Machka 

Happy First Weekend of February ... Happy Groundhog's Day for those countries who celebrate that. Tell us about your cycling this weekend. Long rides, short rides, outdoor rides, indoor rides, with friends or solo ...

And how did your January go?


[HR][/HR]

Saturday - 81.18 km out to New Norfolk and back with Rowan on a hot summer day. It hit 29C at about 12:30 pm, with winds approx. 25-35 km/h.


As for January ... I finished the month with 435.73 km, which was the 4th best January I've had since I started cycling "seriously" in 1990.

Heathpack 

Fri is a yoga day for me, so cycling-wise, Jan ended with a whimper.

However it was also my best Jan- lol, it so far is my *only* Jan since I took cycling last March. But it was my best month yet, with 530 miles ridden, 40 hours of pedaling time, 18,000 ft climbed. When I compare it to last June (my first real month of training intentionally) I can see how far I've come- June was 275 mi, 23 hrs of pedaling time, 12,000 ft climbed.

Today is a hilly ride, tomorrow an easy one.

H

nastystang

Those pictures really make me ache for summer. I will get back to ya on my rides, plan on one today and one before the Super Bowl.

Jakedatc

Fri: 30mi 40F riding with a friend. ended Jan with 230mi. Jan PR by 100mi

Feb starts off with group ride tomorrow before the super bowl. going to be 50F so it should be good.

Chief Brody

Nice work Jake.

Fri: 30 mile commute. First commute in almost two months. It was so nice out, I took the scenic route home which added about 10 miles to my normal commute.

Sat: Skating at the Lilly Pond in Newport with my wife and son...skating on that pond will never get old. I followed that with a repeat of Friday's ride for another 30 miles.

Planning on maybe 50 tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.

woodcraft

69 miles today w/ ~7,000'- mostly at the end.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/3978373

Cold start (for us Calif. lightweights), w/ frost & mid 30s.

I was out of town & hadn't ridden for 2 weeks- did pretty good,

but at the end my quads were screaming, & didn't settle down until 1/2 way through the first pint!

334 on the odometer for January + today

iamtim

Rebuilt my bike during the week on a different frame and fork, did a quick 15 miler through my local hills as a test ride. Tomorrow I'm going for a longer ride, largely flat, probably about 40 miles or so (I'm taking the Santa Ana River Trail, for those who know it, from Imperial to HB and back).

shyonelung

When I first got back into cycling last year, I did a local climb -- 35 miles, 1300 feet or so. I couldn't get up the tail end of the hills then. I've got 1500 miles or so in since that ride plus a month into a new workout regimen (lifting, boxing, abs, etc) and have been wanting to try to tackle the ride again. Well, did it today. It was cooler than it's been for NorCal (50s) and windy but it was still a beautiful day. It's really exhilarating to see and feel the progress I've made and experience the fruits of my labor and hard work. I started this journey with enough knowledge to be dangerous but not enough to truly understand what I was signing up for. But I stayed with it to the point where I'm starting to feel confident on my bike (not cocky but confident). I'm not the most graceful or balanced person physically and yet, on my bike, I've discovered I can be all those things and more. Some of you know I have only one lung and part of this whole process for me is to see what I'm really capable of doing - how much if at all, does having one lung limit my ability to tackle bigger and longer climbs. Today was a day where my legs didn't falter but I did have some moments where I was seriously sucking wind. Good news was my heart rate rapidly dropped even after I really exerted myself. What a blast it

Machka 

Sunday - 10.32 km in the Kettering/Bruny Island area. Beautiful day ... would have been nice to ride longer, but we had another engagement.

Chief Brody

50 miles was not in the cards today...legs were not that great. Ended up with 44 and that was a bit of a struggle towards the end. C'est la vie.

AScoda

After mapping out a route that measured 101.9 KM, I set out for a metric century, but when I got back, the route turned out only 96 KM. No goal.
Don't trust the Google.

Heathpack 

Sorry but to me that is effectively the same thing. IMO you got the metric. Congrats.

H

Machka 

I'd have ridden around the block a few times to get it over the 100 km point. I've done that a few times.

TheSame

Spent Saturday climbing local hills. 28 miles, 4650ft of climbing. Glad I rode yesterday... finally getting some much needed rain today in California.

