10/23/2010
25.53 miles today
177 ride days LY vs. 180 ride days TY
1934 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 74.2% of my goal.
61 miles ahead of last year at this date
25.9 miles average ride this month
30.9 miles average ride this yr.

Motivation meter today 9.5 on a scale of 1-10

Got a late start today and lots of people on the trail. Looks as if I am going to be short of my 7500 mile goal this year. I hope to at least equal last years number of 6800 miles.

Sometimes it seems like I take longer deciding where to ride than the ride itself. I finally made some kind of decision and got out of the house around 10:30 this morning. Headed towards downtown, through the Georgia State campus, behind Georgia Tech, then cut across on 10th St. to Piedmont Park. I was going to make the ride a bit longer, but my mechanic texted me that my car was ready so I headed home to pay him. 20 miles and some change.

You'll see from the few pictures I took that we're not getting many fall colors yet. I think this is going to be a bad year. A lot of trees look like they're going directly from green to brown. :-(

One sad colorful tree with the Cotton Mill lofts way at the end of the street.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1160/...bcba6dedb9.jpg

The wrong side of my bike, just because. Yep, still have the loaner saddle. I have a feeling I'm going to end up buying that thing even though it's white.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1125/...227562ee6d.jpg

"This is CNN"

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1326/...bd58cd6d64.jpg

Piedmont Park. See, colors aren't doing much.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1230/...29518c71dd.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1130/...00f600c9ac.jpg

Need to hydrate and get a good night's sleep. Horse Farm 100 in Gainesville bright and early tomorrow.

Distance: 37.66 mi
Time: 02:16:22 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 16.6 mph
Avg HR: 121 bpm
Avg Bike Cadence: 82 rpm
Avg Power: 137
Elevation Gain: 347 ft
Calories: 977 C
Max Speed: 28.4 mph
Max HR: 185 bpm
Max Bike Cadence: 111 rpm
Avg Temp:64.2

Got up this morning and unlike the last couple years, it was clear and sunny! Cold, though; stuck a t-shirt under the jersey, donned the arm-warmers, downed some Cheerios and Raisin Bran and headed off to the Santa Fe ride.

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01864.640.jpg
First thing of note, someone's wearing a tutu. Never a dull moment around here!

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01867.640.jpg
Gainesville Cycling Club Grand Poobah for Life (and official event starter) Chandler Otis, who cannot resist hamming for the camera.

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01871.640.jpg
Remember what I said earlier about never a dull moment? Yes, that is, indeed, a bamboo tandem.

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01876.640.jpg
Finally out of town and into some scenery and gorgeous weather

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01878.640.jpg
(oops, got a finger in the shot) First rest stop, at High Springs. What a mob!

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01879.640.jpg
(bit of camera shake there) I'm feeling pretty good at this point; just shucked a t-shirt out from under the jersey, but I'm not quite ready to lose the arm warmers yet.

Shortly after leaving High Springs, I figured out I'd fallen in with a bunch of hammerheads; instead of the 15-17 I was aiming for, this lot was cooking along at 18-22. Oh well, let's see how long I last... made it until just before the second rest stop, when the cafe racers stopped to wait for someone and I forged on with a slower group we'd just caught up to. Ahhh, that's better!

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01886.640.jpg
Second rest stop, in Hague. Just a few more miles to the finish and lunch! Didn't stay here long, despite the presence of some really good homemade frosted peanut butter fudge. The wind picked up bigtime just after getting out onto 441, and I slowed to a crawl until a the bunch I'd been with rolling into the stop caught back up with me; I jumped back on and clung for dear life until we got out of that easterly wind.

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01889.640.jpg
Self portrait at the finish, elated to have gotten back up to 18 or so for the last mile or two. Yes, that Giro helmet is probably older than some of the readers of this forum. :)

http://www.afn.org/~scotsman/photos/...c01891.640.jpg
I had someone snap a pic of me collapsed against the side of the building, but he said I needed one hoisting the bike for the sake of cheap dramatics. I obliged, surprised my arms didn't fall off from picking the fool thing up.

LUNCHTIME!!!!! BBQ via Adam's Rib, and PizzaVito provided hallowed Italian food disks.

The final tallly - 55 miles at 17.2MPH. I'm pleased at how well I did after falling in with the fast crowd. Next event's the Ride for Your Life metric century in Bartow on 11/13. Can't wait!

Rode the trainer today.

mrz80...

Looks like you had a good time, thanks for the photos and story. pretty good average speed as well.

I second that! Nice pics mrz80. As a loner I love seeing pics from organized events.

