Weekend Cycling Reports - June 7/8/9
 

Tell us about your cycling adventures this weekend. It's the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend here! :) So if you're in Australia ... do you have any special cycling events planned?


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Saturday -- a little, slow walk around Anaconda, our local large sporting goods shop, similar to MEC, Decathlon, and REI. After about an hour slowly walking around the store, and down the sidewalk to a couple other shops, I was finished.

We were hoping to go away for the long weekend. We were hoping to do a metric century this weekend. But I've had bronchitis for a while and in the early part of the week, I had allergic reactions to the penicillin and a second antibiotic which were supposed to help me. They just made the matter much worse. However, I'm slowly recovering from both bronchitis and the allergic reactions.

I hope your weekend is going well!! :)

Sunday -- We got out for about a 1.5 to 2 km walk along the beach this afternoon. A very, very slow walk. I can't walk at any pace that increases my heart rate or breathing rate. However, it was really nice to be out in the fresh air, and a bit of sunshine, listening to the waves, watching the seagulls, and looking at the shells.

The beach in winter ...

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Did another recon ride in the area where I'm buying a new house. 109 miles, in some scenery that was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. Or maybe that was from my rear end, which was barking a little bit:

Garmin Connect

Got pics?

Did my second century yesterday. Flat, windy and HOT. Averaged 18.9 mph on bike computer and 19.3 on Map my Ride phone app. Don't know why the difference. The start was pretty neat. It was in conjunction with the Chiefland Watermelon Festival, so they closed off US 19 and we rode about a quarter of a mile through downtown Chiefland with a police escort and following a Corvette convertible with the two Watermelon Queens waving to the Festival attendees. Cold fresh watermelon (as well as lots of other food) at all the SAG stops. A fun event, with the only caveat being that a 7 AM start (instead of 8 AM) would have given us one more hour of "cooler" temperatures.

Only 5 posts so far. I suppose I'll chime in. Usually I ride the bike trails after work but Friday I did some running around and went directly home. Wasn't going to go out but after dinner decided on a quick ride. I ride the country roads and most of them are dirt/gravel roads. I haven't ridden much o the major state roads and decided to turn left rather than cross and went a few miles down to loop around where I crossed earlier to head back home. It was great being able to cruise faster on nicer pavement than I ride on the back country roads even when those are paved. It was only about a mile on the major road but I've been hesitant to ride it until Friday. Rode 10 miles which takes me about an hour because of all the gravel and hills.

Last night I headed out. This time instead of crossing the state road at the first crossroad, I turned on the state road and ran that a few miles to where I cross later on my biggest loop that I ride. From there I continued in reverse direction the loop I normally ride. There's a road I've been wanting to get too from my house to ride. I thought I knew how to get there but it is a real thick gravel road and I haven't yet ventured down it. Figured I'd head that way. It wasn't fun at all. Instead of walking uphill as us Clydes might do on the tougher ones, I almost got off to walk down the hill. I was on the brakes slipping and sliding at about 1 mph. Finally got to the bottom and had to climb back up still in the thickk gravel. Eventually made it and popped onto the road I've been wanting.

It was as awesome as I was hoping for. Some great multiple 90° bends and shallower grade hills. Hit near 35 mph for a nice long stretch that started out steep and shallowed out for about a mile still running downhill though.

I find that it comes around and hits close to another loop I ride so I was back on the dirt and hills to head back home in which I detoured again to ride the state road back to the beginning of my rides.

Thought maybe I'd have more distance from getting to that road as that was the furthest I've been away from the house. Ended up 15 miles which is pretty typical of my country rides from home. Checking the ride on Mapmyride, I see where I can hit the.road at it's beginning and ride the whole road. Getting more comfortable to get on the state roads and figuring out how to get to this new found road opens up a lot more to explore.

Probably no riding today since by the time my wife gets home from work, we're expecting to be storming pretty good.

I put some slicks on the pug for a great hills ride. Full pics and report here > http://www.bikeforums.net/hybrid-bic...l#post16831690

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That is beautiful country and great cycling especially if you can handle the climbing. Where is the house going to be?

57 miles to the top of the mountain and around. There was coastal fog, so conditions varied from hot to dripping windy.

Bofax Mt Tam hill climb - A bike ride in San Anselmo, CA

When I did this route a year ago, ridewithgps called it almost 8,000'. Now they say 6700'- more accurate now.

I think I fixed a nagging shifting problem- had been having occasional chain suck/ jamming while shifting. Finally noticed that the upper RD jockey wheel was cracked, replaced it and no problems on this ride. Yeah!

This is one of the more scenic rides anywhere- check it out if you can. Almost entirely pristine open space, with views of SF bay, Pacific ocean, and other bodies of water, and mostly very light traffic. Good beer and eats at the end too!

