21.8 miles on the Roubaix. 8AM (sharp) is still illusive, but 8:18 is okay (64°). 103° expected for the high today thru Friday. Brrrrr.

2016: 2,883 Miles ♂ Total Miles: 12,481
Allez 1143/3575 · Roubaix 1179/3712 · Tarmac 178/178 · Sirrus 188/2223 · Trike 194/1778



The indentation between the nose and the upper lip is called the philtrum.

After work today, 20.2 mi 1:00:01 Last local ride before I get to CO.

Both yesterday and today: 19 mile trips to and from work.

Yes... it was STUPID hot and after 30 minutes in the sun, my left arm and leg were burning. Not from heat but more like a rash. It was from infrared radiation. I decided to alter my route and take some streets with shade. I also cut the mileage down.

23 miles @ 15.5 mph and 93*

Bonked. Hit the wall. Cracked. Whatever you call it, Thursday was the hardest 16 miles since... well, since my first ride last August when I made it one mile before collapsing.

Okay, slight exaggeration. But my body felt dead today. Lead legs, asthma, drowning in my own juices, you name it. Can't even blame the wind or heat, I felt lousy before I started.

And it was still totally worth it.

33 slow, solo miles today. Doing another 20+ mph ride tomorrow, if the gang rides, so I decided to rest the legs today. I don't think I ever got past 17 mph during the entire ride. Felt good!

23 miles after having taken a couple of easy weeks in order to refresh my legs.

This RA is a really nasty auto-immune disease. I made it through Viet Nam, marriage, raising a kid on my own, car wrecks, motorcycle wrecks, bicycle crashes, and I'm still walking. But now my body is attacking itself. Go figure. My hands are swollen up like balloons but I'm not gonna let a little thing like disability keep me from riding. 18.4 miles on the Allez.
Still in the process of restoring the Tarmac. New cassette (12-30 vs 12-25 on there now-yet to be installed) and chain rings on the way. It's so worn I can probably sell my 53 chain ring as a saw blade.

2016: 2,901 Miles ♂ Total Miles: 12,499
Allez 1162/3593 · Roubaix 1179/3712 · Tarmac 178/178 · Sirrus 188/2223 · Trike 194/1778



You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

Yup, those auto-immune diseases are annoying. Today felt like a relapse of the Hashimoto's symptoms, which had been under control for most of the past year. The left side gland is swollen again. But I got out and rode, and the cycle app shows I was only a little slower than when I feel good. Just felt much slower, even though it wasn't.

Just got back from a nice 17.30 mile bicycle ride along River Road, here in the western suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. I rode along River Road all the way out to Patterson Ave (Route 6), turned around and rode the same way all the way back home. A nice, smooth, 17.30 mi "out 'n back" ride.

Maybe someone could explain something for me... You know that I had a recent bout with sciatica and trouble with my lower back at L5/S1. I was told by a neurologist to take it easy, do exercises, don't do this, don't do that, etc... and very slowly and carefully work my way back to where I was. I did that 17.30 mile ride in 1hr 8min and 30sec, for about a 15mph speed (avg). I took it nice and easy and was cautious about going up onto the 52t chainring. But anyway, whenever my lower back would start to "feel funny", I would reach down to the lower handlebars, straighten my back, and it seemed like there was no pressure on L5/S1 and my back muscles, tendons, etc... were getting stretched out while maintaining a straight spine. Is that right? Using the lower handlebars can help with back troubles?

Here is a view of the 288 expressway, looking south from River Road. Way way in the distance, is the James River and the 288 bridge crossing (don't know if you can see it though).

My beautiful C&V 1985 Fuji Del Rey, 12 speed, road bike on the bridge overpass (balanced by the handlebar against the steel railing).

Another 33 mile ride before the rain came but this time it was with the gang and it was much faster than yesterday's solo ride.

About the back issue: It all depends on what the problem is. In your case, stretching down to the drop portion of the handlebar probably took much of the weight off the vertebrae that are pinching your sciatic nerve. That weight then goes to the wrists, which may start aching on a long ride.

No, I'm not a doctor; I don't even play one on TV. But I've been dealing with my own back issues for the past 20 years, and find that I do need to ride in the upright position - drops cause excruciating pain for me.

BTW, that's a beautiful bike! Since I built my `81 Royale into a city bike, I have become a big fan of the Fuji frames.

