Did I ride today? Yes and no.
I was slightly warm as I slipped my cycling shoes and helmet on so figured I'd be plenty warm after I got outside. I was ok for the first 1/4 mile but was kinda cool (not cold) heading up the first climb to get out of my neighborhood. I stayed cool for the next 3/4 mile and the sky was getting even more overcast so figured I wasn't going to warm up much more. My feet were cool, my arms were cool, and my hands were cool. :( So I turned at the first main road and headed back to my neighborhood.
I had planned on simply swapping my vest for a light jacket, putting on warmer socks, and getting a different pair of gloves.
I never take a door key unless my wife leaves before me or I know she's leaving while I'm gone.
Got home and there was no answer when I rang the doorbell. I waited a few minutes and tried it again. Still no answer. So I called her. Seems she decided to go for a walk as soon as I got out the door. She was 3/4 of a mile from the house when I called her.
By the time she got home a neighbor had come over to talk and I just gave up on the idea of riding today. :o
Looks like my next chance to ride will be Thursday (rain in the forecast for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday).

Not today.

Did ride yesterday.

55 miles today with the Florida Freewheelers touring group. After the ride everyone went to Bob Evans for lunch. I had a great Cranberry walnut chicken salad. Good stuff.

Yes, went out to one of the preserves near where we live. http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recrea...s/halpata.html
Rode the pasture road,river trail to the Withlachochee River and then back on the Fort Izard Rd. Lots of horses out today but otherwise nice 10 mile ride. Not too hot but some places were hard to get through due to the trail being pretty beaten up by the horses. Other places were torn up by the wild hogs. Only wildlife sighting was an armadillo. First time I've been that many miles on the mb since the knee surgery. Other than tired, it felt pretty good.

I did a quick 28 miles yesterday. Dressed for cool temps (low 50s) and was sweating by the time I left Stone Mtn. Unseasonably warm. Was supposed to be 60 for the high (warm for December). It ended up being ~74 by the end of the day. Needless to say I was way over-dressed by the time I headed home. :notamused:

57 miles today with the usual Tuesday group. One of the guys broke a spoke on his Madone about 25 miles out. We got him to a bike shop and he called his wife to come pick him up. Weather was great today not to hot and the wind was not a big factor. I only need 237 more miles to hit 10,000 miles this year. This will be my highest mileage ever.

Did my usual 33 mile ride yesterday. It was my coldest ride this year. :o 48F when I left home and 51F when I got back. Didn't have to remove any warmers. I was very comfy except about an hour into the ride my fingers were getting cold. :notamused: The full finger gloves with liners weren't quite enough for the temps. Guess I'll need the slightly heavier (warmer?) gloves tomorrow.

Miles today: 33+
Mileage this month ( December): 335+
Mileage this year: 9893+

Short ride with the Florida Freewheelers today

Today was my coldest ride of the fall. I needed leg warmers today. :notamused: 42F when I left the house, 52F when I got back home.
I was warm but my hands were cool/cold so only did one lap around Stone Mtn. :o They warmed up a little on the way home as the temperature increased.
Only saw one other cyclist when riding out and only one cyclist riding around the mtn. Saw several cyclists heading out on my ride home. Wusses. ;)

Seems I missed all the neighborhood excitement while I was gone. Some of the houses on our street have steep driveways. Somehow the parking gear and emergency brake failed on my neighbor's "new to him" Nissan Xterra. It rolled down the driveway (backward), crossed the street, jumped the curb, and crashed into another neighbor's house leaving visible damage. Luckily no one was injured. The neighbor's house was empty. They left for a 6 week vacation earlier this week. He'll have a nice surprise when he gets home. :eek:

25 road miles on the Fisher Opie mountain bike with Nokian 26x1.9 w160 tires in 33* & 10-15mph winds. There's no ice on the roads but I wanted to check out the effect on rolling resistance again since I haven't really don't any miles on these tires since last year. Again, no real effect in a straight line, but noisy and a bit slippery when cornering. Over dressed a bit with Underarmour, Amfib tights and a Medium-weight North Face jacket, but stripped the base layer at a Starbucks and felt great the rest of the ride. Kind of looking forward to some snow whenever it decides to arrive.......

Today’s ride:

12/14/2011 42+ miles

Rode with my friends Jim and John to Sugar Loaf Mt. today. This area is known for about 7 very tough climbs like The wall, The Momma and The Poppa, Buckhill and Cherry Lake, Hospital Hill and a couple of others. This is the general area where the Horrible Hundred is held every year. Well I made it up the wall on the way out (I had to walk it the last time),then came Sugar Loaf, considered by many the toughest climb in Florida. The first part of Sugar Loaf is the hardest IMO about 14% grade then it tapers off to about 12 % grade. I made it over that first section but my legs were cooked so I stopped and took a break, then started to walk the rest of it. I walked about 10 yards and decided that waking was going to be as tough as riding so I climbed back on the bike and rode the rest of it. Needless to say I was only doing about 3-4 mph but it was faster than walking.

On the way up Sugar Loaf we had a guy that was riding a fixed gear, it was depressing to watch him ride out of sight, although I must mention that he had about 31 fewer years on his legs than I have (but a fixed gear). I turned around at the top and started down, at 35 mph I started to wonder how bad it would hurt if I crashed so I started applying the brakes. I have gone faster than that but I was a lot younger and more daring then. I was feeling pretty good about myself until we got back to the Wall a second time. For me that climb really separated the men from the weaklings today, I fall into the weakling category. I made it about half way up but that was it and I had to walk the rest. It was still a long ride back to the car and there were some pretty good rollers but I got over them even if it was a bit slow.

We stopped in downtown Winter Garden and had a great lunch at The Moon Cricket. Johns Garmin said that we had burned about 8,000 calories so I didn’t feel bad at all about ordering the fried fish sandwich. Now I am known around town for the high mileage that I ride but it is all on flat ground and believe me when I tell you high mileage is no training for even Florida’s hills.

Almost forgot to mention that we encountered some 21 mph wind gusts today. Just thought I would through that in.

SloSpoke..... What climb is the one in your pictures?

That is Sugar Loaf Mt. It is very difficult to get any running start due to the fact that you start a gradual climb just as soon as you make thee turn at the bottom. Then you hit a section that is 14% I am told, then the top 2/3 is about 12%. I was surprised at how easy it was to get back on the bike and finish the top half. I think I was only dong about 3-4 mph. My riding partners were on the way back down as I was still going up.

If you look at the first photo you can see a driveway to the right and just behind the car. That is where I had to stop and take a little break. Although it doesn't look like it that IMO is the hardest part of the climb. A lot of riders say The Wall is tougher than Sugar Loaf because it is much longer. They are both tough to me.

Wow. Summer is back. It was 54 degrees when I left home. It got so warm on my ride out I had to strip down before I got to Stone Mtn. :eek: It really felt warm with arm and knee warmers, base layer undershirt, ff gloves with liners, and a vest.
It was so nice I wanted to ride longer/farther but had to get home to drive my wife to the doctor for a quick checkup and blood test. Even though she retired from Emory 3 years ago, she hates driving in the traffic on campus and in the area, so I am the chauffeur. :o

I always tell everybody I ride with that if I lived anyplace with hills I would probably not ride at all (not that I'm riding much lately). Or at least I would have to get a 3rd ring up front .. LOL I think the biggist "hill" I have ridden is the 312 bridge in St. Augustine. Took a friend to Flagler Hospital that is right near the bridge. While he was getting some procedure done I rode over the bridge 6 times (3 each way)... Ended up riding 22 miles just doing that. Could I do it now...... sadly no.... :( I think that was before I got my road bike..

Yep... Loaded up the mountain bike and went to the Gainesville Hawthorne trail and road some of the non paved trails and a bit of the paved trail. Perfect temp for a ride in the woods hardly any bugs until I was almost done riding (near dusk). I think I rode about 8 miles off road and about 5 miles on paved trail. Not really sure... It was 1hr 48mins on the bike though. After reading about slowspoke and the hills yesterday I decided to ride the big hill on the trail. While I was taking a break after the longer climb (east to west is longer) I saw 4 dear just poking out of the woods across the trail from where I was sitting. I tried taking some pictures but they were really a bit to far away for the camera on the phone. That and the setting sun was behind them.. that didn't help.

Great ride though....

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=230645

The last three days, as well as today, have been about 70* out. I have taken full advantage of it and done almost 100 miles in the past three days. If I can go out and do 18 today I will have broken 100 in the last four days. Nice way to get my monthy mileage back in line...

79.5* Sunny. Tested a new saddle for 15 miles.

http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/h...view=slideshow

So how was the ride? How many times did you "impale" yourself? ;)

Hit on The South Part.....

And the results are?

Just looked at there web site, that is really out side the box.

Looks so far outside the box..... that there is NO BOX in sight...... well sept we saw the box sitting by the door..... but anyway.... Freaky looking Tim Burton nightmare before Christmas saddle .. :D

And like SloSpoke said..... and the results are?

It was cold when I left for my birthday ride (42 degrees). Brrrr. Way too cold to ride my age. :rolleyes:
My hands never warmed up even though I was wearing my warmest gloves and liners. :notamused:
I only did one lap around Stone Mtn because of the temps. :(
After I got home I went to REI to try and find some warmer gloves. Found a pair of Giro Pivot gloves on sale. I hope they work. :o

Well it's been a while since I posted, 'cause it's been a while since I've ridden. After the Santa Fe 50 miler early in November, I've only been on the bike once - a 25mile out-and-back fund raising ride on the Hawthorne Trail for my daughter's church youth group. Mornings have been too chilly and damp and my weekends have been to busy for the most part. My sinuses take a beating this time of year, which tends to heavily influence a lack of riding. So barring the odd warm snap, guess I'll be seeing all y'all in the spring. It's windtrainer-and-a-movie time! :)

Yep..... Got out for a ride today..... Left kind of late in the afternoon though so didn't ride as long as I wanted too. Seemed like every time I was getting close to leaving for a ride.... something else would come up.... But I got out and rode for about 48 minutes total on the mountain bike. Rode to the bank ATM and then hit the short trail for a loop... OMG so many gnats just swarming parts of the trail that I gave up after one loop and rode home.