50's today, MUCH better than the 19* I rode to work in last Thursday! Rode to the gym and back after work, total of about 10 miles before the sun went down and it started cooling off rapidly. Come on Spring!

My first outdoor ride of the year! Two hours with my team on a tempo ride in 43 degree warmth. It really felt great to be back on the road again. No pain in the ankle although I never got out of the saddle.

Ha, I looked at my bike, picked it up, sat on it then rolled it across the kitchen floor. First ride on a road bike this year and first ride on any bike in well over a month. Yea me!

20 miles today - 40's, breezy, gray but dry! Supposed to start raining tonite and then back to winter for a while.

25 miles - 40 degrees. My legs feel like rubber

I succumbed to cabin fever today and headed out on a cool afternoon for a 28 mile ride. At just below 50F, it was about as cold as I can comfortably ride on the road with the riding gear I have. With better gloves and toe warmers I could go a little lower.

The ride was very nice until near the end when an ignorant, dumb@$$, $#!%-for-brains @$$hole decided she was in too big a hurry to wait for me to get over a short hill so she passed me in her minivan full of children despite the oncoming car and my waving my arm signaling for her to wait and not pass me. She somehow managed to squeeze between us without hitting either of us, but it was close.

But it didn't ruin my ride. I feel a lot better now than I would have if I had sat on my keester all day.

100 windy miles yesterday, Temps 65* to 75* 16 mph winds.
Kicked my butt.

Went to the desert and logged 25 miles in the blue skies and perfect 58° temps.

Just a couple of pictures of the Gopher Tortoises that I see on my ride. This one was in front of his cave sunning himself or her self I am not sure of the gender and I didn't bother to check.

Just now figured out how to add attachments.

You don't want to get too close to those Tortoises - they are a lot faster than you would think and can be on your ankle in a moment!

I threw some cabbage leaves out in front of him for a distraction, snapped the shutter and jumped on the bike just befor he sprang into action. It was a sight to see both of us going down the trail.....

Finally did some riding today on my new Trek 7.2fx.

The rain we've been having all this week here in AZ has given us a break. Was a nice partly sunny day with temps in the high 50's. My nephew Alex was over so we headed out to do about 4 or 5 miles through the neighborhood. Had a fairly strong headwind for part of the ride, so it was brisk but enjoyable. Alex was riding my Navigator. We stopped and I snapped a couple of pics with my crackberry. Have a look.



Me with the 7.2. What looks a lake behind me is actually one of the parks in my subdivision which also acts as a rainfall retention area. It rarely gets this full, really does look like a small lake.


Since we did have some sun I snapped a decent picture of the 7.2. So far I've added the rack, Bontrager Deluxe trunk, and a Forte Contour saddle. The stock Bontrager saddle just wasn't doing it for me, size was good but just too hard. Maybe down the road as my old butt gets broken in again to cycling, I can switch back but for now I needed just a bit more padding. Inside the rear trunk I tossed in a spare tube, Hurricane Quick Shot Pro CO2 inflator, and a set of steel core tire levers.



Was a nice enjoyable ride. Still getting used to the 7.2. This was the first time I've been able to get out on it for anything farther than a couple of miles. I had to tweak the FD just a bit for the middle chainring. I can see a few areas that I still need to get setup to my liking. Dialing in the post height and getting the new saddle angle and position set. Had a bit of numbness in my hands when I got home but that might have been from the temp rather than the bike. Gloves would have been good to have along today. One thing I noticed was that there's not alot of room on the handlebar to vary your grip. It's like OK here's the grip, hope you like it because there ain't room to grip it anywhere else.

Hope to get out for another ride tomorrow if the weather holds.

Carl

Yea boy. 30 miles here in S. Illinois. Very damp an a stiff wind out of the south. Temp around 40. I rode into it going out then flew back with a tailwind. Coming back like that takes the pain out of riding out into the wind.
Summer will be nice but winter has its advantages. Not much traffic today because there were no tourists out in this weather. Also, a group of 8 whitetail bucks ran across my path in one secluded area. They bunch up this time of year. Wish I had a video camera.

That looks like the Queen Creek area Carl.

Got back on the bike. We are now into our dry season, so I can ride on the lawn, on the trails, basically wherever I want. Since Costa Rica is volcanic, everything is steep! Trying to get back into serious shape after way too much time in the office. I had to dismount a couple of time for fear of flipping over backwards. Riding down it was fun though, butt back on the wheel to keep from doing an end over.

After I get my legs back, I have some plantations to cruise in - should be fun.

Dry roads today- not much water laying at the sides of the road although off road would have been a bit sticky. Temp in the low 40's would have been ideal and wind strength of not much.

No ride though due to Delhi Belly. Could not go far enough from the loo to take a chance.

Only advantage is I have lost 5lbs in 48 hours.

Go west young man, go west. I'm at the other extreme end of the NW valley in Surprise. You can never tell as all the houses look the same out here. Only the builders names change.

Carl

I did! 26 miles on a 40 yr old bike. temps were in the 30s and the traffic was light. only got buzzed once by a female utility worker. when I pass her she looked interesting. I think maybe she wanted some attention.

Only the second ride of the new year. The snowpack and ice is finally gone along with most of my cold/flu. Did ½ hour on the trainer this morning and an hour ride this afternoon.

Temp in the high 30's with a bit of wind but it felt good to get back in the saddle. I think I'll resume commuting to work tomorrow morning. Time to get rid of the extra 5 to 7 lbs I gained over the holidays.

Dusted off Mrs. Connell and her bike and took them both out this morning. It's the first time either of them have been out in over 2 years so it's a shame that a very strong and viciously cold wind sucked a lot of the fun out of it. Her muscles, such as they are, were protesting almost from the start but even so, she lasted for 45 minutes, which is about 40 minutes longer than I wanted to do.

I had hoped to do 80 miles but wound up doing 96-probably should have done 4 more! Very nice day for riding. Temps were in the 40's with winds around 5-6 mph. It was pretty cloudy for the first half of the ride but the sun came out late. I saw a few others out riding on the road as well.

22 miles today. 40 degrees and blustery. Had 2 does cross road in front of me. One dog chased me but didn't get close enough for a dose of Halt!

23 miles in 42°...it was beautiful. Although the anxiety level tended to elevate a little when coming downhill and entering shaded areas...knowing there "could" be still a little ice on the road.