Bike Forums - Your Weekend (or Week's) Rides -- September 7/8/9

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Your Weekend (or Week's) Rides -- September 7/8/9

Tell us all about your cycling this weekend and/or on the surround week!!

.

I decided to take a day off and make this a long weekend. First long weekend in just over 2 months. :)

Friday --

We walked: 2 km

Then we cycled with our Bike Fridays ...

Distance: 8.05km
Elevation: 84m
Moving Time: 33:42
Elapsed Time: 34:41

...................... Avg ............... Max
Speed ............. 14.3km/h ....... 23.4km/h

And then I ran my fastest run since ... probably since I was a teenager. It was a short run, but that was the goal: to do a short fast run.

Distance: 1.13km
Moving time: 6:43
Elapsed Time: 6:49
Pace: 5:57/km
Elevation: 12m

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2899a1525d.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1864/2...1bb8948ec2.jpg

The other beauty of the day was included with that initial walk -- a visit to the floor on the Royal Hobart Hospital that kept me from dying back in March after my accidental workplace fall. It was really special to me to be recognised by four or five of the male and female nursing staff that knew who I was.

The ride on the Bike Friday machines was relatively short today, but my orange one has been a wonderful return to outdoor cycling for me. They aren't super fast bikes, but comfortable enough for me and I am liking how mine is going.

We are getting to the end of winter here, and I am looking forward to the daily improvement in weather so we can get some evening rides in during the week. I do have to, however, keep some medical staff happy that I am not putting myself at any risk in doing the rides.

Machka is one of the solutions, as she rides along behind me and is accessible to any inquiries or suggestions of what we'll do next.

Saturday -- It was a reasonably nice day today, so we went for another ride up the Cycleway. :)

Distance: 15.12km
Elevation: 142m
Moving Time: 55:48
Elapsed Time: 57:20
Speed: Avg: 16.3km/h | Max: 26.6km/h

Then I went for a quick run ...

Distance: 1.50km
Elevation 15m
Moving Time: 10:06
Elapsed Time 10:10
Pace: 6:42/km

Rowan (and I) have done 6 rides outside so far since he started riding again.

I've added the time, distance and elevation and these are the totals for those 6 rides:

Time: 3:52:05
Distance: 58.87 km
Elevation: 571 m

:speedy: :ride: :giver:

Sunday -- More cycling and running ...

Cycling ... on a windy afternoon ...
Distance: 10.63 km
Elevation: 115 m
Moving Time: 40:18
Elapsed Time: 51:12
Speed: Avg: 15.8km/h | Max: 25.6km/h

Running ... on a windy afternoon ...
Distance: 1.50km
Elevation: 4m
Moving Time: 10:08
Elapsed Time: 10:16
Pace: 6:46/km

Club ride that had a big turn out- 18, & intersected with another group, same club, for part so there was a crowd.

I've done my main cycling goals for the year so now can do whatever kind of rides.

The route included some semi-urban terrain with traffic controls, and a number of re-group stops so the average speed was a bit low

(see my thread on the subject), but still some hard efforts and my longest +250w pull to date.

One of the ride leaders was on his TT bike & just passed the big event that he peaked for. He is very narrow & slippery-

so it takes focus just to stay on his wheel.

53, 2,500'

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a5ffbb5fab.jpg

100 miles across the North Cascades Highway yesterday, topped out at about 9,300' of elevation gain and I almost wish we could have found an extra 700 feet somewhere to hit the 10k mark :)
http://i65.tinypic.com/25qym9f.jpg

Crazy weekend here.

Saturday I went out early just to get a few miles in and clear my head for what was going to be a long weekend. Encountered a friend coming the other way about the point where I was going to turn around - he stopped and I turned around, we chatted a bit and rode together for a few miles until we had to part ways, some "slowcial" and a little bit of hammering - good times. Got home about the time I needed to, to pack for the drive down to Philadelphia for a wedding in the afternoon, with the bike for today's ride in the trunk, ready to go. 31 miles, 1,900', with a couple of nice climbing PRs.

If things went to plan, I'd have three hours to get ready once I got to the hotel. Well, I lost about 15 minutes of that searching for my bow tie, to no avail. No biggie, I'd be in Center City, so I'd just pick one up when I got there. Needed to make a detour into Manhattan to pick up bib number and such, and it wasn't too much trouble getting where I needed to be, but it took FOREVER to get back to Jersey. At that point it was looking like I'd have maybe 90 minutes to get ready. Well, turns out, somehow the navigation system in the car mistook the address I entered for some place way up in Germantown or something. :eek: Making matters worse, when I tried using the navigation app on my phone, it kept losing gps signal as it tried to direct me through the most crazy maze of streets.... Finally got to the hotel just 40 minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start. Fortunately, there was a Nordstrom's Rack right next door to the hotel, and they had bow ties! Long line, though. Woman in front of me, with a HUGE pile of stuff, though, kindly said "you look like you're about to have a nervous breakdown - why don't you go ahead of me?" :lol: Rushed up to my room, got cleaned up and dressed and back downstairs with about ten minutes to get to the church, which was a little more than half a mile a way. Could have walked, but fortunately there were taxis queued up, and got to the church with a minute to spare. :) But of course it was a few minutes before the music even started....

