Tell us about some of your cycling and other highlights in April and in the first third of the year.

There have been several this month.

-- first full month as a 50-year old.

-- 1000 km month, for the second month in a row! In fact we finished up with 1112 km

-- 3000 km first third. That's a good start to the year.

-- a 300 km + a 200 km randonnee on the Easter weekend. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull that off, but we had been training for it ... and did it!

-- in completing the events above, we also completed our 4th century in the CAM (Century-A-Month) Challenge.

-- our 6th Petite Year Round Randonneur ride, a 100 km permanent.

-- On April 29, 1990, I started cycling "seriously" and specifically, I started logging all my cycling distances. Yes, I have kept track of every single kilometre I have cycled since April 29, 1990. On that day, I rode 2 miles and had to take a break at the end of the first mile because it was that difficult. I've built up strength since then!

-- my 1-year anniversary as an Australian citizen!


April Activities
Walking Distance (km): 70.4
Walking Time (min): 880.0
Cycling Distance (km): 1111.5
Cycling Time (min): 3684.3
Stairs Climbed Number: 52.0
Stairs Climbed Time (min): 41.6

Totals
Total Distance (km): 1181.9
Total Distance (miles): 734.4
Total Time (min): 4605.9
Total Time (hr): 76:45:55


Looking forward to May!! The plan is that May will be strength and speed month. Gotta get better at climbing hills and faster on the randonnees.

Jan = Rain & cold = lot's of skiing.
Feb = Rain & cold = some skiing
March = Rain & cold
April = Rain + cool


One of the wettest years on record in the Seattle area so far.
April closed out positively, with a bike I've been searching for a while.
Vintage Spanish = Zeus with 531 tubeset. Now a German classic.

I missed one of my target goals for April -- a solo standard century. I've already ridden a few metric centuries since last August. Too much life stuff getting in the way, impossible to devote the full day I'd need for it. I'll try again in May.

But I'm still on pace for my goal of 300 miles a month. I resumed cycling in 2015 after a 30 year hiatus and managed 100 miles a month that year, 200 miles a month in 2016.

April has been tricky due to the heavy winds all month. I can ride only three or four days a week, depending on family stuff. And I wanted to get past a plateau in conditioning, so rather than taking longer rides on flatter terrain sheltered from the wind, I've been tackling the hillier and very windy route over open prairie and pasture. Much tougher physically and I usually ride fewer miles, around 10-30 per ride, rather than 20-60 on the easier terrain.

My average speed is up as well, to 14 mph now. It was 8-10 mph in 2015, 12 mph in 2016. I'll probably peak at 14 mph with my current bike, a hybridized 1990s mountain bike with fairly upright position.

Up to 14 mph it's mostly my conditioning. Above that the wind resistance demands effort disproportionate to speed gains. So I'll consider a bike with drop bars soon, although my C2 neck injury may limit my flexibility. We'll see.

At 59 with various ailments I'm just glad to be riding again. After a car wreck in 2001 I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk more than 100 yards at a time. In 2014, walking a few miles without a cane was a milestone. In 2015 riding 3 miles without stopping to wheeze through an asthma attack felt like an accomplishment. Every outing since then is gravy.

April was my first 500 mile month.

Cycled in Utah at the San Rafael Swell; various rides in and around Hurricane; and a great 5 days on the trails near Moab. Also rode in Arizona at Cottonwood, Sedona and Prescott. No idea total distance - don't keep track of that sort of thing - but a wonderful month of mountain biking!

Now I've just got to get out on my local trails! Still snow on most of them so I skied up a 6000 foot peak yesterday (and then down again).

I got back on the bike April 1st after a forced vacation by hitting some unexpected black ice on a corner in Feb. Sprained left shoulder, sprained left wrist, broken right thumb requiring a Ti screw to put back together. The grand return was a bit uncomfortable with both hands struggling to find good positions. Both really liked smooth pavement, which was a bit hard to find around here. But each ride got better and I lost the splint a couple of weeks ago. April ended up with 700 miles.

Rode every day of April.
628 total miles.
Longest ride was 27 miles.
Did do one day of 32 miles but I took a short second ride to go to the LBS.
Took my first spill on the bike after hitting a pot hole. Bruised and a bit sore but not badly hurt. Didn't miss a day due to the crash.

Well done everyone!

I had fun riding the Camino Real double century in Feb. and the Solvang Spring double century in Mar. but then my back went out due to an over-enthusiastic "Lobster Ride" and I've been off the bike for three weeks now.

However, last time this happened I borrowed a (low end) recumbent and my back was fine with it. So I went to the local 'bent shop (Bent-Up Cycles), test rode a bunch and placed an order for a med.-level recumbent: Bacchetta Giro A-20. Should be in within about two weeks.

The plan is to ride the recumbent until my back heals, then go to my normal (DF in recumbent speak) bikes. If/when I feel the slightest complaint from my back I'll be straight on the Bacchetta again.

Rick / OCRR

PS: Been toying with the semi-perverse goal of riding a double on the recumbent. I know people who have done it, so it IS possible!

Rain.. sunny last wednesday and saturday a fortnight ago.

Oregon Coast

my highlight is getting 5 single pane windows installed in my house, in the last month,

trying to hit the days when the rain lets up, to open the wall , for a hour or so..

Rode 2 metric centuries in the month of April. A first for me of riding even 1 of them.
Rode 550 miles for the month of April.

Not a lot accomplishments, but well on my way.