Heathpack 

Love the Gorge, Roll.

RollCNY

I am totally thrilled I did it. It made for a long return day, but the trip would have been diminished greatly without it. You folks all coaxed me on, and I appreciate it.

Dudelsack 

Awesome pics.

Heathpack 

It 100% had to be done. It somehow gave the ride purpose. Besides being an awesome thing on purely scenic grounds.

I am looking forward to your travels around the state, I totally hope keep going with that plan.

Heathpack 

Later today I'm going to post a serious cycling question but for now I have a crazy veterinary story.

This lady is walking her little dog down the street on a leash. A big dog running loose comes out of nowhere and attacks her little dog. She tries to intervene and the big dog bites her finger completely off, causing her to let go of the leash. Her little dog runs into the road and gets hit by a car. The little dog is injured, but only a broken leg, could have been much worse. The broken leg was fixed yesterday and the dog should be fine. The lady is in the hospital, had surgery yesterday, no one has asked her what kind of surgery (lol, I would have asked if this were my case), but the lady had to be in the hospital for 2 days on antibiotics prior to surgery, so I'm assuming she lost the finger. The perpetrator dog is still at large.

That's a crazy story, right?!

H

3alarmer 

...when did fear of humiliation and ridicule become "coaxing" ? Nice bike chops, though, you fixie hipster. #quite_impressed

3alarmer 

...if you can document that the bigger dog ate the finger, it's a classic.

If you can verify that her own, little dog grabbed it and took off into the street, it's the stuff of urban legend.

Heathpack 

I know, how could this be your case and you don't ask?! Damn taciturn surgeons. Here's how I'd do it, "Hi, this is Dr. Heathpack calling about your little dog. Surgery went well, recovered well from anesthesia, fentanyl CRI tonight, resting comfortably, six weeks rest, if all goes as expected can go home tomorrow, blah blah blah. But I can't believe how this whole thing happened. Are you ok? What happened with your hand? Are you going to be able to take care of your little dog post-op? Do you need to leave her here with us a little extra time?...." Then you pause and let the lady start talking, there's a 90% chance she tells you all the details.

RollCNY

When I mentioned my 7 day trip, I figured many if not most would think that I was talking from my buttox. Who knows, I may be, but I am a guy who does seek the grand adventure. As I said several Addiction threads ago, I like to live my life as a practice rescue drill for emergency services.


And I did the trip in baggy MTB shorts (I wanted pockets), Northwave Commuter 2-bolt shoes (so I didn't have to bring spare shoes), and an "England" soccer jersey (because it is comfy). I was probably more hipster than roadster, truth be told.

LAJ

Absolutely correct! The first one to talk, loses. The first rule of sales, but may apply to stories.

LAJ

It's more better, and more fun, to believe someone, than it is to take every opportunity to yell bull ****.

RollCNY

When I was riding Sunday, and crossed the 130 mile mark, I wondered what it would be like to be doing a timed 300k brevet. I had a huge advantage with the tail wind, and wondered how much a loop would cripple that advantage. It is something I hope to try at some point, not that I could ever picture trying a 1200k. Working up to a 600 would be the limit of my ambition, if it even got that far.

But there is something very calming in having overnight stuff with you on a ride, knowing you can stop where ever, and when ever, you want.

LAJ

One of the fellows in the club was going for P-B-P, and in order to qualify, you have to do the series within the calendar year prior. (200-300-400-600K) He did a couple 200's, and a 300 on a 3 speed fixed. Then, he decided to do a 300, with 16K climbing, on a regular bike, and I don't blame him for a second. I was able to see how fast he really was, as he smoked me by a couple hours on that ride. He then went with a 3 speed coaster on the remaining 400's and 600K. He did P-B-P on the 3 speed, and was able to get under the Charly Miller time of 56 hours, 40 minutes.

You can do it.

zymphad

So today, went for more practice with my pedals and shoes. 30 miles. Then remembered I had an appt, so instead of going home, went and got a small sub from a local deli. And ate sitting on a pillar in front of Parlee cycles. It's nice, Parlee is on a smaller road, by the train tracks, overlooking parts of Beverly harbor. They had their factory door open and I got a peak inside. It's very old machine looking, does not have the state of the art, machinery, look.

