Machka 

Tell us about your cycling this weekend!!

Machka 

Saturday -- Rowan and I travelled to the north of the state with the intention of starting ... and perhaps finishing ... a 400 km. We weren't sure if we'd complete the 400 because we haven't been well in recent weeks, and haven't done nearly enough cycling recently ... so we figured it might be a bit of a struggle.

Also, while this weekend presented us with sunshine during the day, it was not at all warm. Shortly after we started, Rowan's thermometer read -1.8C and the high reached 12C for a little while. Tonight it is supposed to drop below freezing again with frost.

So, we started the 400 km, and covered the part of the route I really wanted to ride ... a section we've driven but have never ridden. And it is beautiful! The route twists and turns and climbs a little and has some flat sections, and presents riders with a lovely view of the Great Western Tiers which are topped with snow at this time of year.

All up, we covered 183.8 km and I really enjoyed the ride. I was so pleased to be able to do that distance, and had fun out there!


Also ... when we reached 157 km, Rowan and I decided to go out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary (it's next week). Evil Rowan made the booking for 6 pm, which gave us an hour and a quarter to cover the last 27 km, a quarter hour to get ready and half an hour to get there. We made it! I can move briskly when there's Mexican food at stake.

To be fair to Rowan, he did try to get a booking for later, but this place is popular and busy and 6 pm was the only time we could get in.


Distance 183.8 km
Elevation: 1256 metres
Moving Time 9:02

Machka 

Anyone else riding this weekend?

Rowan

No... all the boys are afraid of getting passed by a woman... or showing their chauvinistic tendencies on here!

bruce19

Rode in the annual Steeplechase in my area. Called the Steeplechase because all the stops are at churches. It's a fund raiser for programs that help the homeless and other people in need. Chose to do the Metric Century knowing I had a saddle sore that might cause me to abort at some point. At 26 miles, where all the climbing is, I was about 1 mile away from the first stop when I was stung under the eye by a wasp. Rolled into the church stop at 14 mph. My saddle sore was screaming, my eye was stinging and swelling and I decided that was enough. Made my own route back to start and went off at a very slow pace. My gf was on the Metric and I figured the longer I took to get back the closer our arrival times would be. Ended up with 45 mi. at 13.2 mph. She came in later having done 63 mi. at 14.2 mph.

jamesdak 

Augh, having an off weekend with a toothache that is really aggravating the heck out of me. But, of course, I did get out and ride.

Saturday - 30 miles on the Xl Super. The original plan was to try and improve on some of the local Strava sprints. But on the first one I just had nothing. Aborted about 1/2 in the sprint. Asthma was acting up and just couldn't get the breathing going. Still later on I went after another long sprint and actually got a PR on it. Still stuck behind two guys on that one though. Then about a half mile later I went after another short sprint and ran a respectable time despite only hitting a max of 33 mph on it. Normally I'm a few mph faster on this one. The toothache made riding quite the special experience at times...

Sunday - A little over 43 leisurely miles on the Opus III. Before I went out I finally swapped out the hoods on the Opus and added the synthetic leather bar tape I've had on hand for awhile. Umm, probably shouldn't have done that after 2 nights of no real sleep. I did a terrible job wrapping the bars, not happy. Then about 4 miles into the ride I realized I had the brake levers swapped, put the wrong cables back. Got in the saddle bag to get an allen wrench to fix them and realized that was missing. Must have fallen out because that's the one size I always carry. No big deal, I just finished out the ride. Basically I just took it easy today, didn't worry about the pace and stopped whenever I wanted to take pictures.

Here's the Opus out on the road today. This Blacksmith Shop is still in operation and he still uses the old school methods. It's like stepping back in time.



Snowbasin Mt from Huntsville. Most of the snow is finally gone.



Irrigation is going on all the time for the hayfields now. As you can see on most of the background ridges it's pretty dry out here now.



Just another part of the ride. I love shooting the barn in the background when conditions are right. That was not today and not with a cellphone, LOL!



Abandoned homestead by the Monastery.



The Monastery itself. It's now been sold but stays available to the monks until they all die off. Sort of sad but they can't get any youngsters that want to live that life anymore.



Another shot from the other side as I rode along.



Another picture across the valley.



This is the reservoir that sits in the middle of the valley. We had a good winter so it's still at full capacity. A favorite place for the city folks to visit during the weekends for boating, water skiing, swimming, etc.



Finally, I'll end with The Shooting Star Saloon. The oldest operating bar in Utah. They are famous for their Star Burger and eclectic,.... ummm, ...interior.



Thus ends the sharing of my ride today. The old Opus was such a joy to ride and the 32 year old Superbe Pro components worked flawlessly.

Well, except for the brakes I messed up.

