Machka 

Tell us about your rides this weekend ... or on the days surrounding the weekend. Do you have autumn colours yet where you are? Spring flowers? Hot/cold? Rain/sunshine?
Where did you ride? Who did you ride with?

[HR][/HR]

Friday -- I managed a 2.5 km walk + the last set of 25 flights of stairs, bringing the stairs total to 125 flights for the week.


Saturday -- it's sunny out there and 16 degrees, so we'll be getting ready to go shortly.

smarkinson

Had a couple of days off due to rain but rode 75km in 3 hours on Saturday. Checked out a few new streets. Always nice to go exploring. Managed to pick up 6th place on a strava segment on one of those new streets. We can just ignore the fact there are only 7 riders on that segment can't we?

To finish I have to ride a 2km hill that averages 6%. When I turned onto the hill there was a casual cyclist struggling his way up. His cadence was really low and he was struggling and starting to drift across the road. I passed him doing 20kmh, he couldn't have been doing more than 8kmh, and I noticed he was still in the middle of his rear cassette.

As I passed I could hear a faint call of "not fair" to which I encouragingly replied "use your gears mate, use your gears".

A nice day out. Even the motorists weren't as stupid as they usually are.

Machka 

Saturday -- Rowan and I cycled 42 km in an area we haven't cycled in a while. Just a few weeks ago, we cycled in the start/finish area, but this time, we headed another direction.

The ride was an interesting mix of flat and climbing with 311 metres of climbing. The main hill had a 16% grade, and the last time I tackled it, I struggled a lot. I was dying. So much so, we haven't returned to this route in about a year. But today it was OK. Sure I was in the granny, but I made it up without much in the way of huffing and puffing or back pain (thank goodness).

The weather was also perfect ... sunshine, not much wind, and 19C.

And just as we returned to the start area, we cycled through a suburb full of smells of spring flowers and BBQs.

Jakedatc

sat: bike shop ride 30mi then added another 16mi solo to round out the day. probably taking tomorrow off so i wanted more miles today.

bruce19

Friday.....a 15 mi. rail/trail with my gf and another female friend. Just poked along and enjoyed the woods.

Today......a 48 mi. ride with our clubs' B ride. A little over 3,000 ft. of climbing and some nice flats where we pace lined. Averaged 15.6 mph.

Lazyass

This morning I rode 32 miles it was pretty good nice and cool I averaged 18.9mph a headwind kept following me though no I don't know why I'm typing this because no one reads these posts or cares about them anyways have a good day now.

Rowan

Don't they? Or are you just passive-aggressively attention-seeking?

kbarch

Late in the season, when rides don't go our way, I think some of us get a bit more cranky than usual. I know that was me last weekend.

Machka 

Yeah, I figured you were having one of those moments last weekend.

Machka 

Got pics??

growlerdinky

Santa Clarita half century today. 50 miles / 2900 feet, 1000° (or at least it felt like it...)

silversx80

What was supposed to be a Z1/2 ride for over 2 hrs today ended up being over 2 hrs of significant threshold work, with quite a bit of zones 5-7 mixed in. At least my average was Z2.

dksix

My ride today was great. I milestone for me of 50+ miles (averaged 14.1mph and had nearly 3000' of elevation gains) and I got on my first Strava segment leaders broad (30th out of 38 but hey I'm on the leader board). The weather was great, I got started later than I wanted but waited on a new stem that came. I installed the new stem, and my new seat post, oiled the chain and adjusted tire pressure. Everything felt pretty good. When I leave my drive I have a .6 mile climb to warm up on, at the top of it I stopped to adjust my bars and my seat height and when I got back oh everything just felt so good and knew it was going to be a good day. The new 25c tires worked really well at 80psi front and 90psi rear. With the new stem and setback seat post I was able to get down in the drops quiet a bit. First time wearing a helmet and I'm happy with the helmet I bought, it was just a great ride and was spot on what I needed. I did take pictures when I stopped for a rest at the Davy Crockett Birth Place State Park. I'm really getting the bike close on fit, if comfort is a sign of a good fit.

Machka 

Jakedatc

Sun: was going to take today off but a friend was riding so we did a nice moderate 37mi with a few hills to mix things up. perfect weather low 70s and cloudy. now it's time for Pats game

woodcraft

1/2 hr on the spin bike yesterday.

Almost three weeks post ankle sprain.

Standing on the pedals is not too happy. Reached down to manually unclip the injured foot.

Will try an hour ride later today.



Hey Machka & Rowan-

You guys are looking trim, especially for coming out of winter!

Machka 

Thanks

I've spent the last 7 months focusing on losing weight and building some fitness. In that time, I have dropped 46 lbs ... and I'm now nearing my goal weight.

