Hot and breezy start at 5:30 PM for a short 33 mile ride to Raleigh and back. US 41 is flat and smooth, with a wide bike lane...a good road to maintain a decent head of steam. Followed up with a nice swim, and a small dinner.

If I can keep up this pace, I could go over 6k for the year (we'll see). And I still have the 2018 Roubaix Pro to look forward to in December! But I don't think I'll part with the Domane.

Sunday - 6 tandem miles including a couple of local short hills just before a storm blew through. Last half mile was in the rain but lighting waited until after we were in the garage.
Today - biked to work and back. 21 miles. Very very pleasant weather.

56 miles, was supposed to be very hot, but didn't get over the high 80s.
There was a bike race yesterday on the same road I rode today, this was fromthe feed zone.

https://s4.postimg.org/sqs23vokd/Bike_Race2.jpg

28.1 miles (45.2k), nice n' fast solo ride. The cool air felt good this morning.

2017: 3,375m (5,431k) ♂ Total: 18,363m (29,553k)

25 miles with my riding buddy and 15 solo miles for the day. Weather was hot and humid but at least it didn't rain.

Got 21 miles in this morning as the sun came up. Felt good, tried to keep a high cadence.

40 strong solo miles in hot and breezy conditions.

74.06 KM - age +1.06 (goal was 74 km, turned 73 on Sunday). 23 miles mainly NW, 23 miles back, with a 12 mph SE wind. A friend had his b'day party at noon on Sunday, so I couldn't ride that far then. Yesterday, the wind was in the right direction, which means it would have blown against me on the way out instead of the way back, but it was too cold, and the sky was cloudy. I haven't really enjoyed any cloudy day rides this year. Today was sunny, so today was the day.

112 miles yesterday in 2 segments. First segment started at 2:43AM and was 63 miles making all right turns except for 1 screw-up. Second segment was meeting up with the Tuesday 8:30AM group but only 1 rider showed and he called it quits after 4 miles. Pretty much 49 additional miles by myself.

Today I was out by 12:25AM for my Memorial 100 Mile Ride for Pete who died 5 years ago today after being hit by a semi. He and 2 cycling buddies had a bit over 700 miles left to complete their Prudhoe Bay to Key West ride when they were hit.

Whoa.

Hereabouts, starting rides in the wee hours of the morning has come to be known as leaving "Dad early."

Anyone crazy enough to do that is OK in my book. If you ever make it out to SoCal, give us a shout.

:thumb: :thumb: 12:25AM today had temperature 83F and 78% humidity

Good 40 mile ride this morning before taking the wife's bike back to the shop to get her brakes done. I tried doing them on Monday, but got frustrated trying to get the pads out of the Avid BB5 disk brakes. They're no where's as easy as BB7's,

27.8 miles (44.7k). A bit cloudy yesterday, sunny today but mid 60s to start. Felt good. My ride ends weekly at the Senior Center (Sparks) for a free lunch and they're always good. Since I don't cook it's the only balanced meal I get :)

2017: 3,403m (5,476k) ♂ Total: 18,391m (29,597k)

A good 40 mile ride to end the week early, as I'm heading north to take care of my parents tomorrow. Rode pretty much every day since last Monday, and got in some good solid efforts. I'll be back in town Sunday, so back at it when I return.

24 miles Wednesday night. Even after dark the temp was in the 90s, but tolerable without the sun, and the humidity was low. I keep shooting for a 16 mph average on this particular rural route and it continues to elude me -- I hit 15.8 mph per Cyclemeter, 15.6 mph per Strava. On the plus side, I finally managed to hold or exceed 200 watts on some hill climbs, another elusive goal -- I am very definitely not a strong climber and never have been, even when I was younger. So, a little progress.

First 'group' ride
 

25 miles, in 3 segments, 7.5 x 2 (commute), and then 10 miles on my first 'group' ride.

As only one other person wanted to ride the short ride, and that other person had never ridden this particular route, I came to learn how to ride with a group, and ended up leading one!

Just the usual commute this morning ... 17 flat miles. But the beach was sooo beautiful. Felt like taking the day off and getting in touch with my aquatic side.

https://vgy.me/okImMw.jpg

I have been lurking here for about a year and last year I seem to remember you were doing like 13-14 mph average. it seems like you have ramped it up. I know you have some physical issues as well as being close to 60 (I believe). Congrats on that effort paying off.:thumb:

Thanks, [MENTION=453329]DougRNS[/MENTION]! August 2015 was my first time back in the saddle after 30+ years away, and consequent injuries from a car wreck followed by the usual gettin' old stuff. It was a long, gradual grind getting back into shape.

I didn't begin using cycling apps until late 2015 and my average speed was 9 mph, including through early 2016 on a heavy comfort hybrid. Statistically, I was a typical Copenhagen cyclist. ;)

Recently I reviewed all my cycling data and wasn't too surprised to discover the effects of selective memory. I remembered averaging 12-13 mph in 2016. Actually, that was late 2016 after I got a lighter, faster hybrid bike and really began cranking down on the workouts after a year of easing into things. My real overall average for 2016 was just over 10 mph. My solo rides averaged a little faster, but I also participated in a lot of casual group rides at closer to a 8-10 mph pace.

I still didn't really have any methodical workout plan. I was just riding when I felt like it, as fast or slow as I felt comfortable with, and rode as little or as long as I wanted. But by the spring of 2017 I felt like I'd plateaued in conditioning. The same modest hills were still just as challenging. We have few continuous long hills, mostly lots of roller coaster 3%-5% grades of 0.3-0.5 miles long, with a 100-400 yard downhill slope, then another climb, and so on. And those are mostly outside of town. It's a long, gradual downhill grade to the downtown area where most casual group rides congregate, so I wasn't really getting much of a workout although the social aspect was fun.

So in early June this year I got a somewhat lighter older road bike, a 23 lb Centurion Ironman from 1989, and began interval training, lots of 10-20 mile hard rides, mostly within a few minutes of home. Those nearby roller coaster hills are ideal for that. Took a few weeks to begin to see any progress but it's coming along. And the longer casual rides on the hybrid feel like a vacation now.

I'm setting reasonable goals:

• Breaking 16 mph on a rural route that I've ridden dozens of times. Getting closer, just under 16 mph the past few attempts. A friend, only a little younger than I, who's in beast mode on every ride, averages 20 mph on the same routes. I'll never manage that, but I'll take what I can get.
• Sustaining 200 watts or more on our modest roller coaster climbs. Finally accomplished that the past week, several times on Wednesday night's ride. (My friend averages 200 watts on entire rides of 20-50 miles, but, again, I'm satisfied with my own progress.)

Next goals are the ride-my-age rides on a couple of milestones: last day of August, which was when I resumed cycling in 2015; and my birthday -- I'll be 60 this year. And I want to ride a century this year. I'm in good enough shape but it's hard to find time to devote an entire day to the effort. I'm caregiver for my ailing mom, the third older family member I've done this for, and while she's okay alone for a couple of hours at a time her perception of time is erratic and she tends to forget to take her meds, eat meals, etc., so I'll need to arrange for someone to look in on her while I'm gone all day trying to tackle a century ride.

Sounds like you got a good plan and so far it seems like it's working. Best of luck and I'm rooting for you. A 16 mph average isn't all that shabby.

4 mile commute, 4 miles out to the ride meetup point, another 8 to the TT start point, 12 mile TT with the club, then about 6 miles home. An couple miles for an errand later, for about 30 today.

100F when I left the office, so it was a bit rough the first few miles.

Did the usual 40 mile route with my buddy, Frank C, this morning. Humidity wasn't bad today but the heat was pretty bad. Weather app was reporting 90-94º temps with "Feels Like" temps of 100-105º. And those are morning temps.

26-mile turnaround point at Damariscotta boat launch park

24.4 miles (39.3k). Waited 8½ months for nice weather to get here. I'm averaging 25.7 miles/day and 180 miles/week for July. Not bad for an ol' duffer (over 70).

2017: 3,451m (5,554k) ♂ Total: 18,440m (29,676k)

biked to work again. and back home again. 22 miles.