WheresWaldo

I can't believe that no one has started this thread already. It's 12:30p for god's sakes!

My season has officially wound down. I am now going to bpend my Sunday afternoons riding our Tandem with my daughter, Bittersweet. Today I also have two of my neighbors going with us. It will most likely be a leisurely 20 miles around Waxhaw, NC. There will be some sprinting, some playing of "try to keep up with the tandem" and some goodbyes as everyone will pass us on any uphill sections.

The weather is perfect and I will post a report when we are done.

Treefox

No ride today.

Got a chainring in my thigh during a pileup yesterday so ended the ride with an ambulance trip to the hospital.

Poor poor me.

Nachoman

My Sunday ride was actually a Sunday RUN. My first run in about 3 years. I've done nothing but cycling for the longest time.

rizz

Small local group ride: 50 miles in two hours and thirty minutes.

patentcad

Nyack Ride. 50 miles. Utterly friggin ballistic. Ever have one of those rides or races where every time you turn around you're the caboose? God that sucks. And yet I hung on. Some days I'm not sure how. Probably finished 12th or so after getting gapped in the last few miles, somehow chasing back on, passing a few of the survivors on the climb (I don't think there were more than 18 guys in the last 3 miles today). I'm not sure if the ride was fast or I wasn't riding so great today. Probably both.

God I love this ****.

ekimeno

I sometimes have nightmares about the route we took today - the Chiltern Hills with climbs over Ivinghoe and Bison. The last time we went this way I was horribly dropped, punctured and left out to make my way back home alone - embarrassment turned to anger, turned to despair all on one fateful summer day. I was not happy to hear we were going the same route again.

The ride started off freezing cold - everyone was wrapped up well except for a couple of head-cases with bare legs showing. The pace leading to Ivinghoe was a lot more casual this time. I prepared myself mentally and stayed sheltered in the bunch a few km's before the first ramp. The climb is 3km at a gradient of around 5-6% - for a Londoner this is a pretty hard climb. Amazingly I stayed with the front group until about halfway but I could feel the pace picking up slowly. I looked back and saw that another group had formed further down the road, so I let the front group gradually pull away and climbed at my own pace to the top. Everyone regrouped there after a pee stop.

Bison was another matter - every man for himself as the gradient strung everyone out - this one was about a mile long with an average gradient of around 12% and 15% in parts. I came over the top feeling strong and me and a couple other guys chased after the front riders. Regrouping again at the bottom we rode the next 30km in a paceline at 25mph over the mostly flat country back to St. Albans, with me contributing for most of this part.

The pace was upped again over the short but steep hills through Shenley and I suffered a bit of cramp, but caught back up with the group before we reached Barnet. The ride ended up with coffee in Whetstone. Average speed was 18mph for 75-miles. More details recorded by my Garmin.

BetweenRides

Great ride today. Group of 5 headed South into 16-18 mile headwind, stopped for breakfast at 31 miles, then hightailed it home with winds now 22-28 mph. Everyone was totally knackered by the the end, but a fantastic ride.

mollusk

Today I rode a local century ride. This particular ride first started in 1981 and has been held annually ever since. It has changed a lot from the early days. My wife and I essentially ran it a couple of times back in the mid-80's (painted all the arrows made all the maps, handled all the pre-registrations, bought all the food, ordered all the T-shirts, send out all the ads, etc.). Back then it was much smaller, about one hundred riders. Now it is a huge production that requires a very large number of people to pull it off.

I have no idea how many riders there were today, but I was near the back of the mass start pack and I did start rolling until 5 minutes after the front of the pack took off. I also got stuck behind a large yet slow group riding together for fund raising. The first five miles were around 15 or 16 mph. While I told all my riding buds that I was going to be a "tourist" and not one of the hammerheads at the front, that pace was way slower than I could tolerate.

After I got around the big group I spent most of the day sight-seeing, helping a few folks with roadside repairs, taking pictures, and just spinning the pedals. There was light rain off and on and overcast skies. I did ride with a small group just before lunch for about ten miles.

Toward the end of the ride (about 8 miles to go) I caught up to a friend that worked registration down in Flemington (a secondary starting point for shorter ride options) that started the ride 30 minutes late, but with a 30 mile head start. We rode back to town together.

So I spent most of the ride solo and that was fine. I get really tired of hearing "Car up", "Car back", "Slowing".

Including the stops to help folks with flats, water stops, and lunch I rolled in with a 5 hour 35 minute ride. It was OK, but I preferred last weekend's ride where I rode a solo 62 miles and then 38 miles with my 11 year old son. That was nice.

dgasmd

I actually looked this morning and was surprised you had not started this thread yet.

My weekend ride was actually yesterday. I went out for a 65 mile solo (as always, really) ride. The temp was in the mid 70's, no wind except for the last 30-45 min. of it, and cloudy skies. It felt so nice for a change, especially with the lack of wind. It felt like I was going a little faster than I normally ride until I stop for a water reload at mile 45 and looked at the computer. I was going 1.5 mph faster than usual! The next 20 mile were with a little head wind but not bad, some rain, and about 12 miles of very rough and crappy roads. I averaged my usual speed for the last 20 miles, but when I got home I still was averaging about 1 mph faster than usual. I was a little tired at the end. I still need to work on keeping up with the drinking and eating even when I am feeling good and going faster. I tend to slack off then. Overall, I would say it was a very good ride.

Next weekend I am doing a century in Miami.

