most of the holiday week in an ICU, away from my family, visiting a critically ill close relative. Luckily, after being told by the docs that she likely wouldn't survive, my relative pulled through, and she's stable now. It was the first time every I hadn't been with my wife and kids on Thanksgiving day; kind of a glum holiday.

I returned home late Friday night and had time to take a nice 22 mile ride Saturday and a wonderful 52 mile ride today -- dry roads, no rain, 50 degrees -- the first time I've ridden a bike without fenders for about 6 weeks.

Right now, the biking is keeping me sane.

A beautiful ride down the beaches of the west coast of Florida. Clearwater to Ft. Desoto park and back. Cool day for us here and a 15mph headwind the whole way back, but still a great ride. Total of 77 miles. I rode Sat and Sun too, but that ride was the best.

Mark

Mine was a 200k permanent yesterday. I rode with 3 friends, one who was recovering from a stress fracture in her leg (and who probably had no business on a bike yesterday). She really wanted to keep her R-12 (http://www.rusa.org/r12.html) streak alive, so was riding before she should have been, at a very easy pace.

We had picked the easiest 200k we could find, but a howling south wind made it tough, anyway. We don't ride this easy a pace often, and yesterday was a reminder of how great the conversation can be when one or more aren't hanging onto the group by a thread. I ended up with 127.1 miles and a total time of 10:55.

Today I rode with 7 other riders including one of my sons for 40 brisk miles. The weather was perfect and the pace was even better, we hammered some hills and nailed some flats and rollers. I have a surgery scheduled for Tuesday that will keep me out of action for 6 to 12 weeks, so today was sort of a "going away party/ride" for me.

Rode Turkey Day and Saturday with a few other 50+, 60+ and 70+ guys and gals up and down Longboat Key and Lido Key with coffee, laughs and snacks stop in St.Armand's Circle. About 26mi each day at 16mph av. Bloody cold (50F) yesterday morning, but back into the 70s today(rest day). Hill climbs tomorrow with a 71-year-old, who will thrash me up and down the Ringling Bridge - the only "hill" around here - a few times after which I shall be knackered.

I rode wednesday with small group 32 miles, then turkey day with my Club for 31 miles AND Friday with 4 locals did 58.6 miles of hills

DAM I was tired after that so I took the weekend off, will ride with that friday group again tomorrow

Thanks for your good wishes, SKT. I'm not better but not worse today, so another day on the couch, hallucinating a bike ride.

Glad to see so many of you have enjoyed rides over the holiday. Hope that continues for you as the season progresses toward winter.

I'll be happy to ride around the block this coming week. Although I haven't had an urge to roll in mud, this "bug" has kicked my patootie.

In a golf cart at the ASU/Karsten Golf course. Its a Pete Dye design. Kicked my butt like a Rocky MT climb. Butt I loved it. My wife wouldn't let me pack the bag and bike, had to choose.

I did an hour on the trainer Tuesday night and 14.4 of trails this morning. It was a chilly and breezy 39, brrr.

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My wife and I drove up to our cabin in Big Bear (elevation 6,700 feet) on Wed. evening. Thur. morning she wanted to run some errands and left me at the cabin (with my bikes). So . . . I took off for a ride around Big Bear Lake (clockwise) on the Ti GT/SRAM road bike. Warm at approx. 60 deg. riding up and down, around the curves, it was all great fun . . . until I got THE CALL.

It was my wife (Jackie), who was upset that I left on a bike ride without her. Ooops. Thought she'd be shopping for a bit longer. I was about 2/3 of the way around the lake, so I told her I'd be back to the cabin soon, and picked up my pace a bit.

Shortly thereafter got caught by a guy on a single speed (carbon Specialized), so we traded off pulls all the way back into Fawnskin, told him about the Ride Around the Bear ride, etc. Back at the cabin my wife was all suited up, so we took off, riding anti-clockwise this time, plus adding in several Bike Route roads that she knew of (and I didn't). Photo above on right, Jackie on the road to Fawnskin, CA.

Photo above on left, our cabin after the snow and some shoveling.

Stopped at Starbucks in Big Bear City for coffee and chocolate crossant, then off on some Bike Routes with a few serious climbs.

Eventually these led back to the main road, which I thought we'd take all the way back . . . but no, she knew of another paved MUP that was between the lake and the main highway, so that was a nice diversion even if we had to slow fairly often for walkers.

So, in the end, 48 miles, 1,346 feet of climbing. Easy, but nice. Friday we didn't ride, then Sat. we got hit with 6" of fresh snow, Sun. morning another 5" so almost a foot of snow to shovel (upper body workout), but no more riding.


Rick / OCRR

Well, being 50+ I was concerned to realize that I wasn't sure where my checkbook was when I arrived home on Wednesday. Seemed like it was at the bank, in a co-workers car or at my desk. Work is about 10 miles from home.

So early on Friday morning, I called the bank, without luck and set out to do my daily commute to find my checkbook. Traffic was light and the sun was up so it was a nice ride. I even went through Boyle Park on the way to work and avoided my killer hill. Happily, my checkbook was at work, so I picked it up, locked the building back up and rode home. I went through the park again, it was a cool and nice day, so a nice ride.

In the afternoon, I realized that I could remember setting the building alarm, but not locking the building. So, instead of dinner, I pedaled back to the office to see that I had indeed locked the building. :D And I pedaled home. It was dark on this ride, so it wasn't nearly as much fun. So that was about 40 miles just on errands.

Other than that, I didn't ride much.