mechBgon

Tonight was one of those rides where you go out with low expectations, but it turns out better than you thought. I ate a baggie of fig newton cookies for lunch (forgot my loaf of bread). After work, I halfheartedly started a popular ~25mi loop that has a long gradual ascent in the middle, and ended up running my heart rate up to the mid-180s (yikes, and I'm 42), maxing at 190. Having accomplished that without dropping dead, I then knocked out another fairly good climb and jammed for home.

https://app.strava.com/rides/4357534

Studded-tire mountain bike, less weight than usual, and less air drag too (only one pannier, and no pogies). 27 miles, 16.3mph average. Oh, and it was snowing lightly and 32°F/0C.

mechBgon

Tonight was relatively mild for our climate (about 43°F/6C) so I loaded up Reflecto-Bike for a major hillclimb expedition starting at 6:30PM:

https://app.strava.com/activities/4393848

71.7 miles
6341ft ascent (with a >40lb bike, ouch)
14.2mph average

I drank 1 quart of Gatorade, 1 quart of chocolate milk, 2 quarts of Perpetuum, and was still out of fluids before I hit the final two Cat4 climbs. The pace was a little mellow, Strava shows the climbs were mostly around ~250 watts, but my legs held up until the final climb where they started to hint at cramping slightly, so that was about the right pace I guess.

Things to be happy about: my feet stayed comfortable since it was warmer, and my bad back didn't hurt

mechBgon

Another night on the studded-tire mountain bike at 35°F/2C. When I set out, my legs didn't feel completely recovered from the big 72-mile hill-fest on Tuesday, so I cut the ride down to 25 miles, 15mph average, and not as many hillclimbs:

https://app.strava.com/activities/4449297

Still PR'ed by 50 seconds on a 12-13 minute ascent, although it probably helped that I came at the starting point from uphill. I finished with a leg-searing little sprint up a ~10% grade... probably didn't look impressive, but it hurt After that I threw on some windblocking layers and tempo'ed home. Tomorrow is another day... and it's supposed to snow. Oh joy.

mechBgon

I was hoping to go on a ~45-mile road ride with a clubmate today. As predicted, it was doing a little rain/snow sprinkle as I got ready to go; the road was wet, with a trace of slush. As I rode over to my buddy's place, it began snowing harder. Recognizing a pointless and dangerous ride, we called it off. By the time I got home, it was a full-blown snowstorm with snow accumulating on the arterial streets. Slush was packing into my cassette badly enough to make my chain skip, and into my fenders badly enough to whine on my tires nonstop.

https://app.strava.com/activities/4497089

It took five bottles of hot water to get my bike de-slushed. By the time I was done with that, snow had covered my tracks on the road already.

njschmidt

Slowly but surely, I'm increasing the number of miles I fit into a ride. Today was a new record for me (don't laugh ... still a measley 15 mile ride, but I'm new and out of shape). Unfortunately, I left the heart rate monitor at home . I estimate that I kept the HR between 140-150, though. I can't wait until I can get my average mph up to 15-18 for a full 30 mile ride.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/152960696

mechBgon

You'll get there, just keep enjoying your riding so you don't lose motivation and fall off the wagon


Speaking of motivation, I struggled with that tonight. My Saturday road ride got snowed out, and I took Sunday off, so I felt like I should put in a ride after work tonight, but it was below freezing and falling fast. So I didn't go very far, I just went over to a hill that has a couple ways up. Studded-tire mountain bike, panniers, pogies, lights, the usual winter training setup.

https://app.strava.com/activities/4593695

On the winding route up the hill, I got a strong start (almost too strong, average HR was 180) and picked up KOM status, taking 1:30 off my old PR of 10:31. Then I descended back to the highway and took the direct route up, setting another PR (from 10:01 down to 8:51), then cruised home. So it was a short ride, but with some worthwhile intensity.

Now it's time to stuff my face

plx

60 miles
3000 feet climbing
4 hours

slow :|

mechBgon

After work, I stuffed my spare cold-weather stuff in one pannier, and laundry to take home in the other, and went out to do a couple gravel-road climbs that weren't on Strava yet. It was 28°F, with a snowstorm expected to arrive at 10PM, so I didn't want to make it too long, but I was hoping to string together two climbs into one ~800ft ascent.

https://app.strava.com/rides/4628849

I did my first two target climbs, but I was getting cold (feet especially) and the pannier full of laundry wasn't helping, so I decided to leave the 800-foot combo ascent for another time, and headed home. So I ended up with 35 miles, 2365ft ascent, 14.7mph average. My legs are ready for a rest day for sure.

mechBgon

After the hill assaults from the previous two days, I wanted a rest day, but settled for a sort of active-recovery ride on the studded-tire mountain bike after work:

https://app.strava.com/activities/4655987 2hrs 50 minutes, 2531ft ascent... I mean, that's sort of restful... tried to keep my HR down and cadence up a bit.

It was a little below freezing, with a few snow flurries, and my feet were cold, but I did my 2200ft-to-3000ft climb I'd been wanting to try, then threw on a 630ft ascent to burn some more calories. I resorted to my granny ring on both climbs to keep the effort level down. It's also becoming increasingly obvious that my RH shifter is worn out, guess I better order some new ones.

mechBgon

After work tonight, I loaded up the studded-tire bike and headed north for a change. My initial route plan got shortened... it was right at freezing, and I HATE COLD TOES so I went for a relatively fast pace and visited the longest uninterrupted climb within 30 miles (only 815ft ascent, but that's what we have here).

https://app.strava.com/activities/4686255

32 miles @ 16.7mph, 1691ft ascent, a little under 2 hours. Legs were not at their best, that's their fourth day in a row. Friday I'll try to rest for real.

mechBgon

I did a weird ride today.

