22 miles on my comfort bike this late this morning. Very little wind, cool air (i.e., for spring in the south: upper 60s F) and little traffic. Being as "still in poor shape" as I am, I didn't push it, so it took a tad over a hour and a half with a couple of drink/stretch stops. Still, it's a long way from the 5 mile gasper I did back in January ...athough that one had a few little hills and this route is essentially flat. That's not accidental. ;)

Our club, CSP Express, was invited by the Boca Raton Bike Club to join their Saturday ride today. Joy and I took the tandem in the Van up to Boca and met up with about a dozen others from our club. The BRBC gets about 60 - 80 riders out on as saturday and splits into about 6 speed groups.

We started out with the 19-21 group but Joy has not been riding and we dropped after about 10 miles. We hooked up with Eric and rode together for about about 5 mi. After short rest break, we met up with the 17-19 group and finished the 28 mi ride with them.

We stopped for a bagel and coffee with some of the BRBC riders and Jeff and Erica from CSP.

On the way home joy dropped me off at the church. They were having a work detail day. I helped move a half a load of dirt around the church grounds, and then rode the tandem home solo.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/195218

The weather was great. It was a bit cool until about 8:30, 50's and 60's, but then it really was nice.

We hope to do a bunch of running around town on the 2fer tomorrow too. Another beautiful day.

I had a 40 mile ride that was a better work-out than most rides so far this year. I'm still as slow as a snail, but I'm workin' it!

I braved the 30-40+ wind gusts for about 2 hours, and that was enough.

NealH and I rode 72.5 miles over some steep climbs today. I think we had about 6000' of climbing in 5:15 ride time. Tired I am.

Fantastic! I did most of the Marquis de Sade route-last minute decision to test the legs. How did we used to do Marion in 3hr 30 mins which is the same distance and climbing you guys did today? I suspect your hills were steeper but everything is steep for me anymore!

IDK, but Marion has only around 3800' from Spartanburg. It's another 6500' from there to the top of Mitchell. That and a group to ride with makes the difference I guess. That first hour from Spartanburg nets 24 miles or better too. I'd be pressed to do it in 4 hours now. Those days might be gone for me, but I keep hoping I'll find some form sometime this Spring. Today we rode parts of the Tour de Cashiers route which if you remember has some hard grades.

You're right! I was thinking it was about 6000' to Marion but so that helps my psyche a little. Tour de Cashiers--I grimace just thinking about it. You guys are too tough!

No, I didn't ride today. :(

Wednesday I took a swing from a softball bat to my forearm during a game (I was playing catcher and the batter just flung his bat right at me). I was feeling better yesterday and rode about 20 miles. I got up this morning for the breakfast ride and.... the forearm was sore and stiff again (can't rotate the forearm). There's a pub crawl ride tomorrow night... maybe I'll try that.

Returned to riding today after 19 rest days to heal a SS.
27 Sunny miles Temps to 78*

Fun club ride between rain storms today, around 50 miles. Now I'm watching Milan-San Remo.

From our ride today. NealH gets ready to cross the Little Tennessee River.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...MG_3694new.jpg

12 miles Saturday morning with stoker/wife on our tandem. Sunny 50F.
Then, 14 miles in the afternoon by myself - not on our tandem.

NealH and I joined a group of eight total on the local Ring of Fire ride. 39.4 miles, 4500' of climbing in 3:13 ride time. It's been a long week. I felt better as the ride progressed though the first climb (4.4 miles and 1850') was tough. I racked up 12.5 hours this week in 162 miles and 16.5K' of climbing.

Today was my very first group ride ever, 32 miles for me, with the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen. There were several rides of different lenghts and between 50 and 80 people riding. Early on I saw and older man, (almost as old as me) with a boy of about 9. Both Gran Pa and boy were moving at a good clip. Temperature was in lower 40s F with almost no wind.

Riding in a group was a very interesting experience for me. Group riding is a great labor saving technique. The difference between energy expense in riding on your own and in a group is considerable. I can see how team riding got started.

My goal for the year is to ride a century so I'm pushing the pace and leaning into climbs with the idea that I'll get stronger as summer progresses. The club sponsors a century ride they call The Flattest Ride In The East. I think there is a century ride in Long Island that is actually flatter, but hey, whose's measuring. It is clear to me I will need many more base miles to undertake such a long effort.

The difficulty I came across last year had to do with recovery for an old guy. Yep, I read about recovery and recovery for old guys and gals but this area of training/nutrition is more important that I at first thought. In fact it is crutial. I finished my first year of cycling much srtonger than when I began but I finished, not so much tired, but with little interest in riding any more. I put on fairly serious muscle in the quads last year. My reading of the situation is that I will have to pay much closer attention to recovery nutrition and continue to push the pace as conditions allow. After all is said and done, I'm absolutely delighted to see both the very young and not so young out riding.

Today I rode the 57 mile route of the St. Patrick's Ride in Dublin, GA. It was much cooler than yesterday's upper 80s today, ranging from 55 to 65 while I rode. They seemed to have a good turnout. I saw several friends from various places. Many said they were planning to do our club's April Fools ride in 2 weeks.

I like the new 57 mile route. There were a lot of small hills and a few bigger ones. I latched on to a group of riders from Augusta for much of the ride.

As I finished on my black Roubaix, the DJ was playing AC/DC's Back in Black. :)


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/74128027

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluesda...11704858/show/

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/...c6408897_o.jpg
DSCF0813 by BluesDawg, on Flickr
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5298/...14310981_z.jpg
IMG_1451 by BluesDawg, on Flickr

40.5 miles Saturday, it rained all day today, my rest day anyway. I'll head out again tomorrow.

Yesterday: Rain
Tomorrow: Rain
Today: 44 miles, 50f, sunny with calm air.

47 miles @ 22.1 mph in yesterdays race. Today was an easy spin for 40 minutes that I appreciated because of sore hamstrings and lower back from some pretty hard efforts. I'm on recovery week and its supposed to rain the next few days and possibly snow on Thursday. Great timing with only a few easy rides and minimum core/resistance work on the schedule.

Yes, I agree. Nutrition is key!

Great effort, enjoy you commitment to good health.

Windy, windy, windy, but got in a couple of hours. WOW, did I say it was windy?

Today
http://icons-ecast.wxug.com/i/c/k/partlycloudy.gifMostly sunny. Windy. Highs 67 to 73. South winds 10 to 20 mph increasing to southwest 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 40 mph in the afternoon.

Not today. Pouring down rain and windy.
Besides this was a good day to replace a tree that froze from our record cold winter. I guess global warming is over.

14 miles yesterday evening including a very steep but short hill. Short enough that really hard breathing starts about the time I reach the top.
7 miles this evening. Almost time to switch to shorts. Except that it is supposed to be dry but in the 40's this weekend.

11.5 miles of hill repeats, and it's not even 7:00AM yet! What the hell was I thinking?

:thumb: Great ride report!