Also curiously, since it was around lunchtime, I did not see any employees leave on a bike. They all got into their cars. Only saw one bike that was left ontop of a car, it was one of their fully custom aero bikes. Looked OK, but you can see the carbon layup too easily for my taste where they added more crud to make the tubes appear more aero.
- I would have thought they all would ride. I know plenty of commuters who riding from the city, and surrounding area. Boston is only 20 mile ride from here.

halfspeed

If you work for Parlee, you can't be seen riding anything but a Parlee, but only dentists ride Parlees. So if you work at Parlee and don't moonlight as a dentist, you can't ride a bike. It's quite a dilemma.

WhyFi

Went walkabout a bit this afternoon. Of course the sun hid as soon as we left the house. Three shot pano of M'haha Falls -



and the swollen creek rushing under a bridge -

BillyD

*We* are the outliers in the bicycling community, the extremists. For 99.9% of the bicycling community it's just an activity, recreation, not a lifestyle.

That doesn't make them bad people, though.

BillyD

Um, too harsh?

Heathpack 

Hello Addicts, I am trying to decide whether I should attempt a specific ride and would like some opinions.

Yesterday I got an invite to ride a challenging organized ride with someone who I respect and would very much like to start riding with. The ride is in early June, 100 miles, 9000 ft climbing. I would not be able to do any training specifically for that ride, I have cycling plans this weekend and am away the following three weekends and then the ride would be the weekend after that.

Looking at the ride details, it basically has two climbs:
Climb 1 is ~25 miles, about 6000 ft of continuous climbing. Mathematically this works out to an average 4.5% grade. However, the "real" climb within climb 1 is 15 miles, 4800 ft, ave 6.1% grade, steepest 10%.
Climb 2 is ~9 miles, about 1700 ft, which is an ave 3.6% grade

I'm not sure of max altitude for this ride but it is at least 6800 ft, maybe more.

My initial reaction was "no way, this ride is too much for me" and that is really based on climb 1 and the altitude. I normally ride at a 1200 ft altitude and have never ridden at anything much over 3000-3500 ft. I have zero idea how higher altitudes will affect me. I have previously done 75-100 mile rides with 6000-6500 feet of climbing and been fine to ride the next day 30-40 easy miles. But I've never done such a long, steep climb as climb 1. Probably my longest continuous climb is 22 miles, 2400 ft, which works out to ave 2.1% grade. I fairly regularly do a 7 mile climb with a pretty continuous 5% grade, just one break in the middle of that one.

If I were going to be around for the next few weeks, I think I would go for it with this ride. I'd ride my planned 80 mi/6000 ft this weekend, then try something at altitude next weekend, then a long 6% climb the weekend after that and then I'd know. But going in completely cold, no idea how it would go, seems unwise to me. The mitigating factor perhaps is that I'd be going in to this with two weeks of rest, zero cycling until 3-4 days before the event and I respond very well to rest. Despite my doubts, the person who invited me on the ride thinks I could do it if I rode it smart and points out its no big deal if I tried it and did not finish. She also knows way more about training, climbing rides, endurance rides than I do, she rides double centuries, and big 8-10k ft climbing rides all the time. We have never ridden together before, but know a lot of the same people, follow each other on Strava and frequently interact on FB. She is a very nice person, very encouraging to people but always seems very realistic in her comments to people.

Right now, I'm leaning away from doing this ride, it just seems like a bit much for me. I am by nature very conservative, though, maybe too much so. Opinions very welcome, I'm probably going to make my decision on this by Monday.

H

EDITED TO ADD:
1. Max altitude is 8600 ft, I just learned. Climb 2 is tougher than I thought because it takes place in this higher altitude portion of the ride.
2. Just realized that I would have one free day for a big training ride before this event, it would be the Sat before the organized ride, which is one week later than I thought.

PhotoJoe 

@Heathpack - If you don't start the ride, I guarantee you won't finish it!

I've done Baldy Village and felt no affect of altitude. My problem is gravity!

I say you go for it!

Besides, you have a magic bike!

BillyD

I must recuse myself from the jury. You know how I roll.

datlas 

Slowly?

Heathpack 

No, lol, in 40 mile (max) increments.

rjones28 

This is essentially my M.O.

zymphad

I also adopt this, except for the one time 62 mile next week for ride for cure. I don't like sitting on my saddle for more than 2 hours, I want to do other things with my day.