Jakedatc

A guy i talked to mtn biking today that did the full century... he didnt realize the stops were behind the churches and got to mi 84 with whatever drinks he had and no fuel. ouuuuch


Sat: 37mi 2800' climbing with a few guys on a local shop ride.

Sun: 9mi mtn bike ride with a friend and some guys we met at the trail. Have been adjusting my suspension and tire pressure. Today the bike felt really good and after i got warmed up a bit I cleared a bunch of stuff that I hadn't been able to ride before. and didn't crash trying.. which is always a bonus

atwl77

Was sick since Wednesday and wasn't feeling well enough to ride on Saturday.


Sunday still had a bit of lingering flu and sore throat but what the heck, Weather Underground reported sunny weather (which is a big welcome after a long streak of rain and thunderstorms) so it would have been a waste if I hadn't ridden so I just joined a few friends and did an easy spin around town, exploring some roads that we've not explored before. Afternoon sun was hotter that usual so we called it a day shortly before noon.


Moving Time: 3:17:47
Distance: 67.8km (should be ~4-5km longer, forgot to unpause Garmin after a breakfast stop)
Avg Speed: 20.6km
Elevation Gain: 340m

wipekitty

Friday evening: It was gloomy all day (and all week), but I motivated myself to go hit the road. I hit one easy hill and one steep hill, with a stop at my favorite scenic overlook. 31.2 miles, 1,894 feet elevation.

Saturday morning: Tri-state ride to Iowa from Wisconsin...via Minnesota. One of the gals I ride with really wanted to hit 75 miles on a ride this year, and planned out a nice route with one easy climb and then following the Mississippi River. There was dense fog for the first half hour, but after it cleared, it was a beautiful, sunny, not-too-warm kind of day. My total: 74.3 miles, 2,304 feet. My friend hit her 75 mile goal, and I hit 40 MPH for the first time since my oopsie a month ago!

Saturday evening: I needed food and felt like blowing out my legs. I did a fast run through some neighborhoods on my fixed gear, and stopped at the store to get the most important post-ride food item ever invented: Cake. 8.2 miles.

Sunday: Hot and humid weather returned! I did a solo loop that's a favorite local training route. No PRs, but my average speed was pretty good! 21.3 miles, 1,033 feet.

Maelochs

@jamesdak:

Tremendous photography and a very entertaining story.

I have asthma and a mouthful of bad teeth, so unfortunately I could relate to that part, too.

Glad you stopped to shoot for us. Thanks.

San Pedro

I got some time to take a ride this weekend, so I tried to tackle the toughest climb near me again. It was over 90 degrees, and I was tired from family trip, and I think I soft pedaled on my way to the climb too much. However, with a few stops, and a little walking, I finished the climb. I was happy to get to the top, but really displeased with my time and lack of climbing stamina. After that, the rest of the ride was fun with a little more climbing and good fun descent.

I think I'm going to try this climb every chance I get until I can do it without exploding.

24.8 miles
2480 feet gained
14.9 mph avg speed (moving)
1 slight angry wife at tardiness of return




Climbing makes me happy (once my heart rate returns to normal)

Machka 

Yeah, speaking of teeth ... "funny" thing is that both Rowan and I are each struggling with a bad tooth just now.

Mine broke, was filled, broke, had an expensive root canal, and is now broken again.

bruce19

Where do you ride out of? That's a lot of climbing on your Sat. ride.

kbarch

Saturday I joined a couple of friends for a ride up River Road. They came over from the city and don't ride so much, so it was kind of special for them, which was nice, and it was just right for me (not too much work), since the next day was the Ramapo Rally.

Nice turn out (about 700 total riders), lots of familiar faces, but you can only ride with so many at a time. About a dozen of us headed out at about 7:15 for the 100-mile route. VERY spirited! Several of us were saying later that we've never gotten underway so fast for a ride that wasn't a race. The group broke apart and re-formed in different ways up to the first stop, and the ride to the second stop was hillier and about 6 mph slower on average, but I didn't spend more than a few minutes riding solo. Second to third stop was a different story: a group formed that I was going to join, but I hadn't finished applying sunscreen when they rolled out. I rolled out about 100-150 yards behind them and never managed to bridge the gap. I had given my best, longest pull of the day for the last couple of miles into the stop and wasn't fully recovered. Oh well. I figured someone would come up from behind soon, but that didn't work out, either. Oh, I managed to grab a wheel of some really fast folks a couple of times, but didn't hang on, and a couple of times I came upon some slower riders who didn't manage to keep up for very long either. But eventually I got to the 4th stop where I saw a half dozen of that group I was supposed to be with rolling out again. Since it was only about 10 miles to the finish, I had plenty of water and was feeling fine, I joined them directly. Excellent pace to the finish. Funny thing, though: it was at exactly that point that Strava stopped tracking: I have a straight line to the finish, and wound up two miles shy of the actual distance.

