DnvrFox

Nice weather - unhooked the Lemond from the trainer and got out for about 25 miles. First road ride since about November or so.

Felt great, but I must admit that this 63 yo body fought me a bit.

The nice thing was when a young biker came panting up to me and said, "I just had to pass you." "That was my goal." "Whew, my legs are killing me." He then stopped, completely pooped out. As I was just cruising along, I felt pretty good, until passed by another. Oh well, I NEVER (yeah, right) try to race anyone else.

Anybody else get a nice recreational ride in today?

khuon

I'm having the opposite experience weatherwise. Snow started dumping yesterday and there was a bit of accumulation overnight but all of it melted this morning. I took the MTB out yesterday to play in the snow in the trails behind my house.

Joe Gardner

Today was my first ride of the year with out my tights and full finger gloves. Temps in the low 60's, and a nice 5mph south wind. I was able to put in 36.8 miles, took just over 2 hrs to do. Great ride, I'm looking for another just like it tomorrow

DnvrFox

Yes, forgot to mention - no tights, no jacket, just jersey and shorts!! Great - about 60F

SteveE

We had a nice sunny day in the SF Bay Area with a high of around 60 F. I went and did a ride with my club. Got in 68 miles and about 4,000 ft. of climbing. The Sea Otter Road Race is being held in Redwood City, CA (not Monterey, although the rest of the SO Festival will be held there), so we decided to include one lap in our group ride.

Dougmt

I got in a quick 22 miles. Wasn't fun though. Seems the jerks come out whenever it gets nice on this God forsaken Island. I was told... errrrr hollered at to "ride on the sidewalk" and they were pointing wildly at the sea wall. Riding on the sea wall is a VERY VERY VERY bad idea. It's like a blender... mix leisuely cyclist going both ways with these huge quadcycle thingys, rollerbladers, walkers, joggers, people sitting out reading... you name it and then add in a 10 foot fall if you should have to swerve to miss any of the above THEN factor in the speed I'm going at.. bad LOL I don't like this Island. I understand the frustration many commuters have with cars. I did feel good and strong after my almost 50 mile ride yesterday though. Not bad for a 250 pound lardy
I was able to average almost 15 MPH and I maintained almost 20 for most of the way back (slight tailwind).
I think it would be fun on a roadbike. My touring MTB complete with front and rear pannier racks and fenders has got to be slowing me down some
Doug

DnvrFox

Under your Avatar, it says "Middle of Montana". Islands in Montana?

HalfHearted

I had an absolutely beautiful 32 mile ride today. My second ride in about twenty years (the first was only five miles a couple of weeks ago when I got the TREK 7300 -- between weather and work I havn't had a chance to shake it down until now).

I rode from my house to the Weatherford trailhead of the Mineral Wells State Trailway (rails-to-trails). That was 6 miles according to the computer, which proved to be off by about 3% according to the mile posts on the trail -- guess I'll tweak the wheelsize a couple of digits. I rode the trail to the ten mile post and then reversed and went home.

I didn't think to take any energy bars with me so it was a good thing the last three miles of the return trip down the trail was mostly a slight downgrade as I was getting a bit low. Not dangerously so but enough to notice that I was one or two gears lower than I was going out on similar grades.

Once I got back into town I stopped at the first C-store and grabbed some "grandma's chocolate chip cookies" and Power Aide. They didn't have any power bars of any sort. I picked up a bag of peanuts then noticed it had 37 grams of fat -- if the fat didn't kill me my cardiologist would if he found out I ate that! I loafed for a few minutes and then rode the last three miles home feeling much better.

I did the 32 miles (33 by the computer) in 3:13 saddle time and 3:30 clock time -- not that I was pressing for a record or anything, but as long as you have the computer you might as well see what it says after a ride

My average speed was only a fraction over 10MPH in terrain most of you would probably consider mostly flat but on a "comfort" bike with fat tires and only half a heart I guess that's not bad for the first decent ride in twenty years.

The weather was perfect, overcast and in the low 60's, a little more wind than I would have liked but nowhere near as bad as most spring days here in N. Texas. Going down hills at 15 to 20 MPH I was tempted to put my longsleeve shirt on, going up the next grade at 7 or 8MPH I was glad I hadn't bothered

The ride to the trailhead isn't so bad except for the last mile or two of highway where there are long stretches with no shoulder at all. Most drivers were very courteous, going well out of their way to give me room. In fact, I saw more courtesy from drivers today than I see when I'm in my car. Maybe it's because I was dressed like a regular guy trying to go somewhere instead of "one of those ******y hippy bicycle racers out cloggin' up our highways" -- just guessing. Or maybe my 20-LED blinking taillight was freaking them out

Speaking of dress. I wore jeans and a T-Shirt and didn't have any problems with chafing or anything. This is pretty much the way I used to ride twenty years ago, too. My bum got a bit sore but I'd have been surprised if it hadn't. In warmer weather I'll definitely need some kind of shorts but I'm still debating whether to stuff my portly posterior into lycra

Overall, the ride felt great and was a good shakedown cruise for both the bike and myself. I learned...