1. it was light out! and not even too cold!
2. there were OTHER PEOPLE TO RIDE WITH
3. none of the other people had studded-tire mountain bikes, their tires were thin and stuff

So first I rode out to the meeting point: 304 watts, yeah right

Then I did the ride: https://app.strava.com/rides/4751791 It was one of those unannounced hammerfests for the first half. I dished out my share of the hammering, it was some good training

LuMax

One from last summer; Bergen Park CO to the summit of Mt Evans and back.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/100374386

fishymamba

Did the local club ride today, and added in a nice extension with three other guys. Got my weekly dose of climbing...

70 miles
8,700 ft Elevation gain

I think the elevation gain is more around 8000, my gps over estimates.

fishymamba

Oops, for got to include a link to the ride: https://app.strava.com/rides/4754556

03FinestAL

I was told this was a ride around the mountain, instead it was up.... Showed up with my anchor of a tri bike loaded for a long ride and ended up doing a little bit of climbing instead....

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/154526255

My first experience descending on the thing, and not something I want to do again anytime soon (unless it is on my road bike).

mechBgon

Some clubmates and I did about 50 miles in nice weather (sunny and ~50F): https://app.strava.com/rides/4800113 There's one categorized climb on that route, plus lots of rollers and moderate winds. I rode the climb fairly well, and had the sport-touring bike instead of the mountain bike, so I moved up the leaderboard from 7th to 2nd.

We had to moderate our pace for one rider who doesn't have his springtime legs yet. In the end, I had the most endurance and got extra time on the front, which was great What doesn't kill you, totally justifies eating as much as you want afterwards, right...? So a great ride in our best weather this year. 18.6mph moving average, 2300ft ascent, 51 miles.

FPSDavid

https://app.strava.com/rides/4838031

Second ride of the year for me, still WAY out of shape. Incredible day out today, though.

mechBgon

Morning commute with the studded-tire mountain bike. Two panniers plus wind = some extra work. https://app.strava.com/rides/4833380

mechBgon

And the corresponding evening commute: https://app.strava.com/rides/4852285 When I left it was raining lightly, with ~30mph wind gusts. The wind wasn't as bad once I got out of the city, and the rain stopped. I commenced running myself out of energy, and was bonking towards the end (didn't eat much today and had no energy drink, just water), so I motivated myself with thoughts of food

mechBgon

My after-work ride: https://app.strava.com/activities/4960080 Studded-tire mountain bike again. Temperature was nice tonight, nearly 50F when I set out.

It was time to do some hill climbing. I did the two climbs up Eagle Ridge and brought my PRs down on both (not sure why Strava's not giving me an Achievement on both). The first one went down from 9:01 to 8:21, the second from 8:51 to 8:46. Kind of weird, because it didn't feel like a PR on either one, but whatever... 360 watts? I'll take it. Shoot, the second one even had a headwind

From there, I carried on around the rest of my usual rural loop, plus a dead-end climb with 630ft ascent because The Voices said I could have two pieces of chicken if I did it. On this ride, I took two quarts of Gatorade, drank it all, and my legs were still showing signs of life at the end... not awesome, but not on Empty either.

mechBgon

Morning commute: https://app.strava.com/rides/4976486 Weather is warm today, so I took the sport-touring bike this time. 18mph, 23 miles, and a nice tailwind PLUS a freshly-swept highway shoulder for the final stretch?! Tell you what, those solar flares are AWESOME

That was the 9th noteworthy ride in 7 days and I have a 70-miler laid out for tomorrow, so I took the direct route home tonight. Time to stuff my face, do my laundry and relax

FPSDavid

https://app.strava.com/rides/5020932

First group ride, dropped myself @ 10mi mark and turned back; I'm not in shape enough for a group ride yet apparently, even at "casual pace"

mechBgon

You'll get there, keep at it.

My ride: https://app.strava.com/rides/5025255 18.7mph average, 3464ft ascent, 60 miles.

I went out with four other road riders to ride a lap of a racecourse. It's a tough race: rolling farmland, strong winds, and part of the course is gravel farm roads. It's tricky to form an echelon when the good part of the road is 1 meter wide and constantly shifting around so this race has the reputation of shattering the pack.

Anyway, my legs weren't too great at the start (too much riding crammed into the last week), but got a bit better as the ride went on. I went pretty hard on the gravel section and got about 1/4 mile up on the other riders over the rollers (including two Cat3s and a Cat2) , then had a front flat

Once I got my flat fixed, we had some more spirited goofing-around over the tops of more farmland rollers, then headed back to the city and finished with a fast downwind run on smooth highway shoulder. Tomorrow I seriously need to take a rest day!

a1penguin

A bit windy. I spent too much time on the couch this winter. But a 110 mile week will help bring the legs back to life.

fishymamba

Did the local club ride.
Felt good today, ride was at a pretty good pace. Rode to to the beach and back. Good amount of climbing too!

46 miles
5,145 ft Elevation gain(probably a little less)
15.6 mph average

https://app.strava.com/rides/5022949#

Weather was amazing! Warm and sunny skies.