Machka 

Tell us about your rides this weekend! Are you ramping up the distance/intensity in preparation for summer, or winding down in preparation for winter?


It's quite chilly here in the lower mainland BC area! Snow on the mountains, overcast, quite windy. After the warmth of Europe, this will take a few days of adjustment. But if it is nice later today or tomorrow (i.e. not pouring rain like it did the first day we arrived), we might build up the bicycles (they are still in their boxes) and go for a ride. We would like to get in some decent riding this weekend and over the next week or so.

RiPHRaPH

After some rains our trails were surprisingly firm. Played hockey last night. Back on the ice this morning coaching, got home and went riding 38 miles on my Redline at decent tempo speed with a buddy. 18.5mph on crushed gravel where you keep your feet moving rather than stopping at lights, etc is an awesome workout. Weight training tomorrow morning, more coaching hockey then another trail ride. Was 60 degrees today, should be 66 tomorrow.

enroper

Did 20 miles on the Schuylkill River Trail, from Phoenixville to almost Norristown and back. My longest ride since I hurt my knee in June and had surgery for in August. Best part is everything felt ok at the end of the ride, it was my engine that ran out of steam, not any of my parts. Love my new bike...

YOJiMBO20

Did 55k just kinda tooling around. Hit 2 Cat 3 climbs and a Cat 4 climb (as well as some other climbs) for 821m of climbing.

It was a bad idea to not really eat lunch before this. Took me about 3 hours. I justify that by really not being a climber in the least at 5'10" and 172 pounds (and dropping).

Machka 

Lots of walking yesterday ... hoping to get out for a walk, or maybe, perhaps, even a short ride today.

youcoming

Rode with my son and his cousin on Friday and today for a total of 220k, strong kid for 14. I think I have maybe a year left then they'll be dragging me around!

MikeWMass

I went out yesterday, the streets were wet but it was warm. I did 55 miles mostly in the hills. I don't have a Garmin but I would estimate 2,500-3,000 feet. I fell when I stopped at a library to use the restroom and my foot slipped out from under me on the linoleum. Felt pretty silly. Had to clean the bike of dirt, leaves and dead worms upon returning home.
Today I went out with a friend early, it was dry but chilly, started at about 40 degrees, warmed up to 50 or so. Did 52 mostly flat miles. Didn't fall at all, and the bike was still clean.

StephenH

Five of us did a 300k perm yesterday. One of the local rando ladies has just made the switch to a recumbent, and this was her longest ride on it to date. I was on the single bike.

I just got back from riding 31 miles, down to White Rock Lake and back. Ride to the lake at a leisurely pace planning to take some pretty pictures and relax. Get down there and get passed by a tandem and the race is on, so I'm obligated to tear around the lake for 10 miles passing everyone in sight.

MaineiacZ06

17 miles this morning, all I had time for.

bigbadwullf

Tour de Reelfoot. Great ride. 62(66!) miles. Half of it in a good head wind. 17.0 mph ave.. Overall a very nice ride. Great home made pbjs! Yum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8MDNFaGfT4

MarkThailand

It is another long weekend in Thailand - Oct 23 is King Chulalongkorn day (he died on Oct. 23, 1910) - so we took Monday off as well and are at the beach in Hua Hin, 3 hours south of Bangkok, and are staying at Rest Detail Hotel.

Saturday - I rode my usual Saturday morning ride with my brother because we were scheduled to go to the beach in the afternoon. We rode for 70 km before deciding to call it a day because there was a motorcycle + van accident right were we usually turn around in the loop. All the cyclists had dismounted and were waving the cars through. The first question was always, "Is it a bicyclist?" Aparently, the motorcycle decided to do a U-turn right in front of an incoming van and was hit. Apart from the accident, the ride was good with decent temperatures - 78F at the start of the ride at 7 am and climbing to only 88F at 930 am when we called it a day.

Sunday - I did not ride but swam in the pool with my sons. Had a great seafood lunch and BBQ rib dinner.