Here's hoping that will making climbing the hills around here a little easier.

kbarch

Yesterday joined a small group for an easy, round-about ride up to Piermont where we met some others who joined us for the ride back to Fort Lee. It was a nice adventure - we got a little lost climbing back up to 9W in Tenafly (a scouting trip in my own town!), and had a little TT fun on a popular straigtaway. I tagged along with three who were returning to Manhattan, where I continued on downtown to pick up a saddle I'd ordered a couple of months ago. (It's a green SMP 'Composit', originally intended for the FG bike, but I think I'll keep it on the Casati, even though it doesn't quite match, though I do think it looks kind of nifty with the green treaded tires I got last weekend).

It was somewhat breezy - headwind on the way downtown, tailwind on the way home, so I managed a few PRs on the return, but the most remarkable one was actually kind of scary. There's a wide open stretch of Riverside Drive that dips down a bit before climbing back up and turning just before a stoplight. I was SO glad the light was green. Somehow I'd managed to pick up a good head of steam from the previous stop, but I couldn't believe how fast I was going uphill. I must have caught a gust or something - managed to maintain 23mph up a 5% grade and was doing 28 shortly after cresting the hill! What I can't get over is that there were well over a hundred other Stravatizers on that segment yesterday, and no one else got so lucky (6/3254 this year).

Today was the Ride for Pie. There had been a threat of rain in the forecast, but weather turned out just fine. A little breezy, but nothing to struggle against, really - just enough to dry one out. The Pie Lady is just up in Nyack, but we took a wide detour to add ten miles to the trip. We lingered there for a while, enjoying the 'dolce far niente,' then made a straight, speedy, disciplined (cops were pulling over cyclists) tailwind-assisted ride home.

So, about 120 miles for the weekend. No medals, no numbers, no cheerleaders, but no driving, either. Instead, PIE, a new saddle, and most of all, good times with good people!

ButchA

Today (Sunday 9/20), I rode 23.75 miles along the James River here in Richmond, VA. I stayed away from downtown with the UCI Bike Races in town and numerous roads are closed.

But anyway, I rode from my house down to the river, and just kept following along Riverside Dr. I rode to Forest Hill Park's entrance and stopped at a kiosk just before the entrance, and took a photo. Behind the kiosk is a MTB trail and links up with Buttermilk Trail (a very nasty, gnarly, "black diamond" type of MTB trail). All in all, I did the 23.75 mi ride in 1:34 for a 15.3 mph pace.

redtires

Wasn't able to get out Saturday due to work and some other obligations. Sunday was perfect for a 28 mile loop around Boulder...

Machka 

Sunday -- Rowan and I started the day by going to the movies and watching Pan.
Rowan's review: Rowan's Pan Review

Then we did a 27.6 km ride on the Cycleway.

We headed out, into the wind and generally up hill. That was a little bit of a slog but we kept up a reasonable pace. Then we reached the turnaround point, had a quick bite to eat and set off with a welcome bit of a tailwind.

It wasn't long before we were passed by three roadies, and I decided to pick up the pace a bit and keep them in sight. I didn't want to wheelsuck or get involved in their paceline or anything, just wanted to see if I could keep pace with them at a bit of a distance. And we did! We hung with them most of the way back. They probably weren't going flat out or anything, it was probably a fairly relaxed ride for them, but they were definitely moving faster than I normally do. Since we were on the Cycleway, there were several places where we all had to slow down to cross a road, so the return trip turned into intervals ... slowing to cross the road, riding hard to the next intersection, slowing again, riding hard again ... good workout!!

Chiefsandme

I've been riding since last March. I started at 280 pounds on a hybrid, lost 65 pounds bought a road bike in September. Last September I did 2 , 65 mile events gran fondo in Tehachapi Ca, and the Lighthouse ride in Morro bay. This weekend I did my 1st Century!!!!! I did the 100 mile Gran fondo in Tehachapi Ca, with 7800+ climbing!!! I'm so happy! It was awesome! Can't wait till my next adventure.

Jofu

I rode up Haleakala in Maui on Saturday! Total climb was ~10600ft, a first for me, was pretty crazy...

I highly recommend it to anyone who goes to Maui!

Geoff

Rowan

And I am down 44lbs from my heaviest. We are trying to improve our power-to-weight ratio, as well as our aerobic fitness in readiness for some long-distance riding when the season starts again in November.

sakau2007

Did a 63 mile ride Saturday morning (previous long was 37 miles). Kinda annoyed my Strava app stopped recording my ride two different times so it says I only went 49 miles and I don't have true ride stats. Oh well.

Got a flat a half mile from my destination because I was on a pretty busy 6 lane road and decided to use the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the sidewalk was in pretty terrible shape and there were a couple places where I just winced as I figured I was doing damage to my bike. Never again. I'll just brave the road in the future.

Otherwise, awesome ride. Only about 3500 feet of elevation which is low compared to my average per mile, but it was still pushing me to the limit. Stopped around mile 20 and got a bag of cheez its, mile 35 for a bag of chips, and around mile 55 for two bananas. Felt like I was near bonking on the hills around mile 50, but was able to push through after I got a few more calories.

Next time I go on a long ride, I am definitely going to eat a little bit more before I leave (had just woken up, ate a banana and an 8 ounce glass of milk).