Machka 

Tell us about your cycling this weekend. It's a long weekend for many of us ... more time for cycling!! Where did you go? Who did you go with?

Machka 

Saturday -- Rowan and I rode our February century and our Petite Year Round Randonneur event today ... 161.3 km.

For me, this was my 100th century ride!!

(But I've done about 75 additional rides longer than that as well.)

We took a trip to northern Tasmania in order to ride the Hint of Hadspen Hike 160K. The Hint of Hadspen Hike 160K is a permanent made up of a leg of the Hadspen Hike 600K coming up in September ... a ride we're organising ... so we wanted to do this particular ride in order to check the route.

This is a nice part of Tasmania and the route was interesting. Much of the route was along the ocean, so there was lots of scenery, and a bit of variety in the terrain. The route also passes through several towns which keeps things interesting as well. What with following the cue sheet to ensure everything was OK (there are a few things which need to be changed) and looking at the scenery and everything, we were busy the whole way ... no time for getting bored!

The temp was nice -- about 22C -- but it was windy, gusting to about 55 km/h. For the first 70 km, the wind was lovely because we had a tailwind. We were able to bank quite a lot of time, fortunately, because then we had to turn around. Fortunately also, the route kind of zigged and zagged a little so we did get a few moments of reprieve now and then ... but for the most part, we were into the wind on the way back.

One other thing ... I forgot to bring my cycling shoes with me. I packed everything else, but not the cycling shoes! I do have dual-sided pedals with platform on one side and cleats on the other, so I opted to wear running shoes. There's a reason why cyclists wear cycling shoes. My poor feet!


Distance: 161.3km
Elapsed Time: 8:40:17
Moving Time: 7:57:41
Elevation: 1,018m
Speed: Avg: 20.3km/h; Max: 46.4km/h

Jakedatc

Sat: got 12" of snow the other day and 2" more last night so we went out for a few miles of snowshoeing at our normal CX practice area.. Most of it wasn't tracked out yet so it was pretty deep and a good workout

kbarch

Took the TCX out for its (her?) maiden voyage. 28 miles, 1800'. As a road bike, it worked out well for the most part, but it loses momentum very quickly (big ol' spongy 40mm tires?). On the other hand, it accelerates surprisingly well, as long as I don't have it on one of the giant cogs; it's a 1x11, 46 chain ring (stock is 40) and 11-42 cassette. I tried to take it on a trail, but the slush was too thick and uneven. First it wouldn't get rolling - like trying to ride in paste - then, once I found a clear spot and did get rolling, it started floating around on the thick slush, sideways and all, like riding on wet ice (actually, I guess that's what it amounted to after all). Forget that.

The best part was discovering the joys of Power Grips pedal straps. SO easy and SO effective! I got them because I wanted to spare cleats from damage during what I figured would be more frequent portage and such, and I already have a bike with toeclips and sneakers for that.

Tomorrow looks to be rainy, but colder - barely above freezing. I think I've had my fun for the weekend.

FeltF2Tarmac

Got in a 20 miler today and after a short layoff due to weather and a move, felt really good. I'm going on a ride on Sunday with my nephew. Should be good a good weekend for logging some miles.

ZapoTeX

Tried Mount Hamilton this morning, but stopped just 3 miles from the summit :-( I turned around and, as local riders sure know, the way back is not all downhill, there are two sections in which you have to climb again. Damn, the second section was painful :-)

Sure as hell, I'll go back! I want to make it the observatory

seau grateau

I climbed Hamilton when I was travelling through CA on vacation last year. It's a long one, but definitely worth it to get to the top.

This week:
Wednesday - 24.4 miles, pretty quick pace but nothing super high intensity. Getting back into the groove after being kinda lazy over the rainy season.
Thursday - 31.6 miles, felt really good after I got warmed up so I kept the pace up and threw in a little bit of hill climbing.
Saturday - 25.5 miles, meant to get out early in the day but took a nap after running errands and hit the road just before sunset for a nice cool ride.

Rowan

The Petit Yeear Round Randonneur can be a bit confusing to those who don't quite understand the concept. It requires a rider to do 12 registered rides -- one a month -- over a year, and the total distance at the end must be 1200km (which fits with the long randonnees such as Paris-Brest-Paris).

The thing is, you can ride a minimum distance of 50km, but if you do that, you have to make up in a second month with a 150km ride to keep the total going towards that 1200 total.

So, we've put some kilometres in the bank by doing the 150km ride this month to go with the 100 we did last month.

This means that if the weather turns sour in any of the later months this year, we just have to go out and do a 50km ride and still be right on track. Of course, we will continue doing the 150/century rides to build up the advantage, and to keep the CaM going.

It's an excellent way for a rider to make their way back into randonneuring if they have had an extended time off or are coming back from injury/illness.

The full Year Round Randonneur in Australia required completing 200km rides each month for a year, which can be quite the ask for some Audax Australia members.

tangerineowl

Wind was pretty strong today (north-east), so I thought I'd head north; catch the tailwind home

Quite a few people out near the river crossings, checking the crazy-high water levels (lots of recent rain, along with high-tides).

As usual, I made a side detour from the main drag to avoid the trucks and Sunday drivers.

Rode around the semi-rural area at the base of the hills, exploring.

Thinking about getting up into those hills and valleys on the gravel tracks I see up there.
Shouldn't be too long, as I'll have my new gravel bike sorted soon.

Have been doing quite a bit of hill repeats lately, and found it much easier effort on some short, sharp rises than before.

Saw a couple of 'pro' riders out there today. Don't often see them on the back roads.

It didn't rain, so it was a nice day for a ride

FeltF2Tarmac

Beautiful day and another 20 miles. Monday and Tuesday look good for a ride also. It's going to be nice to start ramping up the mileage per ride as the days are getting longer and spring is coming. Who cares what the ground hog said.

Zuzus pedals

2/10 - Did 15 minutes on the trainer and then bundled up a lot for 12.7 miles outside in 27 degrees.

2/11 - Got up to 42 degrees (this is the warmest winter so far in Ithaca in decades) and 7-8 mph North wind. It was definitely still a little chilly for shorts, but I wore 'em anyway (and only two relatively thin long-sleeve layers up top) for 27.8 miles (only recorded 14.5 of it on the Garmin) and got two low-hanging fruit KOMs on climbs. One was a Category 4 that only 19 people had done and apparently had not cared about how fast they did it, and the other was a Category 3 that only two people had done. It almost feels like cheating to gank a KOM on something as obscure as that, but if it's a public segment, I say it's fair game.

2/12 Back to 34 degrees and snowy (which is still a real gift for these parts compared to a normal February). 15 minutes on the trainer and only 6.4 miles outside (slushy roads seemed hazardous), then a little more random trainer time.

kbarch

Maybe it's not a bona fide KOM if no one contests it, but it's not cheating to get one "for free". Just nothing to be particularly proud of. But it will still be disappointing when someone else takes it

JReade

Two rides this weekend:

1. Shop ride, 28 miles, 1200 ft. Pretty fast ride, for me. Felt it pretty good. It was in the 40's when it started. For this Florida boy, this was cold..
2. Brewery ride - 72 degrees so a million people showed up. It was a bit of a rookie production, nobody calling obstacles, and sure enough I took a nice pothole and got a flat. Fixed my flat and chased for the whole way back. Never caught them, but I did some work. Head down in the drops.

bikecrate

Weather was about perfect this weekend. Temps 50's to 60's, with clear skies and really light winds. Saturday I did my usual S. Tampa route for 41 miles. Sunday I was feeling good so I did my three island tour; Weedon Is., Picnic Is. and Davis Is. Total was 54 miles.