Very nice ceremony, and plenty of time before the reception to rest a bit back at the hotel. Most folks were staying at the hotel where the reception was held, and there was a shuttle bus for guests which I took, though my hotel was a short walk from there. After getting a can of Pringles from the mini bar (starved - no lunch!) and a 20 minute nap, headed over to the reception, but (here's where we get back to cycling) wouldn't you know - just as I was approaching Rittenhouse Square, one of those crazy nudist rides is going by, blocking the route :rolleyes: Fortunately, it ended before long, but it was pretty gross. Not that nudity itself is gross, just that what happened to be on display - what was being paraded by - was not what one wanted to see. Anyhow... reception was very nice - one of those big fancy productions. Plenty to eat during cocktail hour (more like two hours), which was a good thing, because it took for EVER to get to the main course, what with all the dancing. Fortunately the bride and groom got around to our table around that time, so shortly thereafter, I took my leave. It was well after 10 already, after 11 by the time I got to bed, and I had to be up at 4:30 (ugh).

Trip back to the city was rainy, but uneventful. The ride was the NYC Century, - not timed or mass start really - just windows of time when the starts (Central and Prospect parks) and aid stations are attended, and I saw some of the first wave of riders go by as I found a place to park and got the bike put together. Didn't go to the official start, since I knew where I'd be able to park and didn't want to waste time driving up to the far end of Central park where who knows how long it would take to find parking.

It was a wet and chilly ride to Brooklyn, but not too bad. Unfortunately, about half way between the bridge and Prospect Park, I got a flat. A slow leak. For the life of me, I couldn't find the hole in the tube, and couldn't find anything in the tire that might have caused it. And I really needed to patch it, because even though I had a spare tube, unfortunately it was the wrong size. (d'oh!) So every mile or so I just pulled over and pumped it back up a bit. Of course it was too early yet for any of the local bike shops to be open, and there was no "neutral support" (or any form of assistance, actually) at the rest stop once I finally got to Prospect Park. There was one working floor pump, though, so I gave it a good pump, headed to the subway just to get back to Manhattan, and managed to ride from Wall Street back up to where I'd parked just before it went flat again. Even if I did manage to get the flat fixed, no way I was going to ride around Jamaica Bay in the cold and wet and run the risk of getting sidelined out there - too old, and too tired today for that kind of adventure. Shoulda blown off the event and stayed at the reception. ;) Marked the ride as "NYC Decade," though I did slightly better - 17 miles, 500' :(

Saturday did the Picnic to Davis Is. ride for around 40 miles. Sunday repeated my new route that takes me by the Upper Tampa Bay trail and then back on the Courtney Campbell trail for 42 miles. It is still stinkin' hot. Afternoon showers are messing up my evening rides. This is one of the wettest late summers I can remember. We are way over the average.

Tried to fit a ride in before between morning and evening rain showers.

Distance: 50k
Time: 1:55
Elevation: 363m

Nothing fancy. Just a chance to get out on the bike.

Soggy Metric+ at this years Sourlands Spectacular in NJ on saturday, forced me to be very cautious on the descents. Lots of improvements from my first try at it last year. Turnout looked a lot smaller than last year's as a result of the precipitation, but we were blessed with much cooler weather! Really helped on the climbs to have that cooler air and not gasping from the humidity and heat from just a few days earlier . Good times nonetheless. :)

Noticed Strava app was about -700ft elevation off from others in my group that had bike sensors/bike GPS uploads and logged the same route, so i think its time i finally pick up a Garmin + sensors already.

Looks like weather turned out a tad worse for GFNJ the next day too :/

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...795b3e1609.jpg

Good weekend of riding! It's been beautiful weather: high 60s/low 70s and sunny, though a bit of wind (10-15MPH from the east). This weekend was all road riding, though I think someone signed me up for some crazy 100 mile gravel ride next weekend (I'm not sure how I feel about that.)

Friday: Tried out a new short loop in Minnesota. There's a spot where a bunch of dogs run out at the base of a hill, and I stopped to pet them this time. 22 miles, 951', and possibly my fastest ever solo average speed (18.7 MPH).

Saturday: Wisconsin Hill Time. I specifically sought out a descent that previously, I'd only done on my fixed gear bike or in the winter. 35.1 miles, 2,133'.

Sunday: New route and new roads for the weekend women's ride. Western and west-central Wisconsin were devastated by recent flooding, and many of our usual roads (including some state highways as well as county and town roads) are completely gone. At this point, it appears that the roads will not be fixed until Spring.

A few of us added an additional hill in order to get back to town, as the bike route from the ride's starting point into town is underwater, and many of the normal bike route roads are under construction.

Total for the day: 56.1 miles, 2,848'.

Went up to Acadia National Park in Maine for a long weekend. Not a lot of cycling miles as I got out very early (pretty much when the sun came up) to get my ride in before my wife got up. Had to leave energy for a full day in the park going for hikes. Did around 21 miles on Saturday riding the Park Road Loop which goes around the perimeter of the park with some great ocean views. Sunday was only around 13 miles - about half on the dirt carriage roads and back on the paved park loop road. Finally, on Monday, 15 miles which included the ascent up Cadillac Mountain, a 3.5 mile ascent with around 1200 feet of climbing. Gorgeous views from the top in all directions.