Crast

I was registered for the Tour De Bronx, but I opted to stay local and go with my usual group, since I'm not really that used to my new bike. Did 32 miles, rolling hills. New bike is awesome. I was making the climbs at a much better cadence (no more mashing, yay) and on the downhills I was destroying. I'm easily the heaviest guy in the group (still well into the clyde range) so with skinny tires and brand new bearings I was passing everyone downhill without pedaling.

After the ride I was feeling good so I drove home and then took my bike off the car. I was already dressed and figured if I went in and showered, I'd never come out again. So I put on my gloves and helmet and went out for a quick solo ride, another few miles on the odometer at a sprint pace just to get my heart rate up again.

Weather has been beautiful this weekend, yesterday I got a short ride in in (stopped short when my chain got caught between the small ring and the frame, threw me off the bike and gave me some nasty road rash) but I am glad I got out to enjoy the sunny, warm weather. It's almost november, and I'm wearing short sleeves and no leg warmers or arm warmers. I can't complain, the gods have been really nice to cyclists on long island.

ericcox

I rode the couch today as I am still fighting off a nasty upper respiratory system infection. Any effort to move above a walking pace has been leading to fits of coughing. I think it is almost gone, however, as I served as an excellent horse for my two kids a little while ago without too much coughing.

Hocam

Rode 15 very hilly miles to an apple orchard with some friends, filled my carradice bag with a dozen or so and biked the 15 miles back for coffee and wraps.

A great day.

Idioteque

damn! how deep?

digger

I had some stuff to do today around the house to get ready for winter - take down the window screens, cover the bushes, tie up the trees, etc.

Soooo, I only did 32km today.

Yesterday it was raining like a sonofagun so I didn't ride.

cc_rider

Tour du Port, Baltiimore, with a few extra miles around Federal Hill and Locust Point. 50 miles total.
Weather was perfect - 70's, sunny and calm.

oboeguy

Tour de Bronx today. Thread on it over in the NE regional subforum.

psuaero

I'd been planning a big ride this weekend for over a month. My goal was to ride at least a double metric or farther. I've done plenty of centuries and even 110 miles one time last year but I wasn't sure what distance I could cover if I planned an all day adventure. My wife was going out of town and taking the two kids so I had the whole weekend to myself. Praying for good weather for the last two weeks all was looking good.

Then last Monday I came down with a chest cold. I moved my Saturday plan to Sunday in hopes I'd be just a bit better. Well the weather gods were smiling because this whole weekend was just awesome in the east. I started this morning just a little before 8AM and the temp was a chilly 45F. I took it pretty easy in the beginning and kept my speed a couple mph lower than normal. I had plenty of supplies and was dressed with knee warmers and a long sleeve outer layer.

Well, long story short the ride ended about 1:30PM and I only covered 85 miles. I guess the cold was more than I thought and I'm completely drained. I could have soldiered on slowly for another 10 maybe 15 miles but I wasn't going to go another 40 miles without falling off my bike from exhaustion. I ended with an ave. of 16.1mph which is a little slower than usual for me but not bad for riding solo.

I guess I set my goal for next spring. I wouldn't hurt if I dropped 20lbs between now and then as well!

Brandish

I rode my cross bike today instead of my normal road routine, I did 26 miles of single track and bike trails. I had momentary run in with a 90s extreme mtb guy rocking zubas and a dog the bounty hunter haircut I guess he didn't like my lycra or he just wanted to scream at someone. That problem was solved by picking up the pace but all in all it was a nice ride.

Treefox

Well not terribly deep really, but I caught it at an angle as it spun. So imagine each little tooth as a little bulldozer scraping along through my thigh - - there were little rolls of skin and flesh at several of the deeper points.

Looks rather like a shark bite really. Or the New Zealand All Blacks logo.

And I've been at work all today - lots of standing up and sitting down. Not pleasant.

For the un-squeamish

For the squeamish:

Thisisit

Had a rough morning of studying. Needed to replace the front tube on my road bike, couldn't be bothered so I went out for a 50km ride on the fixed gear out to Lake Ontario and some nice winery back roads. Apart from some mean headwinds on the way back it was a great afternoon. Back to the books...

WheresWaldo

Todays ride turned out pretty sad today. The group I ride with decided to meet up with Lee Ann Berry.

Lee Anne Barry set off on a bicycle Aug. 25 to ride across the United States. Barry, a 37-year-old preschool teacher from Charlotte, N.C., left Morro Bay, Calif. Barry, who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was five, saw her ride as a challenge and a way to publicize this silent affliction. More than 1.5 million Americans sustain traumatic brain injuries each year. Many are unaware they have been hurt.

While almost home something happened to the parties she was riding with. Somewhere near Hwy 521 in South Carolina near the North Carolina border there was an accident. We do not have any details other than what other motorists told us. There appears to be a fatality, we are not sure who it is. As more details are released I will try to link to the articles.

Here is a link to an article about her accomplishment: https://www.defenselink.mil/news/news....aspx?id=44640

idoxlr8

The rains moved in. Then the roads got slippery. Had to keep the downhills to under 35 mph. Unfortunately still managed to crash the Santana doing around 24 mph on a straight away. First crash in 20 plus years on the tandem. God loves Sunday centuries and their riders. We didn't even require band-aids! Bike picked up a few scratches, we finished our ride, and we live to tell the tale.

ridzwitsizzors

With 80 mph gust shooting through the valley along with sustained 40 mph winds, I canx my sunday ride and decided to watch the Patriots roll over yet another team...they are so good it is scary.

The winds are the same ones pushing the fire in Malibu canyon.

Mike_Like_Bike

I did a solo 60 miles from Bloomington up to Martinsville and back.

https://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4271762

EffSizzle

60 miles, plenty of hills, 18mph pace. Pouring rain, 54f.