Machka 

Where did you cycle this weekend? Outside? Inside? Solo? Group? Event? Training? Casual?

What's it like where you are? Got pics?


[HR][/HR]


Friday -- short walk


Saturday -- 50.73 km cycling.

Today Rowan and I were able to cycle in northern Tasmania ... where the roads are beautiful, wonderful, and gloriously relatively flat. Flat compared with the Hobart area.

We loaded up our folders ... me with pannier and handlebar bag, and Rowan with panniers, trunk bag, and trailer filled with folding chairs, table, cooler, etc ... and cycled to Evandale for the annual Evandale Village Fair and Penny Farthing National Championship.
Evandale Village Fair & National Penny Farthing Championships - Home

We set up and spent a great day watching and photographing the Penny Farthing races.

And it was a beautiful day ... clear blue sky, high of 28C, relatively light wind. Way up north, there are two cyclones creating a swath of destruction ... they aren't directly affecting us, but they are pushing the tropical air of Queensland down to Tasmania. It is hot and humid these days.


Oh yes, a highlight of the day was meeting a couple on a tandem. We got chatting with them, and found out that they've put a lot of km on their tandems (plural) ... about 200,000 km ... plus they have owned penny farthings and have also put a lot of km on them ... in the neighbourhood of 60,000. Wow!

Jakedatc

Sat: Group snowshoe with some of the bike shop folks to pack out some of the mtn bike trails for their fat bikes. Started at 8am around 15F got up to around 30F by the end of 2hr.. 4.5mi loop.
me on one of the bridges that goes up and over a pit/gully.

alexaschwanden

Saturday: 77.1 miles
Sunday: 25-38 miles

Machka 

Sunday -- 43.64 km ... on our tandem!

Our tandem has been in storage pretty much constantly since June 2012 while we roamed around the world and then moved several times. Finally, at the beginning of November 2014, we got most of our stuff out of storage including the tandem ... and we were able to ride it at the end of November.

We did not have the opportunity to ride it again until about 10 days or so ago, when we set off on a test ride ... and our front tire went flat on a descent, and everything went wobbly. Rowan just managed to maintain control and we came to a stop upright and intact.

But I think that experience shook me up more than I thought.

We started the ride today, then stopped at an intersection, and just as we were about to go ... quite unexpectedly, I started shaking, my chest tightened painfully ... and I couldn't do it! I was off the bicycle in a flash.

But I wanted to get back on and try again. So we walked a little way, and then set off again ... and that time I was mostly OK, although it took me a while to settle in.

Again, the roads in northern Tasmania are lovely ... relatively flat and mostly very quiet. The first few km were a little busier, but then we turned a corner and there was hardly any traffic at all for the next 20 km or so. And then it was slightly busier at the end. So nice to be out in the country with hardly anyone around.

One additional feature of the ride ... I have a brand new Brooks saddle on the tandem. So this 43.64 km ride was my inaugural ride on that brand new Brooks. We were stopping about every 5 km or so ... so I could take a little break and stretch.


And the weather ... it hit 35C/95F in Hobart, but up where we were, it was a little bit cooler. Only 30C/86F.

Machka 

A couple photos from Saturday ...

jbchybridrider 

That's nice riding temps down there Machka, been over 100F the last two weekends here so rode along the coast 58km today instead of killing myself in the hills. I'm hoping that's the last of seriously hot weather this summer.

Machka 

I wish we could have these temps for more than a day or two ... a week or two might be nice! But tomorrow the temperature is supposed to drop again and Tuesday's high is a chilly 18C.

However, I really appreciated that we had these temps on a weekend.

Jakedatc

a chilly 18C.

the Canadian in you should be ashamed for saying that

rlsmith17

inside. Should have bit the bullet and put the cold weather gear on and rode outside yesterday. But I let myself get too involved in a garage project and the day got away from me.

2manybikes

Sunday - about a 1/2 mile walk in the snow with the dog. Mostly hard packed snow. About another 3 miles in the snow alone. About 60% hadpack with a couple of inches of powder on top. About 40% loose snow up to my knees. A lot of work

sardond

Wow! I wish we had those temps and that beauty here. Its -8 this morning. I'll hit the trainer again for an hour, so my weekend will be wrapped up with indoor riding of about 3.5 hours.

Machka 

Where did you ride? And what was it like? Not specifically, if you prefer not to tell us ... but generally ... were you riding along the ocean, up and down hills? Was there something interesting you saw along the way?

alexaschwanden

The 77 mile ride was from san jose to palto along the bay and over to fremont across the bay and back, sunday ride was coyote creek trail 48 miles, i went a bit farther than i usaul go.

Machka 

Machka 

From the Evandale National Penny Farthing Championship ...

nuke_diver

Yeah pictures !!!! Going around corners in the PF looks scary!!!!!

My recover continues to proceed very well. I went for another flat ride (per orders) and planned ~18 miles but ended up going almost 27. No pain no problems. I think I will take it easy one more week and start moving into the hills. I do need to start getting out of the saddle and seeing how that goes since I haven't tried that too much as yet. I'm still really happy with my recovery I'm even close to 100% range of motion in only 3 weeks. I thought given that I am older than the last time I had surgery the recovery would be slow but it's probably faster than any previous one (granted some of the others were quite a bit more involved....)

