Did You Ride Today?

[zipp2001]

If I had Zipp's power to go with, they would have heard me breaking the sound barrier!

HaHa ! Just starting to get the legs back after a very bad week with knee issues. Last Sunday I cut my ride short because I couldn't put any pressure on my right knee without getting a sharp pain above the knee cap. Almost called the wife to pick me up but rolled out a pain filled 22 miles.
Mondays are always a down day, and I stayed off the bike thru Thursday. Couldn't hold off on half day Friday and rolled out 40 miles with some minor knee pain. Saturday I rolled out 38 miles and the knee pain was almost gone. So today after service it was a rolling route in the surrounding 4 towns for 47 miles with no knee pain at all when climbing.
I spent more time looping the city of Gardner better known as The Chair City. It was a cool day at 74 degree with a light wind at 6-8 mph. Just plain happy the knee pain is gone, not sure what I even did to cause it, but all good.

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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4pLXoZ12OI

 

[CAMPYBOB]

61 Miles in 80° sunshine! The wind was a mild 5 to 8 MPH.

2400' of climbing on a relatively flat course. Traffic was light and my legs were dead from yesterday's insanity. I still managed to keep the power up across the flats and even the exposed headwind sections were easily handled. Now...the climbs...I kept the Watts down, the gearing light and spun up about everything.

I found an Upson brand screwdriver, model UB-7. A 7" hexagonal blade embedded in an amber colored plastic handle with a red plastic "LOK-BLOK" between the blade and the handle. Scroll down this page to see a picture of the Lok Blok: http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2012/11/vanished-tool-makers-upson-bros-inc.html

I had never heard of Upson tools and had to Google them up. Founded in 1872 by the Upson Brothers and finally bought out by Stanley and ChanneLock. They came out of the Upson Nut Company in Cleveland, Ohio and manufactured hand tools in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The Upson screwdrivers seem to have disappeared around 1968.

More info on Upson: http://thepatriotwoodworker.com/topic/14964-upson-nut-co/

The original Upson Nut Company building in Connecticut still stands.

 

[glenncz]

Exactly 40 miles today. Fast (18mph) flat early morning ride with no wide. My home rides are moderately hilly at the least and this weekend I enjoyed 2 days of riding from my daughters house in NJ. I have lots of fun playing with the maps and learning/riding new roads when I visit.

In mid-July I didn't think I had a chance to make 2K miles this year, but I'm now up to 1550 and have at least half a chance. But you never know, because I don't like riding much below 60F.

 

[zipp2001]

In mid-July I didn't think I had a chance to make 2K miles this year, but I'm now up to 1550 and have at least half a chance. But you never know, because I don't like riding much below 60F.

I had my arm warmers on Saturday when I started my ride at 11 am with the temp at 68 degrees. I really don't enjoy the cooler temps, and have light weight and heavy weight arm and leg warmers that help me keep riding into early December if there is no snow.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I forgot to log yesterday's ride. It only got up to 72° and it was overcast with the wind up at 12 to 16 MPH and gusts going up to 24 MPH as rain was scheduled to roll in overnight.

Just 18 miles with 825' of climbing. It was a moderate tempo roll out and then gas gas until the finish.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

75° F and sunny this afternoon after a very light rain shower passed through. The wind was a mild 7 to 8 MPH and all I had time for was a quick 18 mile cruise at a relaxed spinning tempo with just a couple of short efforts on climbs to test the legs. Mainly a recovery ride.

Beautiful sky and plenty of open roads made for a nice ride.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Almost a repeat ride of the one yesterday. Afternoon rain was in the forecast and I headed out hard and fast under a sunny sky that was soon to be turning dark. The wind up just a little at 6 to 9 MPH.

I put the hammer down and keep the chain mid-block as I made time in order to beat the rain. I was head down and in the zone when I heard a yell...it was the local female triathlete coming from the opposite direction. She was also moving at a good clip as we flashed by each other. Hmmmm...I haven't seen her all Summer! Good to see her out and looking fast!

I went about my 18-mile loop and was jamming up every little upgrade drag and punching every little climb without downshifting. Lion of Flanders style! Out of the saddle and doing everything I could to keep my powerless legs turning those gears.

Again, head down, focused on my gear and pedal stroke, I heard another yell! It was her, again! Flying down the climb I was blasting up! I barely got out her first name as we went by each other at speed again!

And 1/2-hour after I finished up the 15-minute hard rain shower hit. I made it home high & dry. I hope she made it back to the next town down the road equally dry.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Only 70° today, but the sun was shining and the wind was going a steady 15 to 17 MPH.

Of course we had rain in the early afternoon! The roads dried and I went out with The Boy Wonder to kill it and drill it. He had a nasty crash and was out of commission for weeks, but is riding like the speed demon he always was.

1400' of fast climbing and just laying down the power on the flats as we traded pulls and worked it hard. Recovery moments were spent talking about the Vuelta and getting psyched for the next attack. I popped over the last climb and dug in my heels for a long downhill chase back on as we hit the final valley floor before rolling back into town.

Another fun ride and a great workout.

Local town councilwoman interviewed us about our opinions for a bike trail she was trying to get funded. Late getting back home...again!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

The intarwebz was down last night and most of the day, today so this is Friday's ride.

63 degrees and cool under overcast sky with the wind going a steady 15 to 16 mph. I headed out and did medium tempo work for 23 miles and had some fun just covering ground at a good clip. Only 675' of climbing on an easy course that kept me away from traffic.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Rain this morning. Rain this afternoon. Rain into the evening.

47 minutes on the trainer. A great workout, but boring as all get out! Three fans blowing and the iPod cranked while trying to keep the output up and keep the heart rate from going into the red.

 

[Uawadall]

Looks like you guys have enjoyed riding this summer. Its been getting colder up here fast, 40 degrees at night in August, 60's-70's during the days this week.

Went out for a ride yesterday at 11:30, usually done by that time, but waited for a little more warmth. Did my climbing route 50+ miler and got some pr's. The hills were tough and the downhills were fun. At one point, I noticed my bars were a little crooked and stopped to adjust them. Maybe too many out of the saddle sprints while clutching them? A little windy, but the weather was nice.

51.8 miles/3,800+ feet/16.6 mph.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

26.8 miles with 3,232 ft of gain. Well, kind of an odd feeling. I have a hydration pack that Gina found at Costco like back in 2005. I used it plenty to train for Ride Around the Bear a few times and Breathless Agony. I was riding to Baldy Village often but didn't want to get stuck out there with no water, so I used it. Several forum members really dissed my Sierra whatever it is but I will say, for $14.99 I really got some use out of it! They said it would explode like carbon blah blah blah! You know forum people, if it ain't high end, it ain't good enough for their 10 mile rides ha ha! Somebody said it would burst after a ride or two. I don't think so, many mtb rides, countless rides to the village and 12 years later, barely sprung a leak.



I cleaned it up real good last night as I haven't used it in a while. It was fine but arriving at GMR, it was leaking. I figured with the 73 ounces and 2 large water bottles, I could go as far as I want and not have to worry about water. Of course after 3 weeks off the bike, my body disagreed ha ha! A large bottle is 24 ounces, the pack 72 ounces. I think I took in 24 and the rest ran down my butt crack ha ha! Like I said, odd feeling but I think it helped me stay cool. Though it was a cool 85 degrees today, it felt pretty humid with the cloud cover so a wet butt crack only helped me keep cool ha ha!



Mike did very well and sure he waited on me. He has done GMR a few times now while I was slacking so he looked good. Plus he has dropped about 30 pounds, nice! I have been slacking but as a come back tune up ride, I figured if I could survive GMR after 3 weeks off, I was still doing OK!



Anyway, the plan is to do many more GMR rides now so once I get used to climbing again, I won't even need the hydration pack. Plus it should cool off some time soon!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

It got up to 82 degrees today and the sun was out all day long! Unfortunately, the wind was up to a steady 21 MPH with gusts of up to 31 MPH. Worse, I had to hit the fields for 5 hours before I could ride.

I only did 27 miles, but the climbing was intense and amounted to about 1350'. The wind crushed me at a few spots and when it was at my back I was flying.

Another fun ride!

Rain moving back in over night and scattered showers tomorrow.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

It was 70 degrees and sunny this afternoon after overnight rain and more rain in the morning. The wind was going a moderate 6 to 10 MPH.

20 miles of semi-fast work with only 525' of climbing over a fairly flat course.

As soon as I tossed the bike in the car the phone bong'ed out a weather alert and 10 minutes later...the rain started again! There's more rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Go figure. Ohio sure has experienced a cool, wet Summer this year.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Yesterday it got near 70° and the wind was a mild 6 to 10 MPH so I set out for a little climbing ride.

The sun was out, I was warm and feeling good so I kept the tempo up as I worked my way over just a bit over 1300' of hills. It was a fun effort and other than my HRM dropping out for a few minutes, no problems at all. OK...I lost 5 minutes worth of BPM data! No biggee. LOL!

Finished up with 27 miles worth of enjoyment in my day!

 

[jhuskey]

The rain kept me in Tuesday but I made it up yesterday. I try and get 4 days a week at least. Next week is looking rainy but I am not complaining. My daughter live sin South Florida and she is staying through the storm. Not much choice now. Roads are clogged and gas is scarce.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Friends bailed out from West of Jacksonville at 3 AM this morning. Staying off the clogged interstates and going North on 301 IIRC. Spartenburg, S.C. looked to be where traffic was back to normal, although I never trust Google traffic reports for accuracy. Best of luck to your daughter, JH. Irma looks nasty. Power will be out for weeks if it hits at a Cat4 level.

61 degrees was all the thermometer cold muster this afternoon.

As usual, it rained a little right before my ride, but the roads dried quickly.

I blasted out of the starting gate and just hit it at warp speed with the temporary sunshine rapidly obscurred by very dark clouds containing more cold, wet stuff. I almost made it back dry! The last mile was a sprint race between the wall of water headed my way and me.

The rain won this time! I got only half-assed wet and it quit raining right after I tossed the bike in the truck. Damn!

Only 250' of climbing on a very flat out & back course and the wind was at 8 to 10 MPH steady with some pretty decent headwind gusts as that rain moved in.

I detail cleaned the bike...easy peasy...it wasn't bad at all and cleaned and lubricated the chain.

Not much of a ride at only 9 miles, but it was fast and my heart rate recorded maximum twice.

 

[jhuskey]

Got my ride in yesterday once again in near perfect conditions with the exception of a new mongrel that chased me. I am still a lot pensive with a dog in the road. Looks like Irma will track my way but will be all blown out by the time it gets here but will hit my daughters area with 120 + winds. I told her she may be out of power and maybe water for the long haul.
I will probably get in a short ride tomorrow after errands and before we head to the home opener ball game.

 

[Possumpoint]

Ride most every day. Did my 13.1-mile road course in 63 minutes. The course includes both hills and flats. Temperature was a cool 65 with very little humidity.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

With some morning light rain and an afternoon high of 67 degrees, I had to wait out a 10-minute rain shower to even start the ride under a very dark and clouded sky. One more time I rocketed away from the start hoping to beat any impending rain.

I move out the block until my legs said, "No more!", and lowered my head into the wind. Rounding second base and headed for home I felt a few rain drops and thought it might end up a repeat of yesterday, but the rain never really developed and I sailed home fast and dry. This time.

Only 375' of climbing over a flat 14-mile course, but fun and almost zero traffic out on an early Friday afternoon.