I bought a new bike : Felt Z5 road bike full carbon.

This morning I did my first rally in a long time, a metric century at the Ride Cincinnati in Ohio. I always knew it but after riding solo for several years seeing how fast people are took me aback. Not just the top riders but people who don't fit the profile of the fast rider. It also surprised me to see how often they stop and how long they hang out at the rest stops. There were at least 4 distance to choose from and the courses were all out-and-back, so there were at least 7 opportunities to stop, and at each rest area I would see many people pull off. The event seemed like a rolling party.

Anyway, I'm not complaining about what people were doing, just bemused, and I stuck to my plan of one stop at the halfway point. I rode fast (for me) but prudently and really enjoyed it.

Went out early before the family was up as I'm trying to get my distance up to something respectable. Longest ride I had done was 40 km. I did 60 but was absolutely dying on the last 5. I know that's nothing to a lot of folks on this forum but it was good for me. I have to get up to 90 km for a ride I am doing near the end of July and then 120 km in September so I have some work to do still but I'm looking forward to the challenge. My ride took me down along the ocean for a bit and then it through some farmland. The peace and quiet of it all being out before everyone else are awake is so absolutely amazing to me these days.

Was going to head off-road again this weekend, but the missus wanted to visit some friends of ours, so she drove there and I rode there. 42.3m/63km one way from Tampa to Hudson beach on the coast. Mostly road, with some Suncoast trail MUP along the way. Got a later start than I would have preferred- 10:30AM, but as long as I kept moving, It wasn't too bad. When I stopped though, the heat was evident. The section of MUP was the 20-30 mile section and has some cold water stations to refill bottles, which was handy. Hauled the bike back on the car.
Machka-Enjoy that winter weather down there, brutal hot summer is here in Florida, USA. And I hope you get well soon.

It's an old saying in long distance circles, but a good one:

Ride Your Own Ride.

And you did, and you really enjoyed it. That's what counts!

See, after that thread in C&A, this is really what it's about... it doesn't matter how long the ride, so long as it's awesome like that, the goal has been achieved.

One of the things that didn't come out in that thread was quality -- which can be all sorts of things from scenic value to intensity -- could be what makes or breaks a ride. FWIW, a lot of the competitive riders here, including some current and former clydes, have shortened their ride distances but have increased their intensity to improve the payback from their efforts. So, if you are climbing hills to get a 35mph downhill on the other side, you'd be doing something similar.

And yes, exploring new roads is one of the real pleasures of riding the backcountry.

new bar tape helps me go faster
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Just west of town, officially in Rockbridge Baths. Great rides in any direction!

It's definitely hilly, but that's what I like about it. Here's what I did on Sunday:

Garmin Connect

I spent both Saturday and Sunday riding out to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail via Town and Country. The only notable thing was I stumbled upon a car show on the way out Saturday. It was really unexpected since it in this beat up industrial area on a dirty little street. I was riding along and all of a sudden I catch a glimpse of a Plymouth Superbird, several 60’s Barracudas and a Challenger race car. I’m a 60’s - early 70’s Mopar fan so I had to do a little circle around before continuing my ride.

Saturday - A fast out-and-back of 42 miles with 4 others, getting back in the door at 10a.
Sunday - Met a friend I haven't seen in a year for what was planned to be a 24 miler. We missed our first turn and modified the route into a slightly longer loop of about 27 miles. The fun came when the clouds rolled in and the rain started. We stood under a tree for about 10 minutes until we figured out we were getting just as wet under the tree as we would riding, so we jumped back on the road and pedaled through some pretty good downpours. When we stopped for a break, another storm cloud passed over us but this time we watched from the porch of the store.

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Rode my first metric century in Tour de Rock. It was a great day and a great ride !

Rode a club ride Saturday that was a metric century. Took out the tandem instead of the single bikes so we could ride with the fastest group. At first they thought we would be dropping off to one of the slower groups and half way thru the ride they started enjoying having a tadem to draft behind. Finished the ride with an average of 21.9. Fun ride. No way I could average that on my single.

Fri: easy 36mi leg stretcher

Sun: 47mi fast and hilly group ride with the club. Was my type of ride with lots of up and down. I think for most of it we had like 8-10 guys so rotating through kept the speed up and everyones legs in decent shape. I was pretty excited to stick with them.

I rode Cascade Bicycle Club's Bike-n-Brews with a friend on Sunday. The ride was about 38 miles long. I took a little long way home, which made the total mileage 50 miles.

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75 miles yesterday in Knox, Loudon, and Roane Counties.

I rescued a bird.

Nice bike.