10/24/2010
25.20 miles today
178 ride days LY vs. 181 ride days TY
1908 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 74.5% of my goal. 81% of the year has passed, this is not looking good
63 miles ahead of last year at this date
25.8 miles average ride this month
30.8 miles average ride this yr.

Motivation meter today 8.0 on a scale of 1-10

Temp in the low 80s today with 44% humidity blue sky's 10/15 mph wind. Everything pointed to a good ride today except my motivation level. Can't seem to get the engine kick started...

Abracapocus - Love your pictures as always!
MRZ80- loved seeing pictures of this event. It's right up the road from where we live. I'm not much on group rides as there is no way I could keep up with those speeds or distances but did enjoy reading your post. Maybe one day.

Finally - Back up to 20.3 miles today on the Withlachochee. Started near Holder and rode south to Inverness. Took a brief rest and had a Cliff bar and then headed back north. Was really tired the last few miles. Hubby said he was getting worried he might have to tow me the last mile or so. New knee feeling great!! Other one...not so much. Still trying to build up my stamina since the surgery. Last week made it to the gym 3 times and did 8 miles each on the recumbent. Slowly but surely.

LindaN

I rode the Horse Farm 100 today in Gainesville, Fl that is. Good event. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/54277447
Sorry, no pictures, I was working too hard.

Distance: 100.88 mi
Time: 04:58:45 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 20.3 mph
Avg HR: 151 bpm
Avg Bike Cadence: 88 rpm
Avg Power: 243
Elevation Gain: 2,337 ft
Calories: 4,475 C
Max Speed: 35.0 mph
Max HR: 177 bpm
Max Bike Cadence: 136 rpm

This Week: 7 Rides
Distance: 290.33 mi
Time: 16:04:53 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 18.1 mph
Avg HR: 132 bpm
Avg Bike Cadence: 82 rpm
Elevation Gain: 4,124 ft
Calories: 10,817 C
Max Speed: 35.0 mph
Max HR: 206 bpm

I saw that bamboo today at the Horse Farm 100. I think its a Calfe, they even make a tandem/triplet convertable.
http://www.calfeedesign.com/tandem.htm

I know, I watch too much TV but, isn't Adam's Ribs the place near the Deerborne Station, where Hawkeye gets delivery to Korea in MASH?

We finally got some rain down here, I was wondering when it would come! I may have to ride in it tomorrow... thankfully, the temps have been in the 80's... yes, that's right.

Back to commuting tomorrow. I'm sort of torn... I love driving my sports car, but lately I've been having delusions of selling it and buying a couple of really nice bikes...

Ugh. I ordered some Mr. Tuffy liners for the commuter. Getting tired of flats every time I do a group ride on it.

Yep. I had just, in the course of random link-hopping Friday afternoon, stumbled across that very website, so it was a cool coincidence to see one live and under person Saturday. :) So how'd you do on the Horse Farm? I love the route, but I don't wanna miss church for a bike ride :). Isn't Dungarvin Road FUN!?!?!


Dunno about that. Adam's Rib is a place on 13th Street in Gainesville (went in where Dunkin Donuts used to be) that puts out REALLY GOOD pulled pork, and pretty decent ribs.

See my post above http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post11673019 including Garmin link for details of my ride. It was very challenging this year. I don't mind, so much, the wind or the hills. However the two combined were really underappreciated.

"Isn't Dungarvin Road FUN!?!?! "

If I knew which road that was, I might be able to tell ya', but I have no clue. If I was with others, and not doing all the work, then it might not have been that bad. If it was in the second half, then it was likely rough since I was often by myself or pulling a small group.

btw... I love my Garmin 500. I used the course feature, which did work well even if I didn't use that screen. My virtual partner finished before me and I was only a mile or so behind (VP does not stop when you do).

Dungarvin Road is the long east-west stretch just below McIntosh, that had a stretch of 4 or 5 short steep hills one right after another.

I'm thinking east-west from miles 24-28, NW 193rd St? If so, then I was very frustrated, not really by the hills, not that they weren't "fun" but, at that point I was riding with an inconsistant group that would attack the hills and coast down the other side. They played leap frog through that section passing me on the ups and slowing me down on the other side.

A few tips to anyone who cares:
When doing a large group ride, try to get into a group that you can actually work with. If you aren't strong enough to maintain the speed (or effort) when you get to the front, then stay away from the front. If you find yourself at the front, maintain speed and get left as soon as the rider in front of you goes backwards. Then sit in the back surfing wheels if you have to.

Do not ride a TT/tri bike in a group ride, unless you are going solo, willing to pull a train along or sit off the back STAY OFF YOUR AERO BARS!!! (Some people around me were *****ing at one guy who was riding alongside us on his aero bars and trying to slide in, not a good way to make friends.)