Carbonfiberboy 

We had a pleasant ride on our Saturday group route. Temps 34°-52°, mostly sunny, ~49 miles and 2600'. We climbed one of the steepest hills we've done. Strava said 17% but it seemed steeper. I guess that's normal. Sunday, we did our Sunday group route, ~50 miles and 2300', weather much like Saturday's. Rather than riding with our groups, we've been leaving and returning before the group because we're doing this weird polarized training thing and our tandem's speed is so variable compared to a single's. We'll probably start riding with the groups at least sometimes in a couple weeks.

Very rare to have such similar weather here 2 days in a row. Oddly enough, our legs feel pretty good today. We'd go hiking if we didn't have a dinner guest coming. We must be starting to get in shape.

We hope to have decent weather again for next Saturday's century.

Fly2High

OK, crazy Frank from NY is here again. I am just too hooked on cycling. I will not let the weather get me down - most of the time...

The weather report was for low 30's and snow to start around 2-3pm on Saturday. I just got in a new work stand and wanted to look over the bike and noticed that, even though it just had a tuneup, the front derailleur was much much more than 2 mm over the large gear and decided this could be part of the reason I was dropping chains. Also, the gear shifting seemed to slide a bit before engaging. It wasn't very clean so I dove in. I was hoping to get a quick ride in and try out a test saddle I was borrowing - a Fizik Aliante Versus. Well, the tuneup took far longer and I ended up also tuning the rear while I was at it. The fron also was out of alignment so I did my best. For a first time job, it came out great!

As I was getting ready, my wife reminds me that my daughter has a soccer practice (indoors) and that I had to come for lunch. Great. Not only will the ride be delayed BUT I was going to be delayed until 2PM or so. Now, I love to attend my daughter's soccer anything. I haven't missed one yet and hope I never will.

As luck would have it, as we were leaving we saw a few signs of precipitation so I raced home. I also just grabbed a new pair of Pearl Izumi Elite Thermal Barrier bib with chamois that I wanted to try out in the current temps and a P.I. Select Thermal jersey. Just to play it safe, I put on a barrier under layer grabbed the gloves and I was ALMOST ready to go. I forgot that I had put on a new set of 5800 105 clipless pedals and now needed the cycling shoes. Back in and a way we go.

Now, this is the first time I ever wore pretty much everything I had on and I have to say I was quite comfortable. I even had on a set of boties to go over my shoes for a little added warmth since the cycling shoes are all ventilated. I had practiced uncliping the shoes on the trainer so I wasn't too worried. At typical intersections I would unclip well early and I was getting the hang of it. I followed the advice of leaving one shoe clipped that I heard online. It almost went bad when I decided to stop to switch out my scullie for a balaclava that also just came in. I unclipped my right foot and was coming to a stop. Just as I was at a stop, I stuck my foot out to land on and instead of leaning on the one foot, I bounced off of it and went left - way left!! I think I was at a 45 degrees when it hit me that I was about to hit the road when I quickly unhooked in a panic and caught myself. Does get the heart pumping.

The rest of the ride was largely uneventful and since the snow was starting to come down the road was staring to get covered quickly. I took it easy and only got in 2 miles but those were the best 2 miles I have had on the bike(and warmest I have road in since getting the bike a month ago). The clipless pedals really added the cyclical feeling. No more did I feel like I was mashing downward only. It was nice and circular and very connected.

It wasn't much riding but it was much more than many other NYers got in so I counted my blessings and actually enjoyed the scenery and smells of fresh falling snow.

Monday, I was back for another 45 min on the trainer but this time it was indoors...

Gear definitely makes all the difference....

Frank

Machka 

Fascinating to watch ... not sure I'd want to ride one.

woodcraft

102 flat-ish miles Saturday. Solo 2/3 of the way. Three bakery stops, but can't eat that many pastries.

Sunday, 16 mile cruise W/ GF. Stopped along the creek/slough to watch an egret & some sandpipers.

A gust of wind came up, which blew the egret's feathers all up & out of place.

As it turned to face the wind, I said "He's having a bad feather day."



Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with myself.

Long Tom

Spectacular weather here in the PNW. I've had 4-5 good rides in the 30 mile each range in the last 10 days or so. Lots of hills. However I've caught a nasty cold and am currently out of action due to massive snottiness.

Machka 

Tuesday -- walked 6.59 km, including 2.89 km on the treadmill at the gym + a 50 min spinning class.

I put a lot more effort into the spinning class today ... feeling stronger!


And Rowan ran a little over 13 km.

jsigone

2/21~
Distance 85.5mi
Moving Time 5:58:54
Elevation Gain 5,791ft
Estimated Avg Power 208W
Energy Output 4,469kJ
Avg Max
Speed 14.3mi/h 38.7mi/h
Heart Rate 136bpm 172bpm
Calories 4,983
Temperature 63℉
Elapsed Time 7:14:43
Bike: Altamira CX
Comments: Dirty pie ride loop, seems like xtra credit using my CX rig even w/ 25c city slickers. Almost all of the climbing was in the front 45miles and 14 of that on dirt

Machka 

Beautiful area ... and that pie looks great too!!

Machka 

Cycled 17.13 km after work. We're trying to cycle a bit more frequently, but it's tough because of the terrain around here. In those 17.13 km, we climbed 228 metres (748 feet) ... and that's one of the easier rides.