21 miles roundtrip to #1 son's house to weed his garden while hubby and he worked on son's garage extension. Unfortunately, have to drive the car (with bike inside) 10 miles to get to the MUP, but from there to #1 son's house is a breeze. Tree shaded and smooth as silk. Lots and lots of cyclists out today enjoying the nicer temps which have dropped to the mid 80's from the past several weeks baking us in the mid to upper 90's.

Typically, with your hands resting against the curve of the shifters, your weight is evenly distributed by 3rds, meaning only 1/3 of your weight is on your back. I had a severe back injury in Southeast Asia 1965 and now at age 70 it's caught up to me. With my hands in that position (not all the way down on the drop bars but against the shifters) I feel more comfortable and have basically no back pain than when on the Sirrus with flat bars and a more upright position.
As DQRider pointed out some of the weight is transferred to your hands/wrists. I ride with Benik wrist wraps (soft foam) and they supply that little bit of extra support, no pain. Your wrist muscles will build up in time. My left wrist (acute carpal tunnel) does go to sleep often, but I shake that off.

20.8 miles on the Tarmac. Getting pretty warm, 73° at 8:30AM. But there's a cooling trend, only 99° today.

2016: 2,922 Miles ♂ Total Miles: 12,520
Allez 1162/3593 · Roubaix 1179/3712 · Tarmac 199/199 · Sirrus 188/2223 · Trike 194/1778



There are 1 million ants for every human in the world.
(and a lot of them are in my kitchen)

My younger daughter (and my biking buddy) are down visiting my older daughter in Orlando, so this morning we rode about 5 miles on mostly residential streets to the start of the Cady Way Trail, about 7 miles of dedicated old rail line (I think) turned into a bike trail. Nice quiet trail with only one major road crossing, and it had a great bridge for trail use only. Then as we crossed from Orange County to Seminole County the same trail becomes the Cross Seminole Trail, again all flat & quiet except for one major road with a dedicated bridge to cross. We followed it about another 7 miles before we hit some construction, decided to turn around since we wanted to be back by noon before it got hot. Please understand it was already in the high 80's by the time we started early this morning, into high 90's by the time we finished, and the humidity was about the same. Not bad day, though it was hot we still did almost 40 miles!

34 miles Friday night, between a group ride and the ride to and from. Fun group.

Thanks... I was wondering about that. My lower back at L5/S1 is messed up, and has been for 55 years. I am what they call a "swayback mule", and I have a slight tip right at L5/S1 and was most likely born with it. Any construction work, chopping firewood, etc... and my lower back screams at me. I always have to wear one of those back supports whenever I do anything that requires heavy lifting or anything really physical that constantly uses the back muscles.

If I ride sitting completely upright way up on the center of the bars, my lower back will "talk to me" after a while. If I ride leaned over with my hands on the hoods, I'm perfectly fine and could ride all day like that, but only occasionally my lower back will feel tight, such as if I struggle to get up a hill and haven't shifted yet. But yet, if I stretch out and ride in the drops, I feel tightness in my lower back, but it goes away soon, as the back muscles adjust to the stretching. After a quite a while in the drops, my hips will start to ache a little, but most importantly "Mr. Happy" will speak up, "Hey, um, can you sit up a little? I need to breathe!"

10 miles with my dear wife on the Salado Greenway here in South Texas. Hot and steamy but still great.

The wife and I got to the park around 7:00 am and were getting ready to ride when I got a text from my buddy saying he was going to be late. So I take off and do a slow paced, 12 mile ride while waiting for him. I get back to the parking lot, he's not there. I ride 4 more miles down to the loop and back and get another text saying he won't be there until 9:15, so I do another slow lap through the adjoining city park. Got to the parking lot and the finally made it, so we take off and get on full loop done and it starts raining. I really wanted to do a 50+ mile ride today but I guess 37 miles was in the cards.

15.5 leisurely miles in and around Deer Grove in Palatine Il. with a cute new riding companion. My kind of biker chick!

79 miles. avg pace 18.9 mph

19 miles Friday riding to and from work - no rain on me although it rained hard other places around Indy.
Today - 21 solo miles from home out to some used-to-be-rural areas and back. A few hills.

36 mi solo, slow at times (enjoying the scenery). It was a beautiful day. Had a couple of coyotes cross the path, saw some great blue herons and great egrets.

All the trails are pretty washed out from the Deluge we had yesterday (that I got caught in).

44 miles from my house to Palisade, Colorado. A beautiful day.

That's impressive.