Happy Labour Day weekend! It's nice having yet another long weekend to enjoy early autumn. What kind of weekend are you having? Tell us about your cycling or other sports adventures.


Saturday - We cycled 14.71 km exploring a town we haven't been to in years. Just a short exploratory ride. Lovely afternoon.

Sat: 54.5mi with a friend. 3200' climbing 50F and sunny for most of it.. kinda wet in some spots from snowmelt on the roads

I did a solo 51 with my uber-hilly 33-miler at its core on Friday. I was ready to be done by the end. I need a different saddle than what my Roubaix came with for longer rides; it's fine for a couple hours but gets a bit onerous after that. Absolutely gorgeous riding weather though- sunny in the high 50's when I embarked.

50.25 miles today. Was nice to not be freezing; nicest it's been in a long time. Not going to be nearly as nice tomorrow, but I'm going to shoot for another 50 miles...we'll see what happens.

65 mile SIR 100k+ populaire on the tandem today, Saturday. Started raining about 25 miles into it and it just kept coming down harder. Felt like salmon going upstream on the final climb. Proper SIR rides always end with a climb. The temperature varied between 45° and 50° so at least it wasn't really cold. There were about 100 riders. We felt like we did a pretty good job, had good power, only stopped briefly at controls and restrooms, only ate on the bike.

It was a fun ride in spite of the beastly conditions. Or because of them? Two comments were heard: Rule #9 of course and, in the PNW there are two kinds of cyclists: the wet and the weak.

We had a front pinch flat ~5 miles from the finish, but made a quick change in the rain. Nothing like a wet bead to make it easy. We have potholes that have been there for decades. I should know where they all are by now, but I don't.

400km brevet starting early Saturday and finishing not so early Sunday. Bit stuffed still after my 650km 2 weeks ago and a serious saddle sore reared up at the 250km stop. Spent a lot of time out of the saddle. Saved by a small tube of nappy rash cream I keep handy (when I eventually remembered I had it).
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/457502281

Sunday - According to cycling tradition, cyclists must ride their age in miles on their birthday. For me, that's about 76 km.

Today we cycled 113.85 km!! That's my birthday distance plus a bit extra to make up for any years I may have come a little short in distance.

Last week's 100K was very, very hilly and I struggled to get through it, finishing it 2 hours over the Randonneuring time limit. This week, we were on a much flatter route (although not completely flat ... this is Tasmania after all), and we finished the 100K distance within the time limit with 13 minutes to spare. The last 13.85 km was just a bit slower ... no rush. Plus there was one good-sized hill in the middle of that.

[MENTION=4588]Machka[/MENTION] Congrats on your rides! I know last week was not what you wanted, but it has been a long way back for you, just finishing was an achievement. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
[MENTION=78894]Carbonfiberboy[/MENTION] hardcore, dude! I don't think I would make it in the PNW, riding in the cold rain sounds like no fun to me. I'd give up in an instant, so color me impressed.

Yesterday, I had a frustrating day dealing with LBS about my new bike, but I don't even really want to post about that, it's just too annoying. Got home an hour before sunset, and managed a 25ish mile ride. I took out my frustrations by pedaling fast. Yesterday was my first ride of considerable distance in which my average cadence was in the triple digits- 101 ave cadence for a 90 min ride. I was very happy with the ride, so that semi-salvaged my day.

Today I had scheduled in a big (for me) climbing ride, but my friends bike had to go into the shop yesterday, so he is out. I really don't like riding these narrow, no shoulder, sometimes-along-a-cliffs-edge, no cell reception canyon roads as a solo woman, so I'm not sure what I'll wind up doing today. It's just that kind of weekend, I guess.

H

Saturday I set up my brand new Trek Domane 5.2. Rode around the neighborhood, checking the fit. After everything felt right, I drove out to one of my favorite riding areas, Coldwater, Tennessee. Rural and hilly with lots of options and plenty of climbing.





The bike handled very well; those Ultegra brakes are awesome. The frame soaked up the vibration from the rough roads; a subtle thing but a nice improvement over my old aluminum bike.

Yay! Found two friends to do some climbing with, maybe my weekend will not be so bad after all!

H

We were to meet up about 15 miles in, but I found him fixing a flat before then.
The ride was 82 miles but I missed a turn that added 7, and then rode back to my buddy's house at the end for 96 total.

Nice weather, but humid. I had white salt rings on my legs where the bottom of the shorts fall.
The quiche at the bakery lunch stop was excellent, I provided a tube, & he bought the post ride beer, so good all around.
Well, he did fail to get a date with some young ladies, but at least he tried...


Happy Birthday Machka!!

Well, it was less than I had planned for the day, but I got a 3200ft climb (over about 22 mi), about 40 mi in total. The last 5 miles of the climb contained 2000 of those 3200 ft, so it was a good strong effort.

Heres a pic from about halfway up, another beautiful day in So Cal:




H

Looks great. Grats on the new bike too.

64 miles for me today in 60-something degree temps -- suck it Winter.

45 miles sat morning 32°F
72 miles sun afternoon 70°F. Averaged 22.1 mph for the first 40 miles, then linked up with a slower group for the remainder.

If you're looking for another flat route to try, today I went out to Opossum Bay (just past South Arm) and down there there's some flat stuff along the bay, nice views too. There's a bit of up and down rolling hills for a bit but nothing unmanageable at all, elevation wouldn't get any higher than 80m. 90km return trip from New Town.

Oh, and it seems we share a birthday. Happy birthday!

20 miles off-road on Sunday. Started out cool in the morning, but by end, typical warm spring day. Sweaty, draining Florida summer is almost here.
Back to road bike next weekend.

Thanks!

And Happy Birthday to you too, raisinberry.


We've done a couple rides from the top of a lookout somewhere down South Arm (I forget the name) down into South Arm and around into Opossum Bay and back. That is about 25 km. And we've talked about riding from home, but haven't done it yet.

There are some photos of the South Arm area starting on this page ...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...etail/?page=16

And also here, starting on this page ...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...detail/?page=2


For Sunday's ride, we were up in the Deloraine area. There is some really nice cycling up that way. And a couple weeks ago, we were cycling in the Evandale area. Also very nice. I'll have photos soon.

It was ridiculously nice weather this weekend, maybe a bit chilly in the morning, but blue skies all day. This made Saturday and Sunday’s rides very nice. My legs also felt better. Time to start working in some week night rides and getting back to form.

BTW Machka I want to move where you are. It seems like it is always a holiday weekend.

Amazing weather in the south, took the day off work and went to the tanglefoot trail in Mississippi. 44 miles of rail to trail, very quiet! 88 miles in total. 3 or 4 rest stops available with bathrooms and water, pretty impressive

We've got 12 days of stat holidays here ... just like Canada. Only they tend to bunch most of them into the summer so that we've got long weekends every few weeks at this time of year. After the ANZAC Day long weekend (the weekend after the 5-day Easter holiday), we don't have any until the middle of June. And then none till October.

A couple photos from Sunday's ride ...

tues: 40mi with a couple friends. got a glimpse of spring towards the end when it got into mid 50s. legs were still a bit tired from the hills i did saturday

added 18ish miles on the bike path today for a recovery spin that was less of a recovery effort when i had to turn back around into the wind. I think i'm close to 500mi for the year

I did 51 on Saturday and then 33 on Monday. Headed up to ski today.