Did You Ride Today?

[CAMPYBOB]

Zipp, what was that Towne Hall looking white building with the muzzle loading cannon sitting in the yard? Cool!


It got up to 55 degrees today with some sun. The wind was a steady 15 to 17 MPH with gusts to 24 MPH.

I rolled through 38 miles of rolling terrain with 1700' of climbing. My legs were flat from that trainer session yesterday. 3 hours of mowing this morning and afternoon didn't help things.

The wind made things work, again and the cool air temperature was keeping me from getting up to operating temperature. I was climbing OK...nothing spectacular. Couldn't develop anywhere near max power or get my heart rate into the red. Must have been beat.

Still, a fun ride and nothing eventful happened.

 

[zipp2001]

It's the old town hall for the town of Ashburnham, they still have meeting there.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Cool! Nice route with plenty of upgrades and hills! No wonder you're so strong.

 

[zipp2001]

Cool! Nice route with plenty of upgrades and hills! No wonder you're so strong.

I've got to do that route more this year because it's such a great ride, with very little traffic, great road conditions in 90% of it. Thanks CAMPYBOB just trying to hold your wheel, your post's are a great inspiration to get out and ride.

 

[limerickman]

Weather here has been particularly good this last 4 weeks. It's been very dry which is phenomenal by this country's usual rainfall quantity.

In the last 24 days, I've pedalled 2,496 miles. Today's ride was 172 miles.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Lim...DAMN! What are you doing? Laps of Ireland?!?!

You've GOT to be retired...or training for the Tour next month. Kudos to you for one Hell of a string of Centuries!

 

[limerickman]

Lim...DAMN! What are you doing? Laps of Ireland?!?!

You've GOT to be retired...or training for the Tour next month. Kudos to you for one Hell of a string of Centuries!

I'll never retire!

The truth is a bit more prosaic. A group of us had targetted 8th May for an especially long distance spin, so that the reason for today's distance.

You'd be well able for it, Bob.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Only 52 degrees here today and the wind was a steady 16 MPH with gusts to 24 MPH and the sun was out! Perfect! Let's ride!

Just had time to get a quick 18-mile ride in with 700' of climbing, so a flat to gently rolling course. A fun ride and the Ribble performed flawlessly again.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I'll never retire!

The truth is a bit more prosaic. A group of us had targetted 8th May for an especially long distance spin, so that the reason for today's distance.

You'd be well able for it, Bob.

172 miles beats my best by around 20 miles! That's definitely a dawn-to-dark effort. I slammed a lot of centuries away in my time and even last summer did a bunch of them, but jeeze! 2500 miles in less than a month?! Outstanding!

That's the kind of miles that a good semi-pro would put in...MAYBE!

You get the Hard Man Award for this Spring, for sure!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

65 degrees and sunny. The wind was a mild 5 to 8 MPH when I through a leg over and sprinted off to do some hills.

32 miles with 1600' of climbing. I felt light and fast and rocked up every climb at least looking the part of a racer. Worked on the drops a lot on the flats. Descended like a wild man...of course.

The Ribble R872 came wrapped with some ******** cork tape. I hate that stuff. I over-wrapped it with Fizik Classic touch and now it feels as good to grip as the Wilier. And not only do the English ride on the wrong side of the road and wire their bras backward, they wrap bars in the 'wrong' direction! LOL! Now it not only feels better...it looks proper!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Wire their bras? Duh! Brakes! Brakes!

Who puts the front brake on the right?

 

[zipp2001]

Brrrr ! Chilly 51 degrees with overcast skies and a chilly 10-12 wind. So I decided to roll out the mountain bike and play in the woods. Plenty of mud and wet trails from all the rain we've been getting. Rolled out a harder than normal 15 miles, slugging thru the mud, and soft trails.

Mapping out a route for a ride I have coming up on the 20th. I'm doing a Men's ride in the woods out of my house, and have a local shop letting me use up to 15 demo bikes for those that don't have a bike for the trails. I do a Men's bi-weekly breakfast and can have anywhere from 4- 12 guys, so far I have 4 signed up for the ride with several others on the fence.

I did let it be known that shaved legs were not required.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

71 degrees and sunshine with wind almost calm at only 3 MPH. Perfect! Let's ride!

I thought my legs would be dead after yesterday, but fortunately they turned on and turned over. Steep'ish terrain with 1250' of climbing in 22 miles. Within 11 seconds and 3 Watts of the course record, so I must be getting fit.

The sun was beautiful and the Ribble R872 ran like a champ. The shimaNO shifting isn't as fast as Campy, but I was slapping those levers like Hamilton Lewis shifting his Mercedes F1 car. I think that with a lighter set of wheels and tires this thing will make a great climbing bike. For an el cheapo throw away racer it's certainly competent enough for the Cat. racer.

The new Wilier frame is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Give me a week or so to get it built up and we'll see what I think of it. I can't wait to get back on Campy again.

 

[zipp2001]

Another chilly overcast day so hit the woods in more way than one today. Decided to do some single track trails and that's what I like most about riding in the woods. Just a plan blast playing in the woods today.

 

[zipp2001]

Tough day at work and dead tried when I got home. Took the road bike out for some climbing followed by heavy rollers, and false flats home. 63 degrees with a light wind 4-6 but it felt colder without my arm or leg warmers. This route is only 15.2 miles but the wake-up (climbing) comes only .82 miles into the ride. No time to shake the legs out so it was push on and up with a max grade of 19% in one spot.
The plan was to take it easy and spin on the lower section of the climb and see where the legs were when the climbs starts to bite. Was real choppy and struggled to find a rhythm standing, but fought threw it and recovered and started to turn over a more aggressive gear on the heavy rollers. By the time I hit the false flats with a light headwind was feeling comfortable cranking out at 21-23 mph. The start killed my average speed but overall I was happy how the legs responded once loose. Finished off at 17.87mph.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

65 degrees, overcast and the wind a light 5 to 7 MPH.

Just a short 14-mile flat recovery ride.

Meanwhile...Lim's out doing another Century run!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

57 degrees, more overcast, wind at a steady 9 MPH.

Just another short 15-mile hop with 700' of climbing. Medium tempo.

Time to get back to work building the new Wilier up. It won't roll until next week. I can't install the front derailleur without a K-Edge chain catcher...mounting screw is too long for this braze-on mount bracket.

 

[Uawadall]

28.6 miles/1300 ft/18.3 mph.

Plenty of crazies on the road at 6pm on Friday...

One driver honked, went in front of me, slammed on the brakes and then turned. A group of dumb asses on motorcycles took up the entire length of road, felt like it was going to be a head on collision. I'll have to remind myself not to ride on Friday evenings.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Fridays have always been the 'weird' days...and yet almost all my crashes and incidents have been on other days. Except for that groundhog that ran under my front wheel and crashed me. Broken bone in the hand and I had to sit out the race the next day.

Watched episode 18 of Yowamishi NG. The start of the Inter High. Still weird. Still very interesting. Great graphics!

 

[Uawadall]

Fridays have always been the 'weird' days...and yet almost all my crashes and incidents have been on other days. Except for that groundhog that ran under my front wheel and crashed me. Broken bone in the hand and I had to sit out the race the next day.

Watched episode 18 of Yowamishi NG. The start of the Inter High. Still weird. Still very interesting. Great graphics!

It seems like the really crazy days are the ones that are survived. Haven't seen something that stupid in a while. Wildlife seem to be one of the key things to look out for up here.

I liked the episode, but almost wished I waited to marathon this season. By time the hype kicks in, the episode is over. The hype moment of ep. 18 for me was when Izumida and Naruko were chomping at the bits for a sprint race.