Did You Ride Today?

[CAMPYBOB]

67 degrees and sunny today with the wind going 9 to 12 MPH.

24 miles at near top training speeds over a gently rolling course. The legs felt good and the 725' of light climbing was easy work. The wind was just a little tough, but nothing to knock off much speed.

The roads were again very quiet and the Wilier barely there during most of the ride.

I discovered a crack on the sole of my left shoe. Those Specialized Body Geometry shoes are probably the most comfortable pair of cycling shoes I've owned in 45 years of riding. They're going to be tough to replace, but they are 11 years old.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

67 degrees and sunny today with the wind going 9 to 12 MPH.

24 miles at near top training speeds over a gently rolling course. The legs felt good and the 725' of light climbing was easy work. The wind was just a little tough, but nothing to knock off much speed.

The roads were again very quiet and the Wilier barely there during most of the ride.

I discovered a crack on the sole of my left shoe. Those Specialized Body Geometry shoes are probably the most comfortable pair of cycling shoes I've owned in 45 years of riding. They're going to be tough to replace, but they are 11 years old.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

67 degrees and sunny. The wind was up at 14 to 15 MPH and I felt it in very direction except when I had a full-on tail wind heading.

Another blast out of the gate ride. Throttles open and all the gear my weak old legs could handle. A couple decent little climbs with 840' total in 24 miles worth of fun.

I can see the shadows are getting longer earlier and I can feel the evening temperature dropping over the last few miles of every ride. Fall is upon us!

That can only mean one thing...spending the next three Winters trying to earn a Tron Bike on Zwift! LOL!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

A nice 72 degrees and sunny with the wind a low 5 MPH.

Just 18 miles of a low rolling course with 500' of climbing on it. The tempo was EZ. No big efforts. Just sit back and enjoy the afternoon!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

46 miles in 71 degree sunshine! The wind was running 6 to 7 MPH, but it seemed to pick up a little more than thatr on the headwind leg headed for home.

The windmill with the 100'+ blades agreed with me and was turning steady RPM's.

No biggee. Stay low and keep the revs up.

A beautiful afternoon to ride! Steady tempo work with the tail wind helping me along, then make the turns on the course that put me square into the wind for the last 13 miles.

Averaged 86 RPM and hit 186 BPM somewhere out there. No mega climbs with 1150' on the money for the total vertical. Mostly flat to rolling. Nothing really steep or long. Just some decent rollers that give you time to get a rhythm.

 

[jhuskey]

All the nuts on the road made it dangerous this morning. Walnuts that is , damn things are everywhere. 65 degrees so right in the Goldilocks zone.

 

[zipp2001]

This time of year you have to be on the lookout more for squirrel's because of all the acorns on the ground. I got out for 44 miles after service today with a bright sunny day and light wind. Did about 10 miles before most of the climbing hit and played on the hills for the next 9 miles then light roller home. Legs have been feeling really strong lately and trying to pack in a lot of climbing on most of my rides.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Once again I'm having difficulty posting. Not staying logged in. Posts never make it through. Weird.

Entry for Sunday 10/22/2017:

53 miles in really nice 72 degree sunshine. Again, the wind was a pain to ride into on the return legs or the course. It was only blowing 7 to 9 MPH, but it was working me over on the open stretches of road.

2025 feet of light climbing over low rolling hills. Might have been the last really warm ride of the year? It felt great to be out and enjoying the sun.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Entry for Monday 10/23/2017:

Cold rain all day. Only 56 degrees and dropping with the wind at a steady 18 to 23 MPH with gusts to 37 MPH. Yes, it was raining sideways.

I hit the trainer for 53 minutes. Boring and painful. The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and the track bike kicked my ass as I rode to a Tour stage YouTube video.

It rained all night, last night and most of today (Tuesday). It just poured a few minutes ago and now the sun is out! If it manages to dry out I'll hit the road. If not...back to the trainer I go.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Walnuts that is

They're everywhere up here. The roads are stained black with them in the walnut groves.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Still not staying logged in.

Another day...more rain. All last night. On and off all day today. Some sun, but mainly rain and high winds. The wind was running a constant 16 to 18 MPH with gusts to 26 MPH this afternoon as it took turns going from a drizzle to a downpour. Repeatedly.

Another 53-minute session on the trainer.