Lovely day, MUCH better than last year when it started out rainy and was terribly hot and humid throughout, and finished in MUCH better time, so there was plenty to eat and drink at the finish. One mile of elevation gained in 100 traversed, best 5-minute splits 24.7 mph and 232' elevation gained. My fastest century yet: 6h11 moving, 6h45 elapsed (compared to 7h24 moving and 8h29 elapsed last year). Given the elevation, I figure that's pretty respectable, but it was definitely a fun time!

bikecrate

I went through that. Finally just had it yanked out. Probably would have saved a lot of time, pain and money if I had it done at the beginning.

bikecrate

My sciatica is still an issue so I took last week and Sunday off from bike riding. However, Saturday I went out for a 40 mile ride to Weedon Is. and back. Good ride, but my leg started hurting again in the afternoon. I'm getting a little depressed. I suppose it is time to see the Dr.

Jakedatc

Live in Newington... i split saturdays between either Newington shop or Cycling Concepts

This week I went to Cycling concepts over in Glastonbury so there are always a bunch of hills. Sunday was W Hartford Res

bruce19

Ever ride with Fran Storch? She rides with Cycling Concepts sometimes.

Jakedatc

Nope, I don't go with them a ton either.

Mon: 21mi got out of work early... made it home and got ready 10 mins late for the monday shop ride. Busted my ass at close to 20mph to catch the B and C groups at one of the regroup spot. B group had a flat so I rolled along with the C group for a while in their very unorganized line/group. B group caught up at another regroup spot and I went off with them till the end. Good times making due with what time I had.

canklecat

Same as every ride since June when I got my first road bike in 30+ years -- HIIT of 15-30 miles, working toward a solo century at the end of August (2nd anniversary of resuming cycling after 30+ years away).

About 3-5 times a week I do intervals on one of three local roller coaster routes, usually 15-30 miles, including at least a couple during the hottest part of the day for heat conditioning. It's helped my average speed and recovery time.

26 miles at a hard pace Friday, easier recovery ride Saturday evening after it cooled off, then a fast pace Sunday.

Overdid it Sunday, shooting for 50 miles at midday but fading during the last few miles and cutting it short at 46 miles. Exhausted and aching all Monday, so I'm taking a couple of days off.

Last year I rode a metric century on a heavy comfort hybrid on the one year anniversary of resuming cycling, part of that with a casual group.

I thought the road bike would be easier but it's just different. I may do the solo century on my flat bar hybrid rather than the road bike. We'll see how it goes later this week.

The toughest part will be the neck. Old C2 neck injury causes chronic pain. If I push too hard it flares into an excruciating headache. I work on neck and back conditioning off the bike, but I never know how much I can do on the bike until I get out there and try it. Rather than tackle something like the Hotter'N Hell Hundred -- too far from home if I can't finish -- I'll pick a circuitous route closer to home so I'm within cab ride distance if I can't finish. But I'll finish, just not necessarily within 12 hours.

kbarch

The heat conditioning sounds really smart, but if you had a solo century in mind, why have you focused on high-intensity rides of 30 miles or less? 12 hours is a VERY long time for a century without a lot of climbing (in another thread I believe you mentioned you had very few hills to speak of in your area). And if you would be satisfied with a time of more than nine hours, it seems you don't need to worry too much about intensity. Seems to me the challenge with rides like that is staving off anxiety - the "are we there yet - will this ever be over?" feeling, which is more about mental state and being used to spending that much TIME on the bike and not so much about strength or physical endurance.
Oh - the circuitous route sounds like a good idea, too, but if I have one piece of advice about route planning - avoid local streets and stay on highways as much as possible. Stopping and starting at lights and stop signs will wear you out and can add HOURS to your time.
Well, the end of August is just a few days away, so good luck!

canklecat

This year it's been hard to carve out more than an hour or two at a time for training. I can find time for a longer ride maybe once a week, sometimes only every two weeks.

And I was encountering the same difficulty as always -- getting gassed on hills. Even our roller coaster terrain with lots of half mile 2% grades were wearing me down prematurely, making longer rides a grind rather than a pleasure.

So I switched to HIIT in June to make the most of the available time. So far, so good.

But it's not a perfect substitute for time in the saddle. I'll need to make concessions to the neck problem. Mostly I've been training on the road bike but I'll probably switch back to the flat bar hybrid the next week or two and ride it for the century, since there's less neck strain. The hybrid also has bigger, softer tires, much more comfortable on the rough chipseal that'll be common on most of my rides. The road bike wears 700x23 and can't accept larger than 700x25. Pretty rough after 30 miles or so.

And some of my fastest climbs are still on the flat bar hybrid, even though it's heavier than the road bike. Not sure why, although I suspect the 175mm cranks, vs. the 172.5 on the road bike, might be a factor. I'm in that gray zone where I can ride both without knee problems but the longer cranks feel more efficient.