Wreader

I did 5.1 miles today. A new record (again). We have been having temps above 100 for the past week, and it's been miserable. Today it rained for a few minutes, and the temperature dropped about 15*F. WHooohoooo!!! I finished some errands, and went to Google maps and pulled up my area, then clicked on topo and found a flat area, and went over there and rode. It was still pretty hot, but on a relatively flat area, I was able to pedal most of the ride. That was fun. There is a paved bike trail about 30 miles from here that I would like to ride, but since it was already getting to be evening on a Friday, I figured it would be packed. I don't have the reflexes for a crowded bike path yet. I am going to try that path on a weekday, later in the morning, after the morning runners and strollers are gone, and before the lunch time bunch descends. I am hoping it will be quiet. The whole trail is 10 miles. I might do parts of it back and forth over a few days and work up to the whole 20 miles (up and back).

Ridinmurray

Keep up the good work & have fun. 10 will turn into a 100 before you know it.

Banded Krait

Good for you, Wreader. I am glad you were able to get a ride in despite the brutal heat. I am going to try to get my Saturday ride in tomorrow, though I will be very cautious about the heat. It hit 104 degrees here in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pa., today, making it the hottest temperatures I have ever experienced. You can bet I will be cycling very early in the day, tomorrow, if I decide to go.

Roustabout

Know what you are dealing with concerning the weather. Here in East Texas I try to get off by 6AM and be thru riding in an hour or two. Trying to build up my stamina but it would sure be easier if the weather would cooperate. Keep at it.

Kurt Erlenbach

Don't worry about distance, concern yourself with time. Aim at at least 45 minutes per ride, 4-5 time per week. Get in the time, and the miles and speed will come. You'll be surprised how fast you improve, so long as you put in the time.

alanknm

+1

And make sure you take a rest day during the week. Don't think that you have to get out there all the time. Your body needs time to recover as well.

DnvrFox

Your title led me to believe you lived in Denver, where we constantly have 5280 feet as a starting point, and we call ourselves the Mile High City (actually, I live at 6,000 feet).

But, congratulations - ever figure out how many inches you went?

Wreader

I grew up in Denver and ABQ, both a mile or more high. That is the one measurement I always got right in school. I could tell you inches, it might be better because I would have bigger numbers, but this is hard enough.
I did another 2.1 miles today. 80*F, 80% humidity. :-( I made it up the first little hill to get out of my area. There are two hills, stair-stepped going one way, and a larger hill going the other way. Have not made it up the larger one, and have walked up the two stair-stepped ones before, today I got up over the first stair. I feel like "the Great Escape"; just trying every day to get a little closer to getting out of my own little area and out into the big, wide world. :-)

gcottay

Can you get out and ride at dawn? In hot weather beating the sun transforms a midday endurance contest into pure pleasure.

At whatever time of day, enjoy your rides.

teachme

Congratulations! Any ride is a good ride as long as you enjoy it. I love this cycling thang!!

Retro Grouch 

So do you have to subtract 720' from the length of every ride?

Floyd

+1 on the good work of getting a little farther each day.

lphilpot

For what it's worth, you're not alone out there.

It was 75F and 95% humidity when I left this morning before 8 am, then about 80F when I got back 40 minutes later, still 95%. Pretty much a dead calm except for wind from passing vehicles.

Riding (or not!) as I've been lately -- Once a month or so --- due to various reasons, it could easily turn to frustration, but I'm trying not to go there. Today was 7.x miles. I've discovered that as long as it's flat, within my 'personal context' I'm OK for the most part. But, throw in even a small overpass-sized hill or two and my lungs really start to complain. I guess that means I'm working them, eh? My legs are nothing stellar, but right now they're ahead of my lungs.

I'd really like to find a suitable riding partner... i.e., someone in even worse shape than me but that may not be possible.

Tell you what - You keep it up and I'll keep it up, OK?

Wreader

[/QUOTE]Tell you what - You keep it up and I'll keep it up, OK? [/QUOTE]

If I were in Louisiana, I would not be going outside in the summer AT ALL.... Yes it gets discouraging. I can find a whole host of excuses not to get all fitted up and ready to go on a ten minute ride, but all in all, it is fun, and I am getting better as I go along. One day we will look back on this and laugh... :-) But if nothing else, WE got up off the couch and did something. My goals are modest. They should get bigger with time.

lphilpot

The interesting thing is that in the end result, weather conditions are not usually what keep me from a ride on the occasions I decide against one. Don't misunderstand... all things being equal, I'll opt for calm 65F air and 15% humidity anytime it's a choice , but more often than not time is actually the deciding factor - Not so much simply having the time to ride, per se (although that's it some times), but usually just not wanting to 'use up' X amount of my free time riding.

It's a bit difficult to describe, but I guess I cherish so much every free minute away from work that I tend to be jealous (for lack of a better word) of how I spend it, YKWIM? I enjoy the riding, but when I take, eg., a two-hour ride that includes an hour on each side of it for getting ready and wrap-up afterwards, that's four hours gone. Once I'm done, I always wonder what where the bulk of my morning/afternoon/evening went... It seems as if that's been lost time, to some degree.