I found a good combination of video and audio to train to...YouTube Giro d'Italia stages with the sound off in one browser screen and the audio from some German Techno radio channel on another browser screen. Pure awesome to kill the boredom and keep me on tempo. Climb with Tommy Dumoulin tempo or rock the legs to the Euro Trance Beat! I like it!

The legs were kind of in shock from yesterday's indoor ********, but 5 minutes into the session they were coming around as I kicked the headphones up to 'I'm going deaf' mode and got on the drops to party. It's still too warm in the basement to kick it into low earth orbit mode. Even with the 4 fans roaring I lost the jersey fast. Hands were slipping on the bars and the headphones had my ears wishing there was a drainage channel in the ear cups.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Only 45 degrees today with a cold rain that ranged from a mist to downpours all day. The wind was 7 MPH.

I ignored all of that and headed to the trainer for three days in a row.

For 42 minutes I beat the **** out of myself. Trance...Techno...Giro d'Italia...and a decent effort on the bike. I'm slowly adapting to what the trainer can dish out.

If this is any indication of what's coming it's going to be a long Winter!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

It was only 49 degrees this afternoon when I shoved off, but at least I wasn't on the trainer in the basement. The sun was shining and the wind was going 8 to 10 MPH.

Perfect! Let's ride.

After three painful trainer session I was interested to see how my legs and lungs would respond to being outside in the cool air. I hit the gas hard and kept the Watts up near maximum for a short, but intense 23-mile sprint. There was only 675' of climbing and I forced every little grade and small hill in the biggest gear I could carry the top in. Back up into TT mode as quickly as possible I was having fun trying to keep my breathing under control.

The numbers looked good and for this time of year I'm feeling great.

BTW, JH, the walnuts are almost all down and the three days of rain we just had washed most of the smashed mess off the roads.I was just back to dodging the potholes, cracks, splits, gravel and dead critters this afternoon.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Sunny and almost warm at 68 degrees today. Unfortunately, the wind was a steady 16 to 21 MPH with gusts to 28 MPH. Fast when it was at my back and painful running into it.

42 miles with just under 1900' of climbing and I kept the tempo mostly at a sane level. I did run a few upgrades and climbs fast with that wind behind me!

Left the tights and long sleeve base layer in the truck and headed out in shorts and a short sleeve jersey. The sun felt great!

True to form this season rain is moving in about 11 PM tonight and it will rain all day tomorrow and through tomorrow night into Sunday morning. Yay! And the temperature is falling into the forties for daily highs. Yay!

I signed up for a demo of "Road Grand Tours" training software and just downloaded the software for the PC. It's similar to ZWIFT, but utilizes 'real' roads that were used on the Grand Tours in real life...such as the Stelvio, etc. Should be interesting and I'm going to climb the Stelvio on the track bike geared 50 x 18! Coppi ain't got nuthin' on me!

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Shorter ride today. 19.7 miles at 19.6 MPH average speed. Almost matched my distance with average speed!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

43 degrees this morning with cold rain. The temperature dropped all day and is now down to 39 degrees with the wind at 6 to 8 MPH. It's still raining at 5 PM here in Ohio. It's a good day to be out afield hunting, but other than that...not a day for road riding.

I hit the trainer for 57 minutes of medium to high tempo work. 4 fans roaring, I was still soaked when I climbed off with legs shaking from the finale.

I tried to get Road Grand Tours to run, but it scanned my sensors and did not pick up my speed sensor. My heart rate and cadence showed on the start of the Stelvio ride, but with no speed sensor I went...nowhere. Will play around with the program later and see if I can figure out why it missed my speed sensor. I put a fresh battery in it this week when the Garmin 520 alerted me to a weak battery condition.

It looks like a neat piece of software. On Zwift there is anywhere from dozens to hundreds of riders on any given course. On Road Grand Tours there were only two other riders on the Stelvio course when I attempted to ride it. There appears to be a big difference in popularity. To be fair, RGT is in Beta version right now.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

39 degrees and light mist this morning. The wind is going 9 to 10 MPH and at noon the roads are just now starting to dry. Lots of puddles everywhere though.

I hit Zwift Ride London and did the long loop that included Box Hill. Interesting. About 48 minutes worth of fun. Much more interesting that just pounding out miles and minutes with the iPod playing in my ears. I turned off the game sound track and put on some Trance and started riding around the course...drafting some riders...catching some other riders....dropping some riders...getting absolutely blown into the weeds by packs of really fast guys.