Heathpack 

Yesterday 63 mi of riding in the wind, including a 30 mile uphill climb in a headwind. Maybe a bit much of a ride in the weekend before my first century ride but today I feel no worse for the wear.

Today easy little 22 mile ride in the flats just to shake my legs out.

Two more little trainer intervals, then next Sat my century ride

H

AScoda

I'll do it again. I've been ramping up mileage 10-20 miles each road ride. I'll have to do more next time.
As for riding around the block to add miles, I wasn't exactly sure where I was at. The time that gps was telling me was left on my course and what I had done didn't look right, and I had left it set for miles and not kilometers. When I tried switching it, I ended up saving and thus ending that ride at around 50 miles, and had to start another one after some choice words, so I was guessing.
Working toward 1st century in miles, so this was just a stepping stone. I only get out on the weekend, so, nibbling at it a bit at a time.

itrsteve

Sat - 40 min crit on this awesome oval asphalt track... Got 16 of 56 which I'm satisfied with for now... avg speed was 26.6, was definitely a good time.

Today - 39 miles in the flat country in awesome 60 degree weather... Took it mostly easy, beat one of my strava KOM's by a crapload.. 3.5mi/26mph/7:58 was pretty happy about that.

bbattle

Finally, a day above freezing here in the Deep South. I drove up to Coldwater, Tennessee and headed for Elkton. This was a hilly route and I was encouraged in my efforts up one hill by a pack of at least 8 dogs of the shack/trailer/meth-head variety. A couple of juidicious blasts of the water bottle and we were safely through the gauntlet. The roads ranged from new black top to chip seal to lots of potholes and gravel. Descents were tricky with the turns and such.


Icicles on the Elk river bank


nice farmhouse with very old tractor parked out front


looks like a collision is inevitable but they dodged each other


several of these Stones were erected across this field, some druids still around?


some very cute ponies


the obligatory "here is where I went maps" the y-axis on the altitude map is completely bogus; I can assure you the hills were higher than 25 feet.

Anyone familiar with this area will know that yes, I did ride past the Boobie Bungalow but I swear I did not stop. I also didn't stop at the world famous Corner Bar-B-Q. As its name suggests, it's at a corner; in the middle of nowhere. Yet it is always busy. A good sign.


A wimpy 25.something miles but I was glad to get the ride in after a month of inactivity.

Chief Brody

30 mile climb? That is nuts. I climbed Mt. Greylock, which was about a 10 mile climb. I can't image doing 30. Bravo Zulu!

Heathpack 

It's not very steep, maybe 4-5% average grade. A climb, yes. A mountain? Not exactly. Only 3400 ft total.

Lest you be excessively (and needlessly) impressed.

H

Jakedatc

Sun: 50F today. did 30mi with the group. was in the front group all day except the last few miles when the legs didn't quite have it. did attack Elm st on everyone and went over the top 50m ahead buahaha was nice to go fast again instead of being cold and slow.

Pibber

Rode with two others on the W&OD between Vienna and Herndon, today. 50F, not too windy and only 1 "climb" of brief duration.

according to the dude riding the carbon equipped with a garmin, we gained 690ft, or something, our avg spd was around 17(decent for an MUP), highest sustained speed of 23 mph. from experience, i could tell that he and i broke 40 on a couple of sprints. i was on aluminum, my friend on italian steel(Denti), and our third was riding De Rosa carbon. that's a damned fast bike and i think he was being nice to us considering he blew past me while we were all out of the saddle, on the steepest ascent.


So, 20+ miles with some slushy patches(most recent reminder to not suck wheel during the winter........) and i got to burn carbon on a sprint.

mudmouse

I've done that trick too. The one that really burns me is when we get home and Dh has made his mileage, but mine has come up short somehow. It's always me that ends up doing a few loops around the block.

Chief Brody

30 miles uphill is still 30 miles uphill...

Carbonfiberboy 

Saturday, the 70 mile Winter Training Series ride on our tandem. We rode strong, got tired, did well. First tandem back, more bikes behind us than ahead. Dry and thin clouds, 34°-44°. Much better than last year's really tough ride, same route but in 36° pouring rain.

Sunday we had a real recovery ride for a change, 29 miles with a 107 average HR. Mostly clear and warmer, 37°-46°. Next weekend is not looking so favorable, unfortunately.