I think I had more but, my 3rd graders homework has distracted me.

Yep, that's Dungarvin.

Oh dear. Not good at all, at all. I tend to take the opposite approach - hammer on the downhills so's I can carry as much speed up the next climb as possible. :)

Last ride was Sunday, October 17. Ride was 51 miles on the Suncoast Trail. Don't know when I'll be back in the saddle because I aggravated a pressure sore on the right side of my perineum and it swelled into a huge painful abscess about the size of a small egg, draining blood and other stuff in three places. Today was the first day I could touch it without screaming so it's getting better. Been using hot water compresses and Neosporin, gave up on ichthamol and bag balm, they didn't seem to be working. Had my primary care MD look at it during my annual physical yesterday. He wanted to put me on antibiotics and said it needed to be drained by a surgeon. So I just want to get it cut and drained. Antibiotics have always screwed me up. If any cyclist has experience with this I'd like to hear from you. The surgeon who I'm scheduled to see treats lots of cyclists I'm told. I'm just concerned about how long I won't be able to ride or give my dog her power walk in the morning. She looks so disappointed it's one of her favorite things, to ride in the truck over to the trail and do her 1.5 mile walk. A word to the wise: be careful of the butt and use that chamois butter!

10/26/2010
25.50 miles today
179 ride days LY vs. 182 ride days TY
1883 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 74.8% of my goal. 81.9% of the year has passed, this is not looking good
67 miles ahead of last year at this date
25.8 miles average ride this month
30.8 miles average ride this yr.

Motivation meter today 9.5 on a scale of 1-10

Temp in the mid 80s today with 55% humidity blue sky's, SSE 10/15 mph wind in my face on the return trip. Everything pointed to a good ride today even my motivation level.

YIKES! :-| Hope that gets resolved soon and minimally painfully!

Well, between work and the compressing daytime, I had less than an hour of daylight, so I went for a short, HARD ride, 10 miles out and back up 43rd St. Average speed 17.1, max on the level 26, max down the hill on 23rd, 30MPH. This was a max effort, mostly to burn off the extreme irritation at my 16yo for butchering the flowering plum in the front yard with an overzealous hand to the loppers when she got home from school :(. Had my pulse up in the 150 range there for a while. I'm gonna sleep WELL tonight, boys and girls!

Took yesterday off. When I got back from the Horse Farm 100 on sunday, I came home to one of our cats dead in the backyard of an obvious animal attack. It was likely two dogs that get loose in the neighborhood and are probly responsible for atleast 3 other cats before ours. No need to go any further into that.

Rode my Pista today, gotta gear down, I had to work too hard while going slow.

Distance: 36.71 mi
Time: 02:09:37 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 17.0 mph
Avg HR: 122 bpm
Avg Bike Cadence: 69 rpm
Avg Power: 144
Elevation Gain: 522 ft
Calories: 1,207 C
Max Speed: 31.0 mph
Max HR: 175 bpm
Max Bike Cadence: 126 rpm

10/27/2010
28.1 miles today
179 ride days LY vs. 183 ride days TY
1855 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 75.3% of my goal. 82% of the year has passed, this is not looking good
96 miles ahead of last year at this date
25.96 miles average ride this month
30.85 miles average ride this yr.

Motivation meter today 9.5 on a scale of 1-10

Did 8 miles this morning doing errands then 20 this evening. It was a good riding day

droobieinop, sorry to hear about the pet cat. Do you have any recourse against the owners of the dogs?

well, I didn't but Hubby did and we ended up in the ER last night. He decided to go for a ride down at Santos (mountain Bike) and took a bad spill. Hurt his right shoulder...bad.... Had to walk out with his bike. When I got home from work I convinced him to go to the ER. But, after waiting for over 2 hours he couldn't take it anymore, so we came home. Got him into Ortho Surgeon today and they took xrays. Might be a fracture but they are sending him for ct scan tomorrow. He can barely lift his arm and looks like he will be out of commission for awhile. He has been riding almost every afternoon to try to increase his mb skills and was on one of the blue trails. He was hoping to be able to ride in the "Ride of the Living Dead" on Saturday that the Ocala Mountain Bike group was doing but that looks like it is not going to happen. Anyway, just hoping we'll find out what it is and it won't require surgery.

LindaN

Wow, both of you in rehab now, I hope things work out for the best and nothing is broken. Keep us posted on the progress.

Just about did myself in despite the brevity of the ride. 11.7 at 15.2MPH, out to the end of 39th Ave and back, including up THE WALL, a long steep hill up to the I-75 interchange. It was an applied exercise in how slow can I go before the bike falls over. :)