There must have been over 200 riders on the loop I was riding. I just kind of did my own thing and my legs were not good enough to do much 3 W/Kg and higher work.

One of my friends went out on the Red Flannel Metric Century ride this morning and posted a selfie on FaceBook of him in a laundromat changing into dry socks and gloves. He said the rain had stopped 16 miles into the 62-mile ride, but he and everyone else was...uh...cold and damp! I told him that I rode Zwift this morning and halfway up Box Hill it started virtually raining on my virtual avatar in a virtual game in a virtual city. Fortunately, my virtual rain was warm! LOL!

If the roads dry off and the wind gets rid of the standing water, I'll head out on the real roads this afternoon.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

60 miles at 17.5 average speed today. I was worried as my buddy is in good form right now and didn't ride yesterday. Haven't done a 60 miler in a while so I was thinking it was going to be tough. Oh well, if we ended up with a 16 average i would be happy.

The guys who rode yesterday with me would not ride today, harder faster effort yesterday so the legs were a bit toasty. So Mike and I headed off. Worked well together and ended up doing pretty good. We did work together and he helped me way more than what I am used to getting out of a partner!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

42 degrees for a high today with rain from just after sunrise until after sunset. The wind is now down to 14 to 15 MPH and the gusts of up to 33 MPH have finally slowed. Another miserable day in Ohio, weather wise.

I hit the trainer and rode The Greater London flat loop on Zwift. I just went out for a solo workout and ended up riding with a few other guys...mainly Americans and an Aussie. I'm just learning the ropes and what all the symbols, signs and 'Butt Arrows' mean. Yeah, it's pretty weird...

Riding a track bike and a dumb trainer presents some challenges, but I'm doing OK. I'm not a powerhouse of MegaWatts so I keep the old girl tach'ed up and end up doing a lot of intervals to try and keep up with faster riders / groups. It's good cardio work. I had a good average heart rate this afternoon and I really wasn't trying to go at it all that hard.

I think I've finally learned not to lean my bike into the corners. Zwift distance recorded more miles than my Garmin...going to have to check wheel / tire size calibration again. Zwift speed matches my Garmin 520 pretty close so...weird, huh? There is a time delay from when I punch it to when the virtual CampyBob on the screen starts to pick it up.

People don't seem to like the London courses much on FaceBook, but so far the two loops I've ridden are OK by me. I guess only having Box Hill and Fox Hill for climbing bums out the guys shooting for major altitude and a Tron Bike. I drafted my first Tron Bike rider this afternoon and he was pretty damned fast! It takes good conditioning to earn the Tron Bike, I'm sure.

Zwift is all geeky and weird with its 25 'Levels' of riders and unlocking achievements and bike and clothing upgrades. I'm pretty much ignoring a lot of the gaming attributes for now and just diving into the various 'worlds', routes and training plans. Al I'm looking for at this point is a hard ride and anything that keeps my eyes of the clock. Speaking of which...that's still difficult with Zwift focusing so much on numbers and data. Zwift has a slogan that goes something like, "Forget the minutes and ride the miles". Well, with your heart rate, power / Watts, speed, Watts per Kilogram, gradient percentage, distance ridden, time ridden, altitude, length left on the climb, STRAVA segments ahead and ready for you to fight for, meters ahead of chasers, the constant "Close The Gap!" message to get you drafting the guy ahead of you...it's all about the constant stream of numbers on that computer screen!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

...back to the real world.

Rudely smacked in the face by the real world to the tune of thirty-seven, yes 37, degrees! The wind was going 8 to 10 MPH and the sun was peeking through every now and again.

Perfect! Let's ride!

Screw that ZWIFT ****! Nose in the wind, baby!

I switched over to the Emonda for the Winter and did a short, flat out & back course good for all of 12 miles and 280' feet of climbing. Dressed to the nines in my Flandrian best! Mr. Beanz probably wears more layers for 99 degree California heat! I did put on two base layers and a short sleeve jersey with shorts, tights and shoe covers. Medium weight long finger gloves and...throw a leg over and make sure all the sensors are synced.

I would like to say it was a nice ride...and it was...but, it was cold!

Prayers out to the cyclists killed on the NYC bike path by the terrorist scumbag.