... I won't have any problem riding the hybrid 50+ mile days when I have the full day (I had only a max of four hours for today's ride because of other commitments).

... The current tires (700C-38 inverts) are ok, but I'm definitely going to want to go to a narrower tire (maybe 28 or 32) before attempting a multi-day ride or a century.

... Narrower tires won't be any problem on the MW trailway. It's surface is almost as hard as pavement covered with a thin layer of course sand.

... Suspension seat posts are deceptive. It must have taken me five tries before I finally had jacked the seat up high enough. I'd adjust the seat, ride a little while, notice my leg was bent too much. Raise the seat... etc., etc. I was marking the seatpost so I know it wasn't slipping back into the tube or anything, it was just that the suspension post seemed to take a few minutes to settle in fully after I'd get on the bike.

... The elliptical glider I've been running on for the past few months has really helped with my conditioning. There's no way I could have made a 32 mile ride (at lest, not without a lot of suffering) a few months ago.

John

ZackJones

I thought today was going to be a disaster for Donna and me. we went out to ride a new route which we hadn't fully scouted out yet - big mistake

There were hills galore and we just aren't ready for the hills. Instead of completely bagging the ride (she was very upset) we drove to another spot that was nice and level and managed to get in a little over 10 miles today. Next Saturday Donna and I are doing the 18 mile ride as part of the Tour De Pike (in Georgia).

Even though the ride started out rough I'm so proud of Donna for going with me to the other area to ride.

Zack

Dougmt

We're down in Galveston for another month... then BACK up to Montana. I CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!!
Doug

HalfHearted

Here's a picture of my baby 'fore I got her all dusty today

The taillight is a homebrewed 20-LED light I mentioned here a few weeks ago. I haven't gotten a chance to build the front one yet. When I do they'll both run off NiMH C-cells in the trunk and the switches will be in the trunk. Today I just twisted everything together and ran the taillight of the AA NiMh batteries I use as spares for the digital camera. It'll run for 16 hours or more on the AAs.

The "trunk" is a $10 Wal-Mart hi-vis plastic toolbox, bolted to the Delta rack. Later I'm going to put spacers under the toolbox so panniers can be attached to the rack. Eventually I'll also put a 9V 300ma solar cell on the top of it to recharge the batteries on the go (no rolling drag and far cheaper than a dynohub or really good generator). The toolbox is cheap, light, and has plenty of room for my pump, Topeak toolkit, spare tube, jacket, and lunch.

The front Fender is a clipon, don't recall the brand. I have a clipon rear fender that I'm going to modify into a half fender to keep trail grit out of the front derailleur, too. (Don't recall ever seeing a derailleur cable at the back of the seat tube in the old days, is that something "new"? It sure doesn't seem like a good idea.)

Cheapy Sigma Sport BC800 computer lets me know how fast, wait, scratch that, how slow I'm going.

Halt on the stem 'cause I can't outrun the big dogs anymore I'm going to put velcro patches on the back of the handle-bar bag so I can easily get to both my Halt (for dogs) and my mace/pepper combo spray (for dog-owners who think to finish what their dog started)

Okay, so, it looks like a 2-wheeled pimp-mobile -- at least I took the wheel reflectors and kickstand off

John

khuon

Personally speaking, I like it. It's sort of what I'd imagine a utility worker might ride had the world never invented cars.

HalfHearted

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment I've always been a lot more interested in function than appearance or style. I also like to do things myself as much as possible. I don't go out of my way to be unfashionable, it just comes naturally

John

Prosody

Spri;ng wants to arrive in this part of the world, but winter's not ready to leave. I've been managing to ride through the winter, though I don't go out if the temps are below freezing. I rode Friday for the first time in about a week and a half--temps in the 50 degree F. range. Yesterday the temps hit 70 degrees F., and I got in a ride without long sleeves, tights or a wind jacket. Last night, however, the temps fell to around 19 degrees F. Tuesday it should get back to the 50s. More riding later this week.

DnvrFox

How come this thread hasn't received any posts lately?

Don't you folks think that discussing the first ride of the season is important?