Monday - I rode from Hua Hin city to Chao Sam Raan beach in Cha-Am and back - 105 km in 3 hr 30 min nonstop and drank 2.75 L of my drink mix. I left for my ride at 630 am so I just had a bottle of water before the ride and figured that the BBQ ribs would hold me over - it did. I did not have to reach for my dried figs or dates. The weather was relatively cool (75 F) when I left for my ride but warmed up to 90 F by the time I got back. I think I should have brought more water because I finished my drink mix about 10 minutes before getting back - I usually like to have some drink mix left when I get back. My recovery swim and stretching in the pool was nice.

Tuesday - I plan on riding another 80 km tomorrow morning. We go back to Bangkok in the afternoon. Hmm, all parties must come to an end.

Mark

dstrong 

I rode the LiveStrong Challenge yesterday...nearly 100 miles in windy, hot and humid conditions. First 50 was into a stiff headwind and much hillier than I expected, including a 1/3 mile hill near mile 50 with a 13% average grade and 21% max grade...it was tough and most walked it...but I made it. My total ride time was just shy of 8 hours...by far my longest time for a century...but I hadn't trained up for it and so was really careful to pace myself. Cramps threatened to shorten my ride in the last 20 but I was able to work through them.

PatrickGSR94

12.5 mile leisurely ride on Saturday morning - my first time leading a group ride. It was a scheduled group ride but the normal leader didn't show up. I was there and then a young woman showed up asking me if this was the right place for the ride, and in a minute her friend also showed up. We waited about 15 minutes and then I was like "well we can just ride around". They were both new to the area so I was able to show them some of the sights around downtown Memphis. It was a really slow ride, we all were having conversations most of the time. It was really fun for me, and I was glad for the slow ride since I was a little sore from running on Friday for the first time in over a month. Gained a couple of new cycling buddies, too, which is always nice.

14.5 mile ride around areas near my house on Sunday. Had hoped to go about 30 but got a late start in the afternoon and just didn't have the time. Oh well, it was still a good workout because the areas near my house are MUCH more hilly than most of Memphis is.

kaisersling

34 miles, RT Oak Ridge, NJ to Lake Mohawk. Seemingly all up hill (both ways), but this is what happens when your Iphone/GPS dies during the ride. Perfect weather. Great foliage this time of year. However, last 5 miles was basically done with one good leg. VERY Sharp Pain on the outside of my left knee rendered it mostly useless...No idea what that was about. Oh, I did have a run-in with wet leaves while walking the bike back toward the house, down the stairs, with my shoes still on. My wife just sat shaking her head as she saw my body flailing out of nowhere past the French doors and on to the stone patio. After I checked to make sure none of my neighbors saw my acrobatics, I dusted off my bruised ankle and quickly went inside, past my not so sympathetic wife (My ride made us late for an appointment). Funny how even when tired, in pain, no strava proof due to the dead phone and slightly bloodied, I look at it as thoroughly enjoyable ride.

cd34

Rode to Lake Okeechobee on Saturday. 72.6 miles at a 17.1mph average moving speed: https://app.strava.com/rides/25558667
Rode to Palm Beach on Sunday. 57.2 miles at 16.7mph average moving speed: https://app.strava.com/rides/25670722

Wind from the Northwest @ 12-14mph both days. On my return from the Lake on a Southeast road, I did a 14:12 minute five mile lap which felt pretty good. On Sunday was called a Fred, but still had a good ride overall. Sunday was a ride with no real purpose - just riding around, found the Witches Wall (a road that goes through part of the island that was carved through coral)

Shifty

The weekend forecast was for rain, so we rode on Thursday when it was sunny and nice in the Willamette Valley. we started riding in the town of Mt Angel. rode to Silverton and then up Silver Creek to Silver Falls State Park. The park has seven beautiful waterfalls and fantastic old growth forests. We hiked to a couple of the falls then completed a nice loop back to Silverton, then to Mt Angel. Total miles was right at 50, and about 3200 ft of climbing. Here is one of the water falls in the park.

PatrickGSR94

oh man how I wish we had natural features like that around here.

Machka 

Well ... we built the bicycles yesterday. I guess that's Step 1 toward riding them here in Canada. Now if the cold rain would stop ....