Maybe as I continue to improve and the rides become less of a struggle I'll more and more see riding as a "quality use" of my time and not just something that creates a hole in my time off from work. Intellectually, I know riding is good for me, and I can see glimmers of improvement. However, once it's over and done with and I'm X hours closer to (going back to) work again, it's not as satsifying and just seems to be a time sink. But that perception always seems to go away before the next ride.

Probably didn't make much sense there, but like I said it's difficult to explain.

DnvrFox

WTF do you do for that hour before and that hour afterwards?

I can't imagine that much time and effort going into a ride preparation and debriefing - or whatever you do!! I am ready in about 5-8 minutes, even including kit when I use it.

Bibs on, jersey on, slip on the riding sandals, check and fill the water bottle(s), lift the bike off the rack, check the tire pressure - I only fill every 3 days unless I detect a leak, and then I have to fix it, but that hasn't happened much this year, 20 pumps into each tire if necessary, a quick safety check and I am off.

So, what is it that takes an hour? Each way?

(If I am not using "kit" I just jump on a bike with platforms and head out.)

lphilpot

Before -

• Get dressed, get gear, etc.
• Get the 70 lb. 3-bike rack out of the carport and put it on my wife's minivan (which means moving my car out of the carport so I can get to the stored rack; her minivan has a 2" receiver, my car doesn't)
• Get the bike out of my storage building, air up, etc. and put it on the rack
• Drive ~20 miles across town to where I ride
• Unload the bike, etc.

Ride.

After -

• Reload the bike on the rack
• Drive ~20 miles across town back home
• Unload the bike and re-store it
• Remove the rack from the minivan and re-store in the carport
• Put the car back in the carport
• Shower

All told, that can eat up an hour both ways, more or less.

Sometimes I occasionally ride directly from my house, but I live in a small "non-connected" neighborhood that opens on a busy multilane highway which tends to have very trashy shoulders (glass, etc). As a result, I rarely ride directly from my house. I wish I could, but I'm a bit hesitant particularly after having an aquaintance killed on that very highway not far from where I live (while cycling) several years ago. As time goes on, I'll probably ride more "locally", but the other location is in every other respect vastly better*, so I usually drive there. My neighborhood itself is only 0.6 miles completely around it, so I'd have to ride round and round, over and over, which doesn't appeal to me.

* Considering my current "state of ability". Hopefully as that improves my choice of routes will open up.

DnvrFox

OK

I guess you answered my question. 20 miles to find a place to ride?

BTW, I put my bikes directly in the back of my minivan - if I am driving the bike somewhere. No hitch required. I also put my bike (either mtn bike or road bike), front wheel removed, in the back seat of my Neon.

Thanks for responding.

lphilpot

Well, now that I check the mileage it's about 17, I think, and I'm always on the lookout for something closer but so far that's it.

I used to put the bike in the back of my truck, but when I traded it for a Honda Accord, that took care of that. The minivan (Oddysey) can hold my bike, but it's a very tight fit. I'm 6'2" and currently have a bike with upright geometry (and correspondingly high saddle/handlebars), so even then I have to fold down/remove seats, etc. to get it in there. All in all, the rack is just about, although it is more work.

I got the receiver and three-bike rack so that me, my wife and daughter could all carry our bikes on trips, etc. So far that's not happened too much, but I'm hoping. I've looked a couple of times for a trunk rack for the Accord, but so far haven't found anything that I was confident wouldn't scratch it over time. Maybe as the car ages I'll relax my requirements.

Neil_B

Y'all need to take a road trip to PA. I'll take you on an all day ride that will amaze you.

Sculptor7

These posts make me realize how lucky I am to: (1) Be retired; (2) Get bike out of shed in 2 minutes; (3) Ride out directly from my home onto shaded roads that lead past the ocean with cooling breezes; (4) Come home and take a shower in 5 minutes; (6) plop down in a soft chair on our porch with a root beer float and doze off for 30 minutes.

lphilpot

The multilane highway a few hundred feet from my door is definitely closer (and I ride its shoulder occasionally), but it does get a bit old riding almost within arm's length of speeding semi trucks, cross-country mobile homes and farm implements in addition to the cars and such.

Wreader

That sounds absolutely wonderful. I ride from my house, but with the big hills that I can't get over yet, I don't ride too far - a mile one way and half a mile the other, then repeat. I usually try each hill once; them I'm about done in. I can fit a hybrid bike in the back seat of a Toyota Corolla though, and I can take it somewhere that the roads are flat, which I did once, but felt like a total weanie doing it. Maybe I shouldn't have felt like that. Maybe I will start taking the bike somewhere that I can ride, and when I get stronger and can do the hills here, move back toward home. I will have to do some google-maps/topo searching....
thanks for the ideas.

Wreader

this is the first day in about three weeks that it hasn't been near 100*F It is still plenty hot 80*F with 70% humidity. There is a ten mile, paved bike trail about 20 miles from me. I am going to go there and see how much of it I can do before the Friday rush hour starts.

DnvrFox

Yes, and I save those 720 feet up till the end of the year, and give them away as Christmas presents!!