61+ km today; whenever the Rail Trail gets busy — aka the Weekend crowds — I have to slow down just a little bit.:innocent: :innocent: Kids, dogs and sleep walkers.

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Big advantage today: thanks to yesterday's rain no flying dust from the gravel.

You must be in better shape than me. after a couple of blocks I'm already breathing a little hard, and that includes coasting a bit. just have to persevere so that I can join the big leagues.

Nah I had a real hard time to start too an I still can't keep up with the regulars here by a long shot. Geez look at Old Rail Fan there...epic! I will say this though, my wind is better now than when I started and I get less sore than I used to...hahahah!

I'm not a biker by any stretch but the benefits are there to be had. Keep it up and keep us informed of how you're doing.

I've found the guys here to be very helpful if you've got any questions too!

Another hilly 51.9 km which had me pass the 3000 km mark for this season.

BTW getting back into an exercise routine or starting a new one is never easy. I just checked my "journal" from last year. the first week I did just two rides of 20 km each (12.4 miles). increased that week over week, starting with 10% and going higher as I got back into the real swing. The inspiration hit me at the end of the XC skiing season, it took me 9 weeks at the beginning of the season to hit my stride on the skis since my summers had turned into too much relaxing. Hard to keep up with the middle of the "keeners" pack doing that.

Real bike training? That was 35 and more years ago when I decided to do triathlons in order to get away from the running injuries.
As one of my "old timer" buddies used to say "We get too soon old and too late smart".

that's a fancy bike you got there. looks like it should be in a museum instead of out on the road. how do you keep it so clean looking?

I've been busy with work so getting in long rides has not been happening. I've been getting to my favorite training ride and getting in a 10 to 15 mile ride around 4-5 times a week though. The ride has water views, lots of curves, and non-stop rollers. Plus there is plenty of wildlife; today I saw a number of bald eagles flying not too far over the tree line. I've been riding my 1979 Trek 510 a lot. The bike has superb handling and the parts group on it work very well.

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40 miles on the fixed gear.

I clean and polish my bikes after every ride. I keep them both in showroom condition. I know, OCDish......
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About 35 miles after walking 18 holes. Gorgeous day and a perfect place to end the ride.
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I think if Batman was a cyclist, his setup would look like this. very impressive.

The colors were crisp. The temp = 40’s

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42.2K (Marathon distance):innocent:; 11º C, a bit breezy on the descents.
New route combo with a different profile.

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Got my 18k in and learned a very valuable lesson. If I ride slower it's EASIER. Remember 1) I'm really not a cyclist and 2) I'm REALLY new at this. This was my normal ride but it took me about 10 minutes more to ride - from about 50 mins to an hour. WOW what a difference. Going just THAT much more leisurely sure shows me how you animals can make double or triple that distance. I could have easily run longer at this pace (about 3-4 kph slower) Huh...whoda thunk it.

Sure do love this new bike too!

A virtual 26 miles and 2000’ of climbing on the streets of London using Zwift. Can’t handle more than an hour and a half on the trainer.

Took advantage of working from home and a break in the rain to do a threshold workout on the ring road of our local 9-hole muni golf course.

Now you can start "mixing it"using the hard easy routine. One hard, two easy and repeat, then one day off and repeat. Combine that with gradual increases in the distance Mix and match any old way as long s you can keep track.
BTW taking more than one day off will have you "pay" on the third day.
I found that this works well for me cycling, XC skiing and easy running, mind you my "real" running days are just memories. :rolleyes: ;)

Yeah Thanks ORF. I was talking to a friend about this earlier and I've come to the conclusion that I just need to make this a more regular routine...I am fighting this 'payment plan' of not going often enough a little too hard methinks.

*muses* Gee, think I'm fighting becoming a cyclist too hard???......hmmmmm

Yeah that could be a real problem. :roflmao:

Squeezed 5mi after the dinner around the house just before dusk, streets almost empty, it was raining today on and off, but the roads got dry quickly, cloudy 81F, feels a bit cooler on the bike. Now its time to relax, check my strava statistics, have a drink. It was a good week between swimming, running and biking, I got well over 3 hours of workout with Sunday still ahead of me. Most challenging was running, swimming was fun, biking 5mi feels like a great way to recover from running.

A leisurely 30 km, just 4 km short of last year's total i.e one ride tomorrow to get over "the hump", lots of wet weather in the forecast for the coming week.
Snow level lowering to 1400 m, with over night temperatures staying low enough to get snow up there at 1600+ m .:thumb: :thumb:

I know that place well - just walked in the door from a ride there

Went out at 1:05AM today with 76º F temp., 90% humidity, 9mph winds for a SLOW 42.24 miles and 69' elevation.

Improved on distance and mph on yesterday's 23.32 miles and feeling better after.

From Friday

What an epic day and it’s just getting going good. Blew off golf this morning for another adventure. The original plan was to ride to Shiloh General Store from the house for an Amish sandwich for lunch. Then I was going to meet my wife at about 75 miles and catch a ride to my daughter’s house in Boone.

Terrific morning to ride and enjoyed several new to me roads. I’ve been to Shiloh General Store numerous times but never from my house Concord.

My Uber/wife started late and then hit some traffic issues which created an additional option. I realized Raffaldini Vineyards wasn’t too far away. I Finished the ride with a mountain top finish at Raffaldini Vineyards. Outside of Italy it’s a favorite spot!!!

On to Boone for a weekend with all the family!!!

(Raffaldini doesn’t offer valet parking for bicycles!!)


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Yesterday's ride was a shorty 21 k with wind gusts of up to 40 km/h.
But I'm past last season's total distance despite the two lost weeks because of the wildfires.
The forecast for this week looks like more of the same with "too much wet".

Hilly 48.7 k
Brrrr it was pretty crisp this morning. All of 2º C when I got going and it rose just an extra 2 degrees, despite brilliant sunshine.
Inauguration day for my new winter cycling jacket, HiVis to dazzle the daydreaming motorists around our neck of the woods! :notamused: