Same 22.3 as yesterday, including the 10 miles of headwind! No soccer game tomorrow, so I am going to try to get a good ride in. If the family wants to ride, then it'll likely be less than 20 miles as my wife hasn't ridden much lately.

Yes we did. 20.5 miles on the Withlachochee from Central Ridge to Inverness and back. Saw lots of tortoises and a snake. Not sure what kind of snake. I wasn't close enough. Thankfully.

LindaN

I did. First ride to work on my new bike. Too bad it's nasty out.

14 miles of trails on the mtb, felt great

I did indeed. Spent the morning shuffling my daughter around the Pinellas bike shops. Think we've settled on a Giant for her from Outspokin (Gotta convince the wife that it's a good expenditure :) ). The rain more or less stopped by mid afternoon, so I got out on the bike and rode one of my usual routes from the inlaws' house:

Pinellas Trail north from Taylor Park
60 West across the Causeway to Clearwater Beach
Across the Sand Key bridge and down Gulf Blvd
East across the Bellair Beach Causeway and up West Bay
Down Indian Rocks to 8th
Back to the inlaws'

The inlaws and wife laughed at me when I put the armwarmers on; as it eventuated, I was smart to wear 'em. The mild drizzle started immediately, and by the time I was across the Causeway into Clearwater Beach it was raining pretty hard. By the time I'd discovered that the Bellair Beach drawspan had been replaced by a (*bad word redacted*) manmade mountain, it was pouring. By the time I got to 8th the road was 4" deep so I ducked up on the sidewalk for the last couple of miles. One mile from the house I found a muddy patch the hard way, thus giving rise to a specatcular muddy landing and my first road rash in 20 years :). No damage to the bike; the stem slipped sideways just a tad is all. Must've wrung a pint of water out of my socks when I got back. Next time someone says "warm sunny Florida" I'm gonna give 'em a punch in the nose! :)

Wednesday 11/25/09 No
Rain in central FL today, the "D" and I took a visit to a new bike shop instead of a ride
It just doesn't get any better than this (for now anyway).

00.00 (s)miles today
505.23 (s)miles this month
6172.03 (s)miles this year
17 ride days this month (Nov.)
All is well in Slo Spoke Jim's world.

Thursday 11/26/09 Yes
Beautiful day in central FL today, the "D" and I took off about noon and did 37+ miles, high 60s today.
It just doesn't get any better than this.

37.21 (s)miles today
542.44 (s)miles this month
6209.24 (s)miles this year
18 ride days this month (Nov.)
All is well in Slo Spoke Jim's world.

Two days running. What a concept! After checking the wind (out of the northeast) I headed north on the Pinellas Trail. Had a nagging suspicion that something was still out of whack after the crash yesterday. Had to turn around after a half mile when the waistband elastic on my shorts gave out and my shorts started to come off! Headed off again with a new pair of shorts. Met up with a chap whose name I cannot recall (I'm TERRIBLE with names, sad to say) from Vermont who spends a bit of time down here; rode with him for a while 'til he turned back at Dunedin. I got to my turnaround (the new bridge where the trail crosses Alt 19 above Curlew) and twiddled with the stem a bit - seems it was knocked JUST off straight when I went down yesterday. The ride back was much quicker, what with that nice tailwind, and a few short intervals hammering in the big ring. 22 miles, 14MPH average. Have to get out tomorrow morning before we head home to Gainesville.

I didn't let the wind stop me. Had to ride off all the "bad things" I ate yesterday. :twitchy:
46F and 18 mph winds (22 mph gusts) when I left home so I tried out my new Novara wind jacket. I stayed just the right temperature. Not too warm, not too cool. :beer:
Didn't see any riders going out but saw 3 on my way home. I guess everyone was at the big Black Friday sales buying bike stuff. :rolleyes:
Tomorrow I'll take my new 2009 Kona Jake out for it's first ride. I'm worried that with the 48/38 chainrings I won't do well on hills. My previous cx bike had a 50/34 and I could barely make it up most (but not all) of the hills at Yellow River mtn bike park. I'm afraid the 38 will have to be swapped out for a 34 or smaller. :o I'll post a ride report.

It was 55 with about the same sort of wind out of the north northwest when I lit out this morning. No fancy jacket here, just my Florida (Go Gators!) armwarmers and a tshirt under the jersey. Only did about 10 miles on the Pinellas Trail today as the wind was just brutal, and had to leave enough time to swing by Outspokin and scarf up that Giant Avail for my 13yo's early Christmas (she was too cramped riding the wife's old Terry :) ). Now I've got a riding buddy/motivator ("C'mon Dad, get off the sofa and RIDE with me!!!!" :thumb: ) I'm starting to dig this "ride every day" thing again. Here's hoping I can keep it up! Maybe mix it up with some mountain bike rides with my older girl.

Rain on weds
50 cool miles on turkey day over most of the hills between here and Camp Blanding
20 colder miles this am

Looking at a 40's start in the morning, milder on sunday.

Saturday: Patchy frost before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 64. North wind between 3 and 7 mph.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 41. Calm wind.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 72. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph.
(nws forecast)

Lousy week of riding, or not riding as it turned out, for me! It started last Saturday when the family decided we should do things that didn't involve riding a bike. Then between cold, wind, rain and illness, I didn't get out again until Thursday. I managed 15.5 miles on Thursday, but it was chilly and the wind was howling, so it wasn't much fun. Yesterday I just never found the time. I finally got out this afternoon for 16.8 miles. While it was pretty chilly by my standards (anything under 70!), it wasn't too bad. It is supposed to warm up some starting tomorrow, so hopefully next week will be better. I need less than 200 miles to hit 3000 for the year, not bad considering I missed most of last winter and spring due to illness.

Friday 11/27/09 No
Saturday 11/28/2009 Yes
Beautiful day in central FL today, the temps in the low 60s and no wind. It was in the low 40s this morning and I didn't think it would warm up enough for me to get out but it did.
You see I have a 60 degree rule, anything below that and I stay by the fire (I'm such a wimp). I guess I have been in Florida to long.
It just doesn't get any better than this.

28.23 (s)miles today
570.67 (s)miles this month
6237.47 (s)miles this year
19 ride days this month (Nov.)
All is well in Slo Spoke Jim's world.

Sunday 11/29/2009 Yes
Beautiful day in central FL today, the temps in the low 70s and light wind from the south.
It just doesn't get any better than this.

30.34 (s)miles today
601.01 (s)miles this month
6267.81 (s)miles this year
20 ride days this month (Nov.)
All is well in Slo Spoke Jim's world.

Nice day today, no headwind on the way home! I managed 22.6 miles on my old Puch. I have been riding the old bike lately as it seems to be easier on my knees. It has a shorter crank (170 vs. 175) and because it is a double it is about 1/2" narrower than the triple on my Giant. I am wondering if this is why the outside of my knee hurts sometimes on the Giant. I can ride the Giant one day with my knee hurting and then the next day ride the Puch and my knee feels better as I ride. Weird!

Jim, I have the same 60 degree rule! Anything in that range is starting to be no fun, so my motivation is lacking those days. I hope no one from the Northeast or Canada forums reads this, we'll really look like wimps then!

I did 15 miles in 50's with a wind and loved every bit of it!!! It is all what get you used to. Being in Louisville, KY. if I had to wait until it was in the 60's I would be waiting October -May. Enjoy what you have... trust me late November- through the end of March I am envious of the "cold" temps you have.:):):)

Rode from the Gainesville end of the G.Ville Hawthorne trail today. Rode about 7 miles out and then the 7 back. UGGGG can tell i'm not riding much right now, the hills at that end seemed a lot tougher than they used to be..... LOL Great ride though, perfect weather not much wind. About 3hrs later getting up from watching some TV I got a cramp in my right thigh... NOT FUN NOT FUN...

My rule's roughly the same. Between the lower temps (and don't rag on me, northerners, I'm a transplanted yank who remembers what "winter" really is- 2-1/2 decades of living in the south has spoiled me :) ) and the curtailed riding hours 'cause of various kid-and-work-related constraints, not much riding gets done during the week around here. Hmm... with the wife's elliptical machine out of the family room for the Christmas tree, I might just have enough room to set up the windtrainer so's I can see the TV from it. Exercise and movies at once! Sounds like a Plan! :)

Got out for another ride today.. Perfect weather again. Well except for the headwind on the way back for about 6 miles. Actually truth be told I enjoyed the headwind today, in my mind (this time) it was a challenge and not an obstacle. The worst part was I stopped with about 2miles to go into the headwind (and talked to a friend). Uggg when I got started again my legs felt like lead. Only rode for a bit over an hour, I think about 13.5 miles. ..... stupid headwind..... LOL

I forgot... 18.5 to 19mph with the wind.... 13.5 against the wind ....

It was really nice when I left this afternoon, but a little after I turned around and headed for home, the wind shifted to a headwind and felt like it doubled in strength! So my nice easy ride home turned into an 8 mile slog into the wind. 22.4 miles total.

11.28.09 - 02:11:21 - 38.79 m - 17.7 mph ave - 83 rpm ave
11.29.09 - wussed out
11.30.09 - 02:04:48 - 35.56 m - 17.1 mph ave - 78 rpm ave

5975 m (266h) ytd total (recordred and only riding consistantly from may)