I had a crappy obligatory ride yesterday -- no vision -- but went anyway because it'd been a while and I don't want a gap in conditioning. I've been intensely focused on other things so I rode without the correct frame of mind. I didn't even start feeling warmed up until the return leg. Had a bonus close pass from a car, reminding me of the maxim that however far you are from the curb is how much room they'll give you, in this case, one foot. Could he really not change lanes? But I set him up for it; next time I'll be further out. And I'm wondering if I have an iron deficiency; I've been making dietary changes and have been assuming my multivitamin has iron, which it doesn't. So that was my day, how was yours LOL?

No vehicle issues today! Shadowman was everywhere this morning!

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I finally was able to go for a nice ride on my beloved C&V '85 Fuji Del Rey road bike... You all know how the weather has been! Nice during the week, rain on the weekends, over and over and over. :(

Anyway, since I'm off my school bus now, I decided to go for a nice, quick, 15½ mile ride down to the James River here in Richmond, Virginia, turn around and head back home. 15½ miles in 01:01:00 for a nice smooth 15.3 mph speed.

Here's a quick photo I took, looking downstream at the James River (can't quite see the metro Richmond skyline). There is a real nice grassy lawn area along the river with a real small sandy beach too. People always walk their dogs there, wade in the river, let their dogs swim, etc...

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Lastly, I continued on along Riverside Dr and kept going to the other side, under the bridge, and out to another road called Hickory that leads to another larger secondary road called Cherokee. I turned around and headed back from there.

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Capped off the beautiful riding weather we've had all week with another roadie ride. SFO approach in the background.
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IMG_8653 by 2cam16, on Flickr

Did my longest ride, since taking up biking again, today. 27 miles.
Here's a picture looking toward a town (Kenai, Alaska). This one trip, I didn't ride into Kenai.

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bridge access to Kenai

I did ten miles today while my wife was shopping in Walmart. There is a nearby rails2trails. 5 miles down hill, 5 miles up hill back.

Great weather here today, 70's, dry and clear.. for a change. Took a break from the project from hell (dining room makeover) and did 17+ mile ride. Good average as well.. for me anyway.

17 mile ride this morning with spouse/stoker but today on single bikes - she on her Trek Verge+ and me on my short wheelbase RANS V-Rex. Warm and sunny, kind of like Summer. Wait..........it is Summer today!

10.75 miles, off road, muddy trails, ruts and gravel, all hills. Took a bit over an hour.

20 minute TT with power meter to establish a baseline. It was also a birthday ride. :bday:

37 miles on a club ride this morning. One challenging hill on the route - not a problem, which was not always the case.

94°F yesterday afternoon with INDEX pushing 100+°F so I waited until 11:24pm when temp was at 84°F and INDEX at 94°F. Easy going ride, winds were 8mph, plenty of stars and a nice moon after its rise allowed for 101 automobile interaction free miles. Made it back home for a shower/kit change, something to eat and after the sun came up I was back out for another 26 miles. Hoped to ride more but the temps were rising along with the wind.


Great ride !! :thumb: but I was expecting the proverbial ----- "Rode a 5 mile out and back today. It was uphill and into the wind both ways"

39 miles of gravel, 4,300’. Parked at Dartmouth Ski Way, NH, and rode an out-and-back in one direction, then back to the car and an out-and-back in the other direction. Then back to the car for a short drive to another out-and-back above Goose Pond. Having a hard time finding long gravel loops on my side of NH.

Beautiful ride this morning and last night.
200 miles this week. Week three of 30 plus miles a day.
I don't post daily because most of my rides are the same in terms of mileage.
Humidity makes a huge difference in my rides and recovery.

Well there was kind of a little dip there in the middle...

Did 16 miles yesterday on a highway to town and back. This is kind of my "control group" I use to judge my own current fitness or changes I'll make on the equipment. It is smooth, black top all the way, long sloping hills. The biggest variable is wind but it can be a problem.

I've been making that ride for years and years and the fastest I've ever done it was about a hour and 4 minutes. Always been my goal to make that trip out and back on the bike in an hour even.

Getting back into riding after a hiatus of several months. Did 10 miles today in calm, sunny 73° weather, 10 yesterday dealing with a slightly obnoxious headwind, and 10 the day before with a howling headwind, all while getting acquainted with my newest bike - a Giant with a carbon belt drive and road grade fat tires. Have wanted a carbon drive for a while, and the fat tires have opened the doors to explore our local 100+ miles of surrounding historic gravel roads. The 10 miles is one "ride around the block" for me, half on gravel, the other half on paved road. I can now make a complete loop instead of an up-and-back which I had to do with my other bikes.

Life is good.
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Several miles of peaceful gravel roads dating back to the 1700s.
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Stopped to enjoy a view of the Blue Ridge (Virginia) mountains and a local hayfield being cut to the old saying that one needs to "make hay while the sun shines"...as it was doing this morning after an entire Spring of relentless rain and fields too wet to cut.

That's really pretty. I love that gravel road.

Did!
 

67 miles for a metric century plus to fight cancer. A 15 year old steel bike (Jamis Quest) running well after my LBS straightened out the derailleur hanger. Yay

Did 43 miles today in warming S. Florida weather. Three of us rode ages 65, 71 and 74 (me).

However, ran across nother biker who pulled us at 18-19 MPH for several miles. Our target speed is 17 or so for Sundays. Then going into marina, a young rider (in 20s) rode by us about half a mile out. Our new friend pulled out and beat him into the marina — going well over 20 MPH.

Oh yes, new guy is 80 years old. Want to be like him when I grow up.

Doing a gravel loop in Chelsea, VT involved a couple of stretches of muddy, shoe-sucking class IV roads. Those are the dashed lines on the map.


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54 miles with 2800’ of hills.

Eech! I've done those, but that's a nasty one.
The last time I did, and it will be the last time, it was flooded pond mud that stank to high heaven.
Good ride !

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Perfect shade for a hot humid day, and/or a cool end-of-day bike ride. A deer had just walked across the road into the woods before I took this shot. Sorry I missed getting it in the picture.
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Heading off down the gravel road across from our farm. Blue Ridge mountains in the distance.
12+ miles on our local tree shaded gravel roads. No mud thankfully, just harmless ditch puddles from the recent downpours late this afternoon. Temps and humidity were both hellish throughout the morning and afternoon, and I had too many projects leaving me no time to ride. Towards evening, however, after the thunderstorms, it was cool and inviting with nice breezes. An after dinner bike ride was calling me, so kissed hubby goodbye while he continued relaxing with his reading and the dogs to their napping. It was a good time to add a few more miles as the freshly washed gravel roads were peaceful with several sightings of deer and one red fox. And exactly 3 cars. Wasn't in any hurry - the route was so serene and beautiful with deep shade almost the entire way, and multiple views of the mountains. Got home just a few minutes before sunset, relaxed and happy. Really loving the new bike.

Ten mile ride from home this afternoon after the rain went away (and before it came back later.).
No flats today, unlike Sunday when front tire caught a tiny sharp piece of glass. Very boring story of finding the glass and puncture location, removing tire/tube, and replacing with spare tube, pumping up and riding home - was already on the way home. Tire and rim played well with each other. Patched puncture in tube at home and replaced it in emergency supplies bag on the bike. I very, very seldom suffer flats on rides. Can you hear me knocking on my head?

Interesting experience
 

On Sunday, I was riding through the city to pick up the highway at Warrens. Spooners Hill is a very nice hill, it has 3 parts to it, and each steep, but relatively short. At Eagle Hall there is an intersection. It is generally a busy intersection, because both crosstown busses and north/south busses come from all directions at that intersection. I wanted to go right to pick up Spooners Hill. To my surprise, there was a cyclist first at each corner, and I do not remember that ever happening before. On green and arrow, as I made my right across traffic, I heard someone beeping at a cyclist at one of the corners. Damn car people, nothing is ever fast enough for them.