Machka 

Happy Mother's Day!

It's well into spring in the northern hemisphere ... have you been out cycling? Or if you're down here in the southern hemisphere, are you still riding as the weather cools off?
Tell us about your rides this weekend ... long, short, race, casual, group, solo ... with your mother ... whatever you do.


We've had a snowy blast of winter down here, and more snow predicted for higher elevations today, but we're going to try to get out for a lower elevation ride.

nastystang

Down right beautiful here and got in a short ride today 15 miles but Saturday I hope to get in a nice ride, temps. Should be close to 80 and thats my kind of riding weather.

Machka 

Saturday --

Plan A: Drive to shopping centre, do shopping, drive to beach and cycle from there.

So we started to do that, but the drive to the shopping centre was blocked by 1000s of cars on their way to the big footie match on the other side of the bridge. Quick, come up with Plan B.

Plan B: Pull off and park at the start of the Cycleway, ride the Cycleway, then go shopping.

And that's what we did.

27.5 km
Overcast
Occasional spitting rain
Wind about 30 km/h
They say the high was 15C ... maybe it was, but it was a chilly 15C.
And lots of views of the mountain with a bit of snow still on it.

Then we purchased a new TV. Our old one will go downstairs into our home gym so we can watch TV while riding our trainers and lifting weights etc. this winter.


You can just see the start of the cycleway through the trees ... and as you can see, it's autumn here.

Jakedatc

Fri: 7.5mi mtn bike ride with the GF at a large trail area I had heard good things about but hadn't been. I was on my 90s trek hardtail and she was on her Surly Crosscheck commuter with 30mm slicks. We had to do some walking in spots but it was a great day in the woods and we tried a different spot.

Sat: 35mi bike shop ride. pretty evenly matched group so we kept a pretty steady pace but not a hammerfest.

Sun: hopefully a nice 20ish mi ride on the road with the GF

Machka 

Sunday -- 41.03 km with 764 metres of climbing ... a 1.86 ride. Lots of climbing!!

From home, we immediately climbed, and climbed ... a meandering route to the top of a lovely, fun road which mostly descends to Margate.

Then we hung a right and climbed the 9 km to Sandfly. There are a couple very short downhills and a couple small sections that are almost flattish, but mostly it is a 9 km climb. And as we got closer to the top, the temperature dropped. It was noticeably cooler up there.

We continued on up and up past Longley until we finally reached the very top of route. And then it was a long, long descent back into our suburb. A bit of that descent was gravel, but that's OK. The difficult part of the descent was that it was cold!! My hands and feet were blocks of ice by the time we got to the bottom and started climbing again on the last bit of the route to home. In fact, I was glad of the last bit of climbing because it gave me a chance to warm up a little.

The warmest temp on the ride was about 13C and it dropped to 10C by the time we finished. I think it was even cooler than that up near the top of the route, and I should have been wearing toe covers!!

We also had waves of light rain/drizzle come over plus winds gusting to about 45 km/h to add to the chill factor.


View from somewhere near the top, looking down on our suburb. We live down there somewhere. Yes, it is raining off to the right ... it was also raining on me just then too.


In our front yard ...

Rowan

The elevation profile our ride today::

alexaschwanden

Saturday: 61 miles
Sunday: 50-100 miles

Machka 

I noticed that big climb!!

znomit

I got out for a half hour tonight. First ride for about 5 weeks. Thought I had better get something in before the 300 next weekend.

Machka 

I'd need a bit more than that!!


They're running a 300K late in the season ... is that because of the PBP?

kbarch

Made a weak showing at yesterday's race. Started at the back, never caught up, and was soon dropped. But I did manage to overtake a grupetto from a field that had passed me earlier, up the little hill on the circuit. Again, like last week, the bigger ride was Sunday. But really not so big, because we're "tapering" before the BIG RIDE - the Gran Fondo New York - next Sunday. I'm starting to get nervous about the big-dealness of it all.

The day started out cool and overcast, and I knew it would not be a long day, so I didn't bother with sun screen. And at the half-way point (refreshments at the home of one of the ride leader's friends, who happens to live at the top of a little hill on the GFNY route), it was shady and overcast, so I didn't think to put any on then, either. But as it turns out, we actually did get a good bit of sun. The funny thing is, the shorts I was wearing today were longer than the ones I had been wearing. So now my thighs are tri-tone, like Neapolitan ice cream!

Machka 

Sounds like me at a lot of the races I used to do.

znomit

Seasoning is what kiwirandonneurs put on our hamburgers.
https://www.kiwirandonneurs.org.nz/r...cheduled-rides

woodcraft

Yesterday 70, 6k+. Foggy, wet at the top of the two climbs. Finally got the pastry at the bakery.

Last prep ride before the DC next weekend.

bikecrate

Saturday went to Upper Tampa Bay trail for 40 miles. Sunday Picnic Is. and Davis Is. for another 40. I'm still on my hybrid, but I got a new saddle which made a huge difference. I did get my "repaired" road bike back. Overall, I'm pretty happy. I went the Ribble ordering route and the local Performance shop put on the parts. Saved a ton of money. Unfortunately, they also said I needed a new chain which is true, but thought the cassette was okay. Although I was skeptical I gave it a try (I don't think I've ever swapped out a chain without needing the cassette changed as well). Anyways, the chain skips so I need a new cassette. I ordered it from Ribble as well, so I'll have to wait a little longer.

Oh, and I plan on being out this Monday for another 30 + miles...on my hybrid.

Machka 

How did your Sunday and Monday rides go?

bikecrate

Monday was a foreshadowing of FL summer. Fairly hot afternoon on Davis Is. It is already reaching into the 90's. Like an idiot I felt compelled to try and keep up with some road bike on the hybrid. So by the time I got home I was really beat. It was just as well I was riding really hard because I missed a thunderstorm by a few seconds. Heavy early evening thunderstorms also typical summer stuff around here. Later had a beeronaide and watched the ToC on the DVR.

Machka 

We could do with just a little bit of that heat here! We had no summer to speak of, and winter has come early.


But there have been a few times recently where we've just beat the heavy rain too. It's a nice feeling to be finished the ride and inside, and then to watch the sky open up and waterfall pour down.

Jakedatc

Sun: 22mi with the GF .. we were going to do 28 but she had her chain pop apart at the quick link. we found the 2 pieces and put it back together but we didn't want to tempt fate again so we did the shorter version.

Monday: 31mi with a few friends. perfect temps low 70s

Machka 

I prefer warmer